MUFE Ultra HD Concealer Review, Swatches, Ingredients Analysis

Make Up For Ever's Ultra HD Concealer is now here, and MUFE is marketing this as an undereye concealer, with a lightweight formula and the ability to smooth fine lines. I've always been a pretty big MUFE fan - I can't think of a single product from them I dislike, seriously - so I was quite excited to see how these were!

MUFE Ultra HD Concealer: Marketed as an undereye concealer

The Ultra HD Concealers come in a range of shades - peach-based shades that function more as correctors to neutralize brown tones rather than match the skin, and more skin-like shades that are "proper" concealers. You can just buy the closest shade to your actual skintone and use it alone, or, if you need more coverage, you can use a corresponding peach shade to colour correct first, and then apply the skintone shade to conceal.


MUFE Ultra HD Concealer: Comes in "corrector and "concealer" shades
I have a "corrector" type peach-based shade, R30 Beige (which could be the concealer shade for some people), and a "concealer" shade, Y23 Ivory. I'm not sure if you can see the colour difference straightaway in the tubes, but don't worry - the swatches I have later make it clear they are different shades! As is with my style, let's first take a look at the ingredients in the product, to see what makes it so special. And I also have some pretty cool before-and-after shots too! So without further ado, let's dive in!

MUFE Artist Shadow Palette 1 Swatches and Review

MUFE, or Make Up For Ever, has released two Artist Shadow Palettes for Fall 2015. The two Artist Shadow Palettes are Artist Shadow Palette 1, which is a neutrals palette, and Artist Shadow Palette 2, which has bright shades. These are definitely one of the Fall items I was looking forward to, because MUFE usually has very good quality products, and their palettes usually have the same quality as their single eyeshadows, too.

MUFE Artist Shadow Palette 1: 9 neutral eyeshadow shades for Fall 2015

As you can imagine, my penchant for neutrals means that I absolutely had to check out the Artist shadow Palette 1 - I mean, a collection of 9 top-notch neutrals in a pretty palette is not something I would pass up! I've actually swatched some of the MUFE Artist Shadows before (here and here and another palette here), and I've been playing around with the existing shades I have and these are really pretty good.

MUFE Artist Shadow Palette 1: Consists of 9 shades from MUFE's permanenet range in palette form

Anyway, without further ado, let's move on to the swatches and the other good stuff!

MUFE AquaMatic Swatches And First Impressions: Plus New Summer 2015 Shades

MUFE's Summer 2015 collection includes new additions to its AquaMatic line of waterproof eyeshadow crayons, in a total of 5 shades in addition to the current 10, as well as 2 additions to its Aqua Rouge line, which already has 16 shades. The new shades will launch this month, and they're pretty exciting! And MUFE's summer shades are also gorgeous. Look at all of those bright rainbow colours, perfect for hot weather and summer!

MUFE's AquaMatic isn't a new product, and as you may know, it's essentially an eyeshadow crayon, but waterproof. There are 5 finishes of AquaMatic shades - Diamond (where the colour names start with D), Matte (names start with M), Iridescent (start with I), Satin (start with S), and Metallic (names start with ME). Diamond finishes tend to be sparkly and have visible glitter, Metallic finishes have a very obvious shimmery metallic finish, that look almost foiled, while Iridescent and Satin have more of a sheen rather than a shimmer. Between the S-shades and I-shades, I feel like the Satin shades have more shimmer than the Iridescent shades.



The AquaMatic crayons come with a retractable crayon tip (shown here is colour I-30):



The AquaMatic crayons also come with a sharpener embedded into the end of the product, in case you want to sharpen the tip.



Anyway, you didn't come to see photos of the product, you came to see swatches, so without further ado, let's move on to the business at hand!

MUFE Artist Plexi Gloss Swatches: All 35 Lipgloss Colours!

