UKMA Unfiltered Review

For my very first review on this new site, I thought it was only fitting that I review the long-awaited and very limited UKMA Unfiltered palette.

UKMA (UK Makeup Addicts) is a group on Facebook where makeup artists and enthusiasts share tips and favourites with other like-minded people. The group was set up by the co-creators of this palette, Dana and Kimberlie. The project was funded by a Kickstarter campaign and hopefully will be the first of many products The palette is cruelty-free and vegan.

Luckily mine was part of the first batch to be sent, and so I was able to get my hands on it fairly quickly (compared to other customers). The palette is quite large and made of cardboard, which is great in terms of recyclability. It seems to be quite sturdy so could potentially take some accidental knocks! There’s a magnet inside to keep the palette closed when it’s meant to be closed, to avoid unwanted breaking of the shadows. There’s a nice big mirror and it’s not too heavy.

The price point was £30, quite expensive for a 20 shade palette, but you have to bear in mind that this isn’t a brand with loads of marketing and loyal customers at their disposal. It’s two people creating something they genuinely love and are proud of. That being said, the UKMA group has almost 100k members and the total amount raised to back the project was around £21,000. Dana and Kimberlie were upfront about the cost of the palette and all the things that had to be paid for out of the funds raised, like different types of certification needed to sell the palettes in the EU and the red tape they had to jump through. The Kickstarter ended in June and at the end of November, they were only then able to release the palettes for posting, which gives a lot of insight into how indie brands must have to operate. But (fingers crossed!) now that all that red tape is in place it will be easier if they decide to make more products in the future.

Now, onto the good stuff!

What does it look like?

UKMA Unfiltered

The colour story and layout looks interesting, as you see so many 40+ shade palettes these days with every colour and every formula under the sun, all laid out in rows (totally not throwing shade to the James Charles palette being almost exactly the same as the Morphe 39A palette...)

The middle four pans are bigger pans, with two highlighters (Misty Isle and Helios) and two bronzer/contour shades (Bailey and Simba). On the first inspection, the bronzer/contour shades look a touch too warm for me, but the highlighter shades are perfect! They swatched really nicely on my arm, bearing in mind that this palette was created to be used with brushes. The Simba shade looks like it would be a great bronzer for deeper skin tones than mine.

Just outside these bigger pans are four pans containing a black (Soul), a white (Saint), a taupe-grey (Storm) and an orange (Sing). These are all matte shades. Now if you know me, you know I love a black smokey eye so I can see Soul running out extremely quickly…

Now I’m going to move onto the bottom right corner, where the primary colours sit. The blue (Sharky) looks like it has a hint of a shimmer in the pan, but doesn’t appear to be when applied (check). Jam Tart (red) and Lemmy (yellow) are fully matte and look insanely bright in the palette!

Moving to the top right we have a deeper red (Merlot), a mustard yellow (Clueless) and a khaki olive green (Olive). These are also all matte shades.

On the top left, we have the shades I’m most excited by! Skye, a pale pink shimmer, Reign, a purple shimmer, and Damien, a green shimmer that matched my tattoo perfectly when I swatched it! I already have a look in mind for this corner of the palette!

Finally, in the bottom left corner, we have Lucky Penny (bronze), Asteria (silver) and Cleo (gold). I have a few looks in mind for this corner too!

Using the palette

All the shades seem to be really pigmented with little kickback in the pan. They’re all very blendable despite being so pigmented, so in my opinion, the formula is worth paying £30 for.

So far I’ve tried two looks with this palette. I tried to be Christmassy (and failed). I’ve not yet come across a decent red that is cruelty-free and vegan, so I was very excited to try both of the red shades Jam Tart and Merlot.

Jam Tart & Merlot UKMA

It came out a little bit more pink than I was intending, probably because I used a lot more of the Jam Tart shade than the Merlot, which is a deeper red. Blending has also never been my strong point and I was under a time constraint here as well. Next time when trying something similar I’ll use Merlot only, and put more work into blending.

The next look I tried was on Christmas Day when I was intending to do a blown-out green smoky eye with the shade Damien, but it just didn’t work, so I started again and used the shimmer pink, Skye, and purple, Reign.

Skye & Reign UKMA

The shimmers blend really nicely and easily, and there is very little difference between applying with a brush and applying with fingers. They are just as shimmery when applied with setting spray as well, which is great!

In both photos I’ve used the shade Misty Isle as a highlighter.

I really like the concept and execution of the UKMA Unfiltered palette, it’s uniquely laid out in an easy to use format and the colours are blendable and pigmented. It’s an all-round great palette! I think Dana and Kimberlie have done a fantastic job and it's been a product that has been worth waiting for. It’s available to buy here while stocks last!