MUA Liquid Lipstick Review & Swatches
MUA Liquid Lipstick ($9) is a new CVS exclusive Liquid Lipstick created by the UK brand, MUA Makeup Academy for US release that’s available in eight shade selections.
Let’s take a look!
First thing you’ll might notice about MUA Liquid Lipstick is the price especially if you’ve used MUA Makeup Academy in the past from the UK as this is $9 versus most lip products being $2-$4 in the UK. I admit I didn’t love that the prices were so high but CVS has so many sales and deals you likely won’t pay more than $5 for this Liquid Lipstick during a good sale so I’m not bugged over much by the price difference.
MUA Liquid Lipstick
MUA Liquid Lipstick Swatches (Coral)
Much to my delight this has a brush applicator for application. I think Liquid Lipsticks and even gloss for that matter apply best with a brush application so I was quite happy with this. Unfortunately right out of the tube the brush was frayed, split, and quite a mess. This made for a messy application of the product. You might wish to take a tissue and straighten it out and reshape it prior to use. One of the things I noticed first about this formula was the smell. I guess it’s supposed to have a peppermint flavor and fragrance. This translates well on lips as it has a cool, refreshing taste (although it might be too intense for sensitive users). However, the peppermint translates as a bit a medicine-y smell when you open the packaging which isn’t pleasant to my nose.
I find the texture very gloopy and for the life of me I could not get it to look smooth or even when using the brush. For the best results I applied with the brush and used my finger to smooth the color out. This helped give color a smooth, even appearance. It sets REALLY fast so you have very little time to get it applied correct, my advice, work QUICKLY! Once it sets it doesn’t transfer and stays within the lip line very, very well. It’s quite pigmented so a single application provides opaque color and it can be built for extreme intensity if you want a wilder look.
I did notice that the first hour my lips were quite dry under this. But that’s the case for me with many long wearing liquid lipstick formulas. It does stay in place like a champ during this time and I can eat, drink, etc and not have it transfer, move, migrate, or feather. However, after about two hours it does crumble and flake up badly. The problem here is it’s difficult to remove with just a napkin when it starts doing this! Even with the flakiness it leaves color behind and I need an oil based remover to get everything off!
The pigment is incredible but the MUA Liquid Lipstick formula has a little ways to go to becoming perfect. The dry down is dry and after a few hours it becomes flaky and cracked and applies unevenly without an intervention from my fingers. MUA did a good job with the long wear time on this as well as the pigment but the formula definitely needs to tweaking as it has some unforgivable quirks.
MUA Liquid Lipstick is available exclusively at CVS and CVS.com.