24 HR Wear Test, Swatches, & Review:Maybelline EyeStudio Color Tattoo 24Hr Cream Gel Eyeshadow

Never have I put so much effort into doing a review. Maybelline was just asking for someone to test their 24 hour wear time and I tested the hell out of it. This is a long post with swatches, a review, and pictures of my experience wearing these for 24 hours, no primer, no setting powder, nothing to help these eyeshadows. This is an extremely comprehensive post on these eyeshadows and picture heavy!

I got two colors, 30 Pomegranate Punk and 45 Bold Gold. I knew I wanted Pomegranate Punk but wasn't sure about what other color to get. I was thinking about Tough as Taupe or Bad to the Bronze but both colors were out when I got there. I then remembered that I liked Bold Gold from Phyrra's post on them.

These are packaged in glass jars with black plastic tops. The packaging is like the progeny of the MUFE Aqua Creams and MAC Paint Pots. The black plastic twist off top is the same size as the Aqua Creams while the glass bottom is the same diameter of the MAC Paint Pots. These were heat sealed which I liked since I don't trust other drugstore buyers. I'd say the packaging feels really fancy, there's a nice weight to them and the glass packaging is greatly appreciated!

These retailed for $6.99 where I lived, but prices may vary and this has 4 grams of product. These do feel like a hybrid between the MAC Paint Pots and the MUFE Aqua Creams. The MUFE Aqua Creams almost felt like a drier cream whereas the Paint Pots are a thick and creamy product. These are just in between, not too soft but not too dry.

I saw on Beauty Junkies Unite's post on them that Pomegranate Punk is a dupe of MUFE Aqua Cream #17 which further fueled my desire to have it. I rarely see (or haven't looked closely enough) a burgundy/maroonish drugstore cream eyeshadow. Bold Gold looked extra sparkly so I wanted to have it too.

Pomegranate Punk is a satin burgundy with gold shimmer (This is very similar to Fyrinnae's Velvet Vampire eyeshadow, only without a copper highlight to it) and Bold Gold is an extremely sparkly metallic yellow gold. Of the two, I liked Pomegranate Punk more. Bold Gold is a little sheerer than Pomegranate Punk so to get good opacity, you have to really layer it.

Arm and eye swatches ahead!

Pomegranate Punk

Bold Gold

I really wanted to test the lasting power so I put wore these for 24 hours straight. I have oily lids and I wanted to see its true lasting power so I wore NO primer underneath. I didn't set it with a translucent powder or an eyeshadow. The results of my experiment are of the eyeshadow by itself.

I took pictures after it was freshly applied, at the 12 hour mark, and finally the 24 hour mark. I was going to post the pictures but to make it easier to see the differences over the time period, I put the pictures together in a gif to show the time lapse. Like I said, the pictures are at the freshly applied, 12 hours mark, and 24 hours mark. Keep in mind, I did not wear eyeshadow primer at all during the experiment.

This is the one for Pomegranate Punk

You can tell that at the 12 hour mark, there's been fading and the product wore away at the other edges. There's no creasing yet but you can tell it'll start creasing soon. At the 24 hour mark, it's completely creased.

and here's the one for Bold Gold

At the 12 hour mark,there was lots of fading and wearing away at the outer edges and although it's not as evident in the picture, there was glitter fallout on my eyes. At the 24 hour mark, there isn't much product left, but what's there does crease.

As you can tell, Pomegranate Punk fared so much better than Bold Gold. I think because Bold Gold is so jam packed with sparkles, the color fades quicker and you're more prone to fallout (I noticed glitter fallout after waking up (about 8 hours after application).

You can't really get Bold Gold super opaque because if you layered it thickly on the lid, the product tended to gather and look scaly on my eyelid. The effect happens with Pomegranate Punk too but since Bold Gold is so much more metallic and brighter than Pomegranate Punk, which has a satin finish, the effect was much more evident.

So technically, no it doesn't last 24 hours without creasing but you would be seriously hardpressed to find a cream eyeshadow (drugstore, indie, or high end) that lasts this long without a primer. Bold Gold is not as great as Pomegranate Punk but it would fare much better with eyeshadow on top and with a primer to help the sparkles stick.

As a point of reference, the MUFE Aqua Cream only lasted 6 hours on my eyelids, no primer, before it started creasing. I think it is fairly obvious which one I like more.

Would I buy these colors again? Hell yes I would in a heartbeat. If the other colors are as good as Pomegranate Punk, I could see this as becoming a holy grail.

Have you tried the Maybelline EyeStudio 24hr Cream Gel Eyeshadows? Any thoughts?

Disclaimer: I purchased these eyeshadows myself, paid with my own money. All opinions are my own.