Review: Maybelline "Dare To Go Nude" Color Tattoos

I'm reviewing the limited edition Color Tattoo eyeshadows from Maybelline's "Dare To Go Nude" collection that was released about a month ago. This collection started popping up in early February for some people. I live in the Northern part of the West Coast and I didn't see it around here until mid-February. The rest of the USA didn't see it until March. I'm still seeing displays pop up around here, mostly in CVS stores. It seems like CVS was the last to get this collection and a lot of people were saying they found big end cap displays in Walgreens, but I never found any.

(Feel free to skip to the very bottom of the post to read the Final Verdict and skip the details.)

I personally found the entire collection untouched (lucky me, I know) at Rite Aid. I picked up all 6 limited edition Color Tattoo eyeshadows and I was lucky enough to score it on a week when it was Buy 1/Get 1 50% off. I also picked up 2 of the limited edition Lip Elixirs that I'll be reviewing later. I passed on the limited edition lipsticks and the limited edition eyeshadow quads; I'm not a fan of Maybelline's powder shadows and the only solid lipsticks I've enjoyed from them are the Vivid's collection.

The shades in the picture starting from left-to-right and from top-to-bottom are:

• #80 Pure Nude
• #85 Beige-ing Beauty
• #90 Nude Compliment
• #95 Sleek & Spice
• #100 Caramel Cool
• #105 Stroke of Midnight

Here are swatches for the first 3 shadows. From left-to-right:

• #80 "Pure Nude" -this is a shimmery light peachy pink color. My skin tone is a medium-to-tan shade and when I wear this it looks very light on me, almost more on the white side. My undertone also really brings out the peach in it. I only state of all of this, because most of the swatches I've seen on other blogs make it appear more pink, because the authors of those bloggers have a lighter skin tone than myself.
• #85 "Beige-ing Beauty" -this is a shimmery nude color with gold glitter in it. If you're not a fan of gold then you'll want to stay clear of this one, but the glitter is pretty subtle due to the colors complimenting each other well. This color almost blends into my skin. It applies very sheer and takes a few layers if you're trying to get am opaque look out of it.
• #90 "Nude Compliment" -this is a cool shimmery brown color. It's a tiny bit streaky when first applied, but is easy to work with and not hard to smooth out. You hardly notice the streaky part.

Here are the swatches of the last 3 colors. From left-to-right:

• #95 "Sleek & Spice" -this is a warm toned brown with a red tone. This is a metallic. I'm not sure if it was just my pot, because I've not heard anyone else mention this, but this is the smoothest Color Tattoo I've ever purchased. The formula of this shadow is so creamy and smooth, it's like butter. Hands down, the best Color Tattoo ever.
• #100 "Caramel Cool" -this is a metallic-frost orange-copper color. This was the most sought out color from what I read when this collection came out. I personally am not a huge fan of these kind of colors, but I will say this is a nice color and it applies, blends, and performs well.
• #105 "Stroke of Midnight" -this is a matte black with silver glitter. Again, if you're not a fan of glitter, you definitely want to stay away from this, as the glitter almost appears chunky because of the matte black contrast. This color was another highly sought color, until people saw swatches. It is true that this color is patchy and streaky. It's not smooth sailing when applied, but it's not something you can't work with for certain looks. I'm not sure if Maybelline intended for this to be more of a finishing shadow than one to be for an opaque look, but I would use it as a finish/top layer. I would also suggest putting it over a black liner too.

Here is a macro view of "Stroke of Midnight". You can see it's matte and the pieces you are seeing are the silver sparkles. It's quite pretty too look at in the pot.

Final Verdict

#80 "Pure Nude" - I give this shade a 9/10. This is a very nice color that performs well. It is smooth and creamy and lasts throughout the day. It blends so well and easy.

#85 "Beige-ing Beauty" - I give this a 8/10. This color looks good blended with others. The glitter might turn some people away, but I personally feel the gold glitter compliments the base color. It's a bit on the sheer side, but that's nothing an additional layer or 2 cannot help. It's not a color to be used on its own.

#90 "Nude Compliment" - I give this a 9/10. This shade performs well and blends nicely. The only reason I took a point away is because at first it is a bit streaky/chunky, but it levels out well.

