MUA Cover & Conceal/Pro-Base Conceal & Brighten Kit Review + Swatches

I was wondering what I could write about, and realised that I had some pictures in my blog folder (yes, I have a blog folder, how organised am I!?) that I took a while ago back when I had purchased some products from MUA. This was back when these products were brand-spanking-new, mind, but now that I have had them for a while and know what they are like, I thought that I could put the pictures to good use and give you a little review of them as well!

Finally, a blog post where I actually know how these products work and my thoughts about them! I usually give you guys first impressions posts, annoyingly enough.

So a while back I purchased the newest concealers that MUA had to offer, which included the Cover & Conceal wands in the shades Fair and Natural, and the Pro-Base Conceal & Brighten Kit in Porcelain - Beige. At the time I purchased these, I was in need of new concealers that I hoped would actually work well for me, because a good concealer is one of those things that I have a hard time finding, so of course I was hoping that MUA had created something that could work for my under eye circles and any blemishes that I may want to banish.

Did they work for me? Well... yes and no, I guess. To be honest, I get more use out of the concealer wands, as expected, but I had hoped that I would love the Pro-Base kit a little more, if I am honest with you.

L-R: Cover& Conceal in Fair, Natural and Pro-Base Conceal & Brighten shades

I actually picked up the concealer wands with the original intention that I would mix them together and use them as a foundation rather than concealers, however I have used the Cover & Conceal wands for both my foundation and concealer numerous times. Mixed with my SPF15 moisturiser, they create a nice and natural layer of foundation that manages to cover some of my redness, though not all. If anything, they act more like a tinted moisturiser when mixed together, but I don't mind; I prefer a tinted moisturiser as opposed to a full coverage foundation.

As concealers though, they suck pretty bad. Pardon my French, if you will.

The consistency and coverage is actually about the same as the Natural Collection wand concealers, which is pretty much non-existent in my opinion; the formula is moisturising enough, but the product itself barely covers anything and just sinks into the skin. I have more luck coverage wise by keeping the concealers as foundations when I mix them together, but on their own I see no improvement in how my dark under eye circles look, or even when covering blemishes, which is truly a shame, however I actually expected it... my first thoughts when I purchased these were along the lines of 'My Lord, I hope these aren't the same as the Natural Collection concealer wands'. Luckily enough, I prefer these as a foundation option, but I will stick to Collection 2000's 16 hour wear concealer for coverage purposes!

But in all honesty, I don't think that these are too bad, and for £1.50 a tube you can not complain at all! In fact, despite the negativity towards the concealers themselves, I do like them a lot, but for foundation purposes mostly. Other than that, they do not work well as concealers. At least for me, that is.

Next up is the Pro-Base Conceal & Brighten Kit. My oh my, did I have a battle with myself when I was purchasing this... I had to tell myself to either get this kit or the Pro-Base Complexion Kit, and finally decided on this one because, hey they are practically the same, except the yellow concealer is a foundation in the other kit. Of course I did tell myself that if this one worked well for me, I would return for the Complexion Kit... I doubt I will return for it, though, because really, who needs two products which are practically the same minus one concealer and plus a foundation?

The kit itself, to me, is pretty big, with nice sized pans of product; in it you get two concealers, one peach toned and the other yellow, and a rose coloured highlighter, which I have found a few other uses for actually, and each product does what it needs to do: conceals and highlights.

The products within the kit itself are very creamy and nicely pigmented; the concealers actually conceal like they are meant to, and I have found that the peach toned concealer works well for my under eye circles, and the yellow for my redness. The highlighter is pretty nice as well, giving off a natural glow to the cheeks that is subtle but effective.

When it comes to this kit, I have one big issue with it that I have with a lot of concealers: It looks cakey and extremely dry once applied over my dark under eye circles. Despite this though, I have used this product numerous times (sadly with the same result once applied) and take it to college with me because I do like it, and find that whilst it does not work under my eyes, it does quite well on blemishes and spots that I may want to conceal. The yellow also works great for any red area's around my nose that I may want to hide, so it does have other uses that works for my problematic skin. Sadly, it does tend to dry out as the day wears on and leave lovely little patches of flaky skin where the concealer was sitting. Oh dear.

The highlighter, though, has become an item which I find is multi-purposeful; after leaving late one day for college the few things that I happened to grab were my concealer kit, my transparent foundation, a lipstick and mascara, so whilst I was travelling to college (by car) I was also applying my make-up (I was not driving, thank goodness...) and decided that that day I wanted to put eyeshadow on. Sadly I did not have eyeshadow on my person at that point, but instead used the highlighter and the transparent face powder as substitutes instead. I also used it as a highlighter for my browbone and cheekbones, but it did a nice job of making me look more awake than I really was! I have also tried doubling it up as a lipgloss too, and whilst a tad lighter than what I wold usually wear on my lips, it works pretty effectively if you have moisturising lip balm underneath the highlighter.

It's a pretty nice product, the Pro-Base Conceal & Brighten Kit, and whilst it didn't work for me like I wanted it to (i.e working for my terrible under eye circles without looking cakey, boo hoo!) I did find it useful in other ways. It's a nice little product, one which has various uses, and for £3.50 this is a bargain item to have in your make-up stash! If you have yet to try it, and you are a person who can wear cream concealers under your eyes, I say try this one out. It's easy to carry around, has a good amount of pigmentation, and the highlighter can work for you in a multitude of ways (or at least it can for me!).

The concealers that I have purchased are all good in their own ways, and I do like both the Cover & Conceal wands and the Pro-Base Conceal & Brighten Kit, but would I purchase again? The Concealer wands definitely, they are useful for my foundation routine that I currently like, but the Conceal and Brighten Kit? I don't know... I would need to really fall in love with it to repurchase it.

Until next time, Lovelies~