MUA Makeup Academy 12 Shade Undressed Palette: Review, Swatches
The MUA 12 Shade Undressed Palette is probably the most popular of MUA's 12 eyeshadow palettes most notably for their stark resemblance to the Urban Decay Naked 1 palette (which I don't own). As a whole, the shades of the Undressed palette have medium pigmentation, finely milled texture, and are blendable. These are soft and creamy and don't have nearly as much fall out as Wet'n'Wild's 8 pan palettes. In terms of texture, the best way to describe it is the perfect hybrid of the L'Oreal Infalliable eyeshadows with more refined shimmers and a typical powder eyeshadow. I just wish these were more pigmented.
In terms of packaging, they look like the lower quality of the Sleek i-Divine Palettes so the comparison to the Sleek palettes is intrinsic. I only own one of the Sleek palettes (Au Naturel) but the MUA palettes are much more consistent in texture and pigmentation than the Sleek's. The Sleek palette is a split between amazingly pigmented shadows and weakly pigmented shadows.
Of the affordable eye shadow palettes (Wet'n'Wild, Sleek, NYC, MUA, ELF), it all comes down to preference. Wet'n'Wild is the most pigmented but has flimsy packaging and tremendous fall out. Sleek and MUA have velvety, non-powdery textures but lack the intense pigmentation. Sleek has a mixed bag of really pigmented shadows and really sheer shadows whereas MUA shadows has medium pigmentation that can be built up to full. ELF and NYC are tied for the least pigmented and has the lowest performance so definitely skip those.
In terms of packaging, they look like the lower quality of the Sleek i-Divine Palettes so the comparison to the Sleek palettes is intrinsic. I only own one of the Sleek palettes (Au Naturel) but the MUA palettes are much more consistent in texture and pigmentation than the Sleek's. The Sleek palette is a split between amazingly pigmented shadows and weakly pigmented shadows.
Of the affordable eye shadow palettes (Wet'n'Wild, Sleek, NYC, MUA, ELF), it all comes down to preference. Wet'n'Wild is the most pigmented but has flimsy packaging and tremendous fall out. Sleek and MUA have velvety, non-powdery textures but lack the intense pigmentation. Sleek has a mixed bag of really pigmented shadows and really sheer shadows whereas MUA shadows has medium pigmentation that can be built up to full. ELF and NYC are tied for the least pigmented and has the lowest performance so definitely skip those.
Texture: soft, creamy
Best suited for: Those who want an affordable neutral eye palette
Pros: medium pigmentation, smooth texture, little fall out
Cons: lighter, matte shades are sheer
Pros: medium pigmentation, smooth texture, little fall out
Cons: lighter, matte shades are sheer
Overall: B+/A-
I love this palette, saving my money for this <3
ReplyDeleteBetter than saving up for the Urban Decay Naked palette right? People say that this is possibly the best dupe for it!
DeleteThis is such a great MUA palette as well; I love the matte shades that they included and the champagne/pink/golds :)
ReplyDeleteCassie
thriftthick.blogspot.com
I love champagne eyeshadows! I think the mattes are great to blend with but fall flat compared to my higher end shadows are even the WnW and Inglot. Glad you have this too!
DeleteYou know what would be a good idea? I've only seen one other blogger do this but it was tremendously helpful.. Your swatches right now are multiple swipes built up to full pigmentation right? You should do one set of photos with one swatch, and another set where it's built up to full pigmentation (which is what you have now) it gives us an even better idea of how pigmented the products are! Because often something described as sheer or patchy looks pigmented in a built up swatch :)
ReplyDeleteI saw it on Allura's site and have thought about doing that. All my swatches on my blog are of 2 swipes to make it consistent. I don't build any of them to full pigmentation because I feel that skews the viewer's perception of the product. I said that these are medium pigmentation because when you compare it to WnW swatches, the MUA swatches just don't compare so therefore being of medium level.
DeleteI don't do just one swipe because sometimes the amount I use to swatch isn't enough for one long, even swipe (does that make sense?) and adding more images can make my website lag. Do you want me to try to do that in future posts / update this one accordingly and see if it really does help? How about on top of primer / not on top of primer? (none of my swatches are on primer).
This looks like a nice palette, but if I were to order products from the UK, I think I'd order from Sleek! Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteI like Sleek's packaging and face products more than MUA's but I wasn't particularly fond of the one Sleek eye palette I tried (Au Naturel). Half the shades were a total fail!
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