Maxfactor Smoky Eye Effect Review

I had my eyes on these smoky eye effect eyeshadow pens from maxfactor since they were first released and managed to get two on promotion as a free gift with purchase of a mascara. Although I feel confident doing a brown smoky eye, I have always struggled with black in particular and thought this would be the perfect solution.

I got ‘Silver Storm’ a grey and purple and ‘Onyx Smoke’ which is black and white. I have tried to show the transition between the two colours once blended, which is meant to give the smoky eye look.

The swatches look great, and the product applied smoothly and is very creamy, so I was confident this would work well. Unfortunately, it only works well on your hand. There are no instructions as to how best to apply, even in the store promotions. I applied primer potion and started with step one, applying what is quite a thick crayola like stick all over the lid, step two is then a more tapered stick which allows you to apply in the crease and along the lash line very precisely.

The blending is not easy, and I found the more I tried to work the stick over the first eyeshadow, the more it moved around and left gaps of no colour. I used a concealer brush to blend into the brow a little and make it look more finished, which worked well, but wasn’t ideal. When I tried using my finger, I ended up removing a lot of the colour. The end result wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t what I had hoped for either. The colours are subtle, but it was quick to do, about 2 minutes max.

Although I could not see it in the mirror, after taking photographs, I could see just how much the eyeshadow creased, and I had only been wearing it for about 5 minutes! From the photographs you can hopefully tell, that with these two colours there isn’t really much of a difference, I probably could have gone out with my eyes differently without anyone noticing (although they may be distracted by my freehand attempts at winged eyeliner being dramatically different!)

I really like the colours, it just a shame the finish doesn’t live up to the claim. I originally thought I might try and make use of this as a eyeshadow base, but because of the creasing, I don’t imagine that will work. I will have another attempt otherwise will hope the mascara works well, be happy that I didn’t pay for these, and go back to practicing with brushes and powder eyeshadows!