Maybelline Longwear Color Tattoo Cream Eyeshadow in New Shades
I was a fan of the original Maybelline Color Tattoos. When they first came out at least four years ago, I bought several of them, mostly mattes, because I love cream eye shadow. At the time, I liked them a lot. So I was excited when I saw a display with about 10 new shades.
The majority of the new shades are neutrals with a deep purple, deep blue and black in the mix. All of them appeared to be shimmers.
I had a difficult time choosing which one to try. I already have most of the neutral shades from other brands in my stash, but the deep shades looked too bright or too dark for me. So I chose a champagne shade called Frontrunner.
As soon as I got home, I had to try it.
I applied it over Urban Decay Anti-aging Primer Potion. Sadly, I thought it hardly showed up at all. And instead of looking shimmery, it looked “broken”. I tried it again the next day over Anastasia Beverly Hills Eye Primer, the primer that makes all shadows look brighter (review here), and it helped a little bit but not enough for me to want to keep Front Runner. Boo!
So I returned to CVS and asked to swap it for another shade. This time I chose one of the deep, brighter shades: Knockout. I thought Knockout looked gorgeous in the pot as did the deep blue shade.
Knockout seemed like the perfect name for this beautiful grape colored shadow.
Knockout does show up on my lids. Here it is over UD AA PP.
Rather than appearing to be a bright grape like it looks in the pot, it is more of a raisin color. It’s not a bright shade, so it’s definitely wearable for me. But it’s definitely not as pretty as it appeared in the pot!
I have learned, however, that this is better applied with a brush than with my fingers. It goes on unevenly, and a brush will definitely help.
I’ve decided it’s just OK. After using MAC Paint Pots and Supergoop Shimmershadow, Maybelline Color Tattoo’s formula seems thinner and less opaque. It’s not particularly shimmery. To be honest, I don’t love the new Color Tattoos. I know I won’t buy any more of them. Oh well, it was worth a try!
I bought the Maybelline Color Tattoos at CVS where the regular price is about $8.69, but I had a 25% off coupon, so it wasn’t much of a loss. At Walgreens, as you can see below, they’re priced at almost $2 less, $6.99. The MSRP on Maybelline.com is $7.99.
What a shame. Color Tattoos are one of the few cream shadows that don’t crease on me. I was hoping Knockout would be a good one, so I could use it as a base.
Rachel, if you were planning to use the Color Tattoo as a base, I think you’d be fine. Either Knockout or Risk Taker (black) should work. I was just expecting Knockout to be more of a jewel-tone grape/purple shade instead of raisin.
OK; good to know. I was hoping to use it under plummy and burgundy shimmers. I might still check it out then. Thank you!
Especially if you get a coupon, I think it’s worth a try as a base for plums and burgundies 🙂
Yeah, I think I’ll wait for a coupon or sale. Thanks again for your help.
It is really too bad that both were underwhelming! At least you have other cream shadows that wow you consistently!
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Yes, certainly! Knockout isn’t bad, it just looks nothing like the shade in the pot.
I’ve pretty much never gotten along with the color tattoos, but I’ve only ever tried the shimmery shades, never the mattes. I always found the shimmers to be too emollient or greasy or something, as they always applied patchy/streaky, and were too prone to sheering out and creasing. From the looks of these, that hasn’t changed. I think that the mattes that most people love must have a slightly different formulation.
You nailed it, Rachel! Your description fits these to a T. That’s what I meant when I described the look as “broken” rather than shimmery. Your description of “patchy/streaky” is perfect. The mattes that I had were more like the MAC Paint Pot matte formula.
I’m not a Maybelline shopper, but the raisin color looks so good on you!
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Thank you!
My original ones dried more quickly than I liked so I stopped using them. These two colors don’t appeal to me so I’ll be skipping them.
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Too bad! I got the shades Socialite and High Roller in the new formula and love them. Maybe the lighter shades work better?
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Front Runner, the lightest of the 10 new shades, was the first one I tried. Sadly, it was patchy, streaky and hardly showed up. Glad you’ve had good luck with them. I’ll continue playing with Knockout, and hopefully make it work or use it as a base.
Oh no, what a shame as I adore the originals! I will swatch them in store and maybe the lighter colours will be better?
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I started out with Frontrunner, the lightest of the 10 new Color Tattoos, and it was a disaster. Streaky, patchy, and the color hardly showed up at all even over two different eye primers. Maybe the medium tones will work for you. Knockout is OK, but it wasn’t the color I expected from how it looked in the pot (it looks gorgeous in the pot!). Also both shades I tried have a greasy feeling compared to the original matte Color Tattoos. IMHO, these are not an improvement over the original. Worth trying in store if there are testers. I think MAC Paint Pots on sale are much better quality, same with Supergoop Shimmershadows – though much more expensive.
It’s a pretty purple. But I love purples.
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