£20 Makeup Challenge....

I have been meaning to get round to doing this for FOREVER. Honestly I've had this in my mind to do since I started this blog because I've always wanted to see how many decent makeup products you could get for bargain prices. And even when I eventually bought the products It's still taken almost two weeks to even try them out, I know right. And i'm totally aware this is going to be an epic post so hopefully if i do it bit by bit it'll work out okay. 

But anyway, I was really happy with the products I got and I'm going to try and review them individually as I go. 

My challenge came in at £19.47, and i thought this was really good actually. I was convinced i was going to go over the budget but with the handy offer in Boots with natural collection on 2 for £3, that kind of saved me really. Unless the offer is still on, i would have gone over now, but it's not technically cheating right? :)

Products: 

• Collection Work the colour Eyebrow kit
• NYC HD colour Quattro in 'fashion bootcamp' 
• MUA Pro-Base Argan plush concealer in 'Fair'
• Natural Collection Lip Lines in 'plum' 
• P.S. Love (from Primark) Blusher in 'pink'
• Revolution Liquid Eyeliner Waterproof
• MUA translucent pressed powder 
• NYC Showtime volumizing mascara 
• Natural Collection tinted moisturiser 

For my base I got this Natural Collection tinted moisturiser in 'natural'.

Now this was actually a bit of a let down in the selection. I'm not sure what I was expecting from this, but the colour was strange. Really quite dark for a 'natural'. It blended out okay and as I was using my fingers this was a bonus for me and I feel like it'd be much nicer with a brush or a sponge. But my disappointment in it was the actual texture. It was really quite oily? I was expecting a more creamy consistency but this really sat on my dry skin and as it was a 'moisturiser' I was actually hoping for it to blend and work into the skin so much better. It gave very little coverage but this was to be expected from a tinted moisturiser. 
I really didn't love this product and i guess if you were really desperate, you might be able to make this work if your skin is very different to mine but this was not a highlight of this range of products and i wouldn't recommend it even for the cheap price of £1.99. Seriously, just buy a couple of Revolution lipsticks with that instead, it's not worth your money.




The concealer is up next and i'll start with the positives, as it goes, the product is quite pigmented and opaque and has pretty damn decent coverage. The texture is pretty creamy which is nice and it blends out effectively. I can't complain as overall, it's a pretty nice product. It has average lasting power i'd say, it's nothing special to me as concealers and foundations tend to sit pretty well and are reasonably long wearing anyway on my skin. It's comfortable and isn't too greasy, although i wouldn't recommend this as an undereye concealer as it does sit on the skin a little and suggests to me that it'd fall into fine lines. The finish is pretty matte and it does stick to dry areas but it's definitely not the worst in that department, for the money it really holds its own. 
However, here come the negatives. The smell. It smells like wax crayons. That reminds me of cheap nasty lipstick; Not something i want to be putting on my face. That is a massive downfall to me and puts me off it so much which is sad because i like the product but i'm really not into the smell as it does last all day and you do get whiffs of it every now and again. Plus, I'm not really sure what happened but the stick snapped. Like completely. Whilst lay in a bag in my makeup cupboard. Hmmm. Regardless to say, not impressed by that. I'd recommend this product if you could deal with the smell and the scary prospect of an unusable product. But for £3.00, it's really not bad! I can't say that i'd repurchase but i'll definitely use up the one i have. So it's alright, that's my verdict.

I don't know about anyone else, but i cannot stand my skin feeling

tacky in the slightest. So next, despite people saying about how you should 'leave the foundation to work into the skin' i powderderd. And this powder was okay i guess, nothing tremendously special but then, you know, it was only £1.00. I do feel however that it hasn't had a fair trial as i did have to use my fingers to apply the powder which of course is not that great. I definitely think the formula is actually pretty decent for such a budget product, the powder is reasonably finely milled and potentially could apply pretty nicely with a brush but i don't think it'll give much oil control just from my impression of the texture but for me, that's okay as i'm not particularly oily, but i'm sure this could be an issue for some people. So this one is a bit eh, but if it massively amazes me with future use i'll let you know.

