Maybelline

The New $12 Maybelline Super Stay Multi-Use Foundation Sticks (and Connor’s First Day of School!)

August 23rd, 2018 by Karen 30 Comments

maybelline super stay stick foundation review — A new foundation by Maybelline

You know Hourglass Vanish Stick Foundation? Well, I’d hoped that Maybelline’s new cream-to-powder foundation stick would be a drugstore dupe for it because it’s only $11.99…which is a lot less than $46.

Both feel velvety and satiny smooth, but one costs A LOT less than the other.

Maybelline Super Stay Multi-Use Foundation Stick ($11.99, 16 shades)

Just like you do with Vanish, you swipe the stick wherever you want coverage, then blend it out with your fingers. Or, you can use the attached sponge, but I think it’s kind of dumb, since you can’t remove it from the tube to clean it…

From the Ulta website:

“Whether you’re looking for a cream foundation or a contour foundation, this multi-tasking Super Stay Multi-Use Foundation Stick is a must-have essential that conceals, contours, highlights, and covers. Maybelline’s 1st all-in-one foundation stick features a cream-to-matte foundation and a precision pointed blender sponge that is perfect for applying cream foundation at home or touching up your look on-the-go.”

Benefits:

Maybelline New York’s first multi-use foundation stick

All-in-one foundation stick for up to 24HR wear

Cover, Conceal, and touch-up anywhere, anytime

Features a precision pointed tip blender sponge

Unlike Vanish, which you can easily push to full coverage, Superstay lives in the sheer-to-medium coverage lane, and to keep it fully locked down, you’ll reeeallly need to dust a fair amount of setting powder on top; otherwise, it’ll stay creamy and keep moving around.

This step is non-negotiable, unfortunately, and if you skip it, most of the product will have disappeared by midday.

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Maybelline Tattoo Studio Waterproof Brow Gel

February 27th, 2018 by Karen 29 Comments

maybelline tattoo studio brow gel swatches before after — Check out the doe foot!

I sincerely want to know what you’re doing with your life that could require you to have your brow product last for two days straight. Like…how? Why? I don’t even know. I can’t imagine. Two days! That’s how long these new Maybelline Tattoo Studio Waterproof Brow Gels ($9.99 are supposed to last on your brows.

They are long lasting; I’ll give ’em that. I only wore Medium Brown for a day, but I did sweat my way through life and went for a run on the treadmill, and it stayed put just fine.

Thing is…these are kind of hard to use. They come in tubes with a teeny, tiny doe foot, and the instructions on the box suggest bringing the doe foot directly to your brow, starting at the midpoint and going to the ends, then filling in the front before taking the separate spoolie (which comes with the gel), and brushing the gel through.

The look is lush and full, and the hold is super soft, so no crunchy brows (yay), but the resulting brow looks like more like a solid block of color than a brow comprised of individual brown hairs.

So the look isn’t really my style, but if you’re into that packed, full, dense high-glam brow, this might work for you.

I have a hard time applying this product… The doe foot deposits too much color, much too quickly for me, and I always end up with overly dramatic, overly dark brows. It’s way too easy to go buck wild with it, and I just can’t see myself, ya know, trying to do 10-minute makeup and successfully pulling it off with this brow product.

Also, I’m fairly certain I’m going to lose the spoolie within a couple days…

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Maybelline’s Spectacular SuperStay Matte Ink Liquid Lipstick

February 20th, 2018 by Karen 44 Comments

maybelline superstay matte ink liquid lipstick — Maybelline SuperStay Matte Ink Liquid Lipstick ($7.89 each at Target)

Drugstore, baby. $10, baby. Actually, $5 if you do the BOGO 50% off at Ulta right now.

WHAT?!

I know.

Yeah, these are SO GOOD. Maybelline calls them their “un-nudes,” because one woman’s nude is another woman’s nightmare. Not everybody can wear beige nude lipstick, but these are a different spin on standard nudes. Some have pink, or mauve, red, brown, gray (!) or even purple undertones. But they’re still effectively nudes.

My favorite colors are mauve-nude Seductress and Ruler, which is a rad reddish nude (it’s an easy way to get into red if you aren’t used to seeing yourself in red now).

maybelline seductress — Seductress, a mauve nude

maybelline ruler — Ruler, a deep reddish nude

maybelline poet — Poet, a baby pink nude

Some of the colors are CRAZY. Like, the grays and purples? Hello, cartoon-y. They really aren’t my thing, but if you have the hair, the clothes, the chutzpah, gray can look amazing.

maybelline visionary — Visionary, a lavender gray nude

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14 Days of Ravishing Red! — Day 7: Matte Reddish Nude Lips With Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink in Ruler

February 8th, 2018 by Karen 12 Comments

Are you ready for 14 Days of Ravishing Red? Stay tuned as we explore ravishing red 💄 lipsticks, lip liners and glosses every day on our way to 💕 Valentine’s.

Another starter red for my friends who really want to wear red, but then put a red lipstick on, look in the mirror and immediately blot 95% of it off with tissue before applying a bunch of gloss (I’m talking to you, Kim).

If a rich red is too much for you right now (And if it is, I totally get it. I used to be that way too.), then reddish nude Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink in Ruler might covert you to #teamredlips.

Remember this glossy nude red from last weekend? Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink in Ruler has a similar vibe.

It’s… I don’t want to call it demure. It’s more like a wink of red. 😉 It’s the next step after you feel ready to go redder than a light red stain or gloss.

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Maybelline Total Temptation Mascara Is Totally OK

December 19th, 2017 by Karen 12 Comments

This mascara smells like the beach.

Add that to the list of “Things I’d Never Said in 10 Years of Writing About Mascara.”

Somebody out there thought, “What the world needs right now is a mascara that smells like coconuts!”

And it smells really good, BTW. I think so. Maybelline Total Tempation Mascara smells exactly like coconut candy or a coconut-scented sunscreen at a surf shack.

Also, it comes in a pretty pink tube. 🙂

Plus and plus.

maybelline total temptation mascara wand — A closer look at the wand…

It’s the latest mascara from Maybelline. It’s $7.99 and part of their Total Temptation collection that officially arrives next month (although it’s on Amazon right now if you’re itchin’ to have a coconut-scented mascara in your life).

I think it’s A-OK… I don’t think it’s as life-changing as L’Oréal Lash Paradise, which is the current gold standard of dramatic drugstore mascaras for me because it does everything well — lengthen, separate, thicken, holds a lash curl — but Maybelline Total Temptation gets the job done.

maybelline total temptation mascara before after — Before and after Maybelline Total Tempation Mascara

My naturally uninspiring, fairly average lashes look bumped-up a notch or two when I wear a couple coats. They’re longer, thicker and spikier. The formula does gather groups of lashes together, and the spikes are eye-catching, especially from an arm’s length away, but I prefer the extreme separation and tighter curl I get from Lash Paradise.

If you find Total Temptation at the drugstore and pick it up, I don’t think you’ll be bummed out or anything. It’s a perfectly functional, simple, easy-to-remove drugstore mascara that boosts your lash game a little.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen