Maybelline Color Tattoo Review

Hello, everyone! Today, I'm going to review a couple of the Maybelline Color Tattoos in Bad to the Bronze and Bold Gold.  I hesitated on picking these up at first because the appeal of an eye "tattoo" didn't draw me in. I assumed it meant "long wearing," but I just wasn't a fan of the look of the ads:

Model is wearing Tenacious Teal. From Maybelline's Site

The color of "Tenacious Teal" is bright, bold, and gorgeous, but I'm just not partial to a harsh crease with bold colors (I prefer a more blended look). This made me think these that the color tattoos might not blend well.

Maybelline's Claims

• "Long-lasting, 24-hour wear"
• "Ink technology creates super-saturated color"
• "Cream gel smoothes on for vibrant color that does not fade"

My hesitation with cream eyeshadows has a lot to do with the fact that a lot of cream eyeshadows out there really are NOT great. So many crease so fast, especially with oily lids.

These surprised me since they are AWESOME!

I've heard these are a lot like MAC's paint pots. While I have not tried these out, I've heard paint pots have smooth texture, are long-lasting, crease-resistant, and make a great eyeshadow base.

MAC Paint Pots. From MAC's site.

Maybelline's color tattoos are very similar, but in bolder colors (MAC's paint pots in the permanent line seem to only be in natural, mostly skin-toned neutral shades). 

Pros:

• Very smooth! Easy to blend in. I just use my finger. Claim accomplished!
• The color is quite pigmented! However, I believe the color saturation varies by color. Claim almost accomplished.
• These are VERY long-lasting, but not quite 24 hrs. I really wish companies would stop putting an exact number on the wear time of these type of products, especially since it's almost always grossly exaggerated! The wear time, however, is worth the hype. Claim ALMOST accomplished.
• By itself: No creasing at 8 hours. Color still strong. Started to fade and [almost] crease by hour 16, but keep in mind I was in a warm, environment and sweating quite a bit. 16 hours for a cream eyeshadow is still pretty darn amazing!
• With eye primer (I used Urban Decay Primer Potion in original): Didn't notice much improvement with staying power. I think it made the shadow last longer overall, but I rather not waste primer on a product that does just fine on it's own.
• As a base w/ shadow on top: Staying power was also excellent by hour 12.  I wore Bold Gold in heat & humidity all the way through hour 16 with no creasing and minimal fading!  My favorite way to wear the color "tattoo" is all over the lid, with a matte color in the crease. Staying power is improved with shadow on top, but I don't find it necessary to wear all over the lid.
• Price: About $6 to $8 dollars, depending on where you go. I'd go to Ulta or a drugstore, where you can get do a "buy one, get one 50% off" deal. Ulta tends to have deals on Maybelline products rather frequently.  About $6-$8 is great for 4 g of product (versus $17.50 for 5g of a MAC paint pot).

Cons:

• Color range has plenty of bold colors, but not enough neutrals. (Hint, hint! Maybelline, you should make more neutrals!)
• Pigmentation varies. For example, Bad to the Bronze is more pigmented than Bold Gold.  Also, I've heard that "Painted Purple" (bright grape purple) has poor pigmentation/texture than the rest of the color tattoos.
• Texture varies. From what I've heard "Tough as Taupe" (matte taupe) is harder to work with. 
• These don't work well together. For example, it's hard to use one shade on the lid and another on the crease. Your best bet is to use one as an all-over lid color and use a powder eyeshadow as a crease color.

Now for pictures and reviews of the individual colors I've purchased:

Bold Gold on left, Bad to the Bronze on the right

Bad to the Bronze

Bad to the Bronze is a gorgeous, bronzy, taupey (this isn't a real word, but it's very taupe, so you get the point!) metallic brown.  The color is absolutely amazing. One or two swipes across your lid and you're good to go for the day!  It has a great shimmer, is very opaque, and works well all over the lid. It's a great neutral for every day and I highly recommend Bad to the Bronze the most, especially if you're in the market to purchase only one.

Bold Gold

Bold Gold is a shimmery, metallic, brassy true gold.  Like Bad to the Bronze, it also has a great texture, wearability, color, and works great as an all-over lid color. I'd also like to try this as an eyeliner, but haven't yet. The color isn't as opaque, however, but can be built up with more layers. 

Bad to the Bronze on top (2 swipes of my finger to make swatch), Bold Gold on bottom (4 swipes) .

Bad to the Bronze on right, Bold Gold on left

Beauty Breakdown:

• Brand: Maybelline
• Product: Long-wearing, crease-resistant creme eye shadow
• Shades: Bad to the Bronze and Bold Gold
• Price: $6-8 each
• Where to get: Drugstores, Target, Ulta
• Package Quality (out of 5 stars): ***** (Sturdy case. Very nice!) 
• Overall Rating (out of 5 stars): ***** (Worth it!)
• Recommend: Yes!
• Repurchase: I would repurchase if I ran out. Especially Bad to the Bronze. I'm eager to try out new shades, especially of Maybelline makes more colors!
• Side Note: My viewpoint on creme shadows has changed! 
• Grade: A+

Here's a look I came up with using Bad to the Bronze & Bold Gold:

Products Used:

• Bad to the Bronze-all over the lid
• Bold Gold-as lower lash eyeliner
• Nyx Golden Amber eyeshadow-in the crease
• Nyx Vanilla Sky eyeshadow-as the brow bone highlighter 
• Nyx Black eyeshadow-to deepen & smudge the eyeliner wing
• Tarte "emphasEYES"Amazonian Clay Waterproof Liner in Black-upper lash line eyeliner
• Physician's Formula Eye Enhancing Eyeliner in Black (from the Blue Eyes Trio)-lower lash line
• Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk-in inner corner & in the waterline 
• Stila Kitten Eyeshadow-in inner corner
• Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara

I apologize for the overload of pictures, I'm just simply testing out 3 different cameras to see what works best. Hope you are having a great day!

Disclosure: These products were purchased by me for review purposes. I was not paid or compensated in any way. All opinions are my own.

It's Nice to Meet You! :)

I'm a new blogger, so I think answering questions is a great way for people to get to know what kind of products I enjoy and what my overall preferences are.

Here are some beauty basics about myself (I've made these questions up, so feel free to duplicate them if you like!)

Skin Type:

• Skin Type: Combination to oily.
• Skin Issues: Sensitive and acne-prone
• Skin Tone: Pretty darn fair! I'm usually the lightest or next to lightest shade. It can be difficult to find foundation, concealer, powder, and bronzer that doesn't appear orange or dark on me.
• Skin Undertones: Mostly cool-toned.

Preferences:

• Look: I love a natural look the most, but bold/colorful looks are fun for going out!
• Foundation: I tend to love mineral foundations the most! It gives me the most natural look and coverage, while helping with oil control.
• Concealer: Stick concealer for blemishes, one that's waterproof and long-wearing. I love mineral concealer for touch-ups and for brightening the under eye area. I'm still on the hunt for the ideal under eye concealer, specifically one that doesn't crease, look cakey, or smudge/melt away. If you have any suggestions, let me know!
• Blush/Bronze: I love powder blushes, especially matte ones. I've never been a big fan of creme blushes, but I've recently discovered a love for cheek stains! I love a mostly matte bronzer, or one that has a glow (but is not glittery).
• Mascara Preferences: I like to have a waterproof and non-waterproof around, depending on the day. Non-waterproof is best for casual days when the weather is normal, and I want to be able to easily remove it at the end of the day. Waterproof is my overall favorite, but it must separate and lengthen without looking clumpy. Regardless of the formula, I dislike flaking and smudging!
• Eyeliner: Pencil is the quickest and is best for days when you're in a rush. I'm also fan of creme/gel eyeliners, but the right brush is key! I've recently gotten into liquid, but it's not my absolute favorite.
• Eyeshadow: My favorite type of make-up to collect. I love a formula that is soft, blend able, and with great pigmentation! I don't like chunky glitter (that migrates to the rest of my face) but I do love satin, frost, shimmer, and matte finishes! I prefer pressed eyeshadow, but a great creme formula is also great!
• Lips: Chapstick and chubby sticks are my favorite, but lipsticks and lip glosses have there time and place. I love a bright lip look when I'm in a rush but want to look put together. And it's just so fast and easy!

Occasionally, I'd like to show beautiful pictures that are non-make-up related but still all about beauty! Beauty is the world around us, especially if one takes the time to look!

This beautiful shot is of Yosemite National Park in California. The upper Yosemite falls is on the left and Half Dome is on the right.

Yosemite National Park, Upper Falls & Half Dome. Photo Credit: Michele Schwab

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! Next post will be a review!

7 Deadly Sins of Beauty-Tag

Though I technically wasn't tagged, I still wanted to do my first tag! I keep seeing "The Deadly Sins of Beauty Tag" amongst bloggers and youtubers, so here goes nothing!

1. GREED - What is your most inexpensive beauty item? What is your most expensive?

My most inexpensive beauty item is probably one of my one dollar E.L.F. products. My favorites are the Hypershine Glosses, the Super Glossy Lip Shines, and the Eyelid Primer in sheer. (Let me know if  you'd like a review on my favorite and least favorite E.L.F. products!).

My most expensive beauty item is definitely Urban Decay's Naked Palette. I love this eyeshadow palette so much though, so it was totally worth it! Yes, I know it's not unique to adore this palette, but I don't care! I love it! 

2. WRATH - What beauty products do you have a love/hate relationship with? 

Definitely the Maybelline Coverstick Concealer in light beige. For the price, I love that this concealer has great coverage, is waterproof/sweat proof, and does NOT break me out! It's particular great at covering acne and small acne spots/scars. However, I hate how it's not super blend able over a wide area and how it doesn't go on smoothly over dry patches of skin. Also, it's not always best for the under eye area. However, if you work with it a bit, the coverage is both natural and very flawless looking! I'm planning on doing a future post on how I use this concealer to cover blemishes and under-eye circles!

3. GLUTTONY - What are your most delicious beauty products?
Maybelline Baby Lips in Cherry Me smells so sweet and yummy! It has the perfect fruity cherry scent (instead of the yucky cough drop smell). This is going to sound so strange, but I also love the scent of Tarte's Natural Cheek Stain in Flush. I'm sure it's not often people are able to smell cheek stains while wearing them...(Just imagine trying to sniff your cheek. If you just tried, you probably know how silly you look!). But even so, the sweet lemon scent smells just so delectable during application. The cheek stain even smells/looks lovely on lips, up until you take a taste. It's super gross, in case you were wondering. Very similar to accidentally tasting shampoo.


4. SLOTH - What beauty product do you neglect, due to laziness?
A lot of the time, I completely neglect lipstick and lip gloss, and just stick with my handy-dandy chap stick. I  love moisturizing lip products, so all my favorite colored or tinted lip products tend to feel a lot like a lip balm. My favorites are the Clinique Chubby Sticks, the Tarte LipSurge Natural Lip Tints, and the Maybelline Baby Lips.


5. PRIDE - What beauty product gives you the most self confidence?
Probably my concealer and powder foundation combo. No matter what, clear skin always makes me feel good!


6. LUST - What attributes do you find most attractive in the opposite sex?

This question is definitely not about beauty products, but oh well. I would have to say intelligence is a person's most attractive attribute. It doesn't matter how beautiful a person might be on the outside if he or she isn't intelligent and kind on the inside! From a physical aspect, I love eyes, especially my boyfriend's blue eyes! I am biased of course, but who cares! :)

7. ENVY - What items would you most like to receive as a gift?
I'd be happy with just about any beauty product, to be honest. I'd especially love to receive higher-end products, since I love assessing the quality and supposed uniqueness! I really want to try Urban Decay's Naked 2 Palette or any of the Too Faced eyeshadow palettes. But then again, it's always better to give than receive!

Btw if you want to do this tag, consider yourself tagged! :)

Disclosure: These products were purchased by me for review purposes. I was not paid or compensated in any way. All opinions are my own.

Wish List: Too Faced Summer Eye Palette

For my wish list:

(image from Too Faced)

Don't get me wrong, I adore neutral palettes, but look how fun & summery this palette looks! It's about time for a palette with a pop of color! Which is probably why the Too Faced "Summer Eye Summertime Sexy Shadow Collection" exists in the first place. I really love the idea of having a palette that can give you a soft, natural look as well as a bold, nighttime statement! I've never been a huge fan of a super black smokey eye, so my "going out look" tends to focus on adding a bright color.

I've played with these shadows in the store but have yet to make a purchase. One thing I've noticed is that a lot of these shadows are a lot more glittery than I expected. The glitter seemed to be able to stick to the shadow well without a lot of fall-out, so it doesn't look like it's going to be like Urban Decay's "Midnight Cowboy" (aka super glittery with TONS of fallout). The neutrals on the left column are Sugar Sand, Peach Fuzz, and Sunbeam. Sugar Sand, a dusty rose champagne, is my favorite of the 3, with the best pigmented and shimmer. Peach Fuzz (Peach shimmer) and Sunbeam (Pale gold shimmer) are very sheer with a good dose of glitter. They're very pretty, but I'm not quite sure about the strength of the pigmentation. The middle column contains the bold, fun colors, including Plumeria (Bright Barbie pink), Coral Crush (Coral shimmer), and Mermaid (Teal). Plumeria and Mermaid have a satin finish and smooth texture. Coral Crush contains glitter and is my personal favorite shade. I've been dying to try a coral shadow! The right column contains Cocoa Beach (Medium brown with gold glitter, Chocolate Sun (Rich brown shimmer), and Toasted Coconut (Matte caramel brown). All 3 shades are fairly similar to me but with different finishes. Toasted Coconut is also the only matte shadow in the palette. Ideally, I would've liked to see at least one more matte shadow in this collection.

For those of you who've purchased this, what do you think so far?

Stila Eyeshadow Review-Puppy, Kitten, Twig

I'm a huge fan of eyeshadow in general, especially eyeshadow with a fabulous texture and easy blend-ability. Stila claims their "award winning" eyeshadow has a "high-quality formula and texture" that can "be worn wet or dry." From my experience, Stila's eyeshadows do deliver on most of their claims, though texture varies from eyeshadow to eyeshadow. Let's take a look:

From left to right: Puppy, Kitten, and Twig

Stila Puppy: Matte medium beige. On light skin tones, this would make a great all-over lid color or a subtle crease color. On all skin tones, Puppy is a great blending color. The texture isn't as soft as Kitten's, but it also isn't hard or chalky. It's also very easy to blend, though the pigmentation isn't as strong as it could be.

Stila Kitten: Frosty nude champagne with plenty of shimmer, but no chunky glitter. Kitten has tones of pink, peach, gold, and silver, but not one of these colors is too intense. On my pale skin, it looks like a shimmery skin tone color, though slightly paler than my complexion. While many people dislike Kitten's frost, I rather enjoy it's brightening effect.  In fact, it's such a great multi-faceted color! I use it as an all-over lid color, inner corner highlight, and even a brow bone highlighter. I think it would work on all skin tones, though it might look a bit too frosty/ashy on darker complexions (to solve this, I would just use a lighter hand and perhaps not overdue the highlighting). Kitten is the soft, buttery (dare I say creamy?) texture that Stila eyeshadows are famous for. In fact, the Kitten is so soft that if you push on the pan too hard, you'll probably dent the poor shadow. Though the color pay off and blend-ability is wonderful, there is more fall-out than harder shadows.

Stila Twig: Shimmering mahogany brown. This is an incredibly unique crease color! On the eyes it appears brown....but it has that extra oomph!, which is its mahogany (almost dark cranberry) shimmer. Twig is almost duo chrome; in some light it just looks like a dark brown, but then BAM! you see the gorgeous maroon shimmer. It's got a great satin finish with no chunky glitter. The texture is harder, like puppy, but seems to have better color payoff and not much fallout (if any).

There's a couple looks I like to do with these eyeshadows, mainly kitten on the lid and inner corner, twig in the crease, and puppy to blend it all together. It's a very natural, yet put together look.

Stila's eyeshadows can be purchased at Stila counters and their online website (http://www.stilacosmetics.com/), Sephora, and Ulta Beauty (though they only seem to be available in store). I received mine in a discounted Ulta set, called "Stila: Ladies Who Lunch." You can buy the eyeshadow in the pan or in a plastic compact for $18.  The pan is magnetic and can be removed from the plastic compact and placed in a palette (like the Z-palette). Each eyeshadow has 0.09 oz or 2.6 g of product (For a comparison, a MAC eyeshadow in a compact is 1.3 g and $15).

Beauty Breakdown:

• Brand: Stila
• Product: Eye shadow
• Shades: Puppy, Kitten, and Twig
• Price: $18 each
• Package Quality (out of 5 stars): **** (Mostly love the packaging; I just don't like how the case can be easily scratched, but that's just me being nit-picky) 
• Overall Rating (out of 5 stars): *****
• Recommend: Yes!
• Repurchase: Only if I run out. But each eyeshadow has enough product to last me awhile!
• Side Note: Love the names of these eye shadows, especially Kitten and Puppy. Naming eye shadows after animals is kinda funny!  
• Grade: A

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!!

Disclosure: These products were purchased by me for review purposes. I was not paid or compensated in any way. All opinions are my own.

Beauty Bloggin'

Hi! My name is Justine, and my intent is to start a beauty blog. I have a passion for beauty and skincare and would like to share my knowledge with others. I'm going to start by focusing on product reviews (I'll be "breaking down" beauty...It took me a while to come up with the title/URL of this blog!). I will always give my honest opinion, especially since a dishonest one is rather pointless for everyone. :p. I will do my best to be as clear and concise as possible and to add plenty of pictures (once I learn how to add pictures!). Eventually I'll expand upon this blog and focus on tips/tricks, "faces of the day," hauls, and other things beauty bloggers chat about. Until then, I'm just hoping to figure out blogger and hopefully craft a blog that someone besides myself will enjoy. And even if I'm the only one having a good time...MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!  Hope that anyone who happens to read this is having an awesome day! :)