Next up, i did my brows. Now surprisingly, i was pretty impressed by this product. I have a few issues but generally it was alright for the money. There is a lot that could go wrong let's face it, and this was decent. In the palette, you get three colour powders, a really dark brown, bordering on black, a sort of medium brown and then a blonde shade. It also came with an eyebrow gel which for me is handy as i do have unruly brows sometimes; and a little double ended brush, one side with a angled brush and one with a flat eyeshadow-esque brush. This is all very nice and the powders have okay pigment nothing groundbreaking but it does the job and the gel does what it says on the tin. My issue with this product is the actual colours. I understand that they are catering for everyone but really? I'm not blonde so can't comment on the actual tone of the powder which i know a lot of people struggle with, but if you were blonde, what need would you have for a black eyebrow colour? Even if your a light brunette like me, it's quite difficult to use. And vice versa, a dark haired person is not going to have a need for a blonde colour. And then this of course means that you are potentially paying for two colours that you will never use? Hmm... The cost of this product was the most expensive of the bunch at £3.99 as no where seems to do super cheap brow products so overall i was pretty disappointed and unless you have a need for all three or could think of a way that all of them could work, i don't think your getting value for money, so i wouldn't recommend. The brush i actually used a lot during this challenge. I used the angle edge for my brows and the flat brush for my shadow instead of the little sponge applicator i got in the palette but i wasn't really impressed with the brush either. It just didn't really pick up any product and i couldn't blend a thing. The brush feels nice on the hand, pretty soft, but i think that is where the fault lies, it's almost too

soft. Overall, not impressed with the brush but then it was never going to be amazing in a cheap pallette. So i guess overall, it's an okay product for the money if you disregard the variety of colours but for a little bit more there are lots of nicer products that you get better value for money for. 






Then, my eyeshadow was applied. Or rather i tried. This i thought looked really lovely and stood out to me in the shop. The colours are really nice and i felt like i could put a nice golden look together with it. I made a conscious decision to stick to shimmers rather then trying a matte and it doing nothing as they are notoriously hard to formulate in cheaper brands. So i really did give the eyeshadow the best foundations to be a pretty decent product. That was the plan. But i was let down. the colours are, like i said nice but when swatched, the only one that comes across as something of anything was the darkest colour in the palette which was disappointing. And that was properly swatched on my finger. As soon as i tried to apply this was the little brush from the eyebrow set or even with the horrible little foam applicator that came with it, there was so little pay off, i had to really build it to get a decent effect. And it just got messier and harder to blend the more i did it which wasn't the best as they felt so creamy on the swatch. Needless to say i wouldn't recommend these even from the stupidly low price of £2.99 but honestly even for that it wasn't worth it. For another pound you can get a makeup revolution palette, whose formulas i adore and are amazing value for money as you get so many more colours; i would highly recommend any of these over the NYC any day. 



Then i did my eyeliner and i actually do really like this. It's very black and i know that sounds obvious but some are really streaky and not that great for a really solid black line first time but i can definitely say you don't get that with this. It's also just the right consistency, not too watery but not too thick and gloopy for

it to glide on smoothly but not run everywhere and make a mess. It's waterproof which isn't a dealbreaker for me. I tend to lean towards none waterproof formulas but then this one is pretty damn good and stays on all day even with my watery eyes which is really nice. The applicator won't be for everyone and i would liken this actually to a felt tip liner product rather than a classic eyeliner in this format. It's a nib not a brush and isn't that flexible as they go but i quite like that, it gives me more control over my handling and gives me a less wobbly patchy line. But like i said this is personal preference. If i was to criticise one thing it's that the nib is very pointy, like to the point where it will scratch you if you pull it the wrong way which isn't great. But i can deal with it in exchange for a pretty decent product for only £1.50. I would definitely recommend this, i can do a really lovely thin delicate line with it and it lasts all day without a problem. I will probably repurchase and for only £1.50 from Superdrug, you really can't go wrong!   



