The perks of being part of the squad! So yeah you may have seen a few weeks ago my post about the awarding ceremony wherein Maybelline brought together the most prolific bloggers who have supported them throughout the years to “officiate” them to be part of the Maybelline Squad. Weeell in reality it was much more casual and yeah I was part of those “prolific” bloggers. I say “prolific” because as per dictionary definition of “producing much fruit,” I think that was the basis for the selection of us all. Everyone in the squad has been consistently producing Maybelline related content throughout the past few years and the “ceremony” was their way of recognizing that.
To make sure we never run out of Maybelline throughout the whole year, they sent us home with this massive supercalifragilisticexpialidocious traincase full of Maybelline items. I tried to compute and there were more or less Php15,000 worth of beauty products in the traincase, not counting the price of the traincase and the personalization fee they must have paid so that there’s a metal plate with “Mari” written on it.
Just to make it clear for all eternity, me being part of Maybelline Squad doesn’t mean I get any payment for being a member of the squad. I also never got paid any cash for all the blog work I’ve done for them. To the people who think I was bribed, nope, I wasn’t. Bloggers are enthusiastic to talk about their products simply because they are enthusiastic to work with us, too. Liking their products doesn’t mean my opinion was bought, it just means they made good stuff. Their products sometimes have hit or miss moments just like any other brand, but they are the creators of mascara and among the current leaders in masstige lipsticks, and no one can take that away from them.
Okaaay now that the disclaimer is over, on to the fun stuff! I was soo excited to receive this traincase even just for the traincase alone because it has my name on it!!! How many people will actually own traincases with their names on it? I feel so proud to be part of this secret society hahahaha
I actually really didn’t see this coming because when the team contacted me asking me all my shades in all the items they had, I thought they were just doing it for archiving purposes. You see, when brands send over press kits, for color makeup it’s often the brand or PR manager who is choosing the most neutral shade for all. You normally just get to go home with your actual foundation/powder/blush shade if there’s an event and an on site makeup artist was able to determine it. So when they were asking, I thought they were asking so that they could send over future items in shades that match me. I didn’t see this whole traincase coming! 
This is not the most accurate photo as I’ve already shuffled the items in this box plenty of times, but I think the excitement holds. Yeah the moment you open this you have no idea how it can be breathtaking despite not being the usual definition of “scenery”
The moment you flip the compartments you become even more excited because every single area is filled to the brim with makeup. Every single nook and cranny is filled up to the point that you more or less have to follow the way it was first dispensed because you will not be able to put everything back if you don’t strategize.
Maybelline is an umbrella brand comprised of lip, eye, and face products. And each product manager is only managing one of the three save for the fairy godmother (the group marketing manager), which is why they are able to pull off HG release after HG release.
For lips, these are the items I got:
I got a tube of Baby Lips! Yaaaay! Baaaack then I used to like Lip Flush more than Baby Lips because I like how Lip Flush has reaally pretty shades. But as of late, I’m liking Baby Lips more than the Lip Flush basic collection because it reaaally is so nourishing. I still like Lip Flush Bitten Lip for the gradation aspect, so I’ll never stop loving that product line. As for this one, though, I can’t believe I’m the last person in the world to discover that these lip balms can solve any episode of chapped lips hahaha.
Every lipstick lover’s dream is to receive sooo manyyy Creamy Matte lipsticks. I already have the whole brown nudes collection, and after reciving 5 of the 10 core shades, I went out and used my GC’s and brownie points to buy the other 5 shades. Expect a review within the year (mahirap na mangako so within the year na lang).
I am in love with the formulation of this lipstick, especially because I have extremely dry lips. No matter how hard I try, liquid lipstick really just doesn’t do it for me. I like how creamy and pigmented these lipsticks are. They may not be the most long lasting lipsticks out there, but I always have these in my purse because they’re so comfy and pretty that retouching after every meal isn’t a big deal to me.
I also got the whole collection of Maybelline’s Lip Gradation! I plan to do a re-review for this because I got three shades the last time they did a press kit for this. I wanna do it again with all the shades. I’m not sure what purpose people exactly use these for as they are better off as lipsticks than gradation lip colors… the color payoff of these lipsticks is craaaazy. And since there’s Lip Flush Bitten Lip for gradation, I feel like this is gonna serve a better purpose as a crazy deep lipstick collection.
For the eyes, I am so excited, too!
I got all of Maybelline’s mascaras in their current lineup. They do a lot of mascaras, but the lineup often changes, so this is what they have right now.
I got Lash Sensational, Falsies Push Up Drama, Magnum Express, and Hypercurl. I have tried all except The Falsies and I’ve always reached out for these whenever I need something to work for everyday. There are brands more long lasting than Maybelline and I reach out for those brands during special occasions. For daily activities, I prefer to use Maybelline because their mascaras have the right balance of staying put as expected while being reasonably easy to remove.
Another review I plan to do this year is for their the Rock Nudes palette. I am aware that Maybelline’s eyeshadow palettes have been drawing flak for being un pigmented, the ire perhaps being the most intense for the rosy nudes palette they have. While I can’t downplay such opinions, I’ve personally found that their eyeshadows work very well when applied wet. Their eyeshadows work well with people like my mom who gets easily irritated by fallout that she applies everything wet, or with more traditional makeup arstists ala Fanny Serrano who prefer to apply eyeshadow wet in order to be able to make the makeup last longer.
