I had a mini-Ulta haul recently and among the things I purchased was a piece from Maybelline's newest collaboration with the brand Puma. Puma has a soft spot in my heart because for me it is one of the hallmarks of early-mid 2000's fashion, though I never was a sport-glam kind of person.
The collection has been met with a kind of bemused ambivalence, aside from the Chrome highlighter in the shade Knockout. Swatches of the highlighter are certainly impressive, but I did not buy it because I have the suspicion it is a close enough dupe of Lilac Geode from Becca, which I already own.
Instead, I opted to buy the product that looks like play-makeup. I don't mean that necessarily as an insult, but there is a plasticine quality to the product itself.
Anyway, the blush and highlight duo stick contains 6 g of total product, cost $11.00, and is housed in a nice looking tube the color of a kind of millennial lilac, if you will. Maybelline claims this product is waterproof and blendable. I can't attest to the waterproof claims, but I agree that the product is quite blendable.
The blush is a blue-toned red that applies in a nice wash of color. It was very easy to blend out.
The gloss half looks pearly, and I was afraid that when it would apply the pearl would be patchy, but that is not the case. We'll talk more about application shortly.
So below is all three swatches of product, but the most prominent swatch is the red, of course.
Then, in a much brighter light, from left to right we have 1.) both the gloss and blush swatched together, 2.) the blush on its own, and 3.) the gloss on its own.
I think the big question for many people is if the "gloss" side of this product actually behaves like a gloss. My answer? Sort of. On my skin the pearl pigments do look glossy. The product did not really dry down, but it wasn't sticky, either- just slightly powdery and emollient. The gloss can be blended out and leave microshimmers- the desirability of which depends on one's preference.
It did last longer than I thought it would- 5 hours on the face. I did reapply halfway through the day, which was easy to do. I have been very into the trendy, glossy look lately, especially during the time of year my skin is actually dry and craves moisture, and I definitely looked dewy, but in a good way.
This product is definitely not as long lasting as my Pearl highlighter from PF and my cream blushes from Lipstick Queen. I have never tried stick/glossy products from Milk or Glossier, so I can't exactly comment on how this product compares to others from those brands.
In sum, I think this is a nifty product that I will continue to use, but if you are looking for durability and a super bright highlighter, I would not look here. The blush was nice, especially because I do like when blushes are on the sheerer side, and the color is definitely different than anything else I own in my blush collection.
I also had the urge to put this on my lips, but I have not done so. Yet.
As always, thanks for reading.
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