I skipped the Sephora VIB sale for a pro product which I had been dying to try since the last decade! I finally bought a MAQpro product, specifically the MAQpro Concealer/Lip/Cheek Petite Palette ($23.99USD).
I have tried many pro cream products and I can tell you most of them have a learning curve. What I mean is the pigment and/or texture will make the cream difficult to use for the novice. The perfect amount has to be applied onto the brush, then it has to be applied with some skill onto the skin to be buffed smoothly. Or, it has to be thinned out with another product to a consistency workable and comfortable for both the makeup artist and client. Learning the techniques is always great to know but for the regular makeup consumer, pro cream products can become time consuming for regular use.
So, how is the MAQpro Concealer/Lip/Cheek Petite Palette? Is it worth it for the makeup junkie, or a makeup applicator (aka q-tip) like me? Or, is this another product which has to be played with until a skill is learned and perfected?
For those of you used to having a huge amount of product or products in big containers, you will be very surprised by this one because it is small. Small because it packs a punch! These are not your average cosmetic counter brand cream colors.
There are ten colors housed in this small container. One row consists mostly of cheek and lip colors: red, plum, pink (mauve) shimmer, coral, and coral pink. These colors can be used anywhere on the face and can be mixed with any other color. The other row consists of "concealer" colors with the exception of the gold: brown, peach, olive, lavender, and the gold.
Brown is great for contouring or for a soft eyeliner. Peach can neutralize dark under eye circles. Olive is a concealer for dark olive complexions. Lavender neutralizes sallow skin. Gold provides shimmer to the lipstick colors and can also be used as an eyeshadow and eyeliner.
You are probably saying there is really nothing you can use because there is really no concealer color. Oh so wrong!
Check this chart out. Olive and the lavender make a light olive beige concealer perfect for light to medium skin tones. Peach and olive makes a beige concealer for medium skin tones and anyone with slight peach undertone. Olive, peach, and lavender will mix into a light beige; perfect for porcelain and fair skin tones. Olive, peach, and brown will mix into a dark beige or adjust to dark skin tones. Brown and plum will provide a contour color for ethnic skin tones.
I mix the olive and the lavender to get my concealer color. Actually, I am neutralizing and concealing at the same time. The olive tone gets rid of the redness around my eyes (common in Asians) and the lavender gets rid of the sallowness. Mixed together, though, it makes the perfect matching concealer for me.
Here is a demo of how I would use some of the colors.
I am using the brown around my eyes as a reverse concealer (I will explain more on this in a future tutorial). The second picture shows the brown all blended. I apply my concealer which is a mix of the olive and lavender. The third picture shows everything blended.
The eye on the left is my unconcealed and no-foundation eye. The eye on the right shows the concealed and colored eye. The result is subtle and looks like skin.
Here I added powder eyeshadow to enhance the depth of the eye. The creams make a great eyeshadow base.
And here is the comparison of the unmade up eye to the made up one. I did a subtle look with the powder, I just wanted to enhance the cream colors.
I guess you are wondering if this palette is worth it for the average makeup consumer or q-tip. Before I tell you, let me comment on its texture and pigment. Like I said, after trying several pro brands of cream colors, I find this one to be the smoothest and silkiest in texture. Even though these are cream creams and not silicone-based creams, they are non-greasy making them easy to apply onto any skin type including oily.
The product does have to be set with powder but compared to other brands which need the powder to soak up the excess creaminess to set the pigments, this one uses a minimal amount to set. The formula has the perfect balance of cream base and pigment allowing both to glide onto skin so smoothly there is minimal creasing or straying into fine lines. Yes, it is a very mature friendly cream palette, meaning anyone from a 110 years old to 20 years old can use it. Not only do the pigments apply smoothly, they also have a luminosity to them. Not a shimmery type glow but the natural type resulting from the use of high quality ingredients. The creams will look like part of the skin. And, unlike some brands which have that weird greasepaint scent to them, this one has none, no scent at all.
Some of you may be wondering how this one compares to one of my favorite cream color products Hakansson which I have raved and loved many times over. Like I said, MAQpro has the perfect ratio of pigment and cream base making other brands hit below it!
So, is this palette worth it and easy to use for the average makeup applicator or non-makeup artist? Put it this way, I bought my mother a palette, only told her what colors to mix for her needs. She had no trouble applying and didn't give using this any second thoughts!
Is MAQpro Concealer/Lip/Cheek Petite Palette one of the best cream palettes ever? Yes! MAQpro makes the best cream products ever!
