To date, I have only owned two Maybelline Color Tattoo pots, both from the Metal collection. I own Barely Branded, a shimmery beige, and Inked in Pink, a cool, shimmery mauve-pink. I have barely touched them since the month I bought them, which was shortly after they were all the rage.

Maybelline Color Tattoo

There is nothing wrong with either Maybelline Color Tattoo that I own, they just didn’t suit me and my application preferences. Cream shadows aren’t my thing. I just haven’t gotten the hang of them. Most of them suggest that you apply with a finger – which I don’t care for. I can’t get precision with a finger, and even with freshly-washed hands I would be needlessly adding bacteria to a cream product (I’m not a germophobe, but still!) Traditional shadows and pigments are my comfort-zone. I once tried some flat brushes to try to pack the color on but it never worked out quite the way I was hoping…so they sat in my drawer for months.

I threw my Inked in Pink Maybelline Color Tattoo in my bag no plan in mind other than thinking the color might be nice with the top I was wearing. I grudgingly applied a layer to my lid with my ringfinger, then added some of Für Elise from Kat von D’s Ladybird palette at the outer edges and blended in. It looked alright, I thought, but the edges were now way too matte sitting against the frosted, almost foiled pink.

I actually had another clean brush handy – one of three Real Techniques brushes I own, the Shading brush. RT’s shader brush is not as much of a shading brush as it is a flattened (but not flat) blender. Despite the quality and affordability of these brushes, I never feel like I use this one as much as I could/should. I had already cleaned my ringfinger off, so I said, “to hell with recommendations!” and picked some up with the brush. If you aren’t familiar with the consistency of a Maybelline Color Tattoo, let me bring you up to speed: though they are cream shadows, they are very firm; stiff, almost. I swiped my brush across the surface a couple times until I was satisfied, then patted the brush over Für Elise to give it a sheen.

Hey, that worked pretty well!

The brush was small enough, despite it’s almost fluffy texture, to allow me to precisely place the Maybelline Color Tattoo where I wanted it…so I decided to intensify the pink across the rest of my lid up to my inner corner. It worked superbly. Like shockingly well. I finally know how to use these in a way that actually suit my preferences! I will actually use them now!

If you’re wondering, at this point, why you should care – let me clarify: I learned something today. We all have products that we don’t feel work for us after a few tries. Don’t give up immediately (bad foundation matches/things that cause breakouts excepted) – give these products a chance; try to experiment with them! In a normal situation where I had my entire collection and brushes at hand, I probably never would have thought to grab that brush for a Maybelline Color Tattoo. Having only a few things at hand forced me to be creative with how I used the product and ultimately led me to find a better way (for me) to apply the product.

We can learn a lot by shopping our stash and thinking outside of the, “box,” that is recommended usage (be safe though!) – to think, I might have tossed both Maybelline Color Tattoo pots during my next de-stashing! I hope this helps you make the most of your makeup, and I hope you have an excellent weekend.