Disappointing products #1: MaxFactor Smoky Eye Effect eyeshadow - Indigo Mist

Hello! After almost two weeks of not posting I am back and beginning a new  series of posts, which will present reviews of products that disappointed me or simply didn't suit me. If you feel hopeful for a product and it turns out to be a total waste of your money - than it's correct to say you were dissapointed, even if the product wasn't so bad at all. I will mostly write about some of the products that I have that were really bad - speaking of quality, shades, pigmentation and such things and also I might sometimes include products that are not bad itself but simply didn't do what they promised on me or I had different expectations.

Starting this new series is a product by MaxFactor, it's called Smoky Eye Effect eyeshadow and I have it in the shade Indigo Mist. Basically this is a cream, double ended eyeshadow, shaped in a form of wax crayons. The packaging is simple and plastic, both ends have transparent cap, so you can see the shades. At the sides you have written "Step 1" and "Step 2", to help you create the wanted look. What really got my attention was the shades - the combo of bright baby blue and deep browny purple shade. Especially I had hopes for the light blue  and was not dissapointed as for pigmentation, but the other shade is just terrible. It's not purple at all, it's browny with a hint of shimmer and only looks purplish under fake lights in the shop.

On swatches I made at the store and at home these looked pretty decent, but on the lids... not so much. I tried using eyeshadow base and also without it but this product simply refuses to work for me. It has a different consistency than I'm used to with the cream eyeshadows. It's very light, greasy and transparent which makes it difficult to get the shade even all over your lids. Also it's not easy to build it up, it takes quite a long time. Brushes don't help much, only make the thing look worse, since all the pigmentation gets to stick on the brush and you have to start all over again. I first applied straight from the bullet, than used my fingers but it didn't look good. So I tried brushes and make up sponges but ended up making a bigger mess. So I went back in with my own fingers and somehow managed to make the shades look even. And so I thought I will be good for the day and looking ok at work.

Well, that did not happen. I had the product with me and was able to reapply a little, but mostly I just used my fingers and reblended the whole thing every time it got creased or faded. And the creasing started really fast, not even half an hour after application I was already having my eyeshadows in three lines and it looked really greasy and ugly.

So basically, my experience with this product was bad from the get go. First problems with application, than fading and creasing. The look didn't last enough even for me to get from home to work and I already needed to make touch ups. Really too bad, because the bright blue shade was a really lovely one and it suited my eyes very well. The other browny shade was not so much for my taste and I already have similar ones. Also they both give shimmery finish, which made the whole thing look even worse. Here's some swatches to check :)

Actually, I was really lucky to get this product on two different discounts and it costed me a couple of euros, something like 3,50 euros, because the regular price is about 10 and that's a lot. Especially for a product that needs so much work and effort only to make you look ok for half an hour.

Personally I really don't recommend this one, but you know best whether or not this will work for you :)

Hope this was helpful to you!

Love, UniqaPoly