« Makeup Revolution Mini-Haul! »

 

No matter how many high end make-up brands we ogle over in stores or on the internet, sometimes nothing beats a good high street/drug store bargain. So when the brand Makeup Revolution launched in March 2014, budget beauty fans raised their arms to the sky and danced and sang and glitter rained down on everyone.

Having now been around for about a year and a half, Makeup Revolution has been making waves with their incredible value for money products, and particularly for their  shade-for-shade dupes of the Urban Decay Naked Palettes. I’m ashamed to say it’s taken me so long to jump on the MUR bandwagon, but here we are: a mini-haul of some of their best loved products.

 
Iconic 1 palette | £4

First thing I went looking for was an eyeshadow palette. As I already have the Make-Up Academy Undressed Palette dupe for Naked 1, I wasn’t so interested in getting another dupe (if you’re interested, it’s the MUR Redemption Iconic 1 palette). Instead, this is the basic Iconic 1 palette which is slightly different, and also has a Pro version with an additional 4 shades and a brush for £6.99).

On first impression, this is a fantastic set of basic nudes and neutrals, mostly with a pearl or shimmer finish, but there are a couple of nice matte shades mixed in there including a matte black and a matte rose-taupe.

The shadows come in a slim palette with a secure lid, plus a double ended sponge applicator which is cheap but decent enough for packing on colour, though the tray is big enough to swap it out for your favourite brush (as long as it’s small-ish, larger MAC shadow brushes won’t fit!).

The formulation of the shadows is incredible considering how much money you’ve parted with for them. The consistency is buttery without feeling heavy, and colour pay-off is really good; quite a few colours are initially very sheer, but intensify with very little building. The colours blend together nicely and complement each other well for a variety of looks, from straight up nude to neutral with a twist.

Often with palettes I find there are a couple of colours I’m not so hot for, and end up hitting pan on half and feeling guilty about the others. With this though, for £4, how can you resist!?

Pressed Powder – Translucent | £2
Also available in Porcelain Soft Pink, Medium and Warm

My go-to pressed powder is Rimmel Stay Matte, which is a bargain at £3.99, but something about packaging doesn’t take too kindly to being tossed around in a handbag and the powder often smashes, then all falls out when you open it.

At half the price, this MUR pressed powder is a fantastic alternative and comes in 3 colours or translucent, plus the packaging is SECURE AS HECK. It also has a neat swivel opening, concealing a little sponge at the back and a small mirror, making this a super handy addition to your purse.

The powder itself is a really light application, very buildable without being cakey, and effectively blots out shine. As I don’t wear foundation I only really use this to set my concealer and to sort out my oily t-zone, which it does a very good job at but does need topping up throughout the day if you’re a particularly oily individual like myself. For £2 you may as well have one of these in every bag.

Ultra Sculpt & Contour Kit in Ultra Fair C01 | £3.50
Also available in Light-Medium C04

I’m not massively into contouring – that Kim K look just isn’t for me and I quite like being a bit pale and round in the face – but every now and then for a special occasion I’ll go all out. As a travel kit, the Ultra Sculpt & Contour set is incredibly useful, with a creamy and easy to blend matte bronzer, a pretty pearlescent highlighter and a sweet rose blusher (that reminds me of Illamasqua’s Tremble but with a shimmer).

My only criticism is that for a set marked “Ultra Fair”, the bronzer is a little dark, but with a touch of your normal powder you can adjust the colour as needs be. However, the highlight and blush are both perfect for fair-skinned ladies, and gives a cute dewy finish without looking shiny. 

 

Focus & Fix Eyebrow Shaping Kit in Medium-Dark | £2.50

Last up is the Focus & Fix brow kit, which looks almost exactly like every other brow kit in Superdrug, if not better. The kit comes with three matte shades, colourless wax, a mini angled brush and mini tweezers.

I was excited thinking it would be the perfect kit for lighter brows toward the nose and darker at the tail end, which is my default eyebrow, but these are actually very similar in tone and vary in shade instead. The final result is a mousier brown, a chocolate brown and a slightly reddish brown, meaning I will probably only stick to one colour.

However, the fact that this is handy and at least a couple of pounds cheaper than the Rimmel brow kit which is pretty much the same is undeniable.

So there you have it, a mini-collection of MUR products from across the board. I’ve yet to try and of their liquid products (though I’ve heard a lot about those £1 lipsticks!) but as pressed products go it looks like Makeup Revolution is perfectly capable of running with the big boys.

Have you tried any Makeup Revolution products? If you have any recommendations, leave them in the comments below and I’ll try them out!

Until next time!

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