MUFE (Make Up For Ever) has a new line of lipgloss, the Artist Plexi Gloss, that will be launched in Singapore on 16 April. These lipglosses come in 35 shades, and I've heard that they will be replacing the Lab Shine Lipgloss range. The shade range of the Artist Plexi Glosses are seriously immense - everything from reds, to pinks, to corals, to nudes, and even some cooler shades like purple and black. They come in two finishes - Pure, which is a glossy finish sans any sort of shimmer whatsoever, and Pearly, which has a slight shimmer finish (no discoball, gritty glitter here).

MUFE Artist Plexi Gloss: Formulated with special polymers to give unparalleled shine

The shade numbering system for the MUFE Artist Plexi Glosses is quite simple: shades in the 100s are nudes and beiges, shades in the 200s are pinks, shades in the 300s are corals, shades in the 400s are reds, and the 500s are purple and other more funky shades. The "Pearly" shades are distinguished from "Pure" shades by the addition of the "P" at the end - so for example, 400 would be a red shade with a Pure finish (no glitter, just glossy), while 401P would be a red shade with a Pearly finish that has some very fine shimmer.

MUFE Artist Plexi Gloss Appicator: Specially shaped with a little cutout in the middle to give a smooth, even application of gloss

I'm told the glossiness of the Artist Plexi Glosses is acheived by a special blend of polymers that form a smooth surface on the lips, giving a nice shine. Another thing that's novel about the Artist Plexi GLosses are their applicators. As you can see they are a spoon-shaped applicator with a little cut in the side - apparently this is so the applciator can scoop up the right amount of gloss, and apply it smoothly to the lips to give a nice, even application on the lips..

But enough about the glosses. I know you guys came to see swatches, so let's cut to the chase! I've got all 35 shades swatched for you, so yay for that!

MUFE Step 1 Skin Equalizer Primer Review, Swatches: Mattifying, Smoothing, and Radiant Primers

MUFE's Step 1 Skin Equalizer Primers are the latest range of makeup primers from MUFE, and as is typical of MUFE, they have launched not one or a few, but a whopping eleven primers under the Step 1 Skin Equalizer range. Each of these 11 shades is meant to serve a particular need, from hydrating to mattifying to smoothing, to nourishing, and a good 6 of the 11 are "Radiance Primer" shades, to subtly colour correct and give skin radiance, and these come in a variety of shades, from pink to blue to yellow to mauve and caramel, for different skin types (the yellow, mauve and caramel shades, for example, are for darker and tanned skins, while the pink, blue, and peach are for fair skin) . So no matter what your need, there's probably going to be a primer that works for you!

MUFE Step 1 Skin Equalizer Primers: Comes in 11 different shades and finishes for everyone

According to MUFE's comment on my Instagram photo, Step 1 Skin Equalizer Primers will also replace MUFE's previous primers, so the HD Primer, HD Elixir, and All Mat Primers will be replaced with the Step 1 Skin Equalizer range. For the review, I have three shades of the Step 1 Skin Equalizer Primers - Mattifying Primer #1, Smoothing Primer #2, and Radiance Primer - Blue #7. While mattifying and smoothing primers aren't anything particularly new, I thought a blue primer for radiance and colour correcting was definitely something I've not seen on the market yet. I'm told you can also layer these primers together - so if you want a combination of say, smoothing and colour correcting, you can certainly combine or layer the primers.


MUFE Step 1 Skin Equalizer Primers: Will replace the existing HD Primer, HD Elixir, and All Mat primers
The Step 1 Skin Equalizer Primers themselves are packaged in very sensible packaging - little tubes of 30ml each, with a squeeze nozzle at the end. I like tubes and pump packaging better than jars, because they are always more sanitary. And tubes with small nozzles also help to prevent evaporation of some of the move volatile ingredients, like some types of silicones, which would otherwise quickly evaporate from a jar.


MUFE Step 1 Skin Equalizer Primers: In handy-dandy tube packaging
Because my favourite thing to do is look at the ingredients in the products, I'm going to start this review by doing just that, and we'll take a peek into how exactly the MUFE Step 1 Skin Equalizer Primers work, and the ingredients behind their key functions!

