TSABD Edit: Maybelline Inti-Matte Nudes, Strobing Liquid & Expert Wear Shadows on Dark Skin

Welcome back to #TSABDEdit!

In today’s edit I’m taking you through some recent Maybelline launches: Maybelline Color Sensational Inti-Matte Nudes, Maybelline Master Strobing Liquid Illuminating Highlighter, and Maybelline Expert Wear Eyeshadow.

These items were sent to me from the brand last month (or maybe just before the holidays? I can’t recall). Anyway, collectively I LOVE the overall theme/look being proposed by all three products: glowing skin, bold shadows, and nude lips. I mean, isn’t that just the most gorgeous quintessential spring makeup look? VERY runway and I love it.

Maybelline Color Sensational Inti-Matte Nudes

Official description:

WHAT IT IS
Color Sensational® Inti-Matte Nude lipstick features warm, golden pigments that enrich your natural lip color.

BENEFITS
Maybelline’s creamiest mattes. Warmer, more sensational nudes for every skin tone. Pucker up to radiant, confident color that highlights one’s natural beauty.

So of course not every shade in any nude lineup is going to be for everybody and that is VERY true when it came to my feelings toward these nudes. There were some passable shades for me like 570 Toasted Truffle and 575 Brown Blush. When I swatch lip colors, I don’t add anything else to them—it’s straight up the color as it comes out of the tube. No liner, no mixing, nothing—and why would I add anything anyway? I’m trying to show you what the product looks like on its own.

You *could* mix some of the shades that don’t work so well on their own with a darker liner or mixing it with another shade, but WHY? I’m all for mixing my lip colors to create really gorgeous combinations and new shades, but I do that with colors that already work on their own. I personally feel like it’s a waste to purposely buy a shade that doesn’t work with the intent to doctor it up. There are FAR too many shades out there that work for that to be a thing. Sure, if you accidentally buy a shade that doesn’t work out well, by all means of course hook it up. But to knowingly buy a shade that doesn’t work and then add things to it? Not my bag.

These are soft matte shades so you’ll get a matte finish without an overly-drying feel. They’re not the longest lasting lip colors but they also don’t claim they are. With lip colors typically the darker and brighter shades will last longer than the lighter ones because their pigments can linger on the lips longer. That’s pretty true with these but the darker shades aren’t that dark. Expect to have to touch these up after eating and drinking but absent of that, you’ll probably get a good 3-4 hours before you need to do a light touch-up.

There are ten shades in total, but I only have nine here—not sure if I lost one along the way or what, but I only have nine.

Video demo of lip swatches

(don’t worry, the sound is off on these so you can watch without anyone knowing—well, unless they actually saw your screen…lol)

Maybelline Inti-Matte Warm Nude Lipstick Swatches on Dark Skin from Danielle Gray on Vimeo.

Bottom line: I thought these Maybelline Inti-Matte Nudes were just okay. Maybelline usually has more of a vast nude lip selection for all skin tones in their “regular” line so I’d only go searching for these if there’s a color you feel like you absolutely cannot live without. I personally prefer a satin or glossy nude so I’ll pass on these matte nudes (that’s as of now—who knows my feelings about matte nudes could change down the line…lol).

Price and where to buy: about $7.49 each at drugstores and mass market retailers nationwide. Use the store locator to find these near you.

See more nude lip color options for dark skin here and a video of them swatched on lips here

See more lip color swatches on dark skin here

Maybelline Master Strobing Liquid Illuminating Highlighter

Official description:

WHAT IT IS
Facestudio® Master Strobing Liquid™ Illuminating Highlighter adds radiance and dimension to the face for the ultimate glow.

BENEFITS
Discover the illuminating strobe effect. Now, in a micro-pearl liquid formula for all-over highlighting! Strobe to add glow and to create the look of skin that appears radiant as if lit from within.

I absolutely LOVED these! I don’t think you need to spend major coin on liquid illuminators (not to say the more expensive ones aren’t good—just saying you don’t always have to go for the bigger price tag) and these are pretty amazing. They may not come in a gazillion different shades, but I find the three can work on a vast array of skin tones. I also think any skin tone can wear any of the three shades—just depends on the look you’re going for.

Liquid illuminators like Maybelline Master Strobing Liquid Illuminating Highlighter are multitasking—you can use them as a base on the skin after moisturizer but before foundation for a lit from within look (just go easy on it—use too much and you can look like the Tin Man); can be gently dabbed onto places like the tops of the cheekbones, the temples, and the bow of the lip for a subtle glow (you can also play around with different brushes depending on the intensity you’re looking for—you can use anything from a foundation brush to a stipling brush to a blush brush to even a beautyblender to apply product like this); you can mix it in your foundation (more on this here); or you can add it to your favorite body moisturizer for glowing legs and decolletage.

