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I did a quiet little geeky dance when Max Factor’s Masterpiece Rose Nudes Eyeshadow arrived. How lucky was I to get sent this? Thing is, I’d already eyed the palette up TWICE in Farmers and resisted it. Yeah, I know, we all know I was going to fold like a cheap pocket knife and buy it anyway… Especially as it is, you know, #specialedition. So, when I was contacted by Max Factor to ask if I’d like to review this vision of rose coloured beauty, I tried to be cool, calm and collected with my enthusiasm (snort). Max Factor are, increasingly, a brand whose makeup stand I linger by in Farmers. Perhaps because of special memories: My first ever mascara was a Max Factor (2000 calorie). I used it for over a decade, if not longer. Additionally, I also like what they are doing: Their colour range is impressive, their marketing catches my eye and the price is well positioned.
Anyway, eyeshadow palettes. Max Factor. Focus. If you stretch your mind back a little while, I obsessed over another Max Factor eyeshadow palette, this one, the golden nudes version (basically brown/gold shades). This palette is still a firm favourite of mine and is always in my ‘top makeup drawer’ (as opposed to the other four drawers). So, when this pinky, dusky pink, shimmering rose gold and sexy dark purple palette popped up on my radar – yeah… Lust kicked in.
To cut straight to the chase, this Max Factor Masterpiece Rose Nudes Eyeshadow palette is reminiscent of my Urban Decay Naked 3 palette (featured in this Lou’s Faves for 2015 favourites blog post) . At $33.99 Max Factor’s offering is half the price, smaller in size (read: Great for travel) and readily available to buy in store. This is a stark contrast to the helluva wait I experienced waiting for my Naked 3 palette to arrive having ordered it off Beauty Bay.
‘Nuff ramble. Let’s see the palette in action, shall we?
Eyeshadows On My Mug
You wouldn’t believe it, but in this photo, I’m wearing EVERY SINGLE one of the colours in the palette. That’s eight of them. Coz that’s how I roll. Why use one colour when you could use eight? That brings me to one of my few grizzles about this palette: The eyeshadow pigmentation photographs badly. At quick glance, this palette, with it’s pretty rose coloured hues screams ‘bridal makeup’. I’d abandon such thoughts very quickly, I could not manage to get a decent photo of my lids to show off the eyeshadows. Funnily enough, I had the same gripe with the ‘Golden Nudes’ version of this palette. Trust me caller: They look better in real life.
My lippy, before anyone asks, is World Organics Blossom (a current obsession).
From another angle… Same, same, slightly different.
The good points
- Reasonable colour pay off: Not great, I hasten to add, but good. Not as good, to my surprise, as my other Max Factor palette (the Golden Nudes). The colours aren’t quite as true on the eye as they are in the pan: I reckon a primer is a MUST, not just if you have oily eyelids like me. (I can’t rave enough about NARS Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base from Mecca Cosmetics. Try it: It’ll change your life). I feel like I had to work at it to build the eyeshadow colour up. That said, there’s a few other rose nude palettes out right now (Maybelline and L’oreal): This offers better pigmentation (in my humble opinion… Yes, I did stick my fingers in the Maybelline and L’oreal testers at Farmers to try them out. Side note: Don’t ever use eyeshadow testers on your actual eyes, they are minging: People like me stick their fingers in ’em).
- The size. Travel friendly. I go away a lot. This is good. To be exact it’s 11.5cm x 7cm. It’s ickle.
- Texture of the shadows: As with the golden nudes palette, the texture is soft and almost, well, creamy like butter. They blend really beautifully. You don’t have to work hard with your blending efforts.
- Variety of colours: There’s something in here for everyone and you can achieve a number of looks, like a dark intense smokey eye to something more subtle for day. I wouldn’t say, that said, that it suits all skintones.. If you are someone who has a lot of pink in their skintone or a lot of high colour, I’d run for the hills: This ain’t your palette. This is better suited to neutral and cool tones (I’m a neutral, apparently and, for the record, I’m an hourglass, LOL).
- Mix of matte and sparkly eyeshadows: I’ve banged on about this before, we need balance! Too much sparkle, helllllllo, disco ball eyelids. Too much matte: You look half dead. Mix it up – get some matte colour blended into the crease, sorted.
- The price. This sits in the ‘well priced category’. Bearing in mind ONE MAC eyeshadow is NZ$40 buckaroos, you are paying 5c short of $34 for this and you are getting eight colours.
The not so good points
- I feel like the pigmentation could be better. In fact, to try and get more intensity of colour, I wet my eyeshadow brush with eyedrops (Clear Eyes) then dipped the moist brush into the shadow and then applied it damp. Try that trick if you haven’t already, it’s awesome! If it sounds dodgy, I’ll have you know that this is a makeup artists trick. Trust me.
- Comes with a crappy eyeshadow applicator. Nice gesture, I should be grateful. But I’m not. These applicators are really destined for the bin. I haven’t found an applicator I like in any eyeshadow palette. What. A. Fussy Tart.
- I don’t feel the colours are particularly long-lasting (which ties in with my comments around pigmentation, as above). Hence I reckon using a specific eye primer is a must. Why do I keep banging on about eye primer? Here’s an ancient blog post I wrote three and a half years ago (I hadn’t discovered Nars’ primer then).
Ingredients
Here you go – if you like these details. There’s nothing natural nor organic about this. There’s no claims that this is the case though, I hasten to add.
Swatches
I think I should make it my (not so new) New Year’s resolution to do decent makeup swatches this year. I suck at this. Here’s all the shadows, from left to right. On, well, my arm. I tried. You get the idea.
Car Selfie
In case you haven’t gathered by now, our small family does a lot of road trips. When I’m not driving, I’m all about saving bathroom time. So, I jump in the car barefaced with my makeup bag, kill some time and make the most of good natural daylight. Here’s Max Factor’s masterpiece rose nudes eyeshadow palette on my eyes. Wait, what’s that? You can’t see the eyeshadow? Yeah. That’s because I over-curled the life out of my eyelashes and, on account of my hooded eyelids, you can’t see I’m wearing eyeshadow. Hence there’s a bunch of pics above of me with my eyes closed. LOL.
Exec Summary
Eyeshadow geeks missing a rose gold eyeshadow in their collection should totally take a look at this. Cool or neutral tones should definitely lap this up – warm skinned folk. Give this a miss. Bang for buck: Definitely. Would I have bought this with my hard earned moola, knowing what I know now? Yes!
Have you tried Max Factor Masterpiece eyeshadows? Thoughts?
Where to buy? Farmers. NZ$33.99. Note, right now there’s a special offer on: Buy two and get the third Free on Max Factor Products – Excludes Clearance Items.
