smashbox

At Smashbox, Neutrals Are In Bloom for Spring 2011

January 7th, 2011 by Karen 32 Comments

smashbox in bloom

Delicate like flower petals, the tender spring tones blossoming right now at Smashbox headquarters are much quieter than last year’s technicolor Heartbreaker release, but I can still hear them whispering sweet nothings to my soul.

Goodies in the new eight-piece In Bloom collection for eyes, lips, cheeks and face (products $20-$48 each) are available now at Ulta, Sephora and smashbox.com.

If Heartbreaker was like cage dancing, then In Bloom is like a Moleskin notebook filled with poetry. 🙂 The release reminds me of the spring release from NARS, with its predilection toward neutrals. Here, too, there’s a lot of super wearable beige, brown, gold and gray going on, but in place of the bright blue, green and purple accents NARS injected into his spring release, Smashbox sprinkled subdued shades of mossy green, violet, pink, peach and coral onto theirs.

smashbox in bloom

In Bloom Eye Shadow Palette, $48
Smashbox arranged the two rows of colors (five each) in this palette so that the each vertical pair makes a color coordinated duo. They’re only suggestions, of course, and the colors are also designed to mix and match. The palette — ballet pink, lavender grey, golden pink, warm taupe, bone, soft violet, marine blue, copper, moss green and nude — includes both shimmer and matte eyeshadows, too.

Cream Cheek Duo in Blushing/Peony, $26
The two cream blushes, one in soft pink and the other in coral pink, in this flexible duo have a matte finish and can be worn on both the cheeks and lips.

Soft Focus Powder Eye Liner in Heather Grey and Dark Brown, $22 each
These powder liners (which look a little like elongated bottles of nail polish, don’t they?) have a sponge tip that makes them a cinch to create soft matte looks in a flash. TIP: Shake the bottles before applying to load the sponge, and then tap off any excess powder from the tip before bringing it up to your lash lines.

Limitless Long Wear Lip Gloss SPF 15 in Timeless and Endless Kiss, $21 each
I’m REALLY excited about these and cannot wait to try shimmery soft pink Timeless and coral pink Endless Kiss. I just this gloss formula. Not only is it long lasting on the lips, but it feels so smooth!
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Three Fun Makeup Sets to Add to Your Christmas Wish List

November 25th, 2010 by Karen 28 Comments

Written by Audrey

Today freelance makeup artist Audrey of Makeup by Audrey has three ideas for fun makeup sets to add to your Christmas list.

Three Fun Makeup Sets to Add to Your Christmas Wish List

I have such a weakness for makeup sets. They usually suck me in with cute packaging and then seal the deal by offering a good price.

During a recent visit to Sephora (ahem, purely for educational purposes), I discovered a bunch of fun makeup sets that tickled my fancy. Did I need any of them? No. But did I want them? Of course! And guess what? It’s that perfect time of year for frivolous expenses!

To help you write your letter to Santa (or be a gift-giving Santa yourself!), here are my top three favorite makeup kits this holiday season:

Benefit Cosmetics Her Name was Glowla $36 Benefit delivers yet another cutely packaged set (although let’s face it, not very durable or travel friendly) designed to give you a glowing face. It’s quite comprehensive with a set of very pretty shimmery eyeshadows in neutral shades, the popular Coralista blush, mascara, and a coral lipgloss. It even boosts the “glow” factor with a set of High Beam and Moon Beam highlighters.

This kit is very novice-friendly as it includes a fold out instruction card that shows step by step where you would place each of the products, even describing which applicator should be used! Speaking of which, it should also be noted that this set includes a blush brush and a double ended eye shadow brush. In my experience, these are decent brushes that are definitely usable and not the “throwaway” kind you usually get in other sets.

Who Would Love This Gift: Pretty much any gal! The colors are universal and would make a great daytime look for anyone.

