Its been in the press recently that discount giant Poundland has introduced its own make-up range the ‘Make-up Gallery’.  Vogue magazine gave some of the products good reviews and a few newspapers have too. I decided to pop to my local store and try and couple of bits out.  I love a bargain and I’m not particularly brand loyal so I’m ready to embrace a new discount beauty range. 

First of all there is A LOT to choose from.  Pretty much everything that you could want cosmetics wise is there…but for £1! Lipsticks, glosses, lip liners, nail varnishes, eye shadows, liquid liners, foundations and powders…there wasn’t anything that they’d missed.

I have to admit I was pretty impressed.  I decided to get a couple of nail varnishes and a couple of lipsticks for my first ‘go’ at the brand.  Being 40+ the foundation, cover-up and powders I didnt try…I’ll leave that to younger bloggers with younger skin!  I’ve seen mixed reviews on them and would be interested to learn any personal experiences with them – let me know.

So what does a fiver buy you?  Well in Poundland 5 items 😄!!!  I picked 2 lipsticks and 3 nail varnishes for my first £1 beauty experience.  You wouldnt even get a Rimmel lipstick for £5, let alone, say, a MAC one!

The packaging is nicely done – black, white and simple and there’s no way anyone would think they cost a pound each.  However, ultimately the proof of the pudding is in the eating, or in this case, wearing.

I picked a mid purple (10 – Purple Pop) and pinky coral (13 – Pink Pop) coloured lipstick. Both went on nicely and felt quite moisturising.  For a stronger outline, I think investing in a matching lip liner might be a good idea…something for next time.  The colours were strong but not too bright.  Staying power was OK – on first application I applied it twice, the second after blotting and it stayed put until I ate or drank later.  To be fair this product is not selling itself as ‘long lasting’ and for me it was on par with most other lipsticks I wear.

Heres the purple on –

And the coral –

The nail varnishes were available in so many various colours plus oils, fillers and top coats.  I picked a flat pale pink, a glitter filled red and an iridescent blue – three different finishes.  My nails are short and I’m rubbish at keeping nail varnish unchipped so these products had a big job ahead of them!

The nail varnish went on well and took two coats to get the desired level of colour.  The brush covered each nail very well.  Described as quick drying I’d say thats accurate.  Excusing my always short nails, the blue (31 Sapphire Blue) looked like this –

Staying power wise it took a while to totally harden up but them did quite well lasting a few days before needing a touch up on the nail tips.  As I said I am not good with nails – life just gets in the way.  But all in all quite impressive…and very impressive when you consider the price.

Here’s the pink (8 Pink Soda) on my toes – not bad eh?  Although its hard  to see in a photo, it looks very pretty in real life.  

And here is the dark pink glitter (36 Pink Diamond). This felt quite rough after two coats so I added a third coat of clear varnish.



Would I buy more from the range?  That would definitely be a yes – next on my shopping list is some lip liners, more nail varnish and one of the liquid eye liner. Go try it – I bet you’ll be very pleasantly surprised!