Lipstick Musings

So everyone's been talking about Maybelline's new Color Tattoo cream eye shadows, so of course I have been intrigued. I had no intention of buying them, though. I don't do all that well with cream shadows. However, when I got stranded at Walgreen's waiting for a prescription and they had Maybelline on BOGO 50% off, well, it was like the makeup gods were speaking to me. I caved.

Color Tattoo shadows come in a lovely array of colors. There's a taupe (Tough as Taupe) that I really wanted to try, but of course they were sold out of that one, so I had to improvise. I ended up with Painted Purple and Audacious Asphalt instead.

Painted Purple, as you can see, is a gorgeous, vivid, blue-based violet. It's really, really pretty in the jar, and since I love the way purples look on my brown eyes, I decided to give it a try--even though it's a bit brighter than I normally choose.

Here's a shot of my eyes:

It's definitely vivid, but I still love the look. It will be fantastic for Spring and Summer. The color applied fairly evenly, especially when you consider my inept skills and the fact that I applied it for the first time at 6:00 am...not the best time to deal with new products! But I got the look I was going for using a combination of brush application followed by blending with my fingers, and I went about my day.

Unfortunately, by the end of the day (which for me is about 4:00 in the afternoon since I have to be at work so early), I came home to find the color had creased and gotten a little splotchy. I used a primer, but apparently that wasn't enough:

It wasn't too bad, but I was still disappointed because, after all, they claim the color will hold for 24 hours (which is ridiculous, because you shouldn't be wearing the same eye makeup for 24 hours, and if you are--well, chances are you've had a rough night that isn't conducive to holding makeup in place). Regardless, they made the claim, and the shadow doesn't last nearly as long as it should, much less 24 hours.

I had the same issue with the other color I got, Audacious Asphalt. It's a gorgeous shimmery pewter:

It's also beautiful on the skin:

However, it's a bit difficult to blend and it fails to hold up to a full day, either. Here are my eyes looking all fabulous from head-on at the end of the day:

And....then I look down:

I tried this afternoon to repair the damage by smoothing it out as best I could and then adding a thin layer of shadow on top, but I only had limited success:

So, my verdict? These colors are beautiful and the finish and texture are great. However, they're somewhat difficult to work with and, more importantly, they don't last on the lids for more than 8 hours, if that. This is a big deal to me because I usually don't have creasing problems and because I was using an eye primer (Urban Decay Primer Potion). I can't imagine what a mess would be made on someone with oily eyelids who didn't use primer.

Bottom Line: Gorgeous colors and a great idea, but these shadows need some serious tweaking. Not quite ready for prime time yet.