I am all about liquid lipsticks these days. It is a true hype in the land of beauty and I already reviewed the Anastasia Liquid Lipstick in Carina two weeks ago and I loved that. Time to see if the much more budget friendly version released by Make Up Academy is as good as its more expensive counterpart.
MUA is a brand available from Superdrug in the UK, but some selected drugstores in the Netherlands also sell their products. The brand is also available through their official website. The MUA Velvet Lip Lacquers retail for 3 pounds a piece, which is roughly €5. This is about 4 times cheaper than the Anastasia Liquid Lipsticks.
The idea of this product is that it creates a velvet matte lipstick shade that does not transfer, is longlasting and intense. The pigment should be great and the lipstick feel comfortable on the lip. The product should dry quickly and be easy to apply. MUA calls it an ‘ultimate make-up bag must have’. A lot of claims for one product, so I was curious to see how these would fare.
MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer in Kooky, Atomic & Reckless
I picked up three different shades of the Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquers. The only shades available when I was at Superdrug were bright, in your face shades, so that’s what I went with. The lacquers come in frosted, satin looking glass vial with a black lid and gold lettering. This makes the product look a lot more expensive than it is. When it comes to packaging this product scores a straight A! Let’s have a look at the colors.
MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer in Reckless
When I want to try lipsticks I find it hard to NOT purchase a red. Reds are classic lip shades and a good red that lasts long and doesn’t bleed outside your lip line is a treasure to any make up bag. Reckless is a darker red shade that looks like a classic vampy red that would not look misplaced in a red carpet look.
MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer in Atomic
Atomic is a bright orange shade and with orange lips still being on trend I thought it would be a good addition to my make up collection. The orange of this isn’t neon orange or ‘Dutch soccer team’ orange. It is an orange with a hint of yellow to it which makes it very bright, but at the same time oddly wearable.
MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer in Kooky
Saving the best for last! Kooky is a straight up blueish purple shade. When I saw this I just had to try it. This was the first purple lip color I purchased and I wasn’t sure whether this is something I could pull off. Therefore paying a mere 3 pounds for this product rather than a much heftier price tag makes this a fun color to try.
The MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquers come with a doe foot applicator like so many fluid lip products. Be it a gloss or other liquid lipsticks: most come with an applicator just like this. The applicators aren’t too big, but have a nice size and a slanted area that allows the applicator to naturally follow the shape of your lips.
As you can see in this close up shot, there is quite a bit of product on the applicator. It may seem as if the red and purple have less on them, but that’s because I couldn’t for the life of me get all three applicators to face the same way when I was taking these pictures. I can only hope there isn’t too much product on here for a single application.
Swatched, you can clearly see that these lipsticks are quite thick and there there is a lot of product that comes off the applicator. The only lipstick that seems to have a nice texture is Atomic as that is not too thick or gloopy. Reckless and Kooky on the other hand, seem to give off a gigantic blob of color. The colors do look bang on and in your face, just like expected just by looking at them in their packaging. Pigmentation is therefore another aspect I like about this product.
When it comes to lasting power, when I took off the swatches I was intrigued. What was left were these stains on my arm. They were very hard to take off, but I found that these wore quite ugly on the lips. The orange was okay. Atomic mainly wears off in the center of my lip, but the Reckless and Kooky wear hideously. Because these colors are applied in a thick layer they sort of flake off. It looked horrible, like my lips were shedding. I decided to spare you a picture as it really didn’t look too appetizing.
Lip swatches:
Nothing – Atomic
Reckless – Kooky
On my lips the colors go on opaque, but the only one of these I managed to apply decently is Atomic. Especially Reckless was a right mess to apply. It transferred to the edge of my lips and it was impossible to work with these once applied as they dry so quickly. Kooky applied alright, but that also had a tendency to bunch up along my lip line. What these lip laquers require is a very steady hand and a prayer to get it on in one switch move: any mistake and the only thing you can do is to take off ALL of the product and reapply starting from scratch.
On top of that, the product feels anything but comfortable on the lips. Once these dry down, you can feel a layer on your lips, as if you’ve applied vinyl or one of those gel like band aids. Your lips feel oddly smooth and you can feel the product very much lying on top of it. These also hurt once they have fully set: they pull at your lips as the product seems to shrink once it dries completely and let’s not go into trying to take off the remainder product after a full day of wear. As these peel of more than anything else, it can be quite an ordeal to try and remove these.
Full face
Out of these three shades I think Reckless looks the best on me. Atomic is a close second, especially if I wear my hair down and wear a different colored shirt than the green I am wearing here. I can pull it off given the right circumstances. Kooky, however, I am not so sure how I feel about that. In a way it has something edgy, but it also makes my teeth look horribly yellow and I find it does nothing for my complexion.
I very badly wanted to like these MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquers, but apart from Atomic I do not really like these. Kooky and Reckless wear badly and the fact that these hurt once completely dry have made me a bit apprehensive about using them. I still love Atomic enough that I will keep it for those days when I feel like wearing a bright orange.
What color do you like best on me?