Max Factor Excess Shimmer eyeshadow

A staple product in my spring/ summer make up look is cream shadow. Whether it is in a stick or in a pot: cream shadows are easy to quickly slap on, they usually stay on very well and they make a great base for layering other shadows on top. But come spring/ summer I love wearing them as is. I simply put them on over a bit of eyeshadow primer and I’ve got a good looking eye make up look in seconds. Max Factor released a new cream eyeshadow type product last fall and so I was curious to try them.

Max Factor Excess Shimmer eyeshadow Bronze & Copper

The Max Factor Excess Shimmer eye shadows are made of a gel formula and comes in 6 different colors. I find Max Factor quite pricey for a drugstore brand and these fall into their usual mid to high drugstore range of prices. The Excess Shimmer eye shadows retail for €12.99 a piece. Or you buy them on sale like I did: I picked up bronze and copper in a buy 1 get 1 free deal a few months ago.

Out of the 6 shades available the bronze and copper shades drew my eye immediately. They appear like very wearable shades that can easily be worn on its own or used as a base layer. Since those are my two favorite ways of using cream shadows that is why I went with these two. The other shades, a white, pink, mint green and black all appealed less to me and I know I would not get much wear out of those colors.

These cream shadows come packaged in a sturdy glass jar. You can easily see the color through the sides and bottom. The name is printed on the label on the lid for good measure. Here’s what Max Factor promises:

High pigment formula eyeshadows with lasting power, Excess Shimmer Eyeshadow give eyes an exquisite finish that lasts all day. Catch the light and the attention of the room and go luxe with shimmering eyes that take center stage. Available in a range of rich shades from The Excess Collection, create a decadent eye look that will take you  from dusk till dawn.

• High pigment formula for depth of colour
• Rich shade collection for a luxe look
• Lasts for up to 12 hours

When you take off the lid, the shadow is protected by a seal. This way you are sure no one has stuck their fingers inside the product yet and it is much more hygienic. It also ensures that the product doesn’t dry out while it is sitting on a shelf in stores, so you’re sure that your product is as fresh as it gets. Bonus points for Max Factor!

Max Factor Excess Shimmer eyeshadow in Bronze & Copper

The two shades I purchased are bronze and copper. Now bronze definitely looks to be a bronze brown in the pan, but copper is nowhere near what I would call a copper shade. It is more of a taupe with a purple undertone to it. Luckily you can see these shades through their packaging quite easily, so it wasn’t a surprise when I opened these, but still, the name couldn’t have been chosen more wrongly.

Bronze looks like a rich chocolate brown with golden flecks through it. The product looks like a mousse in the pan and so this product truly looked like something I haven’t tried before. I was a bit late to the mousse bandwagon when it was all the rage a few years ago, so I was curious to see how this would hold up.

Copper is more of a taupe than a copper as I pointed above. The texture of this is the same as bronze, but it looks a bit less whipped and more shimmery than its bronze counterpart. This is the type of shade I absolutely adore. I love taupe eyeshadow shades and so this looks like it could be right up my street.

Swatches don’t lie: these products indeed go on opaque and contain a lot of shimmer. Copper more so than bronze, but they are still pretty as is. The texture of these isn’t as mousse and whipped like as they appear to seem in the pan. This is definitely more of a gel texture and a little goes a very long way. Luckily, these are easy to blend. However, you do need to work quickly, because once they set these babies will not budge.

On the lid these shades perform very well. Like I said, these colors blend out nicely and that can be seen in this picture. You can wear these shadows full on or blended out for a more subtle look. I am wearing copper all over the lid and I blended bronze into the crease. Together they make for a great basic eye look.

Of these two I think copper is my favorite as these type of shades can be used for many different purposes. So far I’ve worn copper on its own, under other shadows and as an inner corner highlight. Bronze is the type of shade I will most likely only wear on its own and so it is a tad less versatile to me.

If I could recommend only one of these, I would suggest copper. Bronze however is an absolutely gorgeous shade and easy, one-stop-shop for a simple, basic eye look. These shadows last long with a primer underneath and so they are a great addition to my make up collection.

What is your favorite cream eyeshadow?