Pocket Money Polishes £5 Superdrug Haul

NYC Lexington Yellow, MUA Frozen Yoghurt, MUA Strawberry Crush, NYC High Line Green

This post was supposed to be for Monday but I felt like sharing this with you a little early!

I haven’t done a proper P.M.P. haul for a little while, so whilst I was ill last week I popped online and made the most of the free shipping being offered by Superdrug (I’m sorry that the offer has now run out but the bank  holiday meant that this parcel took a while to get here so I couldn’t post it in time!). As far as I am aware you can get both of these brands in most Superdrug stores but if you can’t get hold of them or are not local to a shop then normal shipping I believe is £3. I should say at this point that these polishes were wrapped together in bubble wrap and posted in a doubled over A4 bubble envelope which is not the best protection I have seen for posted polishes but since they arrived in one piece, no harm no foul. The two NYC polishes were on offer 2 for £3 and the MUA retail for £1 each, so I was exactly on the pocket money budget.

Without further ado, onto the polishes! Yes, I’ve been swatching again!

NYC In A New York Minute Lexington Yellow

I only have one yellow polish in my collection (H&M Lemon Tree) which is a fairly sheer mustard leaning yellow, it has definitely served me well so far but in the words of the Little Mermaid ‘I want more….’. After asking the advice of the Brit Bloggers it was a toss up between BarryM Lemon Ice Cream and this polish. I felt it was my duty to try out this budget brand on your behalf (that’s right, I am blaming you all). As you can see Lexington Yellow is a bright, lemony sunshiney yellow – in no way green or orange leaning. This is three coats over a clear base coat and for a yellow it was not too bad to work with. The first coat had bald spots but it built up quite nicely. The brush with these polishes is fairly average but I did find that it was very easy to end up with too much polish on the brush which made for slightly thick coats on some occasions. I think for the price and considering how notoriously tricky yellow polish can be to work with that this was a great investment. I am not surehow often I will wear this polish on it’s own but I think it is fairly flattering and I didn’t feel diseased. The small patches of cleaning I had suggested that this polish does stain as badly as H&M Lemon Tree (which is a skin clean up nightmare for me).

NYC In A New York Minute High Line Green

On to the other NYC – High Line Green. The formula on this polish was thick and I had bubble, which I think could be solved with a little bit of polish thinner but was fairly irritating when applying. This is just two coats over clear base coat and to be honest it probably would have been fine with just one. Despite the formula not being great I LOVE this colour. It’s a grassy, summery, green green. I am afraid the camera made my skin a little bit pink due to the intensity of this colour but I didn’t want to mess with the colour too much as I think this is a fairly accurate representation of the polish itself. I was honestly really surprised how much I liked this colour – the greens in my collection are either very blue leaning, pastel or olivey. I have never been drawn to green polishes if I am honest and I only really ordered this one so I had the colour option for art. I have a feeling that you will be seeing more of this polish if the frustrations of application don’t get to me too much. I didn’t have too much cleanup to test out staining on this polish but when I removed it I did get some skin colouration – I am pleased to report this came off quite easily and I am fairly prone to staining.

On the whole I am very pleased with the colours from NYC and unlike a few cheaper brands I have tried the brushes are fine to work with. The formulas are not perfect and the dry time is slightly longer than some polishes I have but I think for the price, I can live quite happily with no shoppers guilt or regrets. Horraayy!

MUA Frozen Yoghurt

Our second brand is Make Up Academy or MUA and these are the new design bottles (miniture mimics of Essie bottles) which are adorable. You can probably tell by the picture that I had issues with the colour capture on this picture – my camera seemed convinced that Frozen Yoghurt was blue, when it is most definitely purple, so I did my best to make it a truer colour. It is a muted grape purple that took two coats for an acceptable opacity, again this is just over a clear base coat. It dried fairly quickly and to a nice glossy finish. I think these bottles would be perfect for carrying around in handbags or for in makeup bags (where space is always at a premium). The brushes were similar to BarryM and the formula applied with no hiccups, leveling out all by itself. I honestly was so surprised at how nice this polish was to work with considering it is possibly the cheapest polish I have in my collection (based on bottle price, I am not sure how it works out per mls). I am not really a purple fan but I do like the colour of Frozen Yoghurt which dries a shade or two darker than the bottle and think it’s a great spring summer cross over colour.

MUA Strawberry Crush

Last polish! PHEW. Compared to Frozen Yoghurt, Strawberry Crush is a slightly sheerer polish and this picture shows three coats. Again it dries darker than the bottle colour but to a lovely level glossy finish. I couldn’t believe how nicely it finished without a topcoat – I was a bit worried that it was going to look cheap but I don’t think that it looks any different from a BarryM or even a Rimmel polish. I think the only thing that would perhaps raise the game would be if it had a shimmer in it *continues to lust after the China Glaze Avant Garden Collection*. Pink is another colour sorely lacking in my collection as I do tend towards more autumnal shades but with the sunshine we’ve had recently I felt the need to embrace the girly!

I have a colour comparison for you as I am rubbish at describing colours especially blues and pinks where the spectrum is absolutely massive. However, I only really have one bright pink and that is BarryM Shocking Pink but I figure most UK readers will be familiar with it so it’s probably a good reference point!

The MUA bottles are dinky but perfectly formed and as you can see the pink here is a lot less intense and lighter, but I don’t think I would describe it as a baby pink or a pastel pink. It definitely has less blue in it’s base but it’s not at all orange so not related to coral… it’s just pink ok! Springy, cherry blossomy pink!  I actually think this colour suits my skin tone more than the Shocking Pink. What do you think? How would you describe it?

 Overall I am really happy with this haul and I think it’s an excellent mini collection for the spring/summer transition. I think that the MUAs verge on office friendly as they’re not too bright but add a small pop of colour, I suppose it depends on how strict your office/workplace is. I really wanted Pistachio Ice Cream which is also from their new collection and is a gorgeous pastel green but it was sold out 😦 I do know there are some reviews floating around the blogosphere though and Nail Luxxe has it in her giveaway (which is going until the 23rd of May and has lots of lovely goodies).  I might try more NYCs in the future but only if there is a colour I want to try, I don’t think this will be my go-to brand.

I am feeling better this week (as this mega haul review probably implies) and there are some exciting things coming up on the blog this week, I mean it, REALLY exciting! Until tomorrow, why don’t you let me know if there are any brands you’d like to see me try or which of these polishes you like the look of? I love comments!