Maybelline launched the Maybelline Color Strike Cream To Powder Eyeshadow Pen back in May, but it only very recently reached the UK as we always have to wait a while until we can get our hands on the launches. I’ve found Maybelline eyeshadows to be a little hit and miss, with nothing coming close to their Color Tattoo Cream Eyeshadows, so as this new product was a ‘cream to powder’ formulation, I knew I had to try it.
Maybelline Color Strike Cream To Powder Eyeshadow Pen
The Maybelline Color Strike Cream To Powder Eyeshadow Pen is designed to be a cream-to-powder eyeshadow pencil, which has an inkwell design and a sponge-tip applicator attached within the lid, which you use to help pick up product when the lid is screwed together.
Described as having a crease-resistant and smudge-resistant formula for quick and easy application on the go. The pen design features a precise cushion tip allowing it to glide across your eyelids, creating a smooth and even layer of striking colour. We’ve seen these inkwell design products before, like there’s a few brow products where you have to pick up product within the lid. I thought it sounded unique and intriguing, but it couldn’t be more underwhelming.
“Strike the old rules of shadow; meet eye shadow in a strike! Introducing Maybelline New York’s Color Strike cream-to-powder eye shadow pen for up to 12HR bold color impact in 1 simple strike, zero fallout! Crease resistant, fade-resistant, and smudge resistant.
Color Strike is not your average eye shadow—the unique cream-to-powder formula simply glides on with no mess and no hassle, thanks to its precise cushion tip. Strike in a line, strike all over, blend it in, change it up. Just dip & twist, then strike! Now create any look you want with this foolproof eye shadow. Color where you want, never where you don’t!“
Do these Maybelline Color Strike Cream To Powder Eyeshadow Pen swatches look like a ‘layer of striking colour’ to you? I’m eye rolling even just typing up this review. It’s such an underwhelming product, and I’m gutted to have wasted £7.99 on it. I chose the shade Hustle 50 as it looked like a pretty taupe in the promotional images, but it’s a rather flat ‘metallic’ brown.
The first issue with the delivery system, is that you can’t push the sponge into the product to pick up more product. So if you apply multiple strokes across your eyelid, and need more product you can’t just ‘dip’ it to get more product. Then the sponge lays colour down, but if you go over the same part again, it removes the colour it just laid down.
It causes a hell of a lot of fall out as you’re essentially dragging loose eyeshadow pigment across your eyelids with a hard sponge. There’s nothing striking or intense, and it’s impossible to get an opaque colour, as the sponge just removes the product. I’ve tried using a brush to pick product up but you can’t use anything other than the useless sponge.
Honestly it’s such a rubbish product, and I can’t give you any redeeming features as it’s such a fail in every aspect, and the eyeshadow lasts for around two hours before fading, so yeah, it’s safe to say the layer of striking colour is a massive fail, and I wouldn’t repurchase the Maybelline Color Strike Cream To Powder Eyeshadow Pen even if it was £1.
You can find the Maybelline Color Strike Cream To Powder Eyeshadow Pen right here.
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