Christian Faye Smokey Eyes Palette in Purple Review

Christian Faye is a Dutch make-up brand founded in 1996, starting with semi-permanent eyebrow powders to now having a variety of make-up products and accessories that are mainly focused to be used around the eyes. One of these products is the Smokey Eyes Palette, available in four different shades. For this post, I’m going to review the Christian Faye Smokey Eyes Palette in Purple.

The Christian Faye Smokey Eyes Palette in Purple  is an eyeshadow palette that can be used to easily create a sexy Smoky Eye look. The palette is made of plastic and has a partially transparent top to show the eyeshadows.

I’m just going to be quite strict because it has annoyed me so much. The palette looks cheap, extremely cheap. I even showed it to my boyfriend, asking what he thinks of the palette just looking at it. He literally said that it looks like it’s cheap and looking like it comes from a dollar store. The problem is that the palette is quite expensive, €19,75 Euro!!! I really think that this palette looks like it can be found somewhere at a shady market or at a discount store like Action or Primark. Not something that you would expect from a palette with this price point.

Moving on, the back of the palette shows general information like the ingredients and a step-by-step instruction pictorial on how to easily create a smokey eye look. The instructions are vague and are in my opinion, in broken English. Also, the first step is to apply a SHIMMERY eyeshadow all over as a base?? Why not use the eyeshadow in Step 6, which is a flesh toned color as a base and the shimmery shade as a highlighter? I actually switched the two shades around in the look that I’ve created because what is described just completely made no sense to me. Also, they just completely ignore the bottom lid at the instructions at Step 2 so basically, the pictures are different than what the instructions tell you to do. I’m good at doing make-up but if you’re a beginner, the instructions might seem very confusing.

The Christian Faye Smokey Eyes Palette in Purple contains six eyeshadows (1.3 grams each), two sponge applicators and to my surprise, a small mirror on the inside of the lid. This is another thing why the palette looks so cheap. Half of the compact is just an empty space with two cheap sponge applicators that aren’t even mentioned in the instructions! The instructions actually mention to use brushes and these applicators are no good with blending so why add them?

Here are swatches of the Christian Faye Smokey Eyes Palette in Purple. The eyeshadows actually feel okay, they’re soft but not super soft. The pigmentation is not that great, but I don’t mind that for an eyeshadow palette that is meant to be used to create smokey eyes, because it is easier to build up and the eyeshadows blend better, which is a must for smokey eyes.

I followed the step-by-step manual on the back of the Christian Faye Smokey Eyes Palette in Purple, switching out the first and last color. The results were completely shocking, because I really love how it turned out and it was SUPER easy to do! With even the most expensive eyeshadow palettes, some colors just become so similar on the lid that you don’t see any differences anymore between them. With this palette, I could see my look change step-by-step and each shade was important to create this smooth, smokey eye look. Every shade worked so well with each other and blended perfectly. This is one of the quickest and easiest smokey eye look that I’ve ever created that looked so great.

I’m completely shocked at how I actually like the results of the palette, because looking at the swatches and just everything about it, I thought I would absolutely hate the Christian Faye Smokey Eyes Palette in Purple but how wrong was I? The palette is really perfect to create an easy smokey eye look for an evening out. I’m still not happy with the exterior of the palette though, especially because of the price.

If I didn’t receive this palette through PR, I wouldn’t even look at the products when walking through ICI PARIS XL, a store where I walk around frequently. I think this is really important to mention because I don’t only see myself as a Blogger, I see myself as a consumer who loves to try out make-up. If I and even my boyfriend have this negative opinion on the packaging, I think a lot of people would think the same and wouldn’t look at the products or put it back after seeing the price.

First impressions is key for all lesser known brands so I think if Christian Faye is able to change their packaging (also the bad explanation and broken English), it might be that it will become more interesting for the consumer to try out, which I think you should because the quality of the eyeshadows that I’ve tried so far are good.

The Christian Faye Smokey Eyes Palette in Purple is available for €19,75 Euro at ICIPARISXL.nl and ICI PARIS XL stores.

Do you think packaging is important for expensive products?

*This product was sent to me for review. Please check out my disclosure page for more information.