Review: Maybelline Master Drama Chromatics Eyeliner in Plum Persuasion

Purchased by Me 

The new Maybelline Master Drama Chromatics eyeliners were rolled out as part of the Summer 2014 Bleached Neons Collection but I believe that the Chromatics are a new, permanent addition to the Master Drama line and they should eventually make their way to the permanent Maybelline display (I don't see the words "limited edition" anywhere on the packaging, but when I get confirmation that these are for sure permanent, I will let you know). If you're looking for these, or anything else from the Bleached Neons Collection, take a look at the interactive sightings map here.

Maybelline Master Drama Chromatics by Eye Studio
Sharpenable Crayon Liner in Plum Persuasion
(retail: $7.99 at CVS, 0.038 oz)

I initially thought that there were five shades in this collection but when I saw the display myself, I noticed a sixth shade called Plum Persuasion (which immediately came home with me). As of the time of this post, this liner comes in six shades: Plum Persuasion, Mighty Magenta, Sapphire Sensation, Blast of Blue, Turn on the Teal and Silver Spice (click here to see). In the UK, Maybelline released the line in four shades (one of which is a gold shade that we do not have here in the US). The colors in the US line are geared toward cooler skintones, so I really hope Maybelline releases some warm-skintone-friendly shades in the future (a brown, copper, bronze, taupe or olive green and even a basic black would be awesome). 

I'm breaking my own rules here and reviewing this product after ten days of testing (I normally test makeup for a minimum of two weeks before I post a review). I wanted to get this up as quickly as possible since the Bleached Neons displays have been out for a while and I want you all to have the best shot possible of finding these if you want them.  For what it's worth, I've been wearing this liner every day for ten days straight, and it's been both cold and quite warm in my area, so I can even tell you how this product stands up to warmer weather. So let's get started!

The claims:

Waterproof

Smudge resistant

Wears all day

Looking at the red arrow above, you can see that these liners are made in Germany, which I affectionately like to call "The magical land of awesome eyeliners." Germany is where Urban Decay 24/7 liners are made, as well as Milani Liquid Eye and Shadow Eyez pencils, Prestige Total Intensity Eyeliners, and just about every Urban Decay-esque eyeliner out there.  

So the moment I saw that the Chromatics were made in Germany, I knew we were off to a good start, and I also had a strong feeling that this liner was going to be similar to an Urban Decay 24/7 liner. 

As the packaging indicates, this is NOT an automatic liner. You sharpen it using any standard eyeliner pencil sharpener.

Plum Persuasion

As you can see, Plum Persuasion is not plum at all. It's royal purple. It also has some fine violet-pink shimmer to it, and a pretty chrome-like finish that's more visible in person than in my pics.

As always, I did my standard smudge-test on this eyeliner. The photo below was taken after I used my index finger and rubbed back and forth across both the line and heart with a good amount of pressure for about ten seconds:

I let this liner set on the back of my hand for about three or four minutes before I did the above smudge-test, and I'm very happy to confirm that this eyeliner did not smudge at all. It did wear away in spots, but no smudging whatsoever. 

Here I am wearing this liner on my top lash line. I'm not wearing any eyeshadow since I didn't want shadows to interfere with the color and/or staying power of this liner. As you can see, this liner has very nice pigmentation but as I said, it's not plum--it's purple. This made me sad because I was hoping for a true plum. But if you're a purple fan, you'll probably love this! PS: My eyes are hazel but as you can see, purples really bring out the green in hazel eyes.

In the photo above, you can see that when I'm tired (I was super tired when I took this photo), my eyes get droopy and my eyeliner has a tendency to rub against my eyelid. I'll tell you if this liner had transfer issues in a moment!

No issues with skipping or dragging.

For the majority of the time I tested this liner, I only wore it on my upper lash line. In the photo above (taken on a different day), I did apply this liner to my lower lash line. But I only applied it VERY lightly and I also blended it out with a blender brush (there was a reason for this, which I'll explain shortly).

Texture and consistency: This liner feels almost exactly like an Urban Decay 24/7 liner in terms of how it applies. With almost zero pressure or effort, this liner will glide across your lids like butter. The tip of the liner isn't ridiculously soft or "smooshy" though, and I didn't encounter any issues with the tip breaking off or getting smooshed during use.

Pigmentation and staying power: The pigmentation of Plum Persuasion is quite nice on the first pass. You won't need to build for intensity--you'll probably be quite happy with the pigmentation on the very first pass. I am VERY impressed with the staying power as well. Even on a very warm day, I can get over ten hours of wear on my upper lash line before I detect serious fading. I have not had any issues with this liner pooling up at the outside corners of my eyes and, even on my super oily lids, I haven't experienced any transfer to my eyelid or beneath my lower lash line. Impressive! As for how this liner works on my lower lash line, that's a slightly different story. If I apply it as heavily as my upper lash line, it smudges as soon as it reacts with the natural oils of my skin (within a few hours). But if I apply it very softly and blend it out with a blender blush (as illustrated above), I don't have those issues. I can get about eight hours of wear on my lower lash line if I wear it that way, but I do notice some serious fading at around the eight hour mark. As for this being a waterproof liner, I haven't been able to test it while swimming (sorry!) but I have splashed my face with water while wearing this liner and it did not smudge or run.

Fragrance: I detect no fragrance to this product.

Removal: This liner removes easily using just my regular facial cleanser. I do not need a separate eye makeup remover to remove this liner.

One more thing: I did not test this product on my waterline, because I do not wear ANY eyeliners that contain shimmer, sparkle or glitter on my waterline (this can cause serious irritation).

FINAL VERDICT: I can't guarantee that this liner will work as well for you as it does for me (everyone's different, especially when you factor in what type of moisturizer, eye cream, foundation, etc. you use, as well as your skin type, the climate in your area, etc.) but I can tell you that I personally have been extremely pleased with this liner. It totally exceeded my expectations and I think it even performed a bit better for me personally than some of my Urban Decay 24/7 liners (those always seem to smudge and transfer on my oily skin after a few hours of wear). If you like shimmery liners in bold colors, I think you might want to consider giving these a whirl.  Due to the buttery texture and smooth-as-silk application, I totally expected this liner to smudge/transfer within an hour or two in warm weather--but it didn't. I honestly couldn't believe it when I looked in the mirror at the end of each day and saw that this liner looked absolutely fine, every time. You can't really ask for more than that, right? Oh, and I don't own any purple Urban Decay 24/7 liners, but I'm guessing that Plum Persuasion is comparable to Urban Decay's Psychedelic Sister (I don't want to say "dupe" but it might be).

Do you own any of the new Maybelline Chromatics? If so, I would love to hear how they're working for YOU!

The products featured in this post were purchased with personal funds. For more information, click here.