Top 10 Most Popular Blog Posts of 2014, and 3 Honourable Mentions

2014 is ending, and I thought it would be appropriate to do a recap of some of this year's popular blogposts! After making 2013's list of most popular blogposts, there were some unexpected results, so, just for fun, I thought it would be great to do one for 2014, too!

Some of my Top 10 most popular blogposts, as well as the 3 honourable mentions!

Just like in 2013, this year, I have also picked the top 10 by raw number of blogpost views, because it's the simplest way to go about doing things. I've written last year that I feel this method isn't totally ideal because it disadvantages posts that are popular but were written at the end of the year, or "evergreen" posts (like posts on classic topics like skincare, foundation, etc., such as my post on parabens in skincare, as opposed to a more trend-based post, like the latest MAC makeup collection) that may not garner as many initial views, but tend to do very well over a longer period of time. I always feel like counting the raw number of views tends to overlook the evergreen posts and the posts written towards the end of the year. Nevertheless, this seems to be the simplest way of doing things. Of course, if you wanted to be really particular about it you could pro-rate the number of views to the length of time the post was up, but this seems to present its own problems, because not every post follows the same viewcount trajectory - some (like the trends-based posts) do really well for a short time, and then quickly taper off, while others tend to follow a steadier growth trajectory.

But in any case, since we are using raw views, let's get to it, and here's the top 10 posts of 2014! I've also included 3 honourable mentions, which are posts that did well views-wise, but didn't get into the top 10 because they were written in the later part of the year. So let's check out the top 10 posts!

MUFE Holiday 2014 Studio Case Review and Swatches!

MUFE (Make Up For Ever), the brand famous for its artistic sensibilities, large range of colours, and high-quality products, has launched their Holiday 2014 Collection! Their holiday collection includes various sets and kits, from makeup brushes to eyeshadows, and a mix of makeup products. One of the standouts this Holiday season if you're an eyeshadow lover is the MUFE Studio Case, which I've reviewed for you guys today!

MUFE Holiday 2014 Studio Case: One of several sets MUFE has put out this holiday season

The MUFE Studio Case comes with 12 mini-sized eyeshadows, with a travel-sized eyeshadow brush. The eyeshadows are 0.024oz/0.7g, as opposed to the usual 0.7oz/2.0g of product in a full-sized pan, so each shadow is roughly about a third of the size of a full-sized eyeshadow. The 12 shades are grouped into 4 groups of colour stories - there are Natural shades, Smokey Shades, Bold shades, and Chic shades. It's like a little box of colourful gems and treasures!


MUFE Holiday 2014 Studio Case: 12 eyeshadows and 1 eyeshadow brush in a compact case
If you're wondering how to use the shades, the MUFE Singapore Facebook Page even has little tutorial images for each of the looks (natural, smoky, bold, chic). But first, let's take a look at the Studio Case itself, the eyeshadows and the brushes!

MUFE Artist Shadow Swatches Part 2 of 2: Pinks, Reds, and Neutrals

MUFE's (Make Up For Ever) Artist Shadow range of eyeshadows is certainly impressive, as my previous swatches have shown. This time, I'm back with part 2 of the MUFE Artist Shadow swatches! And again, these shadows are smooth, very nicely pigmented, and have a wide, wide variety of colours. If you're an eyeshadow junkie, you can definitely go crazy over the shadows, and if you're not - then there are still at least a few shades that will catch your eye!

I mentioned that there are 5 finishes in the Artist Shadow range (Matte, Satin, Metallic, Iridescent, and Diamond), and you can tell which shade is which as it is denoted by the letter in the eyeshadow name - mattes start with M, satins start with S, metallics, start with ME, iridescents start with I, and diamonds start with D.

