Let the Stockpiling Begin: Max Factor will end US sales in 2010
Seriously....




Procter & Gamble says it will phase out U.S. sales of the century-old Max Factor makeup brand. The Cincinnati-based consumer products maker says it will keep selling Max Factor overseas, where its sales have been strongest. P&G has been building up its CoverGirl cosmetics business in the United States, and the two brands are both sold widely in U.S. drugstores, other mass retail chains and online. A P&G spokeswoman says CoverGirl sales have risen the past eight years and are nearing $1 billion a year. She says Max Factor sales have been better overseas and total $1.2 billion globally. P&G said Thursday it will end U.S. sales of Max Factor products in early 2010. P&G acquired the brand from Revlon Inc. in 1991. (Yahoo/AP)

How will I ever love another drugstore mascara? Should I start weening myself from Volume Couture now?

Vent in the comments and post your favorite Max Factor product!

40 Days and 40 Nights of Beauty Brand Reviews

Day 26, Max Factor

Cavewoman: If you have ever used the word "makeup," you can thank Max Factor. He invented the word.

No other person in the history of movies, television, makeup, and beauty has has such a strong and lasting influence on not just the film industry, but on the way women buy and use cosmetics to this very day. From the films of DeMille and Goldwyn to the pegs at your local Walmart, Max Factor's genius has touched the faces of glamourous Hollywood actresses and middle-aged Ohio ladies and just about every person who has ever touched a cosmetic to her face. Or his face.

Factor was a Jewish Polish immigrant who got his start at a very young age when he made wigs and did makeup for the Imperial Russian Grand Opera in the late 1800's, where his talents caught the eye of the Czar and his court. He escaped the control of the aristocracy by secreting his wife and children out of Russia and onto a ship headed to the United States, started a small cosmetic firm with a partner he met on the ship, and shortly afterwards had the entire business stolen from him by that partner. He moved his family to California where he began to work in films, creating products that filled the needs of the advancing technology of filmmaking. His first invention was the natural hairline wig, stitched onto a base of lace, and the rest is great film history. For the fascinating story of Max Factor's rise to legend, find a copy of the book called "Max Factor's Hollywood, Glamour, Movies, Makeup" and immerse yourself in the amazing photographs and stories. You will learn another Max Factor first, the celebrity endorsement! Factor enlisted the most famous actresses of his day, for the sum of $1.00, to promote and be photographed with his products. You'll recognize the names. Bacall, Davis, Harlow, Bow. Today, the beautiful Carmen Electra is the Face Of Max Factor.

Max Factor created PanCake makeup to meet a particular need that had arisen in film, when harsh stage lighting was converted to tungsten lights. The old forms of makeup looked artificial , pasty, and garish. PanCake made its debut in "Vogues Of 1938" on Joan Bennett and the entire cast. A year later, PanCake was produced for American women to purchase for themselves. This began Factor's move into retail cosmetic production and sales, and women everywhere wanted makeup for themselves.

After Factor's death, his son Max Jr. invented the more portable PanStik, following in his father's footsteps in creating products to continue to meet the needs of the changing technology in filmmaking. He asked Lana Turner, Barbara Stanwyk, Judy Garland, Ava Gardner, Sylvia Sidney, and Rosalind Russell to test it for him! PanStik made its film debut in 1949 on the face of Greer Garson in MGM's "That Forsyte Woman."

Now, more than 50 years later, PanStik remains an important part of the Max Factor line of cosmetics, which is now owned by Proctor & Gamble. PanStik is a versatile product, with its roots in Hollywood, but perfect for everyday use by everywoman. I've used PanStik as not just a foundation, but as a concealer. It works beautifully under the eyes, on dark spots and blotches, and to cover redness around the nose area. It blends easily without grabbing or drying, and it stays put until you take it off. I've even used it as an eyeshadow base. I think Mr. Factor would approve. Stroke the emollient stick onto the face, blend a bit with fingers or sponge, and call Mr. DeMille. You're ready for your close up.

What are your favorite Max Factor products? Let us know in the comments!
Photos: Cavewoman and Max Factor's Hollywood,Glamour, Movies, Makeup, by Fred E. Bastien with Robert Salvatore and Paul A. Kaufman.
Disclosure: The products were purchased by the reviewer.

Max Factor Lash Perfection Volume Couture Review

I am loving this Max Factor Lash Perfection Volume Couture in soft black. I have complained to anyone that would listen about the state of my lashes. They are short, stumpy, sparse and straight.
They bring me nothing but grief.