Okay, so Blush. I have wanted to try some Primark beauty for a while but just haven't gotten round to picking anything up and this seemed like prime opportunity. It was actually a bit of a faff trying to get this because I was looking everywhere for a blush for two pounds from somewhere and I came across this and thought why the hell not?

The reason why not was that my boyfriend was already at the till of the HUGE Primark cash register queue and I was not willing to wait another age for a two pound product. But after wandering round a bit more, finding another blush and still not being satisfied, I headed back to Primark just before closing time and finally bought it when there was no queue. YAY! And I'm happy to say it's really actually worth it for two pounds anyway. It's nicely pigmented and isn't too chalky. It is a little and does have a bit of throw up when you run your brush into it but when you're using your fingers like I did in this challenge, it was fine. Reasonably easy to blend and although the colour looks quite scary, it's really not as bad as it looks.
There wasn't a good range of colours I should add and I think this was actually the lightest of the lot (I know!) so I would have gone for lighter if there was the option but I was happy enough with the blendabilty of this to make it work. The packaging is nice, it does feel more expensive then it was which is always nice and it does feel substantial. It does have a little mirror which is always nice but I feel a little pointless in a blush compact but hey, I won't complain, it's a nice touch. So yeah, in all, it's a nice product, I probably wouldn't repurchase this one in particular but for those who are into a brighter blush, I'd defiantly recommend you try if your on a budget. If there was more colours, I'd be more tempted. I'd recommend you try one of the cream blushes from MUA or the little cheapest blushes in the white packaging from Makeup Revolution for the money if your looking for a larger range of colours but similar quality.



A huge highlight for me was definitely the mascara, which surprised me slightly actually. I’m usually not a huge fan of the fibre bristle wands, for someone who doesn't have anything particularly impressive in terms of lashes, i feel like they don't really grip onto my lashes enough in order to really properly volumize and lengthen them to how i like them.

I prefer the plastic thin wands with plenty of long bristles to really catch my lashes and curl them to make them stand out a little more. The NYC Showtime mascara is usually everything i don’t like from a mascara. But this is something a little bit different. I cant be sure what it is to be honest with you, but it really does something for my pretty pathetic lashes.

For £1.99, this is seriously a definite recommendation for everyone , on a budget or not. I feel like i’ll reach for this quite a lot and i’d definitely repurchase and think twice before turning my nose up at a brush like this again, because like it or not, a formula may be absolutely amazing but without the right brush, no one will love it. i got mine in superdrug and i’m led to believe it’s pretty widely available and for two pounds, you just can’t go wrong! 


Finally, we're coming to an end. The last product i picked up was this lip liner from Natural Collection because i hedged my bets that a lip liner would give a better matte lip then a actual budget matte lipstick. And my verdict is that it's okay. It's not the best lip product ever, it definitely dried my lips out, it is of a dryer formula then other slightly more expensive liners I've tried in the past, but that's to be expected. It's a really nice opaque colour pay off and it's not too patchy. I really like the colour, a really deep wine red with a super matte finish which is really one of my favourite lip colours. The pencil is reasonably soft and doesn't drag too much and is reasonably comfortable to wear provided you put a little bit of lip balm on first before applying the product. It lasts a reasonable length of time, no longer then a normal lip liner by itself but it's pretty good. Overall, i probably will repurchase another one of these products if I see a colour i fancy. They are cheap and are decent quality but i don't prefer them over other brands such as Rimmel for example so for the money, i'd just say invest in a little more for much better quality. But as a one off, they are reasonable.

All in all, i was happy with the look i created and for the money, i thought it was really impressive.(Excuse my face though, this photo was taken at about 11PM after a long ass day) I honestly did not imagine that i'd be able to create a good wearable look for under £20 so i impressed myself and i'm happy to say there are definitely products that i will use again outside this challenge. 


Thanks for reading guys and if anyone does this challenge i'd love to see so make sure you let me know and i'll have a look! 

Jo x