No Money March: The £10 MUA haul

So I thought I would start the month with a haul. I know your probably thinking "it's no money month Hannah, what are you doing?!" But it's fine, it's a £10 only haul, enough to get my fix and be satisfied for the rest of the month instead of blowing upwards of £60 on my usual hauls! I decided to dedicate this challenge to Makeup Acadamy (MUA) as I've been meaning to check them out recently after hearing they had upped their game. That and it's beautifully cheap! 

Sadly the Superdrug Store I visited had an MUA display which looked like it had been ramraided, which was a shame as there wasn't all the testers and many products out of stock. But I knew I wouldn't be able to make it to another store before closing time, so I did the best with what was there.

MUA Pressed Powder in Shade 4

£1

There was only the 2 darker shades of the 4 in the range left, so I thought 4 would make a good contour shade. As I'm really pale most bronzers look like dirt on my face, so I thought this light and blendable powder might work well. And at only a pound, it's a risk I'm willing to take! It's got a really nice texture, not chalky at all, so I imagine it would be great as an all over face powder.

MUA Blusher in 'Candyfloss'

£1

I thought it would be rude not to try out the £1 blushers, but as there was only a few shades left I didn't have much choice. However this pink is really beautiful! Similar texture to the pressed powder, but not as much pigmentation. It is buildable though, and I prefer subtle blush anyway. Such a steal at only a pound.

MUA Power Pout Tint and Balm in 'Broken Hearted'

£3

I've got a slight 'chubby stick' obsession at the moment, so I couldn't help myself when it came to choosing some lip products. This has a similar minty scent to the Revlon balm stain, but doesn't tingle. I only swatched this in the store on my hand so when I put it on today I was pretty shocked by how crazy pink it is! But I'm quite enjoying the bold lip look though, maybe this is a turning point for me. It applied really nicely and I'm happy with this! 

MUA Lipstick in Shade 13

£1

This. Is. Gorgeous!! Such a beautiful colour, I'm so glad I picked it up. There was a very limited selection of the £1 lipsticks, and I nearly picked up a nude shade. However the colour range is lacking mid tones, so some of the colours are quite varied. If that makes sense... I would have liked to have seen some more natural pinks. This colour however swatches quite brown, but there are pink tones that lift it and it's translates so beautifully on my lips. I was really annoyed to find I had picked up a used product, even though it did have un removed packaging. But thinking back it was slightly open, so I assume someone had done it carefully to make it look like it was still new. So I've had to take the top off, and waste some product. Bummer. But it's fine, for £1 I can repurchase whenever!

MUA Undress Your Skin Illuminating Foundation in Porcelain

£5 for 35ml

I've heard really good things about this foundation, and at £5 it's not a big deal if it doesn't work. But quite surprisingly the lightest shade 'porcelain' is such a good match for me. I've only just used it today so I don't feel like I can make many more comments on it, but I really don't like the tube. It's quite big, and hard to control the amount of product dispensed. Knowing me, this will end up on my bedroom carpet. Give me a pump any day! But there is more product than a usual 30ml foundation and it's half the price. Winner! 

MUA Colour Blast Eyeshadow Tint in Diamonds

Free! Usually £3

This I'm well happy with! It happened to be the last day of an offer which gives you a free eyeshadow tint when you spend £6 or more. Awesome! But, again most of them had gone. I was lucky that this was the last sealed one of its shade, and it's so beautiful! A rose gold pink, which is right up my alley at the moment. Will work as a nice base for some Naked 3 shades. 

If your adding up my total as you go along, you may have realised this all comes to £11. However! I had £2 in super drug rewards which I used, so I only really spent £9! Should have picked up another lipstick.. So the lesson here is that you can curb your cosmetic cravings and get good quality items for very little cash. Has anyone else found MUA products that have surprised you?

Hannah x

E.L.F Haul -They had an offer I could not refuse!

Long post alert! Eyes Lips Face (otherwise known as E.L.F) is one of those brands everyone knows of, and most have in their makeup bag. I however, do not! Thanks to a cheeky 50% off and free delivery offer, I now have a lot! The brand is known for their budget products, starting only at £1.50, and a fair few are cult items (most of which were out of stock..). So the brand has a good reputation, sadly not as cheap as it would be in the states, but I did save a good £20! Nothing to sniff at there!

   

Lipstick in 'Seductive' & 'Classy'

£1.95 each

It annoys me how website pictures never quite capture the true colour of products and these aren't an exeption. Buying makeup online will always be risky though, but these colours are nothing like I thought they would be. 'Seductive' swatches a lot more lilac then it looks in the packaging, and 'Classy' is much more peach. I find that there's a bit of resistance when trying to wind up the product and a slight scent that I can't put my finger on. I'm a little disappointed here, but at 98p, it's not a huge loss if I don't suit them.

