At the beginning of January, Maybelline launched their Total Temptation range and the very first thing that caught me was that their impressive PR package (which had a playable video screen in it!) said something about “THE SCENT” of the mascara. And I was like wait whattttttt.

I love scented makeup products so I was super curious to find out what it smelled like.

As it turns out, the press sheet for the mascara says that it smells like coconut. Verrrry iiiinteresting. So I pulled out the wand and gave it a good whiff.

And it doesn’t smell like coconuts.

Not at all.

Not even REMOTELY.

What does it actually smell like? Their lipsticks! Which is funny to me because I’ve never been able to put my finger on what their lipsticks actually smell like. So maybe that’s their version of coconut? Either way, this isn’t a traditional coconut scent, so if you’re super into that scent, don’t get your hopes up for this one.

The Total Temptation Mascara  retails for $11.99 CAD/$9.49 USD and comes with a traditional natural bristle brush. And… I don’t like it. Mascara is one of those items where you either love it or hate and none of us ever feels the same way about it.

The Total Temptation mascara delivers enough thickness but not enough length, and I honestly felt like my lashes, despite being curled, would constantly droop throughout the day and end up sticking straight out instead of upwards. It’s as if the mascara formula is too heavy and my lashes just can’t support the weight of it. Which, honestly, is a little bit odd for me as it’s not something I usually struggle with. But alas, they can’t all work for all of us. My recommendation would be to get the Maybelline Lash Sensational Luscious Full Fan Effect mascara instead of this one (cuz holy hell I love that one), but that’s MY preference, so take that for what you will.

I was sent the Total Temptation Eyebrow Definer Pencil ($11.99 CAD/$7.99 USD) in deep brown, and you just KNOW that colour isn’t going to work with my blonde hair. Even a light brown never works for me – I need either an ash or blonde colour. My wonderful friend Kaitlyn did review it in her Mayblline Total Temptation video, so please check her out if you’re looking for a review on that particular product.

The last item in the Total Temptation range was their Shadow & Highlight palette ($17.99 CAD/$11.99 USD). Although the bigger blocks are supposed to be highlighters, do keep in mind that since they’re all powder products, you can certainly use them all any way you like on your face.

The palette is split in two: one side is warm and the other is cool. The warm side has more mattes and shimmers in it with a very orange/gold theme, whereas the cool side is made up of purple/pinks and has more glitter particles in it.

The purple/pink side was an enormous let down. The shades didn’t go on my eyes very well (it looks far more grey than the pink of the swatches) and I had glitter fall out EVERYWHERE. This doesn’t usually bother me as I do quite enjoy glitter all over my face, but it ended up in such weird areas that I was just like “whyyyy?” I found glitter particles between my eyebrows (???) and practically none of it stayed on my eyelids. The highlighter was also exceptionally chunky because of all of the glitter in it and I can’t say it ended up looking all that flattering.

The warm side was much, MUCH better than the cool side and I do really like the look that I came up with. The golden highlighter on this side of the palette was absolutely beautiful and looked beautiful on my cheekbones. Since there was no glitter to be seen on this side of the palette, I didn’t run into any issues with fallout like I had with the pink side.

Final Thoughts

The mascara didn’t work for me as I prefer wet mascaras with more volume and length, and I didn’t love how it made my lashes droop by the mid-day.

I didn’t try the Brow Definer out, but I can see that they do have four shades available, so that’s a good thing. I can’t speak to that item at all though, as I just plunked the brow pencil in my giveaway drawer since using it at all would’ve been a waste on me.

As for the shadow and highlight palette… I liked half of it – the warm side was really, really good. However, I can’t recommend a palette when I feel like only 50% of it is any good. The pink/cool side was just a mess of lack of pigmentation and glitter particles that makes it mostly unwearable in my opinion.

So, sadly, this whole range gets a pass from me. I much, MUCH preferred the Gigi Hadid lineup and felt like the eyeshadow palettes in that were better balanced and played out better. Those lipsticks were also excellent!

The products in this post were sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.

Maybelline recently launched their collaboration with model Gigi Hadid and my absolute favourite item from that launch was their brand new lipstick shades. If you want to see my full try on and review of the collection, you can watch the video linked below, otherwise… let’s talk about these lipsticks!

This post is exclusively about the lipsticks from that launch because I loved them so much. Maybelline never steers me wrong with their lipsticks in this square tube, so it wasn’t a shock to discover I liked these so much.

The lipsticks come in Maybelline‘s traditional squared off packaging. I don’t personally find it overly compact or easy to carry in my pocket, but it’s certainly easily identifiable as being from Maybelline! The Gigi Hadid range is peachy-tan coloured with Gigi Hadid written in holographic writing.

The shades in this collection are an interesting mix of reds with neutrals. There are six shades in total, but I only have four of them – the missing shades are another neutral similar to McCall (called Taura) and another red (called Austyn).

These are a matte lipstick formula, but don’t let that scare you – Maybelline makes one of the most comfortable matte lipstick formulas on the market! They go on smoothly, feel like butter and best of all? They’re actually comfortable to wear. It’s a feat that not many matte lipstick formulas can pull off and have only started to more recently, but Maybelline has been delivering a comfortable matte lipstick formula for years!

Swatched out, you can see how pigmented these lipsticks are. Even McCall, a rather neutral flesh-tone colour is completely opaque in one swipe!

Maybelline x Gigi Hadid Lipstick Swatches

Of all four shades I tried, McCall is definitely my least favourite – mostly because I’m not reallllly a neutral-kinda person. McCall is like a pale version of “my lips but better”, but it had a slight tendency to show my lip lines. I do think that that’s down to the shade colour though.

Ummmm wow! Erin was the most boring looking in the tube (hello… it looks like a plain brown), but on the lips it’s glorious! If you want to see Erin in action, I’m wearing it in my Drugstore Makeup Kit for Beginners video.

I always love a good orange-red and Khair absolutely delivered. I think most people would mostly just see “red” when they look at this shade, but there is a hint of that orangey-warmth to it that really helps to punch up the colour in my opinion.

And here’s Lani – one of those beautiful blue-based reds that tends to look good on everyone. It’s the kind of shade you can wear during the holidays and feel Christmas-y, or… any other time of the year and feel like a total bombshell. This colour is absolutely wonderful.

Final Thoughts

I mean, this will come as no surprise as I feel I’ve been raving on about Maybelline‘s lipstick formula for quite some time… but I love these. The colours are beautiful, they wear comfortably and, well, and they’re just an all around GOOD lipstick. Not just good because they’re decently priced at the drugstore, but GOOD because they’re some of the best on the market, including everything that lives at Sephora. Maybelline knows how to do lipstick right, and they won’t disappoint you.

My personal recommendations? Erin is the most unique in the collection, and so, so pretty – so I’d recommend that one to you immediately. You can’t go wrong with Khair either – I love that shade so much! (I mean… they’re all good –  grab what appeals to you!)

The Maybelline x Gigi Hadid Lipsticks can be purchased at drugstores or online at ulta.com.

The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.