MUA Nails & Fur Effects!

Afternoon guys, it's Jenn here (: 

Firstly, I hope you all had an absolutely lovely Easter bank holiday! Unfortunately, I was at work all day Friday, Saturday and Monday so I couldn't enjoy it as much as I would of liked. However, I did get the Sunday to scoff my face, spend some quality time with my parents and bake my heart out. 

L-R Top to Bottom- chocolate hamper from my mum and dad, my hot cross muffins, my chocolate and oreo brownies, and my sweet gift bags from Rosie and Maisy!

 Right, on with the show! I have some spare time this morning/ afternoon so I thought I'd review these two little products from MUA. The first is a new shade of nail varnish called Natural Days. I actually bought this because I thought it would be a perfect pairing with the Fluffy Puff Fur Effects, which is the second product i'm reviewing! 

 Quite a straightforward review here. 

 Pro's

• A lovely, on trend, ice cream shade of pink.
• Highly pigmented. I applied two coats but it really didn't need it at all. 
• Fast drying. 
• Hard to chip. I've done loads of house work today and my nails can't usually take it but it's all still on.
• £1!  

Con's

• The brush appears to be made out of plastic, and the bristles don't create a very nice feeling on the nail. 
• Because of the above, makes quite a few track lines so you have to make extra effort to cover them. 

 

I do think this is a great varnish for the price, I actually can't believe I only paid a pound for it. I've paid much more for other varnishes that haven't been half as good as this so i'll definitely be trying the other shades (:

 

I've wanted one of these the second I knew they were being released and I visited my local Superdrug for weeks until they stocked it. It's taken me this long to review it because I worried I was going to be disappointed with it, which is the case for most products that have been hyped up. But alas, I love it! 

First of all, it's so simple to apply. MUA say to apply two coats of your nail varnish and then, either, shake some powder into the lid or take off the sifter and use it straight from the pot. I was feeling wild this morning so I chose the latter. 

I applied it to an accent nail instead of covering each and every one of my nails because I didn't want to go overboard. I'm impressed with the effect. It isn't too garish, messy and dried instantly so I didn't have to wait around for ages trying not to touch anything. 

I also fretted about what would happen when I washed up or got into the bath and shower, would it go all soggy and look absolutely revolting? It didn't, it hardly made any change to it at all actually and, again, dried instantly. 

 

 (Please ignore the state of my hands and fingers, work does bad things to them!) 

 Overall, I am very happy with both of these products and I can't to get my mits on the other shades in both collections. 

 

XXX

 

MUA Magnetic Nails- Mayfair

I adore MUA so after a shopping trip with our dearest Amber, I purchased this little varnish. I've never tried any magnetic polishes before so I was quite eager to use this and I'm so, so glad I bought it. There are 6 shades in this collection, including this one called Mayfair. there are two other 'swiggle effects' which are Regent Street and Park Lane and 3 circle effects in Picadilly Street, Kings Road and Leicester Sqaure.

I picked this dark, rich shade of blue as I don't really have many varnishes in this colour and it was a nice change from all the pale pinks and nudes at the moment. From the photo it looks quite glittery but it definitely isn't (if you wanted a glitter go for Kings Road or Picadilly Circus), it's actually quite shimmery but the magnet seems to turn it more into a glossy finish which just adds to the effect. 

To Apply: 'Just apply the magnetic glitter to your nail, and while the polish is still wet, hover the magnetic brush cap over your nail for five seconds. Be careful not to touch the polish though!' 

It was literally that easy (trying to read the super fine instructions on the back of the bottle was more difficult!) It was also quite pigmented for a super cheap varnish as well which was a nice surprise and it also didn't take years to dry so I was super impressed. 

 

I will definitely be purchasing the rest of this collection. The application process was effortless, it dried pretty much a minute after it was one, and the overall effect is lovely. Personally, I think it looks a bit like a base to a galaxy nail and I'll be playing around with this more in the future. 

So impressed and a must-buy for £3.50 from Superdrug.

You can see the rest of the varnishes here.

Pro's 

• Gorgeous, glossy finish.
• Quick drying.
• Highly pigmented.
• Good quality magnet to create the 'squiggle effect'.

 Con's (I'm being picky for this because I actually can't find a solid con)

• Slightly pricey for MUA... But it's worth it. 
• Hard to read instructions on the back. 

 XXX

Mani Monday! Embellish 3D Manicure.

This week, Manicure Monday comes in the form of Embellish 3D Manicure exclusively for Primark beauty. There has been so many of these 'caviar' nail effects on the shelves lately since they were first seen done by Ciaté. However, for £18 I couldn't really justify it despite how much I wanted to. Working in Primark, I noticed these manicure packs before MUA bought out their version of it so I purchased this first and for £2.50, it was quite a bargain buy.

Currently, there are only 3 different sets (there was more during Christmas, which were featured in the black box, not white.) This one has a 10ml pearly nail varnish with 14g bottle matching beads. Other sets come in a raspberry coloured varnish with multi coloured beads and also a mix between the two (pearl nail varnish/multi beads.)

The set also comes with a convenient little funnel so you can put all the excess beads back into the bottle it came from, so you're not wasting it all.

Pearl Nail Varnish

Obviously, you need a starting point and this varnish is it. I really love the colour, it's highly pigmented and the photo above shows only one coat. The instructions on the back say to apply two coats but I really don't think it's needed at all. Other than the colour, there's nothing else positive about it. It's gloopy as can possibly be, which also meant that it took quite a while to dry and even when I was sat doing absolutely nothing, it had still managed to smudge. You could also see the brush tracks which I tried to even out as much as I could but ended up creating little mounds of it instead. Not a good look.

Pearl Beads

Whilst the varnish is still wet, you pour over the beads over your nails. I chose just an accent nail to try this on, as I was unsure how it would turn out. It was easier to apply then I imagined but just make sure you have a tray to collect all the beads that don't end up on your nails. The end result was a bit messy as the beads didn't cover the entirity of my nail and even when I pressed individual beads to fill in all the gaps, it still didn't look 'right'. I also applied a top coat over the beads just to ensure that they wouldn't fall off during the day but this also didn't work because only half an hour later I was missing half the beads off my nails and was finding them all around the house. 

I think you can see for yourself that it didn't quite work out as I hoped, i.e the lumpy nail varnish and messy accent nail! What I did like, however, was the funnel (simple pleasures) which was really needed after the cascade of micro beads. They went straight back into the bottle mess free which is exactly what I wanted instead of crawling around my floor picking it all back up again.

 

 

Overall, it's an alright little gift and despite the not so brilliant review, you might find it works a lot better for you. However, I am quite hands on so it's not really ideal for me to use everyday. I would try this again if it was for a one-off occasion or a night out but I would take it straight off the next morning. The main problem I had with it was definitely the nail varnish so if you're put off you could just use your own and buy this simply for the beads, or buy MUA's Star Constellations (which have been reduced to £2 here!) For £2.50 I can't complain too much, it just lacks a little finesse.

Pro's 

• The nail varnish is highly pigmented and a lovely, luxurious pearl colour. 
• Cute packaging.
• Highly needed funnel included.
• A good quantity for the price (but a case of quantity over quality maybe?) 

 Con's 

• Gloopy, slow drying, brush tracking nail varnish.
• The beads don't stick (maybe because of the formula of the varnish? something wasn't right nontheless!)

 

XXX