There are a few major corporations that are the owners of all our favourite brands, so it's not just a coincedence when two different brands will release a similar concept of product at the same time and this is an evident case in Max Factor and Covergirl, who are both owned by pharmaceutical giant Procter and Gamble. Whilst I was in the UK I noticed an abundance of Max Factor at all of the major high street stores, but no Covergirl. Max Factor is only available to the USA online, I believe they used to have it a few years ago but it didn't sell well. Obviously it would feel like a loss to both parties to not be able to easily purchase both brands, but there's no real loss at all, let me give you an example!

Covergirl Smoky ShadowBlast & Max Factor Smoky Eye Effect Shadow


Covergirl Smoky ShadowBlast
Though a novel concept, Smoky ShadowBlast is far better in theory than practice, and are not only notorious for the stick ends breaking, but also for a formula with a weak colour payoff and pigmentation. All of the shades are very frosty and crease and fade far too quickly to be worth any amount of money.

Max Factor Smokey Eye Effect Shadow
I can't be exactly sure but I do believe these products have the same formula considering the reviews for Smokey Eye Effect Shadow aren't exactly glowing either, in fact they're the opposite. The colours again have little to no pigmentation when applied onto the eye, are extremely troublesome to blend, are patchy, frosty and leave an uneven film of colour that makes blending step 2 to step 1 a nightmare. Though the colours in Smokey Eye Effect Shadow are more sophisticated than the young audience that Covergirl targets, but the product is just as bad.

Covergirl Blast Flipstick & Max Factor Flipstick Colour Effect

 Anonymous left on 23 February 2013 at 14:21  

Hi Beccy, I'm an American who has used Max Factor products since the 70's when I was a teen! Before the company abandoned the US, they really were not marketing or expanding their product line well at all. Now they are coming out with all kinds of things, and yes, they do appear similar to Cover Girl, and they are owned by the same parent company, but there are items that are, sadly, not the same. Thankfully a few enterprising people from the UK are selling MF to American customers. I love Max Factor foundations and powder and have difficult skin. Their mascaras are the best! But Cover Girl hurts my eyes. Both companies make a 3 in 1 foundation, but Cover Girl's is more of a long lasting, for super oily skin. I've not tried MF, but it seems to be almost a BB cream type with primer-foundation-sunscreen. Maybe MF will take notice of we Factor Fanatics that are spendng a fortune on postage for our products and bring them back to the US.

 Candace left on 25 August 2013 at 12:43  

I noticed you said the MF colours for the eye product are 'more sophisticated' - but actually, if you look closely, they're just not selling the duos with the bright blue and green, and have toned down the colours more with photo editing. The four MF eye duos shown can all be seen in the CG picture, just flipped around!

 Unknown left on 23 September 2013 at 01:29  

Hi dear, thanks for your comment!
That's understandable, depending on the product source some of the ingredients may be of a different cosmetic grade (could be what irritates your eyes!) and the formulas are likely to differ in some aspects at least :)
One would definitely hope so especially if there's an obvious market in the US!

 Unknown left on 23 September 2013 at 01:30  

That's very true Candace! Thanks for your input :) You can see how they've just mixed the combinations and remarketed them again, definitely worth noting

There are a few major corporations that are the owners of all our favourite brands, so it's not just a coincedence when two different brands will release a similar concept of product at the same time and this is an evident case in Max Factor and Covergirl, who are both owned by pharmaceutical giant Procter and Gamble. Whilst I was in the UK I noticed an abundance of Max Factor at all of the major high street stores, but no Covergirl. Max Factor is only available to the USA online, I believe they used to have it a few years ago but it didn't sell well. Obviously it would feel like a loss to both parties to not be able to easily purchase both brands, but there's no real loss at all, let me give you an example!

Covergirl Smoky ShadowBlast & Max Factor Smoky Eye Effect Shadow


Covergirl Smoky ShadowBlast
Though a novel concept, Smoky ShadowBlast is far better in theory than practice, and are not only notorious for the stick ends breaking, but also for a formula with a weak colour payoff and pigmentation. All of the shades are very frosty and crease and fade far too quickly to be worth any amount of money.

Max Factor Smokey Eye Effect Shadow
I can't be exactly sure but I do believe these products have the same formula considering the reviews for Smokey Eye Effect Shadow aren't exactly glowing either, in fact they're the opposite. The colours again have little to no pigmentation when applied onto the eye, are extremely troublesome to blend, are patchy, frosty and leave an uneven film of colour that makes blending step 2 to step 1 a nightmare. Though the colours in Smokey Eye Effect Shadow are more sophisticated than the young audience that Covergirl targets, but the product is just as bad.

Covergirl Blast Flipstick & Max Factor Flipstick Colour Effect

 Anonymous left on 23 February 2013 at 14:21  

Hi Beccy, I'm an American who has used Max Factor products since the 70's when I was a teen! Before the company abandoned the US, they really were not marketing or expanding their product line well at all. Now they are coming out with all kinds of things, and yes, they do appear similar to Cover Girl, and they are owned by the same parent company, but there are items that are, sadly, not the same. Thankfully a few enterprising people from the UK are selling MF to American customers. I love Max Factor foundations and powder and have difficult skin. Their mascaras are the best! But Cover Girl hurts my eyes. Both companies make a 3 in 1 foundation, but Cover Girl's is more of a long lasting, for super oily skin. I've not tried MF, but it seems to be almost a BB cream type with primer-foundation-sunscreen. Maybe MF will take notice of we Factor Fanatics that are spendng a fortune on postage for our products and bring them back to the US.

 Candace left on 25 August 2013 at 12:43  

I noticed you said the MF colours for the eye product are 'more sophisticated' - but actually, if you look closely, they're just not selling the duos with the bright blue and green, and have toned down the colours more with photo editing. The four MF eye duos shown can all be seen in the CG picture, just flipped around!

 Unknown left on 23 September 2013 at 01:29  

Hi dear, thanks for your comment!
That's understandable, depending on the product source some of the ingredients may be of a different cosmetic grade (could be what irritates your eyes!) and the formulas are likely to differ in some aspects at least :)
One would definitely hope so especially if there's an obvious market in the US!

 Unknown left on 23 September 2013 at 01:30  

That's very true Candace! Thanks for your input :) You can see how they've just mixed the combinations and remarketed them again, definitely worth noting