Bargain alert! MUA Professional eyeshadow palettes in Heaven and Earth and Dusk til Dawn, plus 3 in 1 eXtreme Contour Liner and Lip Gloss

I love nothing more than a bargain, and having heard such great things about the MUA Make Up Academy cosmetics range I had to take a little trip to Superdrug to check it out for myself... 


And I am so impressed! Great quality products for such small prices; on average most items cost well under £5. I decided to purchase two MUA eyeshadow palettes, a steal at £3 each on offer (usually £4- still a bargain!) a 3 in 1 eXtreme Contour Liner for £1.50, and a lip gloss for £1. See pictures and swatches below! 

Professional eyeshadow palettes in 'Heaven and Earth' & 'Dusk til Dawn' 

Each palette comes with 12 shadows; the Heaven & Earth collection is a palette of neutral colours, perfect for everyday wear, whereas the Dusk til Dawn palette houses a selection of bright and dark colours, brilliant for creating intense evening looks.

Heaven and Earth 

I love neutral colours and my make-up bag is bulging with different golds and browns, so I was very excited to find the Heaven and Earth palette- 12 neutrals in one handy slim-line compact. My favourites so far are the pale shimmery pink-gold (1st top row), the darker gold (3rd top row), the browny-aubergine (4th bottom row- it doesn't come out too well on camera, but it's a lovely shade) and the darker purpley-brown (6th bottom row). 

Swatches of Heaven and Earth- colours match palette layout

I was pleasantly surprised at the strength of the pigmentation of the shadows, as I thought they might be lacking in colour, considering the bargain price tag. Alas, I was wrong, and each shadow shows up very well on the skin. 

Dusk til Dawn 

I picked up the Dusk til Dawn palette on a bit of a whim, as it occurred to me that I always rely on neutrals and rarely branch out into other colours. I'm hoping this gorgeous selection will help! I do like a smoky eye occasionally, so the greys and silvers appealed, and I'd like to try plum and purple. My favourites are the dark grey silver (2nd top row), the dark purple-pink & lighter shimmery pink (5th and 6th top row), the inky dark blue (5th bottom row) and the very dark charcoal-silver (6th bottom row).  

Dusk til Dawn- colours match palette layout 

Again I was so impressed with the pigmentation, especially of the turquoise and blue colours which I feared would be a bit wishy-washy on application, but which are in fact very intense! Which means a little goes a long way, making it even better value for money. 


I chose shade 5 'Auburn' for the 3 in 1 eXtreme Contour Liner, as I was looking for a brown liner to use alongside the Heaven and Earth palette. 

3 in 1 eXtreme Contour liner 

The USP for the liner is that it can be used in three ways: according to the packaging, you can use the widest part of the nib to create 'Dramatic' eyes; the mid part to create a good smoky 'Glamorous' eye; and the tip of the nib to create a precise 'Ultra Chic' eye. It comes with little illustrations to aid you in your application, which is handy.  

Angled liner nib 

The liner feels very soft on contact with the skin, which limits tugging and pulling, making it easy to apply. 'Auburn' is a mid-brown colour. 

Auburn 3 in 1 eXtreme Contour Liner 

Just what I was looking for, and at only £1.50 a pop! 


Lastly, an MUA lipgloss in shade 5, a sheer peachy-pink. 

Lip gloss shade 5 

As far as gloss goes, this is pretty fab- it's not too sticky, the colour comes out sheer and shimmery, and it lasts for a good hour or so before re-application is needed. For £1, there really isn't anything to complain about! 

Wand applicator 

The colour upon application is pretty much what you can see on the wand- a sheer peachy pink. It also has a nice sweet smell. 


So there you go; a make-up bag revamp costing a bargain grand total of £8.50. Although I am tempted to go back and grab more MUA goodies to add to my collection...


Have you tried any MUA cosmetics? I'd love to know what you think :) 


MUA Make Up Academy official on-line shop

MUA products can be found in Superdrug stores.