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I Tried Everything In Poundland's £1 Make-Up Range

Here's what made the cut.

Zing Tsjeng
by Zing Tsjeng

BuzzFeed Contributor

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1. Kohl Me Beautiful Eye Pencil

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The Review: Not the creamiest or smoothest of eye pencils, but it stayed on my greasy lids and only started smudging towards the end of the day. For a £1 eyeliner, that's pretty good. The full range has four shades: black, brown, grey, and navy.

Bargain or bust: Bargain. Does what it says on the tin.

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Left to right: Grey, Black.

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2. Feeling Blush Blusher

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The Details: This compact isn't very travel-friendly – just swiping your brush in the compact a few times is enough to send powder flying everywhere. It also takes several applications to build up colour as it's too lightly pigmented to show up on on first try. But there's a cute range of colours and it does the job.

Bargain or bust: Bargain. Just don't put it in your handbag.

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Left to right: Spice, Soft Blush, Candyfloss, Coral Rose.

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Feeling Blush Blusher in Candyfloss.

3. Plump Up the Volume Mascara and Lengthening Mascara

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The Details: Both mascaras claims to be fortified with panthenol and keratin amino acids for "added conditioning", but one is clearly superior. The volumising mascara (on the right eye) went on smoothly and left lashes looking glossy, black, and noticeably uplifted. The lengthening mascara (on the left) felt way too dry and clumpy, and its clunky short-bristled brush was a pain to use.

Bargain or bust: Bargain. Ditch the lengthening one and go for volumising.

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Left eye: Lengthening Mascara in Carbon Black. Right eye: Plump Up the Volume Mascara in Carbon Black.

4. Dare to Bare Sheer Lip Gloss

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The Details: This gloopy gloss comes in eight shimmery and matte options, but all of them are too sheer to show up properly on the lips. The darkest shade, Raspberry, doesn't even cover my chapped lips. It also smells like a crate of rotting strawberries and tastes like plastic.

Bargain or bust: The worst product in the whole range. Total bust.

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Left to right: Clear, Peachy, Pink Lemonade, Candy Pink, Shocking Pink, Scarlet, Caramel, Raspberry.

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Dare to Bare Lip Gloss in Raspberry.

5. Colour Story Eyeshadow

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The Details: Poundland offers 20 shades in a mix of mattes and shimmers. Pigmentation varies from colour to colour. The dark eyeshadows have good pay-off but the lighter ones tend to suffer in quality and have a not-so-cool '90s frosty tint to them. But there's little powder fallout and it stayed on greasy lids all day.

Bargain or bust: Bargain, but only go for the darker shades.

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Top row: Nude, Cuppaccino, Deep Plum, Galaxy Grey, Titanium, Vintage Rose, Carbon Black. Bottom row: Pink Champagne, Gold Dust, Shadow Grey, Brown Truffle, Mocha, Bronze, White Frost.

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Top: Cappucino. Bottom: Gold Dust.

6. Flawless Foundation

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The Details: Unlike other budget foundations, Poundland does try to cater to all skin tones, with eight shades from ivory to mocha. The coverage is pretty solid, it evened out my complexion, and the texture has a lovely and soft mousse-like feel. Plus it contains vitamin E and UVA/UVB filters for some sun protection (don't skip SPF, though).

Bargain or bust: Surprisingly impressive and easily comparable to more expensive high street brands. Bargain.

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Left to right: Ivory, Warm Ivory, Nude, Beige, Warm Beige, Sand, Caramel, Mocha.

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Left: Before foundation. Right: Flawless Foundation in Nude.

7. Shine On Bold Lip Gloss

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The Review: This lipgloss is so thick that it's nigh on impossible to apply evenly. Once it does go on, it's super sticky and tacky. The colour pay-off isn't great, either.

Bargain or bust: Almost as bad as the Sheer Lip Gloss. Bust.

