MUA Conquer the Contour

As some regular readers already know, I’m a huge fan of high-end make-up. However, I’m always on the lookout for good drugstore products. I’ve always have been curious about the brand Makeup Academy, which is a cruelty-free brand available at the drugstore Kruidvat. When I saw some of the new products, I was very interested and received four of them. With these “MUA Conquer the Contour“ products, you are supposed to and create a bronzed and contoured look. These products are the MUA Rhapsody Palette, the Eye Define Volume & Line Mascara, the Pro-Base Mattify Fixing Mist and the MUA Luxe Bronze & Sculpt Contour Kit.

 

 

MUA Rhapsody Palette

The MUA Rhapsody Palette consists of twelve neutral and plum shades that can be used for eyes and face. There are mattes and shimmers shades in this palette and also two cream shades which supposed to add a soft metallic finish.

 

The palette is made of plastic with a transparent lid so you can immediately see all the shades. The shades all vary in size and shapes, which makes the palette fun to look at. It also helps to see which shades complement each other. I think the middle part would make a cohesive look, just like you can use all the right shades in combination with each other. There is also a brush included in this palette, which I have no idea how you would use this brush other than making a straight line. It isn’t suitable for blending. What I do like about the brush is that it’s stuck with some sticky glue inside the palette, which you can re-attach again so it doesn’t fall out like palette brushes do normally.

 

Here are the swatches from the two cream shades and the middle part. The cream shades feel extremely creamy and shimmery so I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable putting these on my eyelids due to creasing or on my face. It almost feels like a creamy lipstick so I decided to use the brown shade on my lips, which you will see in the full look. The middle shades feel buttery but are all sheer, so they are suitable for a very natural look.

 

The right shades are also sheer. Overall, I think the metallic eyeshadows are slightly more pigmented and of better quality compared to the matte shades. I’m personally not a fan of the palette but if you are a beginner in using eyeshadow and/or don’t want anything too strong, this might be a palette for you.

 

I’ve created a look using the middle shades and the dark-brown shade of the MUA Rhapsody Palette . All the shades are easy to blend but be aware that I always use a primer and a cream eyeshadow as a base because of my oily eyelids. I also used to brush on my upper lashline, but the brush is way too hard and uneven to create a nice one, so I had to use a different brush to even everything out. The brush is so hard that it irritated my skin so I would not recommend to use it.

The MUA Rhapsody Palette is available for €6,99 Euro.

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MUA Eye Define Volume & Line Mascara

The MUA Eye Define Volume & Line Mascara is a product that consists of two parts; a black soft kajal liner and a black mascara.

 

The top part of this product is the soft kajal liner. I never used a product like this one before! I have seen other soft kajal liners which have the same shape and I always wonder if it is easy to use, because it looks like it would get stump and bigger the more you use it

 

The kajal liner is super black, soft and creamy. It doesn’t “dry down” that quickly so this would be a great product to use as a base for a smokey eye, because it can be easily be diffused and blend out.

 

The mascara wand is a what I would consider a normal sized brush. The brush is dense and slightly curved and has a sharp tip so that you can get into more narrower spots.

 

Here’s a before/after shot using the MUA Eye Define Volume & Line Mascara. My own eyelashes have a decent length but they are very sparse. The mascara does give me a nice lengthening effect but I wouldn’t say it is very volumizing. The formula is on the drier side so it isn’t as clumpy. The tip is nice to use on my lower lashes.  I really love the soft kajal liner. I have a very difficult waterline because most eyeliners do not want to stick and quickly disappear in my lower lashline. The liner is so black and just stays in my waterline. I have to say that it also smudges on my lower lashline which I cannot prevent so I would suggest to only use this if you also want to use this liner to smoke it out. I also used it on my top waterline and as you can see, it is intensely black and this also stayed put very well.

The MUA Eye Define Volume & Line Mascara is available for €5,49 Euro.

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MUA Pro-Base Mattify Fixing Mist

The MUA Pro-Base Mattify Fixing Mist is a finishing spray that is supposed to mattify and oil-control and let your make-up last longer. This product can also be used as a primer.  It comes in a regular spray bottle with 60 mL of product in total.

 

The main ingredients of the MUA Pro-Base Mattify Fixing Mist is water and glycerol. Glycerol is a solvent and a conditioning agent. The next ingredients are Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice and Glycerin. Aloe has calming and skin repairing properties and Glycerin helps to makes products stick better on your skin. Also be aware that it also has Denatured Alcohol in it’s ingredient list. It’s not far up in the list but I would still be careful if you have sensitive skin. I used this both as a primer and finishing spray.  I have a combination to dry skin so I don’t know much about the oil control, but I think it works fine as a primer and as a finishing spray, it doesn’t have a super matte finish but it does blend the powders to the rest of my make-up nicely, giving it more of a satin look.

The MUA Pro-Base Mattify Fixing Mist is available for €6,99 Euro.

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MUA Luxe Bronze & Sculpt Contour Kit

The MUA Luxe Bronze & Sculpt Contour Kit is a compact that consists of a bronzing and highlighting powder. I’m not familiar with the brand but I guess that they also have more of a “luxury” line? The price is about the same as the rest though so I have no idea why they wouldn’t do all the packaging like this, because this does look far more luxurious compared to the other products! The compact looks beautiful with a black bottom part an shiny golden top part that has the name of the product and the MUA Luxe logo.

 

The compact can be opened using a button. I love that small detail, I think it makes a product more luxurious in a very easy way. The lid comes with a mirror. The first part of the palette is the highlighter shade.

 

Underneath the highlighter shade is the bronzer/sculpting shade. I really like how the compact is made. It feels sturdy and has a nice size. The compact doesn’t come with a brush.

 

Here are swatches of both shades. The highlighting shade looks a peachy/champagne shade in the compact, but turns more into a frosty white shade on my skin. The bronze/sculpting shade  is matte and has a tiny bit of redness/warmth, so I wouldn’t recommend to use this as a contouring shade but more as a bronzer to warm up your face. Both shades have a decent pigmentation and are nicely blendable.

 

Here’s a before/after shot using the MUA Luxe Bronze & Sculpt Contour Kit. I used the bronzing powder on the hollows of my cheek and on the tops of my forehead and temple. I used the highlighting powder on the top of my cheeks, tip of my nose and cupids bow. As you can see from the picture, it gives my face some slight warmth and a subtle glow.  The bronzing powder is very nice for some extra dimension and shape on my face. It did sheer out quite a bit when I was using this on my face, but I don’t mind because think it gives a nice and natural sun-kissed look.

The MUA Luxe Bronze & Sculpt Contour Kit is available for €7,49 Euro.

 

Here’s the full look using all of the products. Like I’ve mentioned before, I used the bronze cream shade of the MUA Rhapsody Palette as a lipgloss. I’m not so sure about the plum liner but I really like how bronze-y and metallic the rest of my eyelook is. My face keeps its natural dew with the MUA Pro-Base Mattify Fixing Mist.

 

I do think that these products work well together and give a pretty cohesive look. Of all the products, I would recommend to check out the MUA Eye Define Volume & Line Mascara and the MUA Luxe Bronze & Sculpt Contour Kit. These products will probably not become one of my staples, but I do think these are well worth your money.

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The “MUA Conquer the Contour” and other MUA products are available at Kruidvat.nl and selected Kruidvat stores.

Have you tried this brand yet? Do you have any  other recommendations?

*These products were sent to me for review. Please check out my disclosure page for more information