Jumbo Lip Gloss Stick in 'Summer Nights' & 'Pink Unbrellas'

£2.95 each

These are nice but a lot more sheer than I expected, I had to apply quite a bit of pressure for a decent swatch. I'm hoping these will soften a little bit with use. They remind me a little of the Revlon balm stains in the way they have a slight minty effect, but feel a lot thicker on the lips. 'Summer Nights' is similar to 'Demure' (Revlon Lacquer Balm), but more shimmery, which I personally don't like. I think because I'm such a fan of Revlon's answer to the chubby stick, I compare other immitations to them. But again, just under a £1.50 each Isn't much to pay for an experiment.

All Over Colour Stick in 'Persimmon'

£1.95 each

This is crazy shimmery! The colour I wanted was out of stock, so I ordered this one to see what the crack was about! It claims to be suitable for eyes, lips and as a blush or highlight. At this time I'm really unsure as to how I would use this, I think I will just have to have a play and see what happens.

Liquid Eyeliner in 'Black'

£1.95 each

I'm currently using a dead expensive liquid liner which I don't plan to repurchase, so I've started my hunt for a replacement. It would be nice if this performs well, as it's a lot cheaper! I'm looking for a good pigment, lasting power and easy application, as well as other things such as drying time and transferring. Only a little pressure! 

Eyelid Primer in 'Sheer'

£1.95 each

This has such rave reviews from many American bloggers, and I think it's only a dollar out there too. I can't wait to try this out! I don't tend to have many problems with eye shadows slipping or anything, but it would be interesting to see how things could improve by using this, as everything I've been told is good. I think I have the highest expectations with this product out of all of them, so 

Custom Compact + Custom Eyes in 'Wisteria' 'Truly Pink' 'Mocha' & 'Driftwood' 

£1.50 each, combined total of £7.50

I love how crazy cheap this is! With discount it was just £3.75, for 4 shadows of your own choice in a magnetic compact. Which I think is really awesome, as once you've used up the powder you can swap it out for another, as well as having them all in one compact place. I'm not sure if I would have purchased this at full price, but totally irresistible at less than a pound a shadow. With a nice colour payoff these are a total steal and I can't make any complaints at this point. I wish there were more shades in the range though.

Blending Eye Brush, Eye Crease Brush, Eye Shadow Brush, Defining Eye Brush and Brushing Bronzing & Blending Brush.

£1.95 each

I don't own many brushes so this was the perfect time to try a few out without breaking the bank. I picked up these 5 as I don't own many shadow brushes, and it really is time to walk away from the cheap applicators. I'm slightly worried as there is some movement, as if there isn't enough bristles in the fennel. But I'm open to these and looking forward to seeing if they work for me.

Natural Lash Kit and Individual Lash Kit both in 'Black'

£1.95 each

I caved and brought some lashes too! Surprising after my last post hey, but I've wanted to try individual lashes, but couldn't justify spending a fiver on something I might fall out with. But with discount these were just under a pound each. I don't really think I could go wrong! I must giggle at the natural lash kit, as these don't look natural in the slightest! But they are fabulous, and I love them. There, justified! 

Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder in 'St Lucia'

£3.95 each

I've thought about contouring for sometime now, but no where near brave enough to dive into cream products. So this looked perfect, a blush and bronzing powder today in the lightest availble shades! Now all I have to do is learn how. The bronzer is very pigmented, which makes me a little nervous! But this will be a fun learning curve. 

Mineral Lip Liner in 'Peachy' and Mineral Eye Liner in 'Midnight'

£3.50 each

And I didn't even order these! What I can only assume was a free gift, are these two mineral liners (I nearly purchased two of the cheaper lip liners, kind of glad I didn't). Both are twist up, and made from an 100% mineral formula, with no chemical additives, chemical dyes or parabens. Looking forward to trying these out, and you can't complain about a freebie! 

Overall I'm happy with my little haul, I managed to buy 20 items for a little over £20 which is pretty incredible. Most of my products are from the cheaper end of the range, so I'm not expecting miracle products, however it would be nice to find a few gems in what I've purchased. I was a bit gutted that most of the cult products were out of stock, and I will purchase these at somepoint, but I think it may be worth visiting one of the few E.L.F stores. However I wanted to try a broad range of products, and that's why I didn't just buy those cult items.

I plan to road test these out over the next few weeks and do some future posts, maybe one with all the products I liked and one with all the ones I didn't. Hopefully this will be of interest to you guys!

Hannah x