Maybelline Creamy Mattes Brown Nudes (650-Nude Embrace) Lipstick Review and Swatches

This is what I would describe as a neutral medium shade foundation-turned-lipstick shade. For so long, I initially felt that this had a yellowish undertone to it, especially when that’s how the product would behave in product shots, but then when I swatched this and errthing that’s when I realized that it’s more neutral than we think. It has no undertone, actually. You will also realize that it’s neutral when you see it beside the next shade, Daringly Nude, which has salmon pink touches to it. 

This is how it looks like on the bottom. There is a number and then the name is there. There is also an indication that it’s matte.  

And here are some more photos of the lipstick:

This is how the swatch looks like. 

And these are photos of me sporting the lippie. 

Personally, I think that this may not be the most popular shade in the collection but this can be the best investment because it’s so easy to mix with other shades. This has no undertone and has just the brown, so you can add this to any bright pink or red shade to create a more muted or creamier version. 

To put everything into perspective, here are my thoughts and opinions about the product line: 

Shade Selection: The shade selection is just sooooo pretty. I am so glad that they released this collection as all the shades are so sophisticated. I am also happy that most shades have pinkish and reddish undertones, so this line is bound to last the test of time and still be saleable even when the brown craze is over. A lot of the shades in this collection can pass as the everyday lipsticks for a lot of Pinays, so I think that it’s not only the trend that is making this sell so well but also the fact that this looks good on a lot of skintones. Every shade was well thought of such that the wearer would be able to make a bold statement but still feel comfy pulling it off. Like they could have actually released literal coffee colored shades, but they didn’t, and they put wearability into consideration as well. 

I feel that this is a very good balancing act to roundup the Maybelline lippie family. With the default Creamy Mattes release, they already have a good roster of reds and muted roses. Rosy Mattes is my dream come true nudy pink collection color wise, and up to this day I use my Rosy Mattes on an almost everyday basis. The Rebel Bouquet collection helps to give a healthy supply of corals and more pinks. Velvet Matte and Vivid Matte give the super shocking reds and pinks that we all need. I also like to use Lip Flush for the pouty lip effect due to its translucency. This is a collection whose colors cannot be found in previous Maybelline collections, so this is a good way to really roundup the color profile of Maybelline lippies. 

Color Payoff: Amusingly, since these are browns, it’s like you can’t visualize how it’d look on you until you try it. Like you can describe a color on the tube and everything but you will not understand the exact shade until you’ve worn it. The shade loyalty is a tricky part, because you’d never know if the shade applied true to the colors on the tube due to all the mind tricks you’ll experience, especially when it’s your first time to wear browns.  But nonetheless, these lipsticks are highly pigmented and apply very opaquely with very little effort. 

Longevity: These lipsticks stay on for a good few hours or so without the consumption of oily foods. The darker shades in the collection do leave a tint. 

Texture: The texture of these lipsticks really stand out from Maybelline’s other collections. The lipsticks feel soft and apply easily and smoothly. They may be matte in appearance, but texture wise they’re so creamy and buttery, like lip balms. I think these behave a lot like the Bold Mattes, but even thinner and wispier. I’m not exactly sure, but this feels like a powderless matte formula. The unique value proposition with Bold Mattes was the powderless formula to ensure comfort, and this might be hinged on a similar formula, but even creamier. This collection’s formula is visibly less matte than say, Rosy or Vivid matte, but it’s still matte. You will be reminded of the decadence and smoothness of chocolate bars as this has a chocolate fragrance to it. 

However, the softness seems to come with its own flipside. I actually had one unit break off in the tube and make a mess in the world and fall off to the floor twice in my attempt to fix it. I think that that happened because of the formula being too soft. But even then, I wouldn’t trade this texture for anything in the world anymore. 

Comfort: Maybelline has put comfort at the forefront of its 2016 releases with all the lip balms and soft lipsticks, but this collection just threw all that out the window. You can feel that this collection is exponentially more comfortable than other Maybelline releases, despite the many exisiting collections already being so comfortable. Lips feel moist the whole time this product is on. You would never think that comfort could ever reach this level until you actually try this. 

Price and Value for Money: This lipstick retails for Php299 a pop, and while there are flash sales here and there, this is still exempt from most National Lipstick month sales due to the newness and the immense demand by the public for this product. I honestly think that the product line as a whole (including the reds and pinks the collection originally had) is really worth the hype because of the super creamy and buttery texture and immense comfort. It also helps that in specific, these browns are among the most affordable ones in the market of brown lippies, given that most brown lip product manufacturers are brands without representation in the Philippines, or that their brown lippies are liquid lipsticks, which generally cost more than lipsticks. I feel that given the difficulty of ordering online and the lack of brands doing this, this will most likely be the first brown purchases of most people, but the purchases will be worth it as this is really the slay my queen sophistication most people were looking for in foreign releases in the first place. The ease of access also makes it something worth trying as it’s literally so easy to get one. There’s no reason to shy away from browns when Maybelline counters are literally everywhere. 

So yaaaay, this is my review. Try it out ASAP! 

Top Beauty Blogger, Vlogger, and YouTuber from Manila, Philippines