Review: Edward Bess Eyeshadow Trio in Soft Smoke

Smoky eye and panda eye used to couple when I attempted to wear "smoking hot" makeup. It either looked too sharp or too messy, nothing closed to the elegant air I aimed for. Over the years, I only trust Dior 5-color Smokey Design (reviewed here) for sultry yet wearable smoky eye. It's however best for night-time. Edward Bess Soft Smoke ($60 for  0.159 oz) is more subtle and day-time appropriate. You can absolutely rock smoky eye for the day with this particular palette.

You have a matte creamy color, a satin taupe grey that leans more grey than Dusk and a matte dark grey. They share the same quality as Edward Bess single eyeshadows (reviewed here), silky, smooth and 12-hour wearing with a standard eye primer. All three shades are easy to blend and buildable. The creamy shades require a bit more work to reach the opacity in the following swatches, especially on medium skin tone.

Soft Smoke is Made in Taiwan. The case is very sleek but feels a bit flimsy. It comes with a nicely-sized mirror and a two-ended brush that is decent enough to keep. Perfect for makeup on the go.

Swatches under direct sunlight

Although designed to create smokey eye makeup, Soft Smoke works just as well for an every day look- work, school, or a night out. 

Overall thoughts. A basic yet very well-done trio, color-wise and certainly texture-wise! If you haven't own a versatile and easy-to-use palette, I'm confident that Soft Smoke tops your other options. Put the luxurious quality aside, you will still be able to find dupes since these are all basic colors. So whether Soft Smoke is a must-have or not depends on your makeup collection.