Smashbox Eye Wish Palette $45 My eyes were first drawn to the stunning gold packaging of this eye palette. After a closer look, I fell in love with the mix of shades and finishes. It comes with 12 eyeshadows, and you’ll probably never guess which one is my favorite. Ready? The matte bone shade! — otherwise known as the most boring color in the set. But it is also the shade that I use 99% of the time on my browbone. I’m all for experimenting, but it’s also nice when you can do a complete eye look with one palette and they almost never include that basic matte shade. It’s usually all shimmer city, and I’m not really one to bust out disco ball eyes.

The bottom four shades are cream eyeliners that can also be used as bases. One drawback is that this kind of packaging is not ideal for creams as they’re more likely to dry out. You’ll have to be careful with that. This kit really thought of everything and even includes mascara and the always-essential eyeshadow primer (I have the full-size version at home — works great, but might be a little drying).

The big bonus here? Similar to the Benefit kit, this one also comes with instructions. The difference here is that Smashbox provides a set of instructional eye charts for 10 different looks that are all nicely stored in a little slot under the mirror.
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Dark Under-Eye Circles Hate This Power Couple

October 27th, 2010 by Karen 35 Comments

Reader Anna made my ~~day~~ week when she recently had this to say about one of the banes of my existence:

Your under-eye circles are virtually invisible! What concealer have you been favoring these days?

Hi Anna,

OOH, GURL, that’s the new MAC Pro Longwear Concealer ($16.50)/Smashbox Photo Op Under Eye Brightener ($18) combo (Longwear applied on top of Photo Op).

I don’t remember what prompted me to try the two of them together, but let me tell you — they’re frickin’ rad, especially when my dark circles look extra dark and purplish.

First, I blend in a few dots of Photo Op (a golden peach liquid with a hint of shimmer) under each eye to prime them for concealer. I’ll give them about a minute to dry and follow up with MAC Pro Longwear Concealer patted and blended right on top.

I’m normally an NC 35 in MAC foundation, but I’ve been using Longwear Concealer in NW 30 because I think its peachier tones do a better job on my dark circles.

Smashbox Photo Op Under Eye Brightener and MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in action

The combo diligently conceals my dark circles for a solid 12-16 hours before showing any signs of fatigue (smudges or migrating).

I haven’t gotten anywhere near this kind of coverage since timeBalm.

This two-fer is totally kicking @ss, and I hope your dark circles loathe it just as much as mine do. 🙂

Products mentioned in this post…

MAC Pro Longwear Concealer Is Catching Up to TimeBalm in the Polls

Don’t Gloss O-ver the Smashbox Wish List Kit

Time Balm Concealer Blows Dark Circles Away

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Don’t Gloss O-ver the Smashbox Wish List Kit

October 16th, 2010 by Karen 12 Comments

Wearing Smashbox O-Gloss Gold on lips, Fusion Soft Lights in Baked Stardust on cheeks, Photo Finish Foundation Primer on face, Photo Op Under-Eye Brightener and Jet Set Waterproof Eye Liner along my lashlines

Smashbox hopes to make wishes come true this year with the new five-piece $49 Wish List kit ($108 value). A buck from every purchase goes to the Children’s Miracle Network (I would have liked to have seen them give a little more than $1, but at least it’s something).

It comes with five smashing products — Photo Op Under-Eye Brightener, O-Gloss Gold, Photo Finish Foundation Primer – Travel Size, Fusion Soft Lights in Baked Stardust, Jet Set Waterproof Eye Liner.

Smashbox wish holiday 2010 collection wish list wish-wish-list-box

O-Gloss Gold: As soon I put it on, I thought, “Wow, sure is gold!” But it quickly mellows out to a pretty peach. It’s a long-lasting golden peachy pink, smooth but not sticky, with a light peppermint flavor and scent.

Photo Op Under-Eye Brightener: A warm, shimmery peachy pink liquid highlighter designed to be worn under concealer. I’ve been applying it in the hollows at the inside corners of my eyes. It delivers a subtle brightening effect, not an “Oh, my, gawd! I look 10 years younger” kinda thing.

