On 26th October, MUA released their eagerly awaited Luxe collection and I was on their online store faster than you can say "make up"! Having seen some sneaky preview pictures of the Velvet Lip Lacquers, they were the items from the collection that I was dying to get my hands on. However quick I was though, many people were far quicker because by the time I managed to buy them, the shade "Reckless" was out of stock - which was the one shade I was desperate to try! Nevertheless, I added the other four shades to my basket, along with a few other items and checked out. A few days later, I had an email from PayPal saying that I had a partial refund of £3 - which turned out to be the shade "Criminal", which I have to admit I was very annoyed about. I presume that MUA got their stock numbers mixed up, but I received no explanation as to why I wasn't sent that shade. However, two days later all of my other items turned up and I have the shades Funk, Kooky and Atomic to review for you today.

Let's start off with the packaging, which I would not usually write too much about but I was not impressed with the cardboard outers for these. They're a murky brown-black and the holder for the product curves outwards - it just looks a bit strange and not very professional. I know that these only retail for £3 each but I think a little more thought could have been put into this particular aspect. Otherwise, the gold metallic writing looks fine if a little predictable, and I like how they've designed their new 'Luxe' logo. The problem I foresee with these is how they'll be stacked on the shelves - I can imagine that Superdrug's staff will be forever cursing these awkwardly shaped boxes!


That being said however, I was impressed with the tubes for these products. The tube is beautifully designed, with a frosted glass finish and the lid looks pretty luxurious too. These come with a doe foot applicator - my favourite for products such as these. They allow for a precise application without streaking or wiping away any product that you have just applied, and how much product is on the applicator can be easily controlled. The tubes make the product look more expensive than it actually is - I would suggest that MUA do away with the cardboard outer and stick with just these instead!


The closest thing I would compare these lacquers to would be liquid lipsticks, and in particular Lime Crime's Velvetines - only for less than a third of the price and in a wider range of shades. I picked up Kooky, which is a deep, blue-toned purple; Atomic, an almost neon orange and Funk, a soft rosy pink. The other shades available are Reckless, a vampy blood red and Criminal, a vibrant pink. I'm going to talk about the three shades I bought individually, but I was amazed by the formula of all of these. They are incredibly pigmented - so much more than I was expecting for the price. They apply like a gloss, but within one minute have dried down to a velvet-matte finish, which looks absolutely stunning on the lips. Each swatch below shows my natural lips and then the lacquer applied.


On the website and in the tube, Atomic looks like a fairly safe shade of deep coral. However, once applied to the lips it's an incredibly bright, almost neon colour. I have to admit that I was not expecting this shade to pack such a punch - you'll need a lot of confidence to pull this off. I'm not sure I'm there yet but it's a beautiful shade - it somehow manages to avoid looking like you've smeared marmalade across your lips. This needed just one coat to get a full, even colour and a lip liner is not required here.


This is definitely the most wearable shade out of the three, and my unexpected favourite. This is a shade that I imagine would suit anyone, from dark to pale as the colour is bold enough to pop without overpowering the rest of the face. Yet, it is soft and feminine too and absolutely stunning to boot. This is one that I'm going to be wearing to work time and time again, it's completely unique to anything in my collection. Again, just one coat of this was needed with no lip liner necessary.


By far and away the black sheep of the collection, and in more ways than one. This is the darkest lip colour that I think you can come across that isn't black, it really does draw all of the colour out of your skin so if you're going to wear it out, plan the rest of your make up carefully! This one behaved slightly differently the the others; the pigmentation was the same but it seemed to streak a little on application. You can also spot that the edges are not completely clean - however, this is not noticeable at all from a comfortable distance. If you are obsessive about achieving those clean edges I would advise on a lip liner with this, if you can find one. This also appeared to be slightly glossy in finish compared to the others.

Application is pretty easy with these, but care does need to be taken to achieve a clean finish. Because these are so highly pigmented, any little wobble at the edges will be instantly noticeable. I found, weirdly, that using a make up wipe wrapped around one finger allowed me to clean up any mistakes - but only if I worked fast. As for getting them off - well, you're in for a ride with these! Make up wipes - don't even attempt it. Micellar solution - if left on the lips to soak in it does lift some of the product off, and if you're desperate then you could get it off with a lot of scrubbing - I wouldn't recommend. What did get these off was my REN No.1 Purity Cleansing Balm - being oil based, it made light work of what could have been something much more difficult. I applied a pea-sized amount to my finger, and rubbed it onto my lips like I would a lip balm until the colour started to loosen. Then, I wiped most of the product off with my fingers and some warm water and finally went in with a flannel to get the last remnants off. This took about a minute to do, and my lips were completely clean and not stained whatsoever. Yes, you will end up tasting the cleanser - bleurgh - but trust me when I say that it gets all of the product completely off. Any oil-based make up remover should work but I would recommend a balm cleanser if you have one.

With all of the shades, the wear time and how they felt on the lips was the same. Once these are applied and fully dry, believe me when I say that they do not budge. Eating and drinking doesn't pose a problem (except for maybe oily food, but if you were eating that you probably wouldn't be wearing these anyway) and they didn't need any touching up whatsoever throughout the day. I have to admit that these do feel a bit uncomfortable on the lips, until you get used to it. I want to say that they feel drying, but they're not and my lips are in no worse condition after I have removed them. If you have dry lips, I would put on a light layer of lip balm before applying these - but miraculously they do not cling to any dry patches, or even heavily accentuate the creases of my lips. These do not bleed around the edges, smudge in any way or transfer to anything either; they truly are fool proof!

Final verdict - If you're looking for a truly unique, bold, long lasting lip colour then you need to have at least one of these lacquers in your make up collection. I really hope that MUA come out with even more shades of these because they are my new favourite lip products - they are absolutely amazing for the price and come highly recommended from me.

MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquers are just £3 each and are being sold on their online store, but they are out of stock at the moment. They will be available in Superdrug stores within the next few weeks.