What trending these days is some matte lip lacquers. I don't usually follow trends, but this time I have to, since I love matte lip lacquers so much. The first stuff I know was from the infamous and dark background: Lime Crime, with their extra high price. But lately we can find similar products with similar result and quality but so much friendlier regarding the price. This product from Make Up Academy (MUA) is one of those.
For those who haven't heard this brand before, well, basically it's a UK based drugstore brand.
These products are individually wrapped in some velvet black cartons with golden printings on them. Classy.
According to the packaging direction, this product should be dispossed off after 12 months of usage. And although MUA is a UK brand but they were manufactured in Taiwan.
The bottle themselves are some frosted glass with black caps and golden printings on them. Very simple yet classy.
 |
| My shades are Tranquility and Kooky. |
There are 10 shades available and they are wearable. I mean, not the kind of colors made for crazy people. Trainquility is the lightest one, while kooky is the darkest. You can check out their complete shade here.
Their applicators are absolutely the regular doe-foot ones. Nothing really special about them. But they are very easy to use and felt soft.
 |
| Freshly applied. |
 |
| After several minutes. |
According to the claim, this product are wet when freshly applied will turn to matte after several minutes. But to be honest they don't dry completely in just a sec. Yes they would turn to LOOK MATTE in just several minutes, but it took about 15-20 minutes before they dry completely, and for the time being, I get my lips all sticky and tacky and didn't even dare to pout my lips together, afraid of getting the layers fall apart.
But after 20 minutes or so, they really dry completely and last the whole day. Very smudgeproof, kissproof, waterproof, as well as bulletproof I suppose. LOL. They didn't even budge after I ate Beef Rendang in Warung Padang cyiiin... #RendangProof
TRANQUILITY
 |
| Tranquility taken indoor with camera flash. |
 |
| Tranquility taken with no camera flash, under extra bright lighting. |
Tranquility is what I call as a nude and pale brown. Not peach, but brown. I don't think this color will suit people with medium skintone as this will make you look errr... ill? For me this color is suitable for daily use and won't appear too much.
***
KOOKY
 |
| Kooky taken indoor with camera flash |
 |
| Kooky taken with no flash, under extra bright lighting. |
Kooky is... remember eggplant? Well, just peel off the skin, extract the color, and squeeze it to your lips. That's how you'll get this Kooky shade. It's a vampy and dark purple. My favorite color. But although it's vampy and dark, it's still a wearable shade.
***
These pictures will show you the removal process.
 |
| During the removal. |
 |
| After the removal. |
 |
| Residue. |
Although this product may seem to be waterproof and won't budge, turns out they are not so hard to be removed. Honestly. I just use my regular Viva Make Up Remover, a very lightweigt remover, and I can easily remove them. They'll turn to small flakes and won't leave any stain, even for the dark Kooky shade.
***
Ok, so these products, just like I said, will look like a lips gloss at first and turn to matte after 15 minutes or so. While waiting for them to get dry, do not every pout your lips together or you'll ruin the layer. After they dry, they won't budge, so don't make any mistake when applying them. They are also very pigmented. I don;t even have to dip twice to get the right result. Although you'll need several layers of application to get the opaque result., and they also easily stuck on your teeth. LOL.
Just like most lip laqcuers, this product will also make you feel that 'drying' feeling on your lips the whole day, as if your lips are sealed with a ducktape or something. I don't really have problems with drying lips whatsoever, since I always scrub my lips and apply lip balm afterwards. Also, I don't use matte lip lacquers on daily basis.
They really last the whole day, even after taking a meal. Very heavy meal. But the bad thing is the inner part will clumps first and reapplying them is a bit of a struggle.
 |
| The faded inner parts. |
If I have to compare this with Lime Crime, I'd definitely say that LC has better quality, although for the final result you cannot guess which one is which. But, again, the price speaks itself. So I think I'd definitely choose this over LC.
This product cost GBP 3.00 on their official webstore. But I bought this in online stores in Instagram for IDR 128K and IDR 135K. I forgot the store names but you can type #JualMUALuxeVelvet and you'll find tons of similar oline stores selling these. Also, some sellers in Female Daily forums would cost you for only IDR 95K each. So, happy hunting!