Because this bunch of swatches consists mostly of browns and pinksk (along with some reds and oranges), you'll notice that there are a ton of neutral shades. Almost every kind of brown (light, dark, cool, warm, shimmery, matte) is in there, which will certainly please neutral lovers, and there are a few choice taupe shades too! The pink and coral shades are also great as blushes - certainly a number of those look more blush-like than eyeshadow-like to me. But enough with my rambling. Without further ado, let's move on to the swatches!

MUFE Artist Shadow Swatches Part 1 of 2: Blues, Greens, Yellows and Neutrals

Make Up For Ever's (or MUFE's) Artist Shadow, its new eyeshadow line, has been causing quite a stir since it launched, and for a good reason, too. First, there's the sheer number of colours - 210 shades, in 5 finishes. And secondly, there's the quality - MUFE is known for the excellent quality of their products, and I honestly can't think of a single MUFE product I dislike - I've tried their eyeliners, lip liners, lipglosses, lipsticks, eyeshadows, powder foundations and cream blushes, and across the board, every one has consistently been of great quality. That's quite a rare feat in the beauty world, as I find most brands tend to have some products they're strong at, and some they're weaker at, but MUFE seems to be a great all-arounder.

The Artist Shadow Eyeshadows are also no exception - there are 5 finishes (Matte, Satin, Metallic, Iridescent, and Diamond), and all of them are smooth in texture and very nicely pigmented. I think across all the 100+ shadows I've swatched, only a few (like, maybe less than 5) shades had lighter pigmentation. So the consistency is great across the range, too.

Today, the first half of my MUFE Artist Shadow swatches are here! Yes, that's everything in that huge palette you see there! These are over 50 shades, and the shade names are prefixed by a letter that indicates their finish (M for Matte, S for Satin, ME for Metallic, I for Iridescent, and D for Diamond). I've included both their colour codes and colour names for easier ogling! The swatches are all swatched dry with my finger on my unprimed skin. Without further ado, let the swatches begin!

MUFE Rouge Artist Lipstick Swatches and First Impressions

Make Up For Ever (often abbreviated to MUFE), has expanded its Rouge Artist Lipstick lines with four new colours, and of course I just had to shamelessly swatch them for you guys - because that's what a beauty blogger does!

The 4 new additions to MUFE's Rouge Artist Lipstick range: 51, 52, N51 and N52

51 Playful Pink and 52 Rebellious Red are new shades to the Rouge Artist Intense Lipstick range, which features full-pigmentation lipsticks with a creamy (but non-shimmery) finish. Meanwhile N51 Naughty Nude and N52 Coral Confident are part of the Rouge Artist Natural Lipstick range, which features a more moisturizing formula, but is also more sheer (although with MUFE, sheer is a relative thing, certainly you can build even their Natural lipsticks up to near opacity with just a couple of coats).

MUFE Artisan Brush Collection: Review and Comparisons

MUFE's Artisan Brush Collection has been quite well-received, with some brushes already sold out following its first launch in Singapore. I know I've blogged about two of the brushes, the MUFE Buffer Blush Brush #152 and Medium Highlighter Brush #154 before, but I thought since I've gotten more brushes since then, I thought I'd do a quick comparison between those brushes I have and existing brushes from other brands.

MUFE Artisan Brush Collection: Proving to be very popular!

The brushes I have, in addition to the Buffer Blush Brush #152 and Medium Highlighter Brush #154, are the Lip Brush with Cap #304, the Double-Ended Sculpting Brush #158, the Round Shader Brush Small #210, the Body Kabuki #414, and the Double-Ended Eyelash and Eyebrow Brush #274.


My little collection of MUFE brushes.
So without further ado, let's start with the comparisons!

MUFE Blush & Highlighter Brushes Review & Comparison: Buffer Blush Brush #152 and Medium Highlighter Brush #154

Along with the MUFE HD Second Skin Cream Blush that was launched recently, MUFE has also launched a set of makeup brushes, which I thought deserved their own post, because these are some really standout makeup brushes!

