MUA Essential Eyeshadow Collection Review and Swatches

MUA have been one of the best drugstore makeup brands since they launched in 2010, and over the last nine years they’ve grown considerably. When they initially launched they had a range of £1 eyeshadows which I really liked, but when MUA announced that they’d relaunched their own individual range, I couldn’t wait to try them. The MUA Essential Eyeshadow Collection consists of ten different neutral toned shades, and are £1.50 each.

The MUA Essential Eyeshadow Collection is divided into two shadow finishes; Matte and Pearl. There are four matte finish shadows, and six pearl shadows. As the price had increased, I was intrigued to see if the formula warranted the price increase, and I was kindly sent a selection of the new shades.

The eyeshadows are packaged within small, clear lidded plastic compacts with 2.4g of product which is very generous for a single shadow. Here are the swatches of the four matte shades and they’re super soft, smooth and blend like a dream. They are a little bit powdery but tapping the brush a few times before applying to the lids, knocks off excess powder to minimise fallout. The four matte shades are; Pecan, Mushroom, Sandshell and Burnt Umber, and I really like the mix of tones they’ve included within the mattes. There’s a warm, cool and neutral toned shades which would complement any makeup look.

Now onto the six Pearl shades within the MUA Essential Eyeshadow collection. I was kindly gifted these shadows and one shade (Bark) was duplicated so I only have nine of the shades, but I included the swatch of the second Bark because I had no idea they were duplicated until after I’d taken the photos but I figured it was helpful to see how consistent the quality is across the two versions of the same shade.

The six pearl shades are; Cinnamon, Bark, Gingerbread, Golden Honey, Sand Quartz and Ember. The shade I’m missing is Ember which looks to be a deep burgundy shade, which also looks really pretty. I can’t believe how smooth the pearl shades are, they swatch and apply as if they’re creams. These swatches don’t look like powder shadows at all, it’s almost as if I’ve swatched eyeshadow sticks or wet pigments. They remind of the ColourPop Super Shock Shadows in terms of quality, and they’re better quality than any of the Makeup Revolution eyeshadows I’ve ever tried – and they’re only £1.50 which is amazing.

You can purchase the eyeshadows on the MUA website.

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