MUA and Elf haul

Hello!
I recently discovered Elf and MUA after reading about some of their products on some other blogs and I am so glad I did. The prices are great and the majority of the products that I've tried have been good quality for the price.
Elf: http://eyeslipsface.co.uk/
MUA http://www.muastore.co.uk/ (MUA is also available in Superdrug)

From Elf I bought a primer and a mascara and from MUA I bought three lipsticks, two eyelash sets, an eyeshadow and a mascara. I've never used fake lashes before because my eye lashes are quite long and I didn't think I'd be able to put them on very easily because they're fiddly! (I was right, I glued my finger to my eye and glued my eye shut whilst practicing. I fail miserably at all things girly haha) I bought these things a couple of months ago now so wanted to do a review on them (I know every post so far has been a review I really need to sort it out so its not all samey and boring, sorry about that!) 

MUA

MUA Pearl Eyeshadow Shade 30 £1

I love this eyeshadow, it is a bit darker than what I was expecting (but to be honest the photo on the website looks pretty much the same colour so I'm not sure what I was expecting, I think I thought it would be more gold but its more bronze) its still a lovely colour and I'm glad it wasn't what I was expecting because I probably wouldn't have bought it otherwise, as it's a lot darker than the eyeshadows I normally wear (I'm a neutral person, not really brave enough to try brighter/bolder colours yet but I will hopefully soon!) I haven't used it as an eyeshadow on its own at the moment because its quite dark and so for me I wouldn't use it for everyday use (I'm sure it would look great during daytime but as I said before, I'm not very brave with my make-up and tend to stick to neutral make-up especially in daytime) I have however used it in the crease and loved it, its very glittery which I don't normally like in eyeshadows but it really looks good with this eyeshadow. The pigment is amazing, and for the price this really is a fantastic eyeshadow. I will definitely be purchasing some more MUA eyeshadows.

MUA Lipsticks (from L-R) Shade 15 Juicy, Shade 16 Nectar &  Shade 7 £1 each

Another great product, these lipsticks are very pigmented and last a fairly long time before I need to reapply it. They aren't too drying on the lips, either, I normally put some lip balm on my lips before putting lipstick on, but there have been a few times when I've just put the lipstick straight on without lip balm first and it hasn't dried my lips out. They don't smell too great, it's a bit of a chemical sort of smell but that doesn't bother me really and the smell's not too strong so I don't really notice once I've put the lipstick on. The only thing I didn't like was Shade 15 Juicy looks very pink on the MUA website and on the photo on this blog but is more orangey than pink, I don't wear a lot of orange toned lipsticks normally although I have worn it a few times just to test it out, but you never know it might get me into other coloured lipsticks, I tend to stick to pink and red lipstick (not at the same time, that would look weird) just because it's the colours I've always used, I really need to get out of my comfort zone and try new things, I really want to so I could start with lipsticks. When I bought these lipsticks MUA had a smaller range available, but they now have a wider range of colours available on their website so I will definetely be buying some more. Another brand that do lipsticks that are a similar price is Natural collection (£1.99 for lipsticks if I remember right) I would say in comparison to my Natural Collection lipsticks, MUA's are better in my opinion. The packaging is also great and I think it makes the lipsticks look more expensive than they are, they don't look or feel like cheap lipsticks, overall they are great quality at a fantastic price.

MUA Mascara Shade 5 £1

I wasn't a very big fan of this mascara to be honest. When it arrived the lid was open a little bit so it had dried out quite a lot. I found that it was a bit hit and miss as to whether it would work well, I think its better for volume rather than length, and sometimes I thought that it gave my lashes a good amount of volume and sometimes it just went clumpy, this may be because it had dried out a bit, I don't know. I can't really complain though, for £1, it wasn't terrible!

ELF

elf Mineral Infused Face Primer - £6 (sorry there's not an individual picture I can't find the photo and at the moment I don't have access to a camera) 

I have a mixed review for this product. I so wanted to like it and in some ways I did and some ways I didn't. I have sensitive skin and wanted a primer to put underneath my make-up to control the shine and make it easier to apply foundation, but I thought finding one that was suitable for sensitive skin would be expensive, but then I found this primer on elf. It's a great price and the bottle is a good size to put in my little make-up bag. The first few times I used it I had no problems, it worked as a great base for make-up, my foundation's quite long lasting anyway so I didn't really notice much of a change in how long it lasted, but it did make my foundation go on a lot smoother, I use a mineral powder and I think it just made my face look more made-up and it looked like it had blended better and it generally just looked better. It also helped with shine (I have dry skin but for some reason get very shiny cheeks in some lighting, but the foundation I use is quite a dewy foundation so its probably because of that) However, after using it daily for about 3 weeks, the pump stopped working and just spat out small bits of the product, and the amount of product that would come out the pump was very dry and when I tried to put some on my face it just seperated and crumbled away. I'm really disappointed and won't be buying this product again, which is a shame because the product worked so well at first, and I believe its just a packaging problem. 

elf Lash Extending Mascara £3.75

I love this mascara! I change my mascaras regularly because when they run out I like to try different ones, but I have been a loyal fan of Rimmel Scandal Eyes mascara for a while now and its been the only mascara that I've repurchased. I prefer longer lashes so I tend to chose mascaras that are for lengthening rather than volume, and this mascara is great for making lashes appear longer. It has a different wand to the MUA mascara, it is more comb-like and has smaller bristles (they aren't really bristles because they are a lot thinner but its the only word I can think of to describe them) on one side, with longer ones on the other. I used the smaller side to do my bottom lashes and the longer ones to do my top lashes. This is now my go-to mascara that I am using daily, my poor Scandal eyes has been replaced, although I do still get bored and use my other mascaras once in a while. I also love the packaging, its simple but looks good. I like the thin-tube container, most mascaras I've used in the past have had big packaging, but this one is thin and fits easily into my make-up bag.

I will do a seperate review on the eyelashes because I have only used them a few times so haven't really used them enough to do a review on them.

Ali

xxx

♥