Stealing Beauty: MUA Luxe Velvet Review

Deep, dark, sexy, crimson stained lips.

Isn’t that a beauty dream for all of us? 

Well, I recently found the most gorgeous red velvet lip stain for just £3.00 and it doesn’t get much better than that.

This is the Luxe Velvet range of lip stains from MUA, a brand who are on fire in terms of producing high-quality, affordable products.

This is one of my favourite discoveries from them – and widely held to be a great dupe for the famous Lime Crime Velveteens.

It comes in an elegant frosted plastic tube with a matte black cap.

I really like the packaging myself – its lightweight but I don’t think it looks cheap at all. 

The application is a standard doe-foot sponge, but I prefer to apply this stuff with a brush to get a more precise line.

At first application, Luxe Velvet is very liquid and slightly sticky, but it dries to a smooth, matte finish. 

Its not overly drying on the lips but it does pay to exfoliate and moisturise your pout beforehand, particularly if you plan on repeated applications.

Not that you’ll need to top up all that much – once on, this really stains the lips so the colour will endure well.

The only slight drawback is that this does transfer – it doesn’t seem to set completely. 

I learnt this the hard way when I wore this on a Christmas night out and as I got more and more tipsy, I somehow managed to smear this fetchingly over my chin. 

Its extremely pigmented so if this happens, getting rid of it is an absolutely nightmare -  I had to rope a colleague in for emergency foundation application in the ladies!

This does flake after 3 or four hours, which is where Lime Crime probably has the edge, but for a fraction of the price, these give a great performance.

The colour of this is just beautiful – a stunning, rich true red that looks amazing in pictures. 

I found these worked best when applied with a brush. Because the finish is so bold it makes the outline of the lips look very defined, so you need to take care to get a nice crisp outline. 

Some kind of lip primer (I use DuWop Prime Venom) is also a good idea because the smooth finish can give way to cracks and flakiness if not applied with care.

I love the ultra-smooth velvet dimension of these and think they’re something new for a brilliant price.

So I picked up a couple more shades the other week - 'Halcyon', which is a pinkish-peach beige colour, the closest thing in the range to a nude, and 'Atomic' which is another red, this time more orangey and perfect for summer.

I’ll be stocking up on the other colours very soon! What do you think, have you tried the Luxe Velvet range yet?