Cream Eye Shadow Comparison & Review: Maybelline Color Tattoo Vs. Shiseido Shimmering Cream Eye

Happy Wednesday beauties!

Cream eyeshadows are perfect for summer because these days, the formulations last all day without creasing and add a gorgeous sheen to the eyelid, making us look more awake and bright eyed! I’ve stayed away from cream shadows for a long, long time because I just never had an awesome experience using them – layering and blending out the shadows seemed difficult, the colour range was always quite small and most importantly – they used to crease – no matter what! I decided to give them a go again when the Maybelline Color Tattoos became insanely popular and I kept hearing how great they were.

I can see why the Maybelline Color Tattoos became so popular. They are very reasonably priced (at $12 a pop here in Aus) and they don’t crease – staying on your eyelids all day. I then decided to try a high end cream eyeshadow, to see what the difference would be in staying power and texture. I went for the Shiseido Simmering Cream Eye Colors, because the colour selection was so impressive and because I had read some great reviews about them. At $44 a pop (from department stores) they are more than double the price of Maybelline’s Color Tattoos :S So would they be worth it?

I have two Maybelline Color Tattoos – #35 Tough as Taupe, a dirty medium purple taupe, and #45 Bold Gold, an antique gold. After swatching all the available Color Tattoos in Priceline, I decided on these two colours as they seemed to be the most workable (for me). The colour selection itself didn’t impress me all that much. I know that in Australia, we don’t have all the available shades on offer which sux. We have 7 shades in total and all of these shades appear to be quite dark in my opinion. I also found the texture of these cream eyeshadows to be quite dry and thick. Tough as Taupe is especially dry – you can tell it’s got a very dry texture just by looking at it in it’s pot. I do admit that these last on the eyelids (even without a primer for me – though others may still need to use a primer) and I think that’s what makes them popular. I tried building up Bold Gold on my lids, but this didn’t really work as the shimmer seemed to intensify more than the colour itself. Because of it’s thicker texture, layering the cream shadow isn’t the most pleasant or easy thing to do either (it’s also then more likely to crease without a primer). Did I fall in love with these? I tried – I really did as I wanted to get in on the hype, but I just couldn’t 🙁

So what about the Shiseido Shimmering Cream Colors? I have the colours Sunshower (OR313) an orange based sparkly brown and Yuba (BE217) a pale neutral gold. Texture wise, these cream shadows are the complete opposite of the Maybelline color Tattoos – the cream is thin and very emollient, so they blend out beautifully (whether you are using your fingers or a brush). The colour is build-able and as you wear the shadows, it almost looks like they have a wet finish – they glisten and shine like no other cream eyeshadows I have seen before! Now I need to use an eyeshadow primer underneath these, but if wearing a primer, they last all day – super impressive considering the texture. You would think that they would easily move around on the lid (slipping and sliding) and yet they stay put even in humid conditions. The colour range is also impressive – there are 23 shades in total on Shiseido’s official website (though on the poster below, there is only 15, so it might be a little dated)! Now on Myer’s website I can only see 12 shades, but Fresh Fragrance & Cosmetics currently has 21 shades on offer.

For some reason, Fresh is selling them for $47 each – $3 more than Myer ($44). If you join up to their loyalty club however, you automatically receive a discount on all purchases and they also run lots of promotions and sales throughout the year, so you can usually buy them for lower than the advertised retail price at department stores (I bought mine on sale for $36.70, so that’s $7.30 cheaper than in Myer).

Do I rate these cream eyeshadows more highly than the Maybelline Color Tattoos? Yes – definitely! I do think they are worth their high price, as it is a joy to use them and the colours and finish of these eye shadows is unique! They are expensive and I know not everyone is going to be able to buy the whole collection (I certainly can’t) but the two colours that I myself own  – Sunshower (OR313) and Yuba (BE217), have become my spring/summer makeup staples and I get so much use out of them (while I don’t really use the Color Tattoos now that I own the Shimmering Cream Eye Colors).

Swatches from left to right: Sunshower (OR313), Yuba (BE217), #45 Bold Gold, #35 Tough as Taupe.

So here is a summary of the pros and cons of both formulas:

Maybelline Color Tattoos:

Pros:

1. Very reasonably priced at $12 dollars a pop!

2. Lasts all days on the lid – even without an eyeshadow primer (in my experience) so great for oily eyelids.

3. Solid glass packaging.

4. Could be used as a eye makeup base colour, if you don’t mind the fact that most shades are pretty shimmery.

Cons:

1. Limited colour selection in comparison to the range available overseas.

2. Texture of the cream is thicker and drier, more difficult to blend out.

3. Takes more work to build up the colour and intensity of the cream eyeshadows.

Shiseido Shimmering Cream Eye Color:

Pros:

1. Colour selection – the range of colours is impressive, from neutrals to brights. I haven’t seen anyone else offer such a variety of colours in their cream eyeshadows.

2. Thin, emollient texture – very pleasant and easy to work with (a breeze to blend).

3. Shadows are buildable.

4. After a few hours the shadows look ‘glossy’ on the lids, which I think is unique and very fresh looking for summer.

5. Packaging is very light and minimalistic (but doesn’t look cheap). Those who travel a lot or work as MUA will appreciate this!

Cons:

1. No doubtebly the cost of these shadows is high.

2. I need to use an eyeshadow primer underneath these cream eyeshadows in order to make them last – but they do last all day when paired with a primer.

So my winner? Shiseido all the way 🙂 Of course, others will have different preferences so it’s about narrowing down what you need out of a cream eyeshadow.

I have been on a Sunshower kick recently and here is my everyday makeup look using this beautiful shade 🙂 I use a neutral powder matte brown eyeshadow in the crease, just to add a little more definition (I’ve been using Urban Decay’s Naked eyeshadow). It’s also all about dewey, radiant summer skin!

When I want to take this look up a notch, I use Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet liquid lip colour in 06 Ping Pong – because it is super bright and long lasting!

Summer is calling beauties! 🙂

Are you a fan of cream eyeshadows? Which ones are your favourites? Let me know in the comments below, I would love to know 🙂

Until next time beauties!

Beauty Bee~

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