Lately I have been smitten with Chanel's Initmitable mascara. The cutting edge brush gives me the seperation I crave along with some much needed oomph.
It is a fairly expensive mascara so I am thrilled that there is a drugstore alternative.

This new Max Factor mascara has a very similiar brush to the Chanel. They call it iFX Brush technology with volumizing micro channels. This sounds very sci-fi. In simple terms it has less bristles than a traditional wand. The Max Factor and Chanel bristles are made from a heavy duty rubber. This is the trick to their strength. These brushes separate lashes like no one's business.

The Max Factor mascara formula is less dramatic than the Chanel. This might be due to the fact that I am testing the soft black instead of the rich black color.
No one seems to able to top or match that great inky color of Shu Uemura.
I am thinking that I am going to dip my Chanel brush into my Shu mascara and see what happens.

If you tried this new Max Factor let me know your thoughts in the comments.

The Max Factor mascara is available on Drugstore.com for the discounted price of $5.59
http://www.drugstore.com/?trxp1=0&trxp2=0&trxp3=1%7C1

Photo: Drugstore.com
Disclosure: This product was purchased by the reviewer

The Great Mascara Hunt:Max Factor Lash Perfection in Deep Blue

Review by Cavewoman
photo from Eopinions
graphic by Katie at Scentzilla

Patty and Patti have made an amazing discovery! We have found out, through testing, that the Max Factor Lash Perfection in the color Deep Blue does not flake like the black shade does! Now honestly this does not make sense, and we don't know how it happens, but I conducted a side-by-side testing when Patty mentioned that she wears the Deep Blue shade and it did not flake on her. It's true! Patty sent me the Deep Blue to try, and I am so happy with it! It darkens the lashes almost as well as the black, the blue is hardly detectable, but it coats the lashes evenly and doesn't clump at all, just like the black version. But after an entire day of wearing the Deep Blue on one eye and the black on the other, the difference was clearly evident.

So, I have to rate Max Factor Lash Perfection in Deep Blue as a perfect 10! Thanks to PattyG for pointing this out to me and for providing me with the Deep Blue!

Disclosure: This product was purchased by the reviewer, Cavewoman

The Great Mascara Hunt Project: Max Factor Lash Perfection

review by cavewoman
graphic by katie @Scentzilla
photo from gettyimages

You may remember, if you are a mascara junkie, the clamoring and buzz about a new Max Factor mascara that was launched late last year. Lash Perfection was packaged as a limited edition and was the first product to be introduced as the newly renovated line from this old, venerable company. I'll tell you a little story about Max Factor.
When I was in college, one of my professors (a nun) told us that her father was Max Factor. She wore blush and eyebrow pencil so it could be she had a nice stash of products. She told us that when she was a teenager, she went to her father and told him she was not only converting from Judaism to Catholicism, she was becoming a nun. She said he disowned her and told her he would never acknowledge having her as his daughter. Well, this all could be true, or not, but she did seem to tell lots of stories about him that were true. Factor was a revolutionary in makeup, a true legend. Sister wasn't legendary except in her eccentricities. But I digress. We are here to talk about mascara, not nuns.

Max Factor Lash Perfection is the first mascara to use little plastic bristles instead of the usual brush bristles. The clamoring and buzz had me running from store to store and finally I found and bought Lash Perfection, hoping that it would indeed live up to the hype. And it does. Mostly.

The Lash Perfection brush is hard to get used to at first. I, and other users, found that at first, we all poked ourselves in the eye when we tried the mascara! So just beware that it's easy to do this the first time. I don't know why. The bristles are amazing. They separate each lash and give a very feathery look to the lashes. Some volumizing and some lengthening can be achieved with Lash Perfection, but it's strength lies in the fact that it coats each lash individually, keeps them perfectly separated, and darkens nicely with a natural, not exaggerated effect. There is no need to comb through since there is no clumping at all. The brush coats every single lash and the effect is a full fringe. Lash Perfection tends to flake a bit at the end of the day, but not until after many hours of wear. It stays put and doesn't 'dot' the upper lids or migrate onto lower lids. No smears and no globs! It is easily removed with my Almay Non-Oily Eye Makeup Remover Pads. This is such a good mascara that I must say it's about as close to a Holy Grail as I have come, so far, in my testing.
Now, Cover Girl has introduced Exact Lash with the same brush as Lash Perfection, and rumor has it that Lancome now has one too. I'll head to the Lancome counter later this week to check that out, and I will see if I can find my Exact Lash (I know it's here somewhere) and test that one too. But I can recommend Lash Perfection without hesitation. Just be careful! And watch out for nuns who wear makeup!

Product rating, 9.

Disclosure: This product was purchased by the reviewer, Cavewoman