Review: MUA Pro-base Correct & Brighten kit
01 Friday Feb 2013
Written by Tas Choudhury in Makeup, Product reviews
Tags
Beige Golden, concealer, Correct & Brighten kit, corrector palette, highlight, MUA Cosmetics, under eye concealer
Share it
MUA Cosmetics are fast becoming the UK high streets favourite budget brand. With such low prices (lipstick for £1, blush £1, concealer £1.50) you’d be forgiven for thinking they’re just cheap & cheerful. The truth is that while some of their products are true to the old adage ‘you get what you pay for’, other products are top quality at budget prices.
They’ve recently launched a sub-line, the Pro-base. So far it includes a setting spray/ Fixing Mist, Complexion kit and the Conceal & Brighten kit, with more products lined up for 2013. I quite like the fixing mist (setting spray feature to follow soon) and so I picked up the Conceal & Brighten kit to see if it matches up to the quality of the fixing mist or whether it was just cheap & cheerful.
Price: £3.50
Weight/ volume: 11g
Shades: 3
My shade: Beige Golden
Features: Corrector palette with one concealer shade and two corrector shades.
Purchased/ sample: purchased
Sales blurb:
Perfectly blendable camouflage for almost any skin imperfection including blemishes, scars, birthmarks and under eye circles. Also contains highlighting cream to transform your complexion with luminescent shimmer.
The palette contains 3 shades: s peach tone, a golden brown tone, and a pink tone. Each of the three palettes has the same peach and pink corrector tones, and the centre pan is the colour matched concealer tone. I use the peach as a browbone highlighter, the golden tone under my eyes with a dab of the pink to get the colour just right.
+ Clear front with mini mirror included on inside. I like clear packaging as it’s easier to grab the right palette from my makeup kit, but for personal use I like having inside mirrors for ease of application. This has both, and although the mirror is just a strip on the inside if the palette lid, it’s just about big enough to be fit for purpose.
+ Very blendable due to it’s super creamy-with-a-hint-of-wax formula. It’s an odd texture that is creamy but waxy smooth. The texture allows for custom blending but I found I didn’t need it. The middle shade is good enough on its own for my undereyes.
– The waxy part of the formula lightens the otherwise strong pigmentation. This does mean that it takes time to really press into skin for full coverage of dark circles. That said, it is more a corrector palette rather than concealer.
Yay or nay
Yay for sure. For £3.50 it’s worth buying for the highlighter shade alone, even if your skin doesn’t match the limited range of concealer tones.
I was pleasantly surprised that the golden tone matched my skin so well, as the other MUA products for medium brown skintones are too light. I think that they need two more palettes for dark Asian and ebony skintones to complete the range but overall this is a hit!
4 Comments
February 1, 2013 at 1:12 pm
I have the opposite problem. I can never find foundation or concealer light enough for me 🙁 So I was wondering, are the other shades of this any lighter? I’ve had MUA stuff in the past and I love them considering how cheap the brand is!
February 1, 2013 at 2:18 pm
I reviewed the darkest shade. They have 2 shades lighter than this in the range.
If you can afford to spend a little more, then Nicola Roberts’ Dainty Doll range is amazing for pale skin. The range has pale tones that actually look natural, rather than a ‘thinned-out’ version of the mid-tone shades. I usually stay away from ‘celeb’ brands but Dainty Doll is the exception.
February 1, 2013 at 8:35 pm
Yeah I’ve seen the range but it’s so expensive. I’ve heard amazing things about it and though I suppose its about time I treated myself to a good foundation. Thanks again! 🙂
February 1, 2013 at 9:00 pm
Perhaps it’s time to start spending those Boots points 😉 I think that larger Boots stores carry the Dainty Doll range. I splashed out on some Smashbox goodies recently using my points, otherwise so expensive!