Today I present to you the forever-out-of-stock Makeup Academy MUA Undress Your Skin Shimmer Highlighter (£3.00 for 7.5g), at last! I was able to snatch one in May after months of trying. Ever since its release last year, I have been attempting to order it but always failed due to its popularity and hype. Right now it is out-of-stock again unfortunately but I still want to give you a head-up of its performance.

I honestly cannot understand why they do not produce more since I can't see anything other than a humongous amount of sale and profit. It's quite hard to find a good highlighter on the high street so of course such product is much anticipated and welcomed (especially for the price point, of course). That explains my rush of adrenalin as soon as I saw this little compact being in stock, all I could think of was "I must get this!". I know, typical hoarder problem.

The packaging is different from the usual black plastic: it is a white compact with a clear lid that actually feels quite sturdy. I appreciate its not coming with any brush since it saves space and looks much cleaner and more sophisticated.

The Undress Your Skin Shimmer Highlighter is a baked powder with a pink iridescent that borders being metallic. I especially like the embossed surface which gives the product more character and distinctiveness. You may have heard people saying that it looks like MAC Mineralized Skin Finish, which is quite understandable but in fact it is just an impression since the MAC one is almost totally different in appearance. 

I am not a big fan of the texture: the powder feels stiff and a little scratchy to the touch; it is not the easiest to pick up with a brush either. On the other hand, you can easily control how much product you want through slowly building up the color intensity. I find the pink hue looks much better and more natural on people with a pink undertone in their skin rather than yellow undertone (it looks very obvious and artificial on me). However, it still work if you apply very sheer; it can also be a nice browbone and inner corner highlight.

I can't say that I am thrilled by this product by any means: it looks nice, the packaging is clean and lovely, the sheen is pretty but it just does not work very well on me. I am not at all bashing it FYI: of course for the price it is a fair buy, but if you really want a versatile, universally flattering highlighter that performs a million times better: try theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer