24 HR Wear Test, Swatch, & Review: Maybelline EyeStudio Color Tattoo Cream Gel Eyeshadow in Tough as Taupe

I thought I was finished shopping for the Color Tattoo Eyeshadows until I kept hearing about Tough as Taupe and how pretty it was. I didn't think much of it at first but it's a really gorgeous matte grey brown taupe with very subtle, sparse shimmer. You can't really tell it's there unless you were searching for it so for all intents and purposes, it's a matte grey brown taupe.

Sorry for the imperfect eyeshadow but I wanted to show what it looked like underneath the top layer. The top layer when you get it makes it look very deceiving like it's a much lighter brown with no grey tones, but when you get through the top layer you see that in reality it's darker and greyer.

The texture is a little different than the other two Color Tattoo Eyeshadows I have. Tough as Taupe was much thicker in consistency, much like a cream concealer. When it came to application, I got the best results using my fingers. I would get a little bit on my pinky finger, and gently dab and sweep in short strokes across my lid. I found using a flat paddle-style brush made it apply a little unevenly on the lid.

Arm and eye swatches ahead. Depending on how thickly you apply it, you can really get it to look greyer or browner.

And here's a time lapse gif of my experiences. This time around, you'll see how it looked newly applied, at the 8 hour mark, at the 16 hour mark, and finally the 24 hour mark.

You can see that it wasn't creasing at hour 8, but had noticeable creasing at hour 16. I did further testing and saw that it started creasing after about 9 hours. Not as great as Pomegranate Punk or Bold Gold, but I think that can be attributed to the texture difference. The other two weren't as thick and creamy, which may have made it stave off creasing better.

I'm really hoping that they'll come out with more neutral and matte shades, preferably ones like MAC Soft Ochre or MAC Painterly.

Do you have any of the Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadows?

Disclaimer: I purchased this with my own money. All opinions are my own.

24 HR Wear Test, Swatches, & Review:Maybelline EyeStudio Color Tattoo 24Hr Cream Gel Eyeshadow

Never have I put so much effort into doing a review. Maybelline was just asking for someone to test their 24 hour wear time and I tested the hell out of it. This is a long post with swatches, a review, and pictures of my experience wearing these for 24 hours, no primer, no setting powder, nothing to help these eyeshadows. This is an extremely comprehensive post on these eyeshadows and picture heavy!

I got two colors, 30 Pomegranate Punk and 45 Bold Gold. I knew I wanted Pomegranate Punk but wasn't sure about what other color to get. I was thinking about Tough as Taupe or Bad to the Bronze but both colors were out when I got there. I then remembered that I liked Bold Gold from Phyrra's post on them.

These are packaged in glass jars with black plastic tops. The packaging is like the progeny of the MUFE Aqua Creams and MAC Paint Pots. The black plastic twist off top is the same size as the Aqua Creams while the glass bottom is the same diameter of the MAC Paint Pots. These were heat sealed which I liked since I don't trust other drugstore buyers. I'd say the packaging feels really fancy, there's a nice weight to them and the glass packaging is greatly appreciated!

These retailed for $6.99 where I lived, but prices may vary and this has 4 grams of product. These do feel like a hybrid between the MAC Paint Pots and the MUFE Aqua Creams. The MUFE Aqua Creams almost felt like a drier cream whereas the Paint Pots are a thick and creamy product. These are just in between, not too soft but not too dry.

I saw on Beauty Junkies Unite's post on them that Pomegranate Punk is a dupe of MUFE Aqua Cream #17 which further fueled my desire to have it. I rarely see (or haven't looked closely enough) a burgundy/maroonish drugstore cream eyeshadow. Bold Gold looked extra sparkly so I wanted to have it too.

Pomegranate Punk is a satin burgundy with gold shimmer (This is very similar to Fyrinnae's Velvet Vampire eyeshadow, only without a copper highlight to it) and Bold Gold is an extremely sparkly metallic yellow gold. Of the two, I liked Pomegranate Punk more. Bold Gold is a little sheerer than Pomegranate Punk so to get good opacity, you have to really layer it.

Arm and eye swatches ahead!

Pomegranate Punk

Bold Gold

I really wanted to test the lasting power so I put wore these for 24 hours straight. I have oily lids and I wanted to see its true lasting power so I wore NO primer underneath. I didn't set it with a translucent powder or an eyeshadow. The results of my experiment are of the eyeshadow by itself.

I took pictures after it was freshly applied, at the 12 hour mark, and finally the 24 hour mark. I was going to post the pictures but to make it easier to see the differences over the time period, I put the pictures together in a gif to show the time lapse. Like I said, the pictures are at the freshly applied, 12 hours mark, and 24 hours mark. Keep in mind, I did not wear eyeshadow primer at all during the experiment.

This is the one for Pomegranate Punk

You can tell that at the 12 hour mark, there's been fading and the product wore away at the other edges. There's no creasing yet but you can tell it'll start creasing soon. At the 24 hour mark, it's completely creased.

and here's the one for Bold Gold

At the 12 hour mark,there was lots of fading and wearing away at the outer edges and although it's not as evident in the picture, there was glitter fallout on my eyes. At the 24 hour mark, there isn't much product left, but what's there does crease.

As you can tell, Pomegranate Punk fared so much better than Bold Gold. I think because Bold Gold is so jam packed with sparkles, the color fades quicker and you're more prone to fallout (I noticed glitter fallout after waking up (about 8 hours after application).

You can't really get Bold Gold super opaque because if you layered it thickly on the lid, the product tended to gather and look scaly on my eyelid. The effect happens with Pomegranate Punk too but since Bold Gold is so much more metallic and brighter than Pomegranate Punk, which has a satin finish, the effect was much more evident.

So technically, no it doesn't last 24 hours without creasing but you would be seriously hardpressed to find a cream eyeshadow (drugstore, indie, or high end) that lasts this long without a primer. Bold Gold is not as great as Pomegranate Punk but it would fare much better with eyeshadow on top and with a primer to help the sparkles stick.

As a point of reference, the MUFE Aqua Cream only lasted 6 hours on my eyelids, no primer, before it started creasing. I think it is fairly obvious which one I like more.

Would I buy these colors again? Hell yes I would in a heartbeat. If the other colors are as good as Pomegranate Punk, I could see this as becoming a holy grail.

Have you tried the Maybelline EyeStudio 24hr Cream Gel Eyeshadows? Any thoughts?

Disclaimer: I purchased these eyeshadows myself, paid with my own money. All opinions are my own.

The end of the Talika experiment

The pictures speak for themselves

I'll say this though, as much as I liked the results and such (my eyelashes are definitely longer and the lashes at the ends are actually slightly curled)

This is a picture of my left eye but you can see how at the end, the tiny lashes are nicely curled.

My final thoughts on this is that while it was certainly nice, 55 dollars is a heavy price to pay for slightly longer lashes. As it is, I didn't notice any drastic side effects like eyelid skin darkening so if you were really looking for a Latisse substitute, this could be it.

As a college student though, I wouldn't recommend it. However, if you were older you might actually appreciate it more due to the fact that as you age, your eyelashes thin out thus it might be useful.

De-Inserting my MAC palette

My Kryolan eyeshadow is huge and wouldn't fit into my palette so I had to de-insert it. The Kryolan eyeshadow wasn't magnetized but it was easy enough to cut up a business card magnet to glue onto it.

My palette all de-inserted!

The aftermath of the de-inserting. I think you can fit 24 or 26 normal sized eyeshadows after you take out the insert, but I'm thinking I could probably fit 20 due to the size of the Kryolan pan

From the top left corner clockwise, Kryolan TK2, MAC Electric Eel, MAC Violet Trance (worst texture ever for a matte :( but it looks so pretty), Jane Black eyeshadow (possibly discontinued but it's essentially a MAC Black Tied dupe), MAC Deep Truth, MAC Shimmermoss, MAC Golden Olive Pigment pressed, MAC Coco pressed and MAC Goldenaire pressed.

I also just noticed that my LinkWithin wasn't working because it was linking to my old domain but now it's updated and fully working :)

Talika Lipocils Expert Experiment: Day 19

I thought I'd just give an update on how well the Talika Lipocils Expert is working on my lashes.

Here's what my lashes looked like in the beginning.

Here's how they look on Day 19

As to some of their claims, I haven't noticed any real curling other than on the lashes at the very end, mostly the wispy ones. The length of my lashes is the biggest change I've seen thus far and pigmentation-wise it has stayed the same. My lashes certainly look a bit fuller too!

I'll say though, it's kind of a pain applying mascara on after putting on the Talika. I made the mistake of putting it on, waiting for it to dry and then subsequently trying to curl my lashes. You have to wait quite a bit after putting it on to curl your lashes otherwise they'll stay stubbornly straight.

I shall update you when I'm done using it for the suggested time!

Talika Lipocils Expert Experiment: Day 8

So far it seems like it's been working well but I do have some qualms about it. When I use it, it tends to make my lashes clump and therefore, it makes my lashes look clumpy with mascara. It is annoying considering that it says you can use it pre-mascara but I don't like how it looks.

Anyways, here's a picture of Day 0 just to remind you guys

Here's Day 8

There is a difference in length, there's a small freckle on the left side of the picture near the ends of my lashes that corresponds in both pictures. I have seen no real difference in my lashes' curls or in the pigmentation of my lashes, but they're dark anyways, I don't care.

I haven't noticed any sort of drying around my eyes so as far as the whole no side effect business, it's ringing true!