#100 Light/Iridescent: an icy pinky silver
#200 Medium/Nude Glow: a rosy gold
#300 Deep/Gold: golden

Video demo

You can watch my demo below to see how the three shades look on my dark skin: (don’t worry, the sound is off on these so you can watch without anyone knowing—well, unless they actually saw your screen…lol)

Maybelline Strobing Liquid (Light, Medium & Dark Demo on Dark Skin) from Danielle Gray on Vimeo.

Here’s a demo with a full face of makeup and using #300 Deep/Gold. Note that I had a few light changes (I use natural light and sometimes it can shift while I’m filming) that affect the color my skin looks—it’s not that my foundation is off…lol. I also normally wearing light colored clothes when I film, but put on a black sweatshirt (hey, it got cold…lol) when I put my makeup on so that also affected the way the light bounced off my face. Saying all of this because sometimes people don’t realize how light can manipulate the way things can look and assume the makeup is off. Shoot, I can look five different complexions in videos and pictures because of how light changes and how light reflects off certain colors and surfaces.

Maybelline Strobing Liquid in Deep/Gold with Full Face Demo on Dark Skin from Danielle Gray on Vimeo.

Bottom line: I loved Maybelline Master Strobing Liquid Illuminating Highlighter—I’d say the #300 Deep/Gold was my favorite. You may not find the tons of shade variations in these that you might with higher priced liquid illuminators, but these are good.

Price and where to buy: about $9.99 each at drugstores and mass market retailers nationwide. Use the store locator to find these near you.

See more illuminator posts and swatches here

Maybelline Expert Wear Eyeshadow

Official description:

WHAT IT IS
Expert Wear® Eyeshadow. This creamy rich eyeshadow features super saturated color that lasts up to 14 hours.

BENEFITS
Iconic, creamy color. No fade. No flake. Now, longwear goes everyday luxurious. Up to 14 hour wear.

Ophthalmologist tested. Contact lens safe.

There are 20 shades in total—I have 16 that the brand sent me.

If you, like me, can remember a time when drugstore makeup—particularly eyeshadows REALLY AND TRULY SUCKED then you’ll also see how revolutionary a lineup of shadows like this are. I remember there being colors like these back in the day (I’d say in the 90s because that’s the earliest I remember going to drugstores for makeup although I am an 80s baby) but they would disappear within seconds of you putting them on. And don’t even try being dark skin with colors like that back then. Man, listen.

But these are pretty awesome—I didn’t have an experience close to what Maybelline claims with these—I did experience fading, I didn’t find all of them to be “creamy rich” and while they mention they last up to 14 hours which is very different from saying they last 14 hours, I didn’t get anything near this amount of wear (I test shadows without a base/primer). Some colors faded on my eyes within 3-4 hours. I had better luck with some shades though. I was most impressed in both color and performance with the following shades: #75 Khaki Camo, #110 Night Sky, #120 Acid Rain, #130 Teal the Deal, #140 Made for Mocha, #180 Fierce Fuschia. I was super impressed with the black matte shade #110 Night Sky—matte black shades can be hard to get right but this one was definitely a “creamy rich” shade. If you use it as a base color on the lids and put a brighter color on top like #130 Teal the Deal you’ll get a gorgeous smoky eye alternative that lasted a good 5 hours on me without a base before it started to fade. I tested these without base which is what I do with all eyeshadows I test, but I do encourage you to use a base or primer to ensure your shadows last without fading and creasing. You DEFINITELY want to use a base/primer with these.

So here’s the thing with these Maybelline shadows—I was pretty impressed with the shades I mentioned above and the performance was good considering these are about $3.49 each BUT there are more impressive eyeshadows out there on the drugstore scene from brands like Black Radiance, Black Opal, NYX Cosmetics, etc. BUT a brand like Maybelline might be more readily available to people who don’t live in a big city who doesn’t want to shop online. I’d say these would be cool for someone experimenting with color who wants to try like 1-2 brighter shades without a huge commitment. If you’re someone who wears a lot of color in your regular makeup looks, you might want to get something more substantial and I’d suggest looking at brands like MAC, Inglot, and Make Up For Ever—you’ll get the wide color selection and shadows that perform very well.

I didn’t do a demo video for these because the process of putting on and taking off just two or three shades would irritate the mess out of my eyelids. Shoot—my skin gets irritated when I do lip swatches and swatches of product on my face (taking product off and putting it back on)—imagine what would happen to my eyes :/

So I did regular swatches for these.

Price and where to buy: about $3.49 each at drugstores and mass market retailers nationwide. Use the store locator to find these near you.

See more eyeshadow posts and swatches here

Have you tried any of these products? Tell me in the comments!