Maybelline Expert Wear Palettes: Chic Naturals, Modern Metallics

Maybelline Expert Wear Palettes in Chic Naturals & Modern Metallics

I am ashamed to admit I have been going crazy on beauty splurges. I have more than I can ever use, but I can't stop wanting more! Walgreens is having a Buy 1, Get 1 50% Off deal for Maybelline (as well as Revlon and L'oreal) this week, so I ended up with these palettes in neutral shades, of course.

Chic Naturals Palette in Designer Chocolates

Chic Naturals L-R Colors: Base, Lid, Crease, Liner

The Chic Naturals (40Q) palette in Designer Chocolates (how could I resist this name?) features a cream base color, a light sandy brown lid color, a purplish-pink raspberry crease color, and a medium brown liner shade. All have some shimmer but it is most obvious in the crease color.

Modern Metallics Palette in Chai Latte

Modern Metallics L-R: Base, Lid, Crease, Liner Colors

The Modern Metallics (22Q) palette in Chai Latte (another irresistible name) features a light tan base color (similar to but lighter than the lid color of the Chic Naturals palette) , a bright bronze lid color, a light-to-medium brown crease color, and a warm chocolate brown liner. Again, all have some shimmer but it is most obvious in the bronze lid color. The liner shade features bronze shimmers.

I am quite happy with these shadow palettes. I like the colors a lot because most of them are very good neutrals. The medium browns especially provide enough color to add depth and definition to the eyes without going too dark. They're great for daytime/professional wear. Though I have a whole lot of neutrals in my makeup collection, I have had a hard time finding medium brown shades that aren't too light or too dark. Another difficulty I have encountered is that a lot of my other neutral shadows have strong undertones, such as pink or purple. These Maybelline palettes feature true warm, medium browns (Chic Naturals liner color, and Modern Metallics crease color), and I think they're great finds.

The quality of the shadows is nice, especially considering their affordability. They apply smoothly and blend easily. The pigmentation is good, although not exceptional. I was surprised at how nicely some of the swatches came out, but I don't think the shadows come out quite as bright or opaque when applied to the eyes. These shadows wear well. Though I did find the colors to fade over time, I thought they still looked nice after 8 hours of wear. These should make it through the workday and longer, provided your lids aren't too greasy. I always apply shadows over some sort of base, either UDPP or a tackier cream shadow. I believe I had on a Revlon cream shadow for a base on the day I took the pictures of the shadows after 8 hours of wear.

Though each palette includes base, lid, crease, and liner colors, I don't feel these palettes alone are sufficient to cover those purposes. I personally would not use the liner shades for liner, though I do like them as shadows. I also wouldn't use a raspberry shade in the crease as Maybelline suggests. For me, these palettes can't stand alone to fulfill my eye look needs. However, no palette can do that for me so I don't personally find this to be a problem.

In summary, I am happy with these palettes and I would recommend them as safe buys. As drugstore products, they are very affordable but they are not lacking in quality. They feature good neutral colors that would be great for the workplace or other professional settings. If I had to recommend just one of these palettes, I would suggest the Chic Naturals one. I feel it is more well-rounded because it includes good highlight, lid, and crease colors. I don't think the base color of the Modern Metallics palette would work as well as a brow highlight. Additionally, the browns of the Chic Naturals palette (lid and liner colors) seem just a shade or two deeper than the similar ones in the Modern Metallics palette (base and crease). Though I am pretty fair, I prefer the slightly deeper browns of the Chic Naturals palette so I would imagine these would show up better on other skin tones as well.

Chic Naturals Lid color on inner corner, Chic Naturals Liner color on lid, and Modern Metallics Liner Color on outer corner

After 8 hours of wear