Natural Tones

It was the Pixiwoo girls that first introduced me to MUA more than a year and a half ago when they featured the Heaven and Earth eyeshadow palette in one of their videos. Since then, I've read countless blog posts praising MUA eyeshadow palettes as a cheap but good quality alternative to the Urban Decay Naked palettes (with Undressed being modelled off the original Naked, and Undress Me Too the Naked2 palette). I own and adore both Naked palettes, so I never felt compelled to try out a more affordable version (especially when it involves buying online — something I try to avoid unless desperate, which seems to be quite frequently). What really pushed me over the edge though, was recently watching Fleur De Force's £20 Makeup Challenge where she raves about Heaven and Earth and uses 4 shades from it as part of her look. Once I started to properly inspect swatches of Heaven and Earth, I realised practically all the shades appealed to me.

The palette consists of 12 shades — 3 highlight shades, 5 medium shades and 3 darker shades. Each individual eyeshadow doesn't have a name, so I've labelled them 1 to 12 for convenience.

In the top row, shade 1 is a frosty pale champagne/off-white, 2 is a warm, copper-tinged light-to-medium brown, 3 is a dirty yellow gold mixed with a hint of olive, 4 is a pearlescent light pink, 5 is a warm, dark chocolate brown and 6 is an amber/orangey-gold. On the bottom row, shade 7 is a medium-to-dark chocolate brown, similar to the second last shade on the top row but lighter, 8 is a neutral, light-to-medium beige/brown, 9 is a pale, frosty peach, 10 is a cool, silvery, purplish taupe, 11 is a warm, medium-to-dark bronze, and 12 is a slightly ashy dark brown with silvery glitter.

My most used colours are 2, 5, 8, 10 and 11. I tried 3 and 6 as all-over lid colours, but still prefer the other more neutral (read: beige/brown) shades. The shadows aren't uniformly pigmented and some of them were surprisingly difficult to swatch (2, 3, 8 and 10 in particular). Generally, the highlight shades (1, 4 and 9) have excellent pigmentation, with 9 being the clear standout for whatever reason. Shade 5 and 6 also have better than average colour payoff. Surprisingly, I haven't experienced all that much fallout, unlike with my Sleek or Wet n Wild eyeshadow palettes. Though all the shades are shimmery, they're more of a subdued, satin finish and aren't as intensely metallic as say, the Sleek i-Divine palette in Storm.

Are these shadows comparable to the Urban Decay Naked palette? I would say a resounding no. Anyone who has experienced both palettes will know what I'm talking about. The MUA simply doesn't hold up to Urban Decay's stunning pigmentation, metallic depth, blendability, smoothness and lasting power. But for the price I paid (under $10), I'm satisfied with the quality and shade selection. There's a good mix of safe, everyday neutrals that you can use for almost any occasion. For the sheer ratio of potential all-over lid colours in one palette, Heaven and Earth is worth having in your collection.