I’ve tried swatching this in store and I feel that this is so-so when applied dry, though the dark colors thankfully have good color payoff. I am excited to see how this will work when applied wet or over a lot of primer because the shades of this palette really are very very pretty. In real life there’s a breathtaking feel to the color selection of this palette. Amethyst and sapphire tones are the way to Mari’s heart and this palette has them hahaha
I also got another The Nudes palette! I’ve already reviewed this before, and I think after years of owning this I think my refined verdict is that this works best for finger application or wet application. This is not designed for dry brush application. Despite what people say that this lacks vigor, I’ve surprisingly been able to pull off a lot of pretty makeup looks with this one, especially when I layer these shadows over my Color Tattoo eyeshadows.
Moving on, I got two Hypersharp eyeliners!!! I love these eyeliners because they’re cheap but they get the job done. I feel like eyeliners get used up so fast, or dry up so quickly, that I personally will try to look for cheaper ones to use if I can. I’m glad that these are cheap but are sharp and stay on relatively well.
They also sent us home with the newest eyeliner for 2017, the HyperInk liquid liner. This one has a sword shaped foam tip akin to that of Benefit’s Push Up liner.
I haven’t heard of HyperMatte yet, but I think this will be good for those who want to achieve IG eyeliner. In reality IG gurus photoshop their eyeliner (and basically everything else) very heavily to make it look matte, so not achieving them doesn’t mean one is putting eyeliner incorrectly. Perhaps products like this will help to make the user one step closer to IG eyeliner.
Last but not the least for the eyes is Maybelline’s Lasting Drama Gel Liner in black. I have this in brown, and I am in awe that even after quite a while my eyeliner is still moist. I regret getting a cheaper local brand years back in makeup school because it was Php100 cheaper but it dried in less than 3 months and was basically a useless goop of wax after. I should have just shelled out a little more for this one.
Moving on to the face, here are the items I got:
Yaaaay I finally have Maybelline Clear Smooth All In One with Liza Soberano on the box! I have already received several units of this powder but I have always received the powders out of their boxes. It’s so nice to see the box just because Liza’s on it hahaha
I also got another unit of White Superfresh. Personally I prefer Clear Smooth over this one, but for those who are doing a lot of sweat inducing activities, this will still be the superior choice.
I have yet to try this but I am excited over this Fresh Matte BB Cushion!!! Hong Kong was going crazy over this the last time I was there. I loved Maybelline’s BB Cushion and have very high expectations for this new one.
They also sent us home with the current foundation roster. There’s Maybelline Dream Velvet and Dream Satin. I’ve tried Dream Velvet already and I love how it’s mousse-ey and massage-able and moist-matte. For Dream Satin, I’m still roadtesting it because while I may have received two of these already, I got shades too dark that I really just couldn’t wing going out with them on. I often do get shades darker than my actual skintone but I’m able to roadtest as usual when I compensate with a very pale colored powder. As for the previous shades I got, I couldn’t do that. I am learning more about the whole 3 foundation face makeup routine, though, so the darker ones will come in good use when the time comes.
I got their coveted V-Face Duo Stick. I personally like the duo powder more than this when it comes to contouring, but the highlighter stick is really nice. If you have the highlighter stick, you can move on to buying the pink Master Strobing stick instead of the nude one, or get onto buying the strobing cream. This is more or less the nude Master Strobing stick already.
I finally got the V-Face blush of my dreams!!! I have been so enamored with this product in the shade of Wine, but I’ve also wanted to own a shade that’s a little more muted for everyday use. I think this shade of Pink perfectly fits into that mold. This is sooooo cute I am dying to try thisssss. I have the other shades in Peach and Brown and I am still contemplating if I will get Red so I can already do one big fat review of all the shades in one place.
Last item in this whole post (but definitely definitely not the least!) is the Master Strobing line. I swear these will up the ante for you in 2017. They’re easy to use, easy to blend, and provide a highlight so bright you’d reaaally look like you ride on unicorns and sleep with mermaids. I swear this is crazy good. As good as my Anastasia glow kit; that kind of good.
I am still in the process of renewing some photos on my reviews as some photos are too bright, so I think I’ll just be linking here and there and uploading here and there once the reviews get finished. Stay tuned!!!
Top Beauty Blogger, Vlogger YouTube from Manila, Philippines
Wow!!!! Sobrang generous ng Maybelline!! Wroth 15000 ? Grabe! Ugh! Wow!!
Anw, sana mag april na ate Mari namiss ko na manood ng video mo. Pero na eenjoy ko rin naman ang blog post mo kasi labas pa rin ang pagiging kalog mo hihi 🙂
Miss you ate Mari! Sana maayus ang kitchen nyo ❤����
Wow, sobrang dami.. Oo nga panalo yung traincase 🙂
Love watching your vids, you are so bubbly, nakakatanggal ng pagod after work..
Nagstart pa lang ako sa make up, and you really inspire me..
Cant wait for the Lip Gradiation and Rock Nudes review!
Grabe! dami laman ng case! khit ba mommy nako pwd pako nyan? hehe, I love maybelline!
It's so great and honor it is to be chosen to represent a makeup company that you have supported and used for so many years… One of my dreams.. :> Maybelline is sooo awesome!
FB: Rain Gatdula
Being a part of Maybeline Squad could be one of the best thing that will ever happened to every make up lovers life. You deserve all that precious things from maybeline cuz you're really doing a great job po. I'm a fan of Maybeline products din po and i agree na kahit po cheap yung ibang products eh the best naman po ang quality! Keep up the great work po, keep posting helpful blogs. ❤️
Excited to have this guys!, true naman Maybelline is really excellent cosmetics brand since then. Everytime I look for lipstick, I chose Maybelline. Sounds like my name. ? sulit to
FB name: Baby lyn Dela Cruz
This is awesome. It's so cool being a part of the Maybelline squad. I love Maybelline Masacaras. They are the best.
This is awesome. It's so cool being a part of the Maybelline squad. I love Maybelline Masacaras. They are the best.