MUA Highlighting Powders And MUA Luxe Velvet Matte Metallic Lip Lacquers
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Festival season is upon us and we’ve all lusted over the gorgeous unicorn and mermaid inspired makeup products that have been gracing our feeds. Cool, icy and metallic hues that look holographic in certain light and lips that sparkle brighter than Edward Cullen’s chest are all the rage right now. For once, you don’t have to break the bank to rock the trend. Makeup Academy, also known as MUA have a stunning array of festival appropriate, fun products for your lips and cheeks that cost £3 each. To live your glittery dreams you can rock a metallic lip with their MUA Luxe Velvet Matte Metallic Lip Lacquers or don their beautiful highlighting powders for a shine that sends signals to outer space.
MUA Highlighting Powders

The highlighting powders (here) were definitely what I was most excited about in this collection. The shades make me think of the Anastasia Beverly Hills Moonchild Glow Kit and the Kat Von D Alchemist Palette. Especially the icy blue highlight, aptly named Ice Sparkle. I think this is such a fantastic dupe for high-end celestial illuminators. All three shades are gorgeous and seriously pop on pale skin.

On my medium skin tone, they didn’t produce a blinding glow right off the bat. I love all the colours and swatched on the arm with a finger; they have fantastic colour payoff. When used with a brush on my cheeks I had to layer it three times before I got the highly coveted, requires sunglasses, beaming highlight. If you wet your brush you will get a brighter glow like you would with any highlight.

As you can see all three shades are gorgeous. Pearlescent Sheen is a white based highlight, Peach Diamond is a warm peachy gold that would look beautiful on any skin with warm undertones and finally there is the standout Ice Sparkle which is a blue-silver highlight which is harder to pull off but completely breathtaking. They feel slightly powdery but for the price they are phenomenal. I would recommend applying onto damp skin or wetting the brush first.
MUA Luxe Velvet Matte Metallic Lip Lacquers.

The MUA Luxe Velvet Matte Metallic Lip Lacquers (here) were a total surprise for me. All metallic liquid lipsticks I have tried have been drying and uncomfortable to wear or too thin with very little pigment so they look strange on bare lips. These are such a find. Their colour payoff is okay, you do need a few coats for full opacity. Even with the layers they don’t feel drying in the slightest and they also work fantastically as a lip topper.
So versatile, the shades of these are rich and stunning. They are better than most high end metallic liquid lipsticks I have tried and seen. Highly recommend these if you are into the metallic hype. The formula is pure perfection, non-drying and super comfortable. The only disadvantage is that they won’t last more than a few hours on the lips. However, they can be layered to fix any fading.

All the shades I tried are quite warm in tone so complement my skin excellently. Perseus is a pale champagne gold in colour, Orion is a rose gold metallic and Phoenix is a cranberry red metallic. All the shades have a silver sparkle to them. This gives off a really cool effect and can be worn on bare lips. They do need a few coats, or to be used on top of another base like a matte liquid lipstick. I prefer to use them as lip toppers on top of a matte lip, I find them really comfortable to wear and surprisingly flattering. Overall, I am so impressed with this range and ecstatic at the low price.
You can find the MUA Luxe Velvet Matte Metallic Lip Lacquers here and the MUA Highlighting Powder here
Kiran Kaur
Read more of Kiran’s articles for ReallyRee here

