Product review: Pixi Smoky Eye Beauty Kit

A while back, I ordered the Pixi Smoky Eye Beauty Kit online, from discounter Brand Alley. Or at least, I thought I did. It arrived this morning, looking smaller and much more purple than I had imagined.

There seem to be two products made by Pixi with the same name, both masquerading as a smoky eye palette. One is green, has a double ended brush sitting in the compact and 8 deep jewelled shades. That was the one I ordered. Voici:

Then there is a smaller purple one, the size of a credit card, which has 6 eye shades and two pans of primer/concealer. There is also a brush included, but no space for it inside the palette. That’s the one that turned up on my doorstep. Behold!

But, you know, a palette is a palette and maybe it’s good to save on some handbag real estate. The primers might be really great. So I decided to keep it and do a review.

First off, the colours:

There’s a matte black, a deep shimmery green, a shimmery plum (with a surprising and very dominant base colour of brick red), a cooler deep shimmer mauve, a shimmer royal blue, and a shimmer gunmetal/taupe colour.

There’s also the two-ended brush, which is wonderful quality. One side is a soft eyeshadow blender brush, and the other is a beautiful gentle push brush.

As the choice of brushes suggests, this palette can be used for full-on smoky eyes, or for statement eyeliner. I think I prefer the latter, and the royal blue in particular is an incredible eye-popping shade when worn this way. Some of the colours, particularly the brick red/plum, just look way too intense when applied all over the lid. The effect is less “smoulder” and more “bruise”. Or “insomnia”.

Despite lacklustre reviews on Makeup Alley, which I think are for the green palette, I found these shadows very pigmented with a decent staying power, especially when combined with the primer/concealer; I still can’t work out which it’s meant to be. It comes in two shades, which suggests concealer to me - presumably you blend the two together to match your skin? (Provided you are very pale and Caucasian that is, if not, tough, apparently.) It’s decent enough stuff, a little oily-feeling though. I wouldn’t trust it to hold a smoky eye in place solo, I’d want to draft in a more heavyweight primer like UDPP or Too Faced Shadow Insurance.

Overall, this is a sweet little pocket palette that would make a decent addition to your stash. However the fact that the included brush doesn’t fit in the palette makes its use pretty limited as an on-the-go product, unless you are very deft at applying and blending dark shadows with your fingers. Which is no easy task, especially on the top deck of a London bus. I can attest to that.

Tagged as:  palette · pixi · product review · smoky eye