MUA Professional Range – New Launches

MUA have totally, completely upped their game recently – if you thought a certain “revolutionary” brand dominated the budget makeup market then here’s MUA to show you that there’s still plenty of room for exciting products at decent prices without forgoing quality.  MUA Makeupo Academy have released a barrage of newness and I was sent a few bits to play with, so here’s a look at what’s new:

The products roughly breakdown into base palettes, eyeshadow palettes and base products, so I’ll start off with the base palettes, of which there are four – Light, Dark, Cool and Warm – and all of them are Correct and Conceal Palettes containing 12 pans of cream product. I was sent Dark and Warm and whilst the Dark isn’t something I’d use, the Warm is *so* good! Firstly, the consistency is the perfect blend of creamy and pigmented so you can go for a heavy coverage or blend it out depending on what finish you’re going for.  Secondly, the shade selection is really solid with a trio of correctors (the green is awesome) and nine shades of concealer that’ll allow for the creation of the perfect canvas.  I used these over foundations and under powder and they did not budge, even though it’s been a bit of a sweaty day. If you struggle with tricky skin that would benefit from a good coverage palette, this’ll be one of the best £6 you ever spend.

Continuing the theme of customisation, MUA have already released a quad of Professional Custom Colour Foundation Mixers; two are lightening (Cool and Warm) and two are darkening (Medium and Dark) so if you buy the whole set for £16, you’ll be able to adapt pretty much any foundation to get it to match your skin perfectly.  I haven’t tried these yet as I haven’t currently got any foundations that need lightening, but I’m really pleased that they have offered warmer and cooler options rather than a one sized fits all approach, for £4 a pop.  Even though I can get pretty shiny, I’ve never sought out a blotting paper as it’s never really occurred to me.  The Professional Blotting Paper (£3) is infused with jasmine, so if anything is going to persuade me to start using them, that will. There’s also a Professional Wonder Vanishing Cream Primer (£5) that I haven’t tried yet, but I’m putting together a feature on primers, so if it’s any good then I’ll include it in that.  Not pictured here, but there are some awesome looking Highlighting Powders, one of which is blue – I bet that would look amazing against a cool complexion!

We’re so used to being able to easily access cheap and cheery palettes with a million colours included that it’s actually really refreshing to see some pared back, more basic palettes containing six, simple shades that are themed to compliment and allow for a variety of looks that are easy to work out.  There are 5 Professional 6 Shade Eyeshadow Palettes and the four above, from left to right, are Glamour Golds, Smokey Shadows, Coral Delights and Soft Suedes. The other palette in the collection is called Rusted Wonders – warm golds mixed with berry tones.  These are £3.50 each.

The formula of these shadows is excellent and much better than I was expecting; they’re not hard work at all and even the beautiful mattes in the dreamy Soft Suedes – my new favourite palette due to colours, finishes and even the name! – are buttery and blend as easily as any of my pricier palettes.  What’s especially impressive is that, after 7 hours of sweaty wear, with no primer in sight, the shadow is still going strong and hasn’t settled into the lines as is usually the case with any of the shadows I use, regardless of price.  All the newness can be found here – link.

*PR Samples