5 Holy Grail Products from the UK

By Adrienne, Scotland Contributor

Adrienne lives in Scotland, and she writes for The Sunday Girl, which is mostly beauty but with a little life thrown into the mix. She was born and bred in Scotland, still resides in a damp Scottish town, and jokes that she sees about three days of sunshine a year–but it’s a lovely place to live. She is currently attending university studying both English and French with hopes to become an English teacher.In her free time, she loves to shop and hang out with friends–and beauty blog when she can!

MUA Pro Heaven & Earth Palette

5 Holy Grail Products from the UK

Today, I am going to share with you some great British products that I use on almost on a daily basis. These are products that have become great staples in my ever growing make-up bag. I thought long and hard about my five choices and whittled my list down by asking myself, “What would I recommend to a friend?”

MUA Pro Heaven & Earth Palette (£4.00) is a palette of twelve neutral eyeshadows that has almost reached cult status, and rightly so, as it is a really pretty selection of neutral shadows as well as it is an extremely good dupe for the often hard to source Urban Decay Naked Palette. The main differences aside from price, (MUA Pro palettes cost £4, Urban Decay Naked Palette retails around £35), is that MUA Pro palette is constructed wholly of shimmer and frost eye shadows compared to the Naked Palette, which has more of a variety in finishes. Heaven and Earth leans towards the cool end of the spectrum but each eyeshadow is finely-milled and packs a punch pigmentation wise. For £4, it is a wonderful neutral palette to add to your stash, but you may want to skip it if prefer matte formulas.

Barry M Lip Paints (£4.49) have a huge selection of shades–thirty one at last count–and they are always adding new shades to the line.  There really is a shade for everyone! I am a huge lipstick fan; I’d go as far as saying it is my favorite thing to purchase cosmetic-wise. For me there is no better UK high street brand for lipsticks than Barry M. Each shade is intensely pigmented and wears extremely well.  On average, I get around four hours wear per application. Unlike some high street/drugstore brands, these do not have am artificial smell nor are they overly drying in formula. There is one down side to Barry M lipsticks, though, and that is they all have the same semi-matte satin finish. Barry M lipsticks are well known for being great dupes for famous brands that are hard to get or of popular sold out shades. For instance, Barry M #147 Peach Pink is a wonderful dupe for MAC’s Ever Hip!

SleekMakeUp Blushes (£4.30) come with a low price tag but perform just as well, if not better, than some of the leading high-end brands out there. With the huge array of blushes available on the market, you grow to have high expectations regardless of the price tag! Why should you pay top dollar for a lackluster product? What I personally enjoy about SleekMakeUp blushes is that they are insanely pigmented, so much so that I urge all light skinned ladies to approach these with a light hand. The reason all SleekMakeUp products carry a high dosage of pigment is due to the fact the line was originally created with dark skin tones in mind. In my experience (and I have a stash of around ten), each one of the blushes is highly pigmented but also so finely milled and well pressed that the shades are never chalky, apply well with minimal fallout, and are a dream to apply and blend. My personal recommendation is Rose Gold, which is similar to a very famous shade with a rude name–yep–NARS Orgasm!

17 Wild Eyes Mousse Eyeshadows (£3.99) are a new addition to the Boots 17 line and come in six shades.  They are a semi-soft cream eyeshadow that works equally as well as an eyeshadow base or as a subtle all over wash of color.  I have been preaching about these little leopard print pots of cream shadow to all that will listen!  17 Wild Eyes Eyeshadows dry down to a powder finish. They are extremely easy to apply and wear best with a primer of some kind. I have oily lids, and with a primer, I can get eight hours of wear. Some have likened these to Chanel, but I see them as more a rival to MAC Paint Pots as this is what the texture most emulates and wears most similarly to. If you do try these out, I highly recommend the Wild Nude shade.

Collection 2000 Ultimate Wear Concealer (£3.99) is excellent! It is very seldom that you come across a budget buy concealer that performs well. On first inspection, it looks like any cheap drugstore buy, and you would be forgiven for not having high expectations, but this is certainly a case of not judging the book by the cover. Inside the tube houses a doe foot applicator and a thick, yet creamy, concealer that blends exceptionally well and hides all imperfections from dark circles to blemishes. It is a little on the thick side but not so much so that it can’t be used on the delicate eye area, and it doesn’t crease either. The only downsides of this product is the lack of shade variety as there are only three shades. My one tip for any potential buyers would be to choose one shade lighter than you would usually purchase as they have a tendency to oxidize throughout the day. I am an NC37 in Mac and wear shade two – light, if that provides any help!

Check out more photos & swatches!

MUA Pro Heaven & Earth Palette

MUA Pro Heaven & Earth Palette

MUA Pro Heaven & Earth Palette

Barry M Lip Paints

SleekMakeUp Blushes

17 Wild Eyes Mousse Eyeshadows

17 Wild Eyes Mousse Eyeshadows