MUA stands for "Makeup Academy", which sounds a bit posh for such a budget line. But as it's likely to be a first makeup purchase for many young people, I guess the element of learning does tie in with the name. It features all the basic essentials you'd expect to find in a makeup range - colours for lips, eyes, cheeks and nails.
Lipglossiping's review had helpfully pointed me in the direction of the eyeshadows as the best product from the MUA line-up, so I avoided the other bits and picked up 3 eyeshadows - 9 (purple), 7(green) and 12(brick/green duochrome). I chose the brightest and most pigmented-looking shades I could see.
They're well pigmented and pick up smoothly. However the reason for that is their high mineral oil content (4th on the ingredient list). They're almost cream shadows, in fact - there's a real greasy feel to them. And they're prone to staining (as I found out when I came to remove the swatches from my arm). For £1 though, not at all bad, and the greasy-but-pigmented outcome is at least a change from the gritty talc-fest you get with most cheap eyeshadow powders.
I thought my three eyeshadows looked like they'd be easily duped, and expected them to match various shades in my collection. I was surprised to find that none of them did exactly, although the duochrome is very similar to a lot of other colours which employ the same colour-shift micas/pigments.
Click through for comparison swatches.
I also picked up a few colours which I blogged about but unfortunately when I went to superdrugs for these all the bright colors were gone so I had to pick up the darker colors which also look very nice. But will definitely need to pick up more, specially that #9
ReplyDeleteI have been hunting this down as well to review on my blog too. I like your review though
ReplyDeleteSome of the colours are lovely, they're excellently pigmented for £1 but the greasiness sounds really weird!
ReplyDeleteHi, could you please tell me WHICH superdrug in London you found these at? I was just gunna head straight to Oxford Street but by the looks of it they don't stock the range. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteThanks alot
@*LilBiuty* hope you find the colours you want. This is permanent I think so the "hype" should die down soon!
ReplyDelete@Wande glad you like and hope you find a branch with the line soon
@Lillian I'm not a fan of the overly mineral-oil-based approach. I had the same issue with early Sleek iDivine palettes - great colours, bright and smooth, but then wouldn't any eyeshadow be if you basically put it in a base of Vaseline?
@Katy mine were at Wood Green. The central branch with them is the one on the Strand, for some reason (I would totally expect it to be in Oxford St too)
That greasiness sounds bizarre =S but #9 looks pretty?
ReplyDeleteIs it true that MUA are owned by the company that owns VIVO cosmetics too? Does that mean MUA are similar shades/quality?
ReplyDelete