Vivo Smokey Moods

During my never ending / never working quest for the figure of my youth I have swapped my supermarket sweet treat for a supermarket shiny makeup treat. This is how I discovered Vivo cosmetics. Quality products at a price that is "treat" not "extravagance" an the added bonus as they are in Tesco so I can earn club card points by buying them and then spend my club card points to buy more! Its win win! 

I grabbed Smokey Moods - Midnight Smoke - Ultimate eye kit (on a late night bread an milk run) for the bargain of £4! 3x eyeshadow - 3.6g and 2.5ml of black liquid liner. The back has a little guide on how to get an dramatic smokey look.

I love these little kits, its like they come with a bonus, I have the brow kit that comes with brow gel (an doubles as a fab trio of natural shadows) and the concealer kit (life saver) that comes with a lovely highlighter and a few other Vivo bits an I don't think I've been disappointed.

All swatches have been done without a primer. 

 The silver gives a beautiful solid covering and the purple is a vivid iridescent shade and a near perfect dupe for the L'Oreal eyeshadow I used on my primers post. The blue worried me as it has noticeable sized pieces of glitter and did feel a bit rough when I swatched it with my finger, strangely when I applied to my eye with a brush it didn't feel at all gritty! If you pat or pack it on with a small flat brush it is dark and twinkly just as in the pan but it also blends out loosing some of the glittery-ness in to a stunning petrol/denim blue shade I absolutely love! The eye liner has a stiff felt tip like nib that you dip in to the tube of liquid liner. You can get a really good fine line with the applicator and a good flick too. The eye liner is quite a watery formula, it doesn't run but does take a few second to dry to a glossy finish an once its dry it does not budge! No flakes no running no smudges. Love it!

Thanks for reading.

Battle of the Primers

Everyone Knows I love a bargain but only as long as its value for money. No point in something half the price when you end up wasting twice the cost.

So I decided to do a comparison, which I'm sure has been done before but I probably missed it!

My two favorite primers are Urban Decay's Primer Potion and MUA's eye primer. I'm currently still using my UD lil free pot that came with Naked. Its 3.7 ml an I believe in the US you can buy this travel size for $9 (roughly about £5.75 - £6). MUA eye primer is 7.5 for £2.50, around double the amount for half the price but is it worth it??

I'll start with the packaging MUA is in the sleek black tube with silver lettering. UD in the purple iridescent "potion" pot with a silver top that reminds me of St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow (yes I know ... strange brain). They both have roughly the same style applicator  just the UD is bent on an angle. I do prefer the UD packaging! but then I guess when its slapped on your eye an left on the dresser no one but you is going to know what bottle it came out of! They apply with exactly the same light almost whipped feel, leaving the eyelid smooth and with any obvious discoloration neutralised.

 

I put UD on my left eye (your right as you look at the photo's below) and MUA on my right eye (your left) I used L'Oreal Infallible 005 Purple Obsession on the lid and Vivo shade 4 Rich Chocolate in the crease. The top two pictures (below...confusing I know) where taken at 8 pm just after I had finished getting ready for work and the bottom pictures as soon as I arrived home at 10.30 am the following day. So a 10 hour night shift and 2 hour meeting I think it a pretty good test. I didn't touch up any of my eye make up during the night. To be honest as you can probably tell I think I only had time to re do my lips stick once!

 I noticed a bit of creasing on both eyes but as I have "old lady saggy lids" I'd still be in stunned shock if there hadn't been any! To me they both performed perfectly an I can't choose a thing between them! So it comes down to packaging and price - As cute as the UD bottle is, at double the amount for half the price and factoring the accessibility I think MUA will be my guaranteed repurchase, as I do love the bottle UD Primer Potion will be in my letter to Santa!

Thank you for reading!

MUA Haul

Prepare for a pick heavy post! I can just look at this gorgeous array of MUA colour loveliness for hours (an between you an me I have!) 

Mosaics: I got them 2 for £4 normal price is £2.50 each. 8.9g of product each. I'll start with the packaging. Clear plastic hinged lid that allows you to see what you are reaching for, closes really securely which is a big plus for me (I'm forever losing lids! popping them off if they're not attached). The sturdy case makes it perfect for travel and throwing in to hand bags. Also the have flat lids which makes then way better for storage compared to the domed lid ones.

 In a previous post I said how pleased I was with the ELF bronzing quad and the problems I've had finding a good bronzer - well MUA step up and be tested! I got shade 2-Sunkissed Glow and the blusher shade 1-English Rose.

Th bronzer is a spot on mix of peaces, chocolate browns, flesh and sand tones. The blush colours range from light pinks to deep rose tones, blue based pinks and almost lilac shades. The colour tiles in both blend beautifully the bronzer gives an exceptional soft glow to the skin with just a hint of sheen. The blush is a perfect pinky peach with a delicate gold shimmer. They apply lightly with good pigmentation than can easily be blended out or built up. It was almost a shame to disturb all those little tiles of colour swirling my brush in them but the result was defiantly worth it and i will be repurchasing!

 Lip Booms: £3. I love the Alexandra Burke packaging - particularly as the individual colours have her pictured wearing them not just a generic shot. The two shade I got where "OMG" and "OK.COM". Lip booms come with a mat lip stick at one end a highlighter/gloss at the other. The gloss seems very similar/the same on the 2 shades I picked up (but I've seen the others and they are not all the same) very sheer fleshy peach with teeny tiny micro glitter gold flecks in. Slightly tacky feeling once its settled on the lips but no unpleasant stickiness. The gloss has a faintly surgery/caramel/maple syrup type smell (yip I'm a sniffing again) and the lipsticks have an very faint aroma of coconut/shea, well they do to me lol.

OK.COM is a nude with a hint of peach. Its lighter than my lips (like most "nude" shades) but with this being a mat and a really smooth formula I don't get that nasty smeary streaky look that most nude shades do on me an with the highlighter it gives me a lovely soft glossy lip. OMG comes out a peachy orange on my lips an not a shade I would normally go for but I'm actually liking it, goes really well with a soft summer glow look giving my lips a understated pop.

The highlighter as the name suggest I think is meant to go in the center of the lips for that fuller pout look. I actually use it all over and worn just the gloss with out the lip stick!

 Out Their Plumping lip gloss: £2. I AM IN LOVE!! Bought all 8 which is waaaaay extravagant but I was over come with an urge and I finally got my over time pay. I love the packaging, I love the way the long sleek tubes don't feel cheap an sad but true, I love the way the clink together! Following a good smelling involving my children and long suffering other half there is not describable smell, as in there is a very very faint smell of something but none of us can describe it....(well except the baby who claims they "mell parkly"). Usually plumping lip glosses have a noticeable feeling an most I find reassuring that they might actually be doing something I have one "pucker" plumping gloss (mentioning no names) I actually find really uncomfortable an quite stingy. With the Out There glosses there is the mildest warm sensation. Again like the boom glosses they aren't overly sticky, they dont smear all over coffee mugs, my hair doesn't get stuck to them and I haven't seen them on my teeth yet.The colours are fantastic, plenty of pigmentation. To be honest all I can say is LOOKY LOOKY LOOOOOK! lol

Thank you for taking your time to read!