Big steps, Freedom London eyebrow pomade review and MUA Liquid Lipstick review...

Well hello, it's been a while...!

A little life update and review seems right about now seeing as how it's been a little too long since I posted last. From then until now I took a massive step in my life. I applied for college. It's pretty scary if I'm being totally honest. My anxiety has held me back for such a long time that now the kids are both going to be at school, I really need to push myself into it before I waste my whole life procrastinating and talking myself out of things that are going to make me happy.

The application was sent a few weeks ago so I probably still have a while to wait before they get to the interview process but I'm making an effort to try and stay positive. Looking at it from the perspective of "Hey, if I do this right now, in 3 years time I could be working as a qualified MUA." has kept me from running away. Keep your eye on the prize and all that jazz.

Onto the review. Took a little trip to Superdrug at the weekend to see what I could find and stumbled across Freedom London's eyebrow pomade (£5). My eyebrows are the bane of my existence, I've tried powders, gels and pencils but they never seem to look how I want them. Due to over plucking and waxing as a teen, my eyebrows don't really have much shape to them and they've become really difficult to grow in so finding the right product to suit me has been a bit of a challenge.

I looked into pomade a while back when I was contemplating buying the AHB Dipbrow pomade but I figured I didn't want to overspend when there was a chance that it might not work for me so coming across the cheaper version felt like fate. When researching the pomade before, it was recommended that you use a stiffer angled brush to apply it because of the texture but I decided to go for a softer one as I've had no success with a stiff one (oo-er lol) in the past. I picked up a cheap smokey eye Superdrug own-brand brush (£2.99) to try it out.

I have quite dark hair and usually go for a darker brow so I picked up the ebony shade. Use a tester in store if possible because when you open the pots, it looks deceptively lighter than it does when you actually dip your brush in. The pomade is nice and smooth and picks up onto the brush nicely, only use a dab at first. I lined underneath and above the brow and filled in the middle just with the angled end of the brush, I didn't need a spoolie or anything to even it out or brush over the brows but if you have quite unruly thick eyebrows, you might need to give them a brush through before and after applying. It's very pigmented so don't put too much on the brush when first applying because it'll look far darker than what you're trying to achieve. It was really easy to work with as it was so smooth and went on like a dream. I think I've finally found my perfect eyebrow product and I highly recommend it to anyone. The pots are 2.5g but for the amount you need to do both eyebrows, it's definitely going to last a long while. It comes in 11 shades (I think) so whether you're really light or really dark, you'll find something to suit your colour. And it's a definite bargain at £5.

While I was browsing, I picked up an MUA Luxe metallic liquid lipstick (£3 in Superdrug, £4 on MUA Store) in the shade Lustre. Recently, I've gone off a satin or glossy lip so it was the first time I hadn't picked up anything matte. But the shimmer was really eye catching so I thought it was worth a try. It comes with a doe foot applicator so easy to apply (for me anyway, I hate applying liquid lipstick with a brush). They're highly pigmented and very shimmery and you can build up the colour from sheer to more opaque. It smells lovely which was the first thing I noticed when I opened the tube, which I know isn't really that important but I've had some rather unpleasant smelling lipsticks in the past which I find a bit offputting. With regards to wear and tear, as it's non-matte and more of a gloss than a lipstick, it does come off a little while eating or drinking but it's not *that* bad. I timed the length of time between re-application (not including food or drink) and it lasted for a good 3 hours before I felt the need to apply it again and even at that it didn't fully come off. It's nice and smooth and doesn't dry your lips out at all and the colour didn't bleed out so I didn't feel the need to use a lipliner with it. Definitely worth the £3 and I'll be investing in some of the other shades. I'm not 100% sure how many shades there are in total but there are currently 9 live on the Superdrug site but only 4 on the MUA Store.

All in all, I'm going to give the Freedom eyebrow pomade a 5/5 and the MUA Luxe Metallic liquid lipsticks a 4/5, only missing out on the 5 because of the fact I felt it was more of a gloss than a liquid lipstick.

(Links for the eyebrow pomade, liquid lipstick and brush are right down the very bottom.)

Also, I just had to include this photo as my youngest decided he wanted to join in when I was getting ready and take a few photos <3

Hopefully, next time I can come back with some good news about college! <3

Much love!

