giveaway: one hundred followers;

Hello, lovelies!  On Thursday, I reached 100 fabulous followers, so to celebrate I've decided to host my first ever giveaway!

One lucky winner will receive a Soap & Glory Lid Stuff eyeshadow palette in What's Nude (gutted I didn't pick one up for myself, it's gorg!), as well as a L'Oreal Paris Colour Riche Confetti top coat.  This giveaway is open internationally. To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below.  The only mandatory option is to follow this blog via GFC (link)!  There's a few extra entries up for grabs, too.  Simple!  The giveaway will close on Friday March 8th (that's two whole weeks away), so get entering!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
(p.s. I'd just like to mention that I bought these prizes with my own hard-earned cash as a special thank you for all you lovely, lovely people.  Thank you so much for following!)

Thanks for reading!

review: mua undressed palette;

 (Sorry for the awful/dirty picture, I just couldn't hold myself back from using it!)

The Undressed palette is MUA's answer to Urban Decay's Naked palette and, I assure you, it doesn't disappoint.  At just £4 (less than €5, holy moly!!) this palette is a steal!  Available here.

 It includes 12 neutral shades, from a pale shimmer, through golden tones, to an intense black.  (C'mon girls, we all know how difficult it is to find a highly pigmented black shadow!)  It has two matte shadows, and the rest are packed with a gorgeous satin shimmer that sticks really well to the lids (without sliding halfway down you face, leaving you looking like a disco ball).  The pigmentation and colour payoff of each shade is impressive, needing just a quick swipe to give intense coverage.  As for the texture of the shadows, they're very creamy and smooth, not chalky at all.

(Top row shadows. Swatched on a base of UD's Primer Potion)

(Bottom row shadows. Swatched on a base of UD's Primer Potion)

Downsides?  There's little to nothing I dislike about this palette.  The packaging isn't exactly pretty; it's quite plastic-y and flimsy, and I don't think anyone like those sponge applicators.  But those are just minor details, and for that cheap-as-chips price tag, I can easily overlook them.

Overall:  I would recommend this palette right down to the ground!  It's a perfect addition to any make-up kit, and has quickly become a favourite of mine.  This quality for that price? You can't go wrong.
Rating: 9/10

Have you tried this palette? What are your thoughts?  Thanks for reading!

haul: mua makeup academy cosmetics;

MUA (Makeup Academy) is a cosmetics company that I've heard very much about during my years of creeping through the beauty blogging community, but because it's sold exclusively in-store in Superdrug (which we don't have here, boo) I never had the chance to try any of their products.  Until now!  Last week, I put my debit card to good use and shopped to my heart's content at their online store (click here).  I have to say, I'm very impressed.  There's a great selection of products and colours, the price is a steal (all of this, including shipping, cost less than €40!!), the quality is surprisingly great, and it arrived in just three days!  Delighted.

(1) Undressed eyeshadow palette:  One of the best neutral palettes I've ever used, and it cost just £4!  Unreal!  Full review coming on this soon, so I won't say too much.

(2) Trio Eyeshadow in Eden:  This trio contains a jade green shade with gold shimmer, a mint green with gold shimmer, and a cream/gold duochrome with gold shimmer.  You need to work a bit harder with these to get a good colour payoff, but still very pretty.

(3) Trio Eyeshadow in Innocence:  This trio has a brown/teal duochrome which is mindblowingly beautiful,  a mid-tone shimmery golden brown, with a more peach/white highlight colour than the Eden trio.  So excited to use this one!

(4) Glitter Eyeliner in shades 6 & 8:  Shade 6 has small hot pink glitters with larger iridescent blue glitters.  I have no idea when I'm going to use this, but it's just so pretty and girly!  Shade 8 has gorgeous spring green glitters.  This liner is slightly thicker than the pink one.

(1) Lip BOOM lipstick and Gloss in Cheeky! and It's A Situation:  The idea of this product is that you can wear it several ways: either the lipstick or gloss alone, or layered together to make your lipsCheeky! is a matte, barbie pink colour (quite similar to St. Germain by MAC).  It comes with a pink gloss that is chocked full of sparkly silver glitter.  It's A Situation is red berry colour, with a rose coloured gloss with the same glitter.  Both are very pretty, and the lipsticks are quite nice considering that they're matte, and especially considering the price.  The glosses have a sickly sweet scent, which I'm not a huge fan off, but the colours and the glitter are FAB.

(1) Love Hearts nail polish in  U R FAB and I <3 U:  U R FAB is like a pastel red colour, if that makes sense?  It's more of a reddish colour than a pink.  Perfect.  I <3 U is just a nude/cream colour.  Very pretty for everyday.

(2)  Nail polish in shade 13:  I don't own many green nail varnishes (this is only my second), so this metallic green is a great addition to my collection.

(3)  Nail Constellation in Leo:  Microbeads!  I'm loving textured nails at the mo, and I've never tried a microbead product before.  So excited for this!

(4)  Fur-Effect Nails in Fluff & Cuddles and Fluffy Bobbin:  Fluff & Cuddles is a pink-maroon colour, and Fluffy Bobbin is indigo.  Strange.  Very strange indeed.  These feel almost like suede when applied.  I think I love them, but it's very difficult getting used to having furry nails!

Have you tried any of these products?  Or have you any other MUA products that you'd recommend?  Thanks for reading!