Have We Met Before?: Maybelline Color Tattoo Metal Review and Comparison

Today's post is courtesy of morbid curiosity and a sale at Walgreen's. For some time now, I've been intrigued by Maybelline's Color Tattoo series; not so much because I thought they were new and exciting, but more for the sheer fact that they weren't. I already own the Benefit Creaseless Cream Eye Shadow that's almost exactly like it, and both of those products seem ridiculously similar to MAC's Paint Pots. The curiosity stems from the fact that I paid a heck of a lot more for my Benefit. Well, actually, no I didn't, come to think about it. I have three colors, and one was free, one was bought cheap from a third party, and the other...oh, yeah, I did pay full price for that one! Well, there you go.

Anyway, I have been really hesitant to buy any of the Color Tattoos because the only shades that really interested me were shades I already owned. I mean, I have silver, gold, and pewter bases from Benefit. Urban Decay also has a gold, along with Eden's yellow-y flesh-tone and Sin's champagne pink. Plus, I've got shadow pencils from UD and NYX, so, really, I'm good. This is not said to brag about my extensive collection (ha! It fits in a drawer with a few extra things in a case. It's not anything to brag about. I don't "collect". I buy stuff that I'm actually going to use on a day to day basis), but to show you that this is not a new thing. It's just new to the drugstore. I'd have tried them out a long time ago if I'd been able to justify the purchase, but I couldn't. Honestly, I still can't, but my curiosity got the better of me; I had to know if this was the same thing. If so, I could let you guys know, and also save myself a few bucks when my higher-end bases run out. The "Inked in Pink" shade from the new Metal line looked incredibly pretty, so I snapped up one and took it home to try out.

Dear God, my countertops don't look anywhere near that filthy in person! I just cleaned that bathroom Monday!

The color is a beautiful, shimmering rose. I can say from experience, now, that it looks stunning with gold, but I think it would be equally pretty with cooler tones, as well. It's just a good, neutral shade. The packaging is also gorgeous. The product comes packed in a heavy glass jar, with a black plastic lid. It looks very sleek, and very high-end. In fact...



...they're twins!! Benefit's Creaseless Cream Eye Shadow comes in the exact same packaging. The only differences between the two are the design of sticker on the lid, and the Benefit holds half a gram more product. That's it.

Here are the Maybelline and Benefit swatched together. Obviously, the colors are not the same, but the consistency and pigmentation are on par with one another.

While I was at it, I thought I'd check out how the Maybelline compared to UD Sin Primer Potion. There's really no comparison. The UD is a very pale champagne color, where the Maybelline is a truer pink. The UD is also very dry, while the Maybelline has a wetter formula. As a final test of all three products, I washed my hands. See, when I first opened up the Maybelline, I swatched the color on the back of my hand, just to see what it looked like, then washed my hands with soap to clean it off. It didn't budge. Period. I eventually had to use makeup remover. This time, I used a lot more soap, water as hot as I could stand it, and scrubbed. The first to go was the Benefit, in a laughably short amount of time. The Maybelline did come off, but it took some work. The winner was actually the Primer Potion, with a little left on my hand even after I gave up and dried off.

This is a shot of the Color Tattoo alone on my eye. The shade is very pale, so it blends into my NW15 skin, but you can definitely see the shine. My lids look wet! This does dry quickly, so if you want to blend it into another product, you have to work pretty fast. Just FYI, I tried it with Benefit Sippin' and Dippin' (that's the product I've compared it with in this post), and the effect was just beautiful. Plus, they blended together very easily, so if you own some cream products and just want to add to your stash, these should work well with the stuff you already have.

Here, you can see the finished eye look, with the Color Tattoo used as a base for powder shadows. I used Sin all over the lid, Virgin on the inner corner, Naked in the crease (all from the Urban Decay Naked palette), Faint on the outer corner and W.O.S. as brow highlight (both from the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette). UD 24/7 Shadow Pencil in Rehab works as lower lash liner, and UD 24/7 Glide-On Pencil in Zero lines the upper lashes. Mascara is Buxom Lash. After almost four hours, there's absolutely no creasing or fading.

Bottom line, this is a fantastic product. It looks beautiful both on your eyes and on your counter, and is every bit as good (if not better) than its higher-end counterpart. And it's a third of the price. Did I mention that? A Color Tattoo will run around $6.99, and that's without a coupon or sale. Benefit runs $19. I didn't have a MAC Paint Pot to compare in this post, but I've used them, and they're the same thing. One of them will set you back $18.50. If you're looking for a good shadow base, and like the colors that Maybelline offers (and there are fourteen to choose from), you can't beat this.

Final Verdict: 10 out of 10. This is an absolute gem.