Budget Beauty Series - MUA Love Hearts

As predicted the MUA stable continues to expand at an amazing speed, as well as the super successful £1.00 basic line (click here and here for an overview), the equally successful MUA Professional range has continued to expand with new products continuously been added almost on a monthly basis. When I contacted MUA to ask a bit more about their line and their inspirations, they told me of their intention to release a series of seasonal, or themed smaller collections, to run alongside their two main stay lines. The first of which came out earlier this year and was of course the Love Hearts collaboration.

Who doesn't remember those cute little sweets from their childhood ? well their still going strong despite the fact some of the more traditional messages have been replaced with things like Text Me. You can get Love Heart Mugs, stationary, jewellery, candles and now cosmetic items from MUA Make Up Academy :)

Not the biggest of collections it comprises of  just 6 nails polishes and 5 tinted lip balms but the colours and packaging are heavily influences by those tiny little sweets.

Purely in the names of research you understand I had to get my hands on some of these products - The amazing Mummy Lou kindly obliged and I picked up 3 products from the line first up one of the nail polishes.

The Love Hearts line comprises of 6 nail polishes all in pastel and bright shades which are spot on for Spring / Summer 2012. I bypassed the yellow, the orange, the blues and the nudes and went for the shade U ROK

I have to say this colour is beautiful it's not quite lilac it's not quite blue, it's a combination of the two a sort of forget me not colour. The application I have to say wasn't the best being a cream formulation it did have a tendency to streak but two coats was more than enough for even coverage.

I've seen the other shades floating around in the blogosphere and I definitely think U Rok is the highlight its a lovely shade that I'm happy to have in my collection and for only £2.00 for 6.8ml you can't really argue x

Despite the fact that the nail varnishes are super pretty the hype surrounding the Love Hearts range has been all about the lips. Not lipsticks, not lipglosses but tinted lip balms. There seems to have been a flurry of products like this hitting the market lately, Sleek Pout Polishes, ELF Studio Conditioning Lip Balm, and of course MAC Tinted Lip Conditioners, have all proven super popular with the consumer, so it's no surprise that another budget brand decided to get involved.

The MUA Love Hearts Tinted Lip Balms come in 5 shades ranging from pinks to neutrals, to darker brighter and stronger tones. They come in little 10g screw top pots, similar to those used in the Sleek Pout Polishes, and each lid features the products name in a Love Heart design. I picked up two of the more subtle toned balms - first up Sugar Lips

Sugar Lips as a gorgeous blue toned pale pink shade, it isn't that pigmented but it just gives a hint of colour and gloss to the lips

I also got Sweet Kiss which is much more of a peach, coral pink shade x

Again it's doesn't look that pigmented on the lips, but it still gives a lovely hint of colour and again lots of shine x

I have to say I really like these balms - they have a much softer more yielding texture than the MAC TLC's, and a much more subtle flavour than some of the other balms on the market- yes the they do have a slight vanilla / coconut taste but it doesn't linger on the lips. The colours I chose weren't that strong or bright so I can't really comment on the pigmentation levels of the rest of the shades, but the ones I purchase were great for just giving a tiny hint of colour and shine to the lips without providing an out and out block colour. My lips felt pretty moisturised with these balms and they certainly didn't leave them any drier. I personally would still use a lip balm at night but these were fine for during the day x Again for just £2.00 each you can't really argue.

I have to say despite my love for the MUA range in general there was always the feeling that this collection could be a bit gimmicky, but it's not, for the prices the products do the business just as well as items retailing at  more than double the price. The Love Hearts range is available in selected Superdrug stores and online - get a move on though the range is only on sale till the end of the summer x  Next up in my Budget Beauty Series an overview of MUA Professional Eye Shadows and Mascaras x Have you tried any of the MUA Love Heats products and what do you think of them ?