MUFE Buffer Blush Brush #152 and Medium Highlighter Brush #154

One of the really standout features of these new brushes are how soft they are. When I heard that these were made of synthetic bristles, my first thought was, "Aren't all these synthetic-bristled brushes the same? They all feel the same to me!" And I learned that these are made from a different material. Your regular synthetic-bristled brush is made out of nylon fbers, but these are made out of a special type of material that's proprietary (so although the science geek in me was trying to annoy the PR staff into telling me what the material was, it turns out that they didn't know exactly either) and unique to MUFE at the moment. So these brushes are indeed something unique!


MUFE's new brushes utilize a new synthetic fiber that makes their brushes softer than the typical synthetic brush.
In order to test this out, I thought there was only one fair way to do this - and that is to bring out all my synthetic-bristle blush and highlighter brushes, and do a brush-on-brush comparison, to see which one was really the softest! And after much digging around my stash, I got these. I included the Hakuhodo Kokutan Blush Brush S because it was partially synthetic (a mix of synthetic bristles and blue squirrel hair):


Almost all my synthetic-haired blush and highlighter brushes, for the sake of comparison!

MUFE HD Second Skin Cream Blush Review

MUFE's HD Second Skin Cream Blushes have been launched already, and I've finally managed to get down and give you guys a review! It's definitely one of my favourite cream blushes at the moment, and for a variety of reasons.

MUFE Second Skin Cream Blushes

I've already swatches of the MUFE Cream Blush, so I won't re-swatch them, but I'll just go a bit more into detail about how I use them, and what I think of them.


MUFE Second Skin Cream Blushes

MUFE HD Blush Second Skin Cream Blush Swatches!

MUFE's HD Second Skin Cream Blush has just been launched, and I am so excited about how awesome these are! I will be putting out a proper review of these soon (and soon meaning the next couple of weeks), but in the meantime, here are swatches of these blushes!

How awesome are these? (Photo from my Instagram)

Anyway, these are pretty good quality overall - they are quite radically different from MUFE's previous HD Blush, the Microfinish Cream Blush. Those were super pigmented, and in liquid form, and you basically used a teeeny tiny bit and blended out a lot to get a rosy glow. These? They're layerable, so you can apply lightly for a wash of colour or use more for an intense flush, and although the Second Skin Cream Blush starts off as a cream, when you apply it to your skin it sort of dries down to a smooth finish. When I was swatching these, the quality reminded me of the Chanel Cream Blushes, with the same drydown effect.

MUFE HD Blush Second Skin Cream Blush swatches

If you want to see my commentary on the individual shades, feel free to read on!

Valentine's Day Eye Look: Pink and Green Eyeshadow

Valentine's Day is coming upon us, so in commemoration of what is perhaps the celebration that is most cynically exploited for capitalistic gain, I thought I'd do a little eye look for fun! After all, although I don't celebrate Valentine's Day or bother about it, any excuse to play around with makeup is fine by me.

Pink and Green Eyeshadow for Valentine's Day!

And look at the eyeshadow combination I came up with! I picked pink, because it was a Valentine's-Day-ish colour, and I picked green because it seemed like an interesting way to pair up the green.

Chinese New Year Eyeshadow: Gold and Brown (Althought it Looks Orange)

Since Chinese New Year is coming up, I thought I'd show you guys a look I created with one of my favourite palettes of the moment, the MUFE Arty Blossom Palette, which I've reviewed and swatched before.

My Chinese New Year eyeshadow! A wearable, but still festive eye look.

This look was just three colours and some simple blending. Easy-peasy, and it doesn't look too bad either, given my small eyelid space and general lack of makeup skillz, haha!

