You know that I've been so anxious to try the new Maybelline Master Drama Eyeliners! Well, the lovely Katie of My Lips But Butter (a wonderful blog that you should read if you don't already!) contacted me recently to let me know that she tried one, and it took me all of about two seconds say, "Yes, please!" when she offered to review it for Nouveau Cheap.
Take it away, Katie:
Yesterday I spotted the display for Maybelline Master Drama Eyeliner ($7.99 at Ulta) that Nouveau Cheap featured last week. The package promises easy application, bold color, and smudge-resistant wear for 24-hours, and the liners come in six fashionable shades - how could I resist?
I found the application was fairly easy once I got the hang of it. I've been using gel and liquid liner for almost a year, so switching back to pencil took a few tries. The pencil was soft (but not too soft) and I didn't experience any skipping or tugging. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a terribly precise line because the tip became dull and there's no way to sharpen it.
Gianna made the connection between Maybelline Master Drama and Urban Decay's famed 24/7 eye pencils (could it be a dupe?). Unfortunately I don't own any, but I do have three other popular long-wearing pencil liners to compare.
(L to R) MAC Powerpoint in Stubborn Brown, Maybelline Master Drama in Bold Brown, Milani Liquif'eye in 01 Black, Prestige Total Intensity Eyeliner in 01 Deepest Black
Here are some fresh swatches. Maybelline Bold Brown looks very much like MAC Stubborn Brown plus some fine copper shimmer. I don't have Urban Decay Bourbon to compare, but I bet it's a pretty close match.
Here are the swatches after drying for 5 minutes and then being very scientifically smudged with my fingers.
All of the liners held up pretty well, but I would say the Milani liner had the best staying power and the Maybelline probably had the worst. I wore Bold Brown out last night and had a similar experience - pretty good wear time, but nothing to write home about.
All of this would be workable if the Maybelline pencil proved to be a good deal, however that isn't the case. When I first picked up the Maybelline Master Drama eyeliner, the thing that struck me was how light it was. This isn't because of some space-age plastic packaging, it's because there isn't very much product inside - these liners contain just 0.28g. Compare this to the 1.2g contained in each of the other three pencil liners. To get the same amount of product as an $18.00 UD 24/7 liner, you'd have to buy $34.00 of the Maybelline liner. Even better, you could pay just $6.49 for a Milani Liquif'eye pencil.
Bottom Line: Maybelline Master Drama Eyeliner lives up to its claims of easy application, bold color, and longevity, but majorly fails in the value department.
You can check out Katie's blog here, and follow her on Twitter here.
Thank you SO much, Katie, for such a thoughtful, insightful review! PS: I'm shocked that these liners are automatic pencils! Looking at the packaging in-store, I had totally assumed they were traditional pencils.
Great review! I like the price and wear comparisons. Very helpful.
ReplyDeleteNice review! I'm glad you did the check on the value per ounces, I find myself doing that and am suprised alot of times on what I find. It's like companies are doing the old switcheroo, package looks similar but WAY less product!! I still might buy one of these if I can get a half off sale :)
ReplyDeleteGreat guest review! I was wondering about these liners as well. I have Urban Decay's Bourbon eyeliner and it's one of my favorites. From your swatches, the colors do seem very similar.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at most automatic pencils, they tend to have less product that traditional pencils. It's really a bummer but I also tend to sharpen away a bit of product so it almost works out to be the same :)
Thanks for the review! I will stick to my beloved UD pencils!
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, though, I believe automatic liners usually contain less product. My go-to ULTA liner is 0.35g, and Jane automatic liners are only 0.2g. I think it's probably because you waste less product with automatic liners since you don't have to sharpen them.
ReplyDeleteIt does, however, make me wonder why automatic liner formulas are so different... There doesn't seem to be a UD 24/7 equivalent for those yet, not even from UD.
You can tell manufacturers are hoping you don't notice how much product they are giving you sometimes, that there was a really good catch Katie. This is no deal! And even with a BOGO sale, it's still no deal because of how little product you get. I noticed the same thing with my Milani Mousse foundation, since you only get half and ounce and most foundations are a full oz, it's way overpriced for what you get. Might as well buy high end and get a better product, lucky for me I got it during a CVS clearance for 75% off which made it reasonable. I also happen to like the foundation. lol
ReplyDeleteI think I'll stick to the Milani pencils, I just love them!
@AngelicBetrayal and @clementine I did consider the fact that you sharpen away some product, but the pencils contain more than 4x more than this automatic liner, and I highly doubt anyone sharpens away *that* much of their pencil. Thanks for keeping me on my toes!
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate these detailed reviews!
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G, I'm curious as to what was it about the packaging made you think these were pencil liners?To me they look like standard automatic pencils in the package, which surprised me because Maybelline already has so many automatic pencils. I hope the Line Stylist does not go away to make room for these, because Bronze Gleam is one of my favorte all time products.
ReplyDeleteGood review. i got the black in this hoping i would like it. but it smeared alot. i just need to get another milani liquifeye pencil in black. now if walgreens could just put them on sale. i have the aqua and the gold in the liquifeye pencils and i love them. ive ownded the black too but i ran out. I guess i will be picking up another one since the maybelline one is not that impressive.
ReplyDelete@MLBB: That's true! But it still seems to be more of a widespread automatic vs. pencil liner thing than just a Maybelline thing... I wonder why there's such a big discrepancy. Maybe the plastic packaging is more expensive than wood??
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I love the Maybelline Master Drama and I own 3 of the shades. They don't smudge on me and they last for a long time. It's my favorite eyeliner of all time! So my guess is that it just differs from person to person
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