♥ Budget Brand: MUA

Being a student means never having the money to buy the things you want to. I'm yet to start on a MAC eyeshadow palette because I'm in constant fear of dipping into my overdraft and to be quite honest, I'm too sensible to do that. I've never been one to spend on things that are over priced or won't be worth the price I pay, so my desire of having a high end make up collection is on hold for now.

Luckily, for the savers upon us, there are a few budget brands making really good names for themselves in the beauty world. High street favourites like Rimmel, Max Factor and Revlon have a lot of competition now and while they've pulled their fingers out and have started releasing amazing products one after the other... but they're still not quite as cheap as Make Up Revolution and Make Up Academy/MUA (I hate that name). 

Before I purchased my Naked 2 palette I was so desperate for a nude eyeshadow palette and opted for the MUA's 'Undressed'. Like the Naked palettes it's a twelve shadow collection of nude colours that can be played up and down. They work fabulously for both smoky eyes with the darker shades on offer and really natural looks with the paler pink shades. They're a great brunch of shades and come together perfectly as a collection and though it lacks in matte shades, the colours are amazing for both day and night. 

I then needed something different for more exaggerated looks. I love a purple smokey eye and 'Starry Night' is a palette that MUA hit the exact spot with. It's a bunch of silver, blue and purple shades and though I don't feel I will ever get much use of the bluer shades, I think they'd be incredible for those of you with blue eyes that they could work really well with. 

The lipsticks that are available are really good too. While I don't think the staying power or total colour pay off is very good at all, I'm not too fussed as I only parted with £1 for the product. I picked up the shade 'Wild Berry' as it's a perfect autumnal shade and I will admit I brought a lip pencil at the same time, in a similar shade, because I suspected it might need a little help - and boy was I right!

I'm also going to point out that the little swatch at the bottom twists off the stick - this is probably just for a genuine, true to life swatch, but it would be brilliant with a lip brush to line the lips with, don't you think?!

'Undressed' - £4

'Starry Night' - £4

'Wild Berry' - £1

I am really impressed with everything that MUA have to offer and I hope to trail many more of their products and figure out if they're all as amazing as their palettes are! If you have any suggestions of any other super cheap brands I'd love to hear from you!

Em x

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