MUA Luxe The Art of Illumination Highlighting Collection

MUA has a new collection called MUA Luxe The Art of Illumination Highlighting Collection. This collection consists of three highlighting products that can be used individually or together. These products have different textures and formula’s to cater anyone’s preferences.  I’m going to review all the products of the collection in this post.

The products that are featured in the MUA Luxe The Art of Illumination Highlighting Collection are the MUA Luxe Radiant Illumination Highlighting Kit, the Glow Beam Highlighting Powder in Gold and the Glow Beam Liquid Highlight Cushion.

P.s. I apologize for my pictures being so grey-ish and darker than usual, I couldn’t get the white balance right without the product completely disappearing into the background!

MUA Luxe Radiant Illumination Highlighting Kit

The MUA Luxe Radiant Illumination Highlighting Kit (€7,49/14,5g) comes in a white packaging with gold details. The kit contains soft and radiant powder highlighters that create a light luminosity that can be layered together or applied seperately.

Surprisingly, the palette itself is black with gold details! Definitely a lot different in packaging compared to the other products, but it still looks beauitful though. It also has some weight to it and feels sturdy, which I love because this makes it feel more luxurious.

MUA Luxe Radiant Illumination Highlighting Kit contains a mirror and six powder highlighting shades. According to the brand, these are all highlighters but I have to say that the last shade in the bottom right corner looks more like a bronze/contouring shade to me, but it could definitely work as a highlighter for deeper skintones, but then you might not be able to use the other shades because the rest of the shades are quite light and might turn ashy.

Here are swatches of the MUA Luxe Radiant Illumination Highlighting Kit shades. They don’t have any names so I swatched the upper row from left to right first and then the bottom row. As you can see, most shades are quite light so I would recommend this palette for lighter to medium skintones. The powders feel soft and they are definitely finely milled and pigmented, but they do not feel buttery. The swatches look matte but there is definitely a radiance coming from the shades, it’s a very subtle shimmery sheen.

The upper pictures are a before/after shot using the MUA Luxe Radiant Illumination Highlighting Kit. At first, I didn’t think I would like this palette, but I actually think it’s really good! I used the darkest shade to bronze up my face the yellow-y shade to highlight underneath my eyes and mixed the pinky and white shades as a cheek, nose and cupids bow highlight. It looks so subtle and they just give my skin an extra healthy looking boost. It’s so subtle but it gives such a big difference giving my face more dimension. Seriously liking this palette a lot!

MUA Luxe Glow Beam Highlighting Powder in Gold

The MUA Luxe Glow Beam Highlighting Powder in Gold (€7,49/5g) comes in a white, plastic jar with gold details. The jar feels a bit light and plastic-y so this doesn’t feel as luxurious compared to the palette.

The mechanism inside the jar is very interesting. There are three grooves inside, twisting the jar on the sides “shaves off” the product bit by bit. I have never seen a mechanism like this but it works perfectly! It seems like the powder is pressed on the bottom so the product doesn’t fall out.

The MUA Luxe Glow Beam Highlighting Powder in Gold is nicely pigmented and gives a beaming, shimmering sheen without looking glittery. It has a light, champagne gold shade so this would probably look great on a variety of skintones.

The top pictures are again a before/after using the The MUA Luxe Glow Beam Highlighting Powder in Gold. I used it on the tops of my cheeks, nose, cupids bow and as an inner corner highlight on my eyes. I’ve always said that I love a more natural, “wet” or metallic looking highlight instead of being glittery and I really like this one. It gives a beautiful beaming glow with a subtle shimmer.

MUA Luxe Glow Beam Highlighting Powder in Gold

The MUA Luxe Glow Beam Liquid Highlight Cushion (€7,49/10g) comes in a white, plastic compact with gold details. The compact feels as heavy or heavier than the powder, so again, like that better because of the more sturdy, luxurious feeling.

Opening the compact reveals a mirror and a pad applicator, which I find a bit weird but interesting. These type of applicators are usually included in a cushion foundation, but for a highlighter, it’s a bit of a quirky way to apply it, because you only have to use it on the high points of your face and not on your entire face, also I don’t think you need any retouching over time, but I have to say that you can use the corners to apply the highlighter. I just used my fingers for application on my face though.

Below the pad applicator is another compartment that reveals the actual highlight cushion. There is a sticker with instructions on top of the cushion, which I like to keep there to prevent the product from drying. It isn’t necessary to keep the sticker on there though, as long as you keep the lid fastened like the instructions mention.

The MUA Luxe Glow Beam Liquid Highlight Cushion has a beautiful golden tan shade, which is perfect for my light to medium skin but this would probably be too dark for lighter skintones, but this would probably look amazing on medium to tan skintones. Love the pigmentation and sheen, it looks shiny and wet, just how I like my highlighters.

Just look at the before/after picture using the MUA Luxe Glow Beam Liquid Highlight Cushion. It gives the perfect, natural “wet” looking sheen, I’m seriously obsessed with this highlighter. I used it on my cheeks, cupids bow and nose. It was very easy to apply with my finger too. It is a wet type of product but it doesn’t break down the powders or any other product when applied.

I’m amazed by the MUA Luxe The Art of Illumination Highlighting Collection. All products are the same price (€7,49 each), affordable and of amazing quality. I can definitely see how you can combine all of the product to create the ultimate glow. Use the kit as an overal setting powder to highlight and contour the entire face, the cushion to highlight the highest points of the face and the powder over top to increase the intensity of the cushion highlight.

My favorite product is the Glow Beam Liquid Highlight Cushion but I just love every single one of them. Can’t really say anything negative about these products, only that they are only available in one shade and might not be suitable for every skintone. Definitely go to the store and check them out yourself.

The products of the MUA Luxe The Art of Illumination Highlighting Collection are available at selected Kruidvat Stores and Kruidvat.nl.

What kind of finish do you prefer in a highlighter?

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