Maybelline Makeup Bag Makeover

I was lucky enough recently to receive a makeup bag makeover from Maybelline. Maybelline is a brand which for some reason I always walk past – I know people really rate their products and whenever I see a positive review I think – I must go get that, look at this, try that. So when I was given some products to try of course I was ecstatic when a beautiful box of goodies landed on my doorstep. I’ve been using these for the past week or so, so it’s time for some opinions.

Eye Look – Light and Bronzey

Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid Foundation – Shade Ivory 10

This product is the one I’ve been able to get the least use out of so far, because I’ve recently returned from egypt and was nicknamed Beyonce on my return at work whilst that has now subdued slightly, it is still a little pale for me right now, so I’ve been restrained to just wearing this in the house, and there’s a lot of neck blending going on for the picture. I think I will really enjoy this when I have chance to use this in a month or so, it blends very nicely but I find the coverage quite light and if my skin is red it tends to show though quite a lot. A second layer can be added but it doesn’t seem to blend as well into the skin when a second layer is added. I can’t really comment on the wear time as I said, I’ve only been wearing this in the house for an hour at a time so a product I’ll report back on in due course.

Maybelline Eraser Eye Concealer

This is a product which has been on my “I really must remember to try that” list for about a year. It seems to be a bit of a love/hate product, mainly I think down to the applicator. Whilst I don’t particularly like the sponge top, the product inside is fantastic. This is a lighter shade for me so it’s great for concealing and brightening under the eyes. I held off using everything for about a week until I had time to start properly paying attention to the products. Except for this which I’ve been using every day, I’m already a noticeable chunk of the way through this – that’s testament to how much I like it already! In the pictures of me here, you can’t really tell just how brightening it is under the eyes as my skin tone has been subdued in tone by the foundation.

Maybelline Brow Satin

I wasn’t particularly excited to see a brow product, most shades are much too warm for me, with my cool dark brown, almost black brows. The nib on this is teeny tiny, which is easy to control and create the illusion of hairs rather than big solid blocks of colour, which on dark brows like mine looks like two slugs crawling across my face. Unfortunately mine arrived broken, so I lost a large chunk of product which fell out when I opened – but I can already see me repurchasing this.

Maybelline Lash Sensational

No matter what the price point, I feel like this is the hottest mascara that everyone is talking about. Currently the number 1 mascara in the UK this was a product which was on my shopping list to try when my stash was getting empty. I’m not normally fond of rubber wands – but I think it’s the formula inside which is making me like this so much, no flaking, smudging or budging this both adds length and builds some volume. I’ll report back on this in a few weeks – I say it every time with mascara, but it changes so much over a week, two weeks and a month. I want to find something I love as much as my expensive mascaras so hopefully this might be it.

Maybelline Master Sculpt in Light

A 2 sided powder containing a bronzer and a highlighter. The bronzer has a very slight shimmery appearance in the pan which doesn’t really translate all that much to the skin at all, however in this shade it is a little on the light side for me to build up the type of contour I normally like. The Highlighter is a gorgeous shade and reminds me of a more golden version of Mary Lou Manizer from theBalm – although it’s not quite as blendable. Both of these have a nice formulation that is easy to work with, but I think my sister might enjoy this as her skin tone is much paler than mine, and I know I’ll neglect it as it’s not dark enough for me to reach for – and it’s such a nice product it doesn’t deserve to be neglected. I will however consider picking up a darker version of this in future when I want to buy a handy duo that’s good for travel – I’m coming to the end of my Sleek one, and this may well replace that in future.

Maybelline The Nudes Eyeshadow Palette

This is a really nice little palette with a good mix of Mattes, Shimmers – with a few which even have a light sprinkling of glitter in there two. This is a really good catch all palette featuring crease and transition shades, inner corner highlights, and outer corner smokey shades. With some gorgeous shimmering browns and bronzes for the centre of your lid. The pigmentation of all of these are good, some are better than others, with the 2 dark brown shades leaning a little on the chalky side for me – saying that they all workable.  As there was no eyeliner in this set I decided to use the off black shade as a eyeliner with some fix plus, the pigmentation was a little light and needed a few layers to get a nice line. I’ll do a more in depth review of this with swatches over the next few weeks.

Maybelline Lipstick in Naked Brown

In the tube this looks a deep red/brown colour which looks quite scary and bold to wear, and it is – this is out of my comfort zone, if it edged a little more red I would feel more comfortable with the shade. I don’t mind the colour as much as the formulation, I personally prefer a matte lipstick, mainly because I know it won’t budge, which when it comes to very bold colours like this is a must for me. I’ve attempted to photograph this post a few times over the past 3 weekends and something about each time I’ve done it – I’ve not liked the photos.

But it’s meant that I’ve learnt not to over apply this lipstick, below you can see it with one heavy coat and one lighter coat – when viewed with a full face of makeup I find it does look a bit much, and with a lighter coat I prefer the colour but it’s a bit blotchy. It never truly sets and I found even after a short car journey by myself, with no talking (or singing like I’m in music video) it had smudged and I needed to completely take it off.

To smudge so much means I’ll never feel comfortable wearing it out and about, but I have other similar colours in a matte formula that I feel more confident wearing knowing I’m not going to end up looking like the Joker. I think I’ll pass this to my mum as I think she might like it and use it more than I will.

1 Thick Coat

1 Lighter Coat

What are your favourite Maybelline products?

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