True Beauty Junkie Makeup is simply an extension of the personality; colors, clothing, makeup all express something.

“Eyes are your most important feature; they draw people in.”  ~Andrea Walmsley

You may have noticed a trend in my makeup posts lately – waterproof, waterproof, waterproof!  Summer is here, and with it is some much needed sunshine and warm weather, pool parties, and days at the beach.  Unfortunately it can also mean sweat, raccoon eyes and general face melting.  I think I can handle my foundation disappearing a bit in the heat, but my eyes are another thing.  I want my eye makeup and mascara to stay put throughout the day, regardless what I have going on.  I don’t want to go to the bathroom and see my eye makeup has migrated to my cheeks – never a good look.

 Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 HR Cream Gel Shadow

I have heard nothing but good things about this shadow, so I picked up a few colors that I thought I would get the most wear out of this summer.

The Claims

• 24 hour wear without creasing or fading
• Ink pigments for intense color
• Cream-gel texture

True Beauty Junkie Assessment

Let’s start with the colors I selected:

Barely Branded is a beautiful champagne color.  When I first swatched it on my arm it reminded me a lot of The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer highlight, only in cream form.  Not glittery or chunky, it glides on easily and works as an all-over eye shimmer base, a highlighter for your brow bone or the perfect shade to brighten your inner eye corners.

Purchase: Maybelline Color Tattoo – Barely Branded

Bad to the Bronze is a warm brown with subtle bronze and gold shimmer in it.  This is the color that I will be reaching for the most over summer.  You can sheer it out or pack it on for a more pigmented look.

Purchase: Maybelline Color Tattoo – Bad To The Bronze

Tough as Taupe is a matte cool brown mixed with gray.  In the pot it looks much more gray, which worried me because gray is not an eye color I gravitate towards.  It tends not to work well with my eye and skin color.  When I swatched this I was happy to see that there is enough brown there to make it wearable for me.  I love that it is matte, and I find myself wearing it as a base and warming it up a bit with other shadows.

Purchase: Maybelline Color Tattoo – Tough as Taupe

Testing the Claims

24 Hour Wear – No Fading

After I swatched all three colors on my wrist (just the shadow, no primer underneath), my family and I headed to the pool.  Yes, you know you are a true beauty junkie when you walk around in public with makeup swatches on your arm.    I swam in the pool, soaked in the jacuzzi, occasionally rubbing on the swatches to see if they were going to shift at all.  They did not budge!  I was thinking that I wouldn’t need to even take a second picture of the swatches at the end of our pool day, because they looked the same.  Then I tried rubbing them off with my towel, and finally there was some fading.

Now, I have to say, I was really happy that even though these faded after being scrubbed with my towel, the fading wasn’t a bleeding out all over the place.  The color just faded over all.

Creasing

My lovely sister reads my blog, and after my original posting of this one she texted me asking “What about creasing?!”   I had forgotten to add this piece in.  She is the best quality control editor.    Thanks Becca!

When you are applying these to your eyes, if you are using a synthetic brush to initially place the shadow, you should then go over it with your finger and press it into your skin to smooth it out.  You don’t want a thick layer of the shadow on your eye all at once.  If you want to intensify the color just apply it in layers, always remembering to use your finger to press and smooth it into your skin between each one.

Like any cream eye product, if you don’t apply it correctly it will crease up on you the minute you blink, settling into the lines of your eyes.  However, I haven’t had any issues with these colors creasing on me, applying them as I described above.

Intense Color

The formula allows for buildable coverage.  I found the shades I chose to start off with a great base color.  The initial swatches I took are just single strokes of the cream shadow, no primer, no additional layers.  I was able to pump up the pigment as I wanted when I was applying these to my eyes, so that I could use just one of them to serve as an all-over lid color as well as a smudged out smokey crease.

Not So Honorable Mention

It appears that the formula can vary between the colors, as everything else I’ve tried.  I purchased the Tenacious Teal and was truly disappointed with the pigmentation and staying power.  It applied slightly patchy and milky, certainly not as the bold color it appears to be in the jar.  It was mostly gone after just a little water from the faucet and rubbing it lightly.  I returned it.

Bottom Line

Once you place these specific cream liners where you want them and let them set for a few minutes they will hang with you all day.  I was truly impressed with their staying power.  They aren’t even marketed at waterproof, and yet I was able to swim with them, soak in the jacuzzi, and they were exactly where I put them when I finished my day.  The colors are beautiful and pigmented and apply easily with your finger or a synthetic brush.  Just be aware that not all of these will wear like the gems I picked above.

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Let me know which of these you have tried.  How did they work for you?  How do you like wearing them?