Lipstick & blusher review: Bare in strawberries and cream

First of all, I'm sorry for the rather provocative title. I couldn't resist.

Unfortunately, there is a Boots right next to my gym. I mean right next door. With similar opening hours. Which is probably why my Boots Advantage card is healthier than my bank balance. Oh. It does however mean that I buy a lot of drugstore products to try out. Who doesnt like a little reward for after a hard work out?

1. 17 Strawberries & Cream blusher in 'Strawberry Swirl'

I was immediately attracted to this blush by the gorgeous colour palette. Sweet rose, dusky pink with a gorgeous cream highlighter. I love pink and cream together, and at £3.99, I had to have it!

As you can see from the swatch below, both the pink and the cream are shot through with gold, which I hoped would add a lovely highlighting effect when used.

I used the product for 3 days. I applied it with an Eco Tools 1246 finishing kabuki, and was instantly disappointed. I had to apply several coats and it gave very little colour. I had to push the product on, and layer it up with my beloved Benefit Bella Bamba. Maybe I'm spoilt with Benefit and I shouldnt be comparing the two, but I wont be adding this to my everyday make up bag any time soon.

Alternative use...

As I mentioned before, this product is shot with gold, and has very shimmery tones, so I decided to try it as a highlighter. I applied the cream blush to the top of my lids, over a layer of MAC paint pot in Painterly with an Eco Tools 1203 eye shadow brush. It works much better as a highlighter. The gold flecks catch the light, and there isn't enough pigment in the powder for it to white out your eye and make you look like a zombie! It did need applying again throughout the day, but for £3.99, i'm not surprised.

This product is available from Boots, at £3.99 and there are two shades available, Strawberry Swirl which i've reviewed here, and Peach Melba which has a much warmer orange tone. I'll probably pop this product on a blog sale..but please let me know if you're interested and i'll pop it in the post for you!

2. MUA Lipstick in shade 14 - Bare

I am a little addicted to MUA since buying the Heaven & Earth palette, which is a make up bag staple for me. I recently found a store with a larger concession and bought a basket full of their products (reviews to follow!) and this lipstick was part of it. I love a nude lip, because I wear quite a bit of eye make up I like to keep my eyes as neutral as possible.

This lipstck goes on very well and only needs two coats. As you can see from the swatch below its a very orangey nude, and heavily pigmented. Unfortunately it's a little too nude for me, although I have been layering Bourjois Beige Elegant over the top, and the shimmer in that appears to warm it up. This lipstick is quite drying though. My lips felts completely dry after only half an hours wear, but thats nothing a bit of primer / vaseline won't solve. I dont think i'll be continuing to use this shade, but i'm definitely going to buy a few different shades from the MUA range. MUA lipstick is available from Superdrug, or the MUA website priced at a rather bargainous £1.00!

I'm wearing both the blush and lipstick in the post below, although you can barely see the blush!

Have you picked up any of the MUA range recently? What are your favourite drugstore products?

PS sozzer about the wife beater in that pic. I was in my pj's!