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Left to right: Nice & Nude, Ballet Pink, Raspberry Ripple, Power Pink, Cherry Pop.

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Shine On Bold Lip Gloss in Raspberry Ripple.

8. Take a Brow Eyebrow Pencil

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The Details: This non-waxy pencil is a little too hard to apply and blend properly, but it did stay on all day. It washed off easily, too. The full range has three shades: brown, blonde, and black.

Bargain or bust: Not the greatest brow enhancer out there, but handy if you need a cheap touch-up. Bargain.

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Left to right: Brown, Black.

Right: Before pencil. Left: Take a Brow in Black.

9. All About the Pout

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The Details: Not great if you've got dry lips, as the lipstick isn't very moisturising. The light and nude shades are thin, greasy and don't have the greatest pigmentation. Weirdly, the darker colours seem to have a different formulation, as they have surprisingly good pay-off and last way longer. There are 19 colours in the full range.

Bargain or bust: Ignore the light colours and go for the reds and burgundys. Bargain.

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Left to right: Perfectly Nude, Sunkissed Beige, Rose Pink, Outrageous Orange, Babydoll Pink, Pink Berry, Radical Red, Purple Pop, Plum Pout, Black Cherry.

Left: Radical Red. Right: Perfectly Nude.

10. Time to Shine Nail Polish

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The Details: Poundland does 38 (!!) nail colours in pretty much every shade of glitter, primary colour, or pastel possible. It promises "high shine, long lasting, quick drying colour" and it definitely delivers. My nails dried in under three minutes and two layers were enough to deliver glossy shine.

Bargain or bust: Definite bargain. One of the best products in the range.

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11. Hide & Chic Concealer

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The Details: This thick twist-up concealer wiped out little red spots and cancelled out the redness in my dark circles. It can look cakey on drier skin. Darker skintones are out of luck – there are only four very light shades on offer.

Bargain or bust: Layer on some foundation to smooth it out and it's a bargain.

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Left to right: Sand, Honey Beige, Natural Beige, Ivory.

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Top: Before concealer. Bottom: Hide & Chic Concealer in Sand, Take a Brow Eyebrow Pencil in Black.

12. Pout It Out Lip Liner

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The Details: These lip liners aren't that creamy, so they dragged on my lips and dried them out after a few hours. But they were fine with some lip balm and lasted through lunch and several cups of tea. Pick between nude, rose, and brown.

Bargain or bust: Pair with some tinted balm and you've got a bargain.

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Left to right: Rose, Nude, Brown.

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13. Good to Glow Bronzer

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The Details: You can choose between light and medium shades in matte or shimmery bronzers. Sadly, none of the shades are very pigmented. The bronzer in Shimmer Medium took at least four applications to even show up on my skin.

Bargain or bust: Unless you've got very pale skin, this product is pretty much useless. Bust.

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Left to right: Shimmer Medium, Medium Matte, Shimmer Light, Matte Light.

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Good to Glow Bronzer in Shimmer Medium.

14. Pro Liquid Eyeliner

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The Details: This comes in black, brown, space grey, and navy. I decided to branch out from my usual black, but be warned: The navy is definitely bluer than it first appears. The pigment is solid and the precision brush reminds me of the much pricier MAC liquid eyeliner. And it didn't budge for a good 8–10 hours.

Bargain or bust: I'll definitely pick this up again (but probably not in blue). Bargain.

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Left to right: Space Grey, Navy, Brown.

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15. Pressed Powder

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The Details: Poundland describes this as a "supersoft powder with Vitamin E". It definitely doesn't dry out my skin, but it also doesn't do very much. It's too thin and powdery to even out the complexion or mattify my T-zone. It's also only available in a limited range of four basically indistinguishable light colours.

Bargain or bust: Bust. There are better powders that actually do something for your skin.

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Left to right: Translucent, Natural Beige, Sand, Honey Beige.

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Pressed Powder in Sand.

All products supplied by Poundland.