- x M x

Products used:

Maybelline Dream Satin foundation (using up the last of it as I've stopped buying Maybelline sadly).
MUA Loose Powder in Translucent
NYX Powder Blush in Silky Rose
MUA Highlighter in Amber
Urban Decay eyeshadow primer
Urban Decay Vice 4 palette
Maybelline satin liquid liner (again using up the last of it)
Rimmel Supercurler mascara
Freedom London eyebrow pomade in Ebony
MUA Luxe Liquid Lipstick in Lustre

MUA Metallic Liquid Lipstick - Lustre
Freedom Pro Brow Pomade - Ebony
Superdrug Smokey Eye Brush

Maybelline Superstay 24 Hour Lip Colour review

Wow, been a bit busy lately with the kids all on holiday from school that I almost forgot about the blog. Bought make-up to review and a mini-haul still to post. So I thought I'd start with the quickest first and it's a review of the Maybelline Superstay 24 Hour Dual Ended Lip Colour. Links to the Maybelline website and Superdrug will be down at the bottom of the page.

I'll start by saying that I hate longwear lipstick. It dries your lips out, most of the time I find it tastes funny and it never really lasts the length of time promised. But as Maybelline is one of my favourite brands, I thought the Superstay was worth trying. I got mine from Superdrug and it was £8.99. They have an offer on at the moment on Maybelline, buy one get one half price. I opted for the colourway Absolute Plum.

It's a double ended lip colour (well, you can tell that from the name lol) with the colour at one end (which has a stander gloss wand applicator) and the other is a glossy moisturising balm. Their site boasts that the 24 Superstay lasts UP TO 24 hours, doesn't crumble, fade, transfer, smudge and is is non-drying. It comes in 18 (lovely) colours so there's quite a bit of variety there. Although Maybelline is one of my favourite brands, seeing as I'm not keen on longwear, I was still a bit skeptical.

Set up is obvious, apply colour and allow it to dry a little and then apply the balm over the top of it. Pretty simple. I was expecting it to be pretty dry before applying the balm but was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn't. I only needed one coat of the colour and it dried within a few seconds and then applied the balm which was really moisturising and left a lovely sheen. Then came the waiting. Now, I applied it straight onto my natural lip, normally I would be putting over foundation and powder. I figured I can wash my face around my lips and go to bed with it on to test the full 24 hours.

After 2 hours, the colour had stayed put, there was absolutely no fading and my lips still felt quite soft.

After 6 hours, still no fading. I had already eaten lunch and dinner plus brushed my teeth again.

At the 12 hour mark, it STILL looked almost fresh. I had been snacking and had a few drinks at this point.

At 18 hours, you could see that it was starting to fade but not by much (the lighting didn't help at this point as it was dark so I wasn't in natural light anymore so it looked darker than it does in the photograph), colour was still there on my lips. So I went to bed at this point.

At the 24 hour mark, the lipcolour had pretty much gone *but* there *was* still colour around the outside of my lips so it would've been interesting to see just how it would've faded had I not brushed my teeth again and gone to bed.

Overall, considering there was still colour around the outsides of my lips the lipcolour DOES last 24 hours. Admittedly, there was a lot of fading post 18 hours but realistically, it's not really likely that you're going to be awake for 24 hours straight and expect your make-up to stay 100% the whole time. I applied the balm at the 2, 6 and 18 hour mark, more out of habit as I was checking my make-up in the mirror than because it was drying my lips out.

The next day, I put the colour on with full make-up and the colour held even better throughout the course of the day. I'm really impressed and will definitely be buying in more colours. It's a great lipcolour to use if you're going out to work our on a day or night out and you don't want to be reapplying your lipstick every 2-3 hours (even less depending on the brand) and don't want your lips to end up really dry.

Pros

Colour lasts all day.
Doesn't dry out.
Doesn't smear or transfer onto clothes or skin.
No bleeding so no need to use lipliner.

Cons

None

Overall, I'm giving the 24 Hour Superstay Lip Colour a 5/5

x M x

MUA mini-haul to follow at some point tomorrow. Also, I've been thinking of starting a vlog on YouTube alongside the blog but still working on it as the house is so busy all the time, I don't know if it's feasible.

Maybelline UK - Superstay 24 Hour Lipcolor

Superdrug - Maybelline Superstay 24 Hour Lipcolour