#95 "Sleek And Spice" - I give this a 10/10. This particular shadow is rated more on the formula than the actual color. As I stated before, I have never purchased a Color Tattoo that has formula that feels so smooth and creamy as this one does. This is like butter for the eyes! Still great color payoff and amazing staying power!

#100 "Caramel Cool" - I give this a 10/10. Another great performing shade that blends like a dream and gives great color payoff! The saying power is also amazing! Nothing to complain about here.

#105 "Stroke Of Midnight" - I give this a 6/10. This shade is streaky and patchy. Since Maybelline has not stated this was just a finishing/top coat shadow, I have to grade it based on a regular eyeshadow. While pretty in the pot, it is not that easy to make opaque and it takes a lot of work and effort to get even and a smooth layer by itself. It does work well over other colors and liner.

Fashion Look: LC by Lauren Conrad Sweater

I'm sharing a *Fashion Look* today. I always say this is a fashion and beauty blog and in the 50+ posts I've created on this blog, I have yet to really show any fashion. This is something I recognize I need to work on and progress is going to start right now!

This is an Early Spring Look featuring a sweater by LC Lauren Conrad, which is sold exclusively at Kohl's. You cannot buy this sweater anymore, but it retailed for around $40 when I bought it. I believe it was originally $54, but Kohl's is a department store and you know they never sell their clothing at the full retail value that is marked on the tag. The sweater is a mint green cable knit that is very light and leans towards the grey side. It may vary color depending on your screen settings.

I have paired it a pair of ripped jeans by Bullhead, which is sold exclusively at Pac Sun. They were around $45. I feel the ripped jeans give this look a little edge.

As for LC Lauren Conrad- I find her line to be on the vintage side. If you're into the vintage, boho, or classic fashion scenes you'll like her line of clothing. I find her clothing to fit true-to-size in most cases with a few items running a little big. I have heard her dresses run a size small, but I have never bought any of the dresses from her line.

Here is a closer look at the sweater. You can see the see-through lace that is so delicate at the top. I love when you see 2 extremes paired together that set each other off just right. In this case, it's something elegant with something edgy.

Here is a a close-up of the make-up. The eyes and blush are from the New Year's Countdown palette from em Michelle Phan. The foundation is the Amazonian Clay Foundation by Tarte and the contouring is just simply the bronzer from a Few of My Favorite Things palette from Too Faced. The lips are Instigator from MAC.

Make-Up Look: On Trend - Neutral Eye & Red Lip

I'm sharing a look I did that follows the current trend of a more neutral eye-look that is paired with a bright lip; the trend seems to be leaning towards a bright red lip, which is what I'm wearing in the pictures.

I used Tarte's Amazonian Clay Foundation for my face and Too Faced Shadow Insurance to prime my eyes. My lips are MAC's RiRi Woo. The eye look and cheeks come from the em Michelle Phan Ice Bunny palette. I lined my eyes with Buxom's Lashliner in "Leatherette". 

I wore this look out for dinner with my fiance. I think it turned out pretty well and I'm really impressed by the way the blush complimented my skin tone.

Spotted & Review: Salon Perfect - Love Lacquer and Lashes

Last week I spotted a new display by Salon Perfect at Walmart. It reads "Love Lashes and Lacquer" and I'm assuming this was meant for Valentine's Day, but my Walmart must have been late putting it out. I've not heard too much about this display or it's contents anywhere else in the blogosphere. I read a couple of sources that said they also spotted these, fully stocked, in March and not February. Oh, well. Better late than never.

The display had both lashes and nail polish on it. It was at the very end of an aisle and it was on the side of an endcap. (In retail, we call these type of displays "Sidekicks", as they go on the sides of an endcap to "enhance" it and/or the aisle.) The display had both limited edition and permanent products.

All of the lashes and lash products on the display are permanent. No limited edition items there, which was a little disappointing. I really like the limited edition eyelashes they have come out with in the past for Halloween and the holidays; there is so much they could have done here.

The polishes on the display are are mixed of permanent and limited edition. Whoever set up the display did not put the polishes in the correct order. Not 1 row was correctly done, but let me do my best to tell you which polishes are limited edition and which are not. They retail for $3.98.

