Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr Gel-Cream Eyeshadow

Good Day Everyone,

When it comes to makeup eyeshadows are definitely my thing. I will always opt for drawing attention to my eyes over any other facial feature, after all they do say that ‘the eyes are the windows to the soul’.

I picked up this Maybelline Color Tattoo in a Boots 3 for 2 when I was last home and I am so impressed with my first venture into gel-cream eyeshadows. I typically wear powder eyeshadows and more recently I've been adding the crayon type eyeshadows to my collection, which I guess could be classified as ‘cream’ eyeshadows but this is my first gel-cream eyeshadow in a pot.

This Color Tattoo has amazing staying power. Now I've not tested the ’24 hour’ claim, but I have gotten to the 14 hour mark and this looked as good at 14 hours as it did when I first applied it. Aside from the amazing staying power the other great thing about this eyeshadow is that it just does not crease. I don’t have particularly oily eyelids but I do have to use an eyeshadow primer if I’m going to be wearing my powder eyeshadows for more than a couple of hours as otherwise the shadow creases but this baby does not budge, it does not slide and it certainly does not crease, and I don’t need to use a primer beforehand.

The slight (and for me it is only slight) downside to this product is that once on, the eyeshadow does set very quickly so if I want to blend this shadow out at all, I literally have a matter of seconds. As a result I finish the look on one eye first before starting the second eye.

When it comes to application, I like to apply this with my finger rather than a brush as the warmth from my skin melts the product slightly making it easier to work with when it comes to blending. It also reduces the likelihood of packing on too much product (which is easy to do as a little goes such a long way), and with my fingers I can better sense when the product is setting and know to be quick with my blending. The eyeshadow is very soft, smooth, and creamy and it glides on beautifully.

I picked up the colour Pink Gold which is a beautiful pale pink. It’s definitely a wearable shade of pink that I think would look great on most skin tones. The colour has a lot of what looks to be incredibly fine shimmer in it which gives it beautiful metallic-y sheen. It’s definitely not glittery or sparkly. I opted for this colour rather than a more neutral shade because I thought it would work well as a sheer wash of colour on its own but also as a base with some of the powder eyeshadows from my Naked and Naked 2 palettes and boy was I right! This is a gorgeous and very versatile colour and product. I can imagine some of the darker and the more brightly coloured shades being great as eyeliners given the staying power of this product.

I will often wear a sheer wash of this shadow during the day to give my lids a soft sheen of colour, with some black eyeliner on the top lash line and mascara. If I want to create a little more depth to my eyes then I will run a matte brown-y shade through my crease. The colours Naked and Buck from the original Naked palette work great for this as does the colour Tease from the Naked 2 palette which has a purple-y grey tone to it and works nicely with the Pink Gold.

If I’m doing an evening or night out look with this Color Tattoo then I apply it all over my lid with a bit more intensity than a sheer wash. From my Naked palette I will then use Sin or Virgin as an inner corner highlighter and Toasted and Hustle in the crease and outer ‘v’. If I want to intensify the look even further then a small amount of Darkhorse works great in the outer ‘v’ layered on top of Hustle. I use the colour Naked as a transition colour above my crease as it’s not too far off my own skin tone.

If I only have my Naked 2 palette to hand then I will use Bootycall as my inner corner highlighter, YDK on the outer half of my lid and Busted to create the dark outer 'v' and Tease in my crease. I will use Foxy as a matte brow bone highlighter and above my crease as it just blends in to my skin tone quite naturally.

It was only when I got the Pink Gold Color Tattoo that I noticed just how many pinky toned eyeshadows there were in my Naked palettes, which reminds me that I do need to do a review on both of these palettes as I think they are absolutely amazing products!

Back to the Color Tattoo, the eyeshadow comes in a clear round glass (I’m pretty sure it’s glass) jar with a black screw on lid. Now the packaging is a little bit deceiving in that it makes it look like you’re getting more product than what you actually are. This is because the base and sides of the jar are really thick and the product doesn't go all the way down to the bottom or to the sides of the jar. If you look at the bottom of the pot you will see that the diameter of the jar is a lot bigger than the circle of eyeshadow. Also if you look at the jar from the side you will see that the product doesn't go all the way down into the pot, in fact it looks like it’s sitting on a thick glass platform.

Aside from this little deception I actually quite like the packaging. The clear glass jar and the lid with the corresponding eyeshadow colour sticker make it really easy to know which colour is inside, if you have several of these eyeshadows. The lid feels very secure and airtight which is really important to prolong the life of the product and stop it from drying out. In addition the product sits very close to the top of the jar so I don’t have to dig my finger deep into the pot to get the product out which avoids getting the product caught under my nail. Some people may feel that the packaging isn't particularly hygienic, having to stick your finger in each time you use the product thus risking the transfer of bacteria, but I just make sure I go in with clean fingers, or you could use a brush.

It’s not very often that I buy individual eyeshadows simply because I feel palettes are much better value for money and easier to store than lots of individual eyeshadows but I am seriously tempted to buy more of these Color Tattoos. In fact, what would be even better is if Maybelline came out with miniature Color Tattoos that stack up on top of each other, a bit like what you get with some lip balms, and that way I could get a Color Tattoo palette – how great would that be?!

Have you tried these Color Tattoos? What did you think? Are you a fan of cream or gel eyeshadows? Which brand would you recommend?

Love Sheen xxx

My verdict: 5/5

For the US you can find this product at most drugstores 

For the UK you can find this product at Boots and Superdrug

For Singapore you can find this product at Watsons and Guardian

(Note: I purchased this product with my own money)