Hey everyone! Let me start this post by saying I LOVE Make Up Academy! The brand is so cheap and amazing quality, I own quite a few products and was SO excited to get this palette :D I have the Undressed and Heaven and Earth palettes which I adore! Enough of that...on with the review ^^
Unlike the other MUA palettes the casing of this one is white. I really like it because it looks quite sleek and classy, however the only disadvantage of white may be that it gets dirty quickly- I'll have to update you about how it looks after a few good weeks of use :)
The palette is often considered a dupe for the much-loved Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette, their Undressed Palette being a dupe for the Naked Palette. I don't own an Urban Decay palettes so I can't comment on that, however, there are lots of comparisons on the internet you can check out.
A great example I found is from "The Black Pearl Blog"
http://www.theblackpearlblog.com/2013/02/naked-2-dupe-mua-undress-me-too-palette.html
The only thing that slightly annoyed me about the MUA palettes are the lack of shade names (I don't really know why, but the names are always so lovely ^^). This one, however, PROVIDES SHADE NAMES! YAYYYYY!! They are really cute, if you can't be bothered to look they are-
Naked (Coincidence? ;D)
Devotion
Shy
Fiery
Lavish
Dreamy
Tranquil
Exposed
Reveal
Wink
Obsessed
and Corrupt
They are pretty good names, most are relevant to the shades and others are just pretty :)
Naked- A lovely cream matte shade, this would act as a great base for looks or as a simple flush of colour for those "No make-up" looks. It has no shimmer and is quite sheer.
Devotion- This is a gorgeous orange based bronze. It the finish is very metallic and has a frosty sheen, it also has hues of red.
Shy- A beautiful pearl coloured cream which looks pink based in the pan but I would say is more yellow/gold on application. It has a great creamy, shiny finish which would be amazing as a highlighter for the inner corners of the eye or browbone.
Fiery- This is a really pretty rose gold coloured shimmer with undertones of brown, probably one of my favourites in the collection. It is very pigmented with a gold shimmery finish.
Lavish- Another of my favourites, purely because I'm addicted to taupe brown eyeshadows :) This is lovely matte creamy taupe brown shadow which isn't as pigmented as the shimmers (sad face) but is still pretty good with some eye primer.
Dreamy- A more copper coloured bronze, which is also very creamy and has undertones of pink and gold, with gold shimmer.
Tranquil- A stunning light brown shimmer which more a silver finish. It is also slightly pinkish in colour.
Exposed- Definitely one of my favourite EVER MUA eyeshadow shades. An amazing grey frosty colour with silver shimmer and pretty purple undertones.
Reveal- Another favourite, a lovely slightly pink light grey with a silver shimmery finish. This shade and exposed with DEFINITELY be featured in a look I do soon (spoiler alert ^^).
Wink- Another bronzey colour except a lot more pinky. The finish is like a dark rose gold with added brown.
Obsessed- A simple dark plummy brown with a slight silver sparkle (no way near as intense as the others)
And finally Corrupt- The black. Compared to MUA's previous blacks this one is almost matte, with a slight silver sheen- very pretty and very blendable, making a smoky look easy to achieve.
Now for the swatches-
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| In daylight with a thin layer of MUA professional eye primer |
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| In artificial light (same as above with the primer) |
As you can see the pigmentation varies quite widely between the shades, the only one that isn't great Naked that you can hardly see on the swatch.
Overall I love the palette but I'll have to wait til I use them to create a look (I'll post a few soon) until I can give you a proper review. The shades are great- from neutrals to darks. I only wish MUA would make the pigmentation of their mattes better, as they really are lovely. The best part? This AMAZING palette costs a mere £4!!!! An essential for any MUA/budget-beauty lover!
Lots of love, Laura xx