• "One Love" Limited Edition (top coat) -this is the very 1st polish on the left.
• "Hearts a Flutter" Limited Edition (top coat) -this is the 3rd polish from the left.
• "Touchy Feely" Limited Edition (top coat) -this is actually the 4th to last polish and they left out the "y" on the name on the display.
• "Loves Me, Loves Me Not" Limited Edition (top coat) -this is the 2nd to last polish.
• "Cosmic Black" permanent (top coat) -3rd polish from the end.
• "He's With Me!" permanent -very last polish.
• "In Love" permanent -2nd polish from the left.

So, now for the good part- Swatches! I did some quick swatches on my nails. The paint job isn't perfect, but it's the swatching part that counts!

Here is "Loves Me, Loves Me Not" on the Thumb and Pointer fingers. This is a pink-purple micro-dot top coat. I found this top coat to dry fast and so multiple layers were no problem. On my thumb, you can see I put it over black and the pink/purple color comes through okay. On my pointer finger, it is just simply 3 layers of the top coat alone and I feel it basically just looks white and black.

"Touchy Feely" is on my Middle finger and Pinky. This is a black and white micro-dot top coat. My ring finger sports 3 coats of it by itself and 2 coats over black polish on my pinky. This was also a very fast drying top coat and multiple layers were no problem.

An up-close look at "Touchy Feely". Pretty simply and ordinary if you ask me. Nothing too special. I think this is an easy $3.98 to save.

An up-close look at "Loves Me, Loves Me Not". It's kind of hard to see the pink-purple hue, but it is there. This is the better of the 2 micro-dots, but nothing to rave about.

Another comparison of "Loves Me, Loves Me Not" and "Touchy Feely". Really, not enough difference in my opinion.

"One Love" is a multi-holographic glitter top coat. You can see it with 3 coats on it's own on my Pinky, I put it over a light mint color and over black. I love the effect when putting it over black polish.

"Hearts A Flutter" is a basic fuchsia glitter top coat mixed with gold hearts. The gold hearts are a pain to get out of the bottle. You really have to scoop to get them. Took me several attempts just to get these 2 you see on my Pointer finger and by the time you dig out a heart or 2, you will have a nice big gob of polish, making your top coat really think.

A close-up look of "One Love". This is the winner in the collection, in my opinion.

A close-up look of "Hearts A Flutter". This is cute, but it takes too much work. 

Final Verdict: While the top coats were the only limited edition products in the collection and the only products I picked up, I found they performed well, but were not really all that unique. For $3.98 a bottle I feel you could easily skip on these and similar products are on the market that you can purchase every day.

Make-Up Look: St.Patrick's Day Inspiration

I didn't have a chance to post this yesterday, because my fiance finally came home from his trip and it was a lot of hassle between Sunday night and Monday morning to get him home. However, today I'm bringing you the inspiration that I wanted to share yesterday. I realize this would have been way more effective yesterday, but what can you do when Delta ruins your night and morning? - This is a green smokey eye, but the shade of green is a little different than what you usually see.

• I started from the inner corner of my eye and worked outwards, using "Clock Strikes Midnight" by EM Michelle Phan from the Holiday Life Palette New Year's Countdown edition. I made sure to blend well and really fade it out at the end of the eye.
• I took "Mint Julep" by Meow Cosmetics from their Summer Spirits collection and put that over the dark Clock Strikes Midnight. This color is a light green with gold iridescence. It is a little sheer and light and looks best over another shade to amplify it. (This is also a limited edition collection that is released every summer.)
• I used "Tease" from the Naked 2 Palette by Urban Decay as the crease color, just to give some depth and dimension to the eye. I blended really well!
• Also from the Naked 2 Palette, I used "Foxy" as the highlight color.
• I lined only the bottom of my eyes with Tarina Tarantino's Eye Dream Hyperline in "Spark of Envy".
• The lipstick is "Pleasure Bomb" from MAC's RiRi Hearts MAC holiday collection released in 2013.

Again, apologizes for this being late, but I still wanted to share. Comments are always welcome and I'd love to see your green inspired look for the holiday this year!