Saturday 13 August 2011

MUA nail polish review

I'm certain that by now you've all heard of the budget line MUA (currently only stocked in Superdrug - but soon to get it's own website that you can order from anywhere in the world!) so I'll just get on with the review of my latest purchases from the range.

I'm making a feeble attempt to grow my nails before I start sixth form in September. I've been blessed with 'man hands' all of my life. Not so much in size (I have the tiniest hands you could imagine) but in the fact that my nails just don't grow beyond a certain length before I nibble them off. I know this is such an awful habit, and my boyfriend hates it - so by painting them pretty colours it's putting me off making them ugly again.

I'm definitely attracted to nail polish more than most other types of cosmetics, which is odd because I have the most awful nails in the world. I think it's the lovely colours the polishes come in!

I hope you don't mind that I've reused the picture from my haul post featuring these polishes. My mum has taken our Nikon DSLR out for the day, leaving me with only my dodgy Samsung point and shoot - so I figured I may as well have one decent photo in this post. Apologies for the rest of them!


A minty turquoise (shade 5), a fiery coral (shade 3), a shimmering light gold (10), and a rich plum (3). 

The quality of the bottles were the first thing that hit me, they're chunky glass and feel a lot more expensive than the £1 they cost. This is until you unscrew the lid. The lids feel really light, and I worried that if I tried to screw them tightly they would crack.

The quality of the brushes actually seemed to vary between the polishes, with shade 10's being the worst, and 4 being the best.

Shade 10



Shade 3

The quality of application of the polishes varied too. Shade 4 (the corally red) went on perfectly in just one coat, whereas Shade 5 (the minty turquoise) took 3 coats to get a good bold colour.
The polishes are all thick, but the turquoise seems least pigmented.


As you can see, the 'shimmery gold' is confusingly definitely silver. Still nice, but I would have preferred a gold personally.

If you haven't already noticed, the use of 'shade 5' is ridiculously annoying. I wish MUA had gone for actual colour names, it makes them so much easier to identify, and I think would also make them seem more expensive.

As for longevity, I've been wearing these polishes for over a day now, and there isn't any sign of tip wear or chipping yet - and considering that the coral has only one coat, I think this is pretty amazing! I think I'll add a clear topcoat, as the polishes seem to be somehow less glossy than I'm used to. I know some of you will like this however - so each to their own.

On the price front, they're £1. Seriously. This is such an amazing price for these polishes. It really makes me question how MUA can get away with making such high quality products for less than a pound, while higher priced polishes can have a much worse formulation! I'll definitely be purchasing the full range of polishes, just because you can get the full range for less than the price of one higher range polish.

All in all these varnishes are amazing. The colours are mostly rich and long lasting, everything you'd want. Admittedly for some of the colours you may require a few coats, but they are so quick drying that this really shouldn't be an issue.

I'm looking forward to trying MUA's new professional line of nail products, featuring crackle effect polishes!

How about you, have you tried any of MUA's polish range?

Sara xx

11 comments:

  1. Wow all the shades are very pretty!!!!!

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  2. Shade 10 is very pretty! Love MUA :)

    X

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  3. Shades are pretty, the brushes don't look so good :) But for a pound i think I'll pick some up to try!

    http://lucyywrites01.blogspot.com/
    Lucy xx

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  4. i've not tried mine yet but if the rest of the range is anything to go buy i'm sure they will be great :-)

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  5. I am follower #87, my favourite number. I love the look of the turquoise polish, not tried any of the mua polishes although I'd like to.

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  6. all the shades look lovely <3

    www.loretta-blog.blogspot.com

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  7. Shade 5 is pretty! I've been looking for a minty turquoise shade.

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  8. Beautiful nailpolish

    http://fashiablee.blogspot.com

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  9. I have the turquoise (whatever number that is) and one of the MUA pro shatter varnishes - both of which I love. I find they last really long x

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  10. These colors are gorgeous!

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  11. Have you tried the nail varnish that whenever you bite your nails it gives you a gross taste in your mouth? I used to bite my nails and after using it, I've stopped :)

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