MUFE Arty Blossom Palette Swatches: Spring 2014's Romantic and Fun Eyeshadow Colours

MUFE's Arty Blossom Eyeshadow Palette, part of its Spring 2013 collection, will be launched in Singapore on 9 January. I do believe this is one of the first few products for Spring we are getting in here! Of course, Singapore is pretty much hot and humid all year round, so I suspect that for us "Spring" is really more synonymous with "Chinese New Year" than any real turn in the weather. Which is why I'm more than happy to welcome the Arty Blossom Palette as my first Palette for Spring!

MUFE Arty Blossom Palette: Limited Edition for Spring 2014

It's too early to say this is my favourite eyeshadow palette this season, since truthfully this is the only Spring eyeshadow palette I've tried, but the MUFE Arty Blossom Palette certainly sets the bar high. You guys know I've always been a fan of MUFE due to their great range of colours and consistent quality, and this palette is a win in multiple ways. It is pretty and feminine, in contrast to last year's Technicolor palette, which was bolder and brighter, but still lots of fun.

MUFE Midnight Glow Palette Swatches: Officially My Favourite Holiday Eyeshadow Palette!

MUFE has come out with the Midnight Glow Palette for the holidays, and I am absolutely in love with this palette and it's gorgeousness! I always love MUFE's releases because their makeup is consistently of high quality, and the lovely Midnight Glow Palette is no exception. There's an Aqua Rouge too, in a really lovely universally flattering shade that works on all skintones - but I'll get to that in another post! For today, we're found to be just all about the eyes!

MUFE Midnight Glow Palette: Eyeshadows with glitz and glitter for the holidays!

If you're tired of seeing the same few shades incorporated into holiday palette releases, you'll be pleased to know that six of the eight shades are new and exclusive to the palette. The six new shades boast a new "diamond" formula, specially created for an extreme shine. The other two remaining shades are good ol' basics that everyone needs - there's Matte Black and Metallic Taupe 127.

MUFE Pro Finish Powder Foundation Review and FOTD

MUFE recently launched their Pro Finish Multi-Use Powder Foundation, and I had the chance to give this a try! Again, I'm a little slow to post, but this one is definitely worth waiting for. Remember how in a previous post I mentioned that if you wanted to know what foundation I was wearing, I would blog about it soon? Well, now you know!

MUFE Pro Finish Powder Foundation: MUFE's latest foundation, and an excellent product.

The MUFE Pro Finish Powder Foundation provides high coverage with a non-cakey, smooth finish, and a great formula that is right on, as with most of MUFE's products. You can really tell when a brand spends the time and effort to perfect its products before launching, rather than just jumping onto every trend-based product bandwagon every three months, or slavishly copying its nearest competitor, and from the looks of it, MUFE's Pro Finish Foundation has definitely been formulated with care. Ever the perfectionist, MUFE founder Dany Sanz spent six years (yes, six!) developing the foundation, in order to arrive at the best possible formula that would work on all skin types.

Perhaps, as a result of the fact that this foundation took six years to perfect, I have to say, I have absolutely no complaints at all. From the colour match, to the formula, to the coverage, to the finish - while I can sometimes be pretty critical, right now I only have good things to say!

Turquoise and Neutrals Eye Look with MUFE Blue Sepia Palette

So remember the last time I put up the MUFE Blue Sepia Palette swatches and said I'd do an eye look with them? Well I have! So here you are! It's been awhile since I've done an EOTD (Eye of the Day) because I've been wearing mostly neutrals for the past few months (boring, I know), so I'm actually quite excited to do one again! Since my last eye look (using emerald, the colour of the year) was sometime in April, I hope I haven't lost my eyeshadow mojo. I guess the photo below allows you to judge for yourself:

My turquoise and brown eye look with the MUFE Blue Sepia Palette

This look was super easy to do, as you can imagine, because I'm not THAT great at artistic makeup - I'm happy enough if I cover my eyebags and acne scars! I used the shades Light Pink, Petrol Blue, and Brown. And just a teensy bit of Espresso. Just a tiny bit. The photo below marks which shadows I used with an "X".


The shades that I used for my eye look