Fusion Soft Lights Powder: One of the prettiest little pinwheel pans I’ve seen in a while (the shades are all supposed to be swirled together). It gives a soft, peachy pink glow. I like that the shimmer isn’t overly frosty and doesn’t settle into my pores like some shimmery blushes do.

Photo Finish Foundation Primer: I’ve said it before, but I’m not the biggest fan of this. Perhaps because it contains silicone, it feels heavy on my skin, and I feel like my skin can’t breathe with it on. It doesn’t ruin the kit, though, because I know how many women love this primer, so I’d probably just give it to someone who’d love it more than I do.

Jet Set Waterproof Liner: Just a basic black waterproof liner in a tiny jar barely the diameter of a nickel (but I’ve never even finished a jar of eyeliner before, so it probably doesn’t matter). I do wish they’d managed to squeeze a liner brush in the box… That would have come in handy.

O-Gloss Gold

Smashbox wish holiday 2010 collection wish list swatches
Swatches from left: Fusion Soft Lights in Baked Stardust, Jet Set Waterproof Eye Liner in Midnight Black, Photo Op Under-Eye Brightener, O-Gloss Gold, Photo Finish Foundation Primer

PRICE: $49
AVAILABILITY: Sephora and online
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Smashbox Wish For The Perfect Pout Swatches: Don’t Sweat the Technique

October 13th, 2010 by Karen 42 Comments

Wearing Radiant Lipgloss from Smashbox Wish For The Perfect Pout

Er, can you guess who’s been listening to Eric B. & Rakim?

I’m still auditioning songs for The Ultimate ’90s Hip Hop Playlist (keep those recs coming!), and today, while listening to Don’t Sweat the Technique and swatching the new Smashbox Wish For The Perfect Pout ($29), it hit me — this hip hop classic kinda reminds me of this limited edition holiday kit.

Smashbox wish holiday 2010 collection wish for the perfect pout box
Smashbox Wish For The Perfect Pout Lipglosses from left: Luster, Candid, Baby Pout, Ecstasy, Divine and Radiant

Smashbox wish holiday 2010 collection wish for the perfect pout wands
From left: Luster, Candid, Baby Pout, Ecstasy, Divine and Radiant

Have you ever tried putting on an opaque, bright gloss without a mirror? It’s hard, right? It requires sweating over one’s lipgloss technique, so to speak. You gotta get the color even and if it goes beyond your natural lip line you look all kinds of crazy… Yes, I’ve totally done this before, and it’s not cute.

But with the glosses in Wish For The Perfect Pout, it’s all gravy, as Tabs would say. The six shimmery shades go on with different degrees of sheerness, so if I accidentally apply too much, the contrast doesn’t look as stark as it would with a full-coverage gloss. Shoot, I could probably put these glosses on while doing the butterfly (remember that dance?) and still come out looking semi-sane. Don’t sweat the technique, indeed. 🙂

Luster, Candid and Baby Pout apply with the least amount of pigment; Ecstasy, Divine and Radiant (LOVE!) the most. They all have a light vanilla scent and flavor, a medium-weight thickness and a non-sticky texture.

Check out the colors below let me know if anything moves ya.

smashbox wish for the perfect pout swatches review radiant
Radiant
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Insomniacs Should Have a Ball with the Smashbox Masquerade Palette

July 30th, 2010 by Karen 52 Comments

smashbox masquerade eye palette swatches review
Here I’m wearing makeup from the Smashbox Masquerade Collection for fall 2010: The Eye Palette in Masquerade on my eyes, Creamy Cheek Color & Brush in Intrigue on my Cheeks and Masquerade Lip Enhancing Gloss in Reveal on my lips.

Friends, citizens, insomniacs, lend me your eyes; I come to bury complicated eye looks, not to praise them. 🙂 Put down that Sleepytime Tea for a second, Caesar, and take a look at the new Smashbox Masquerade Eye Palette ($35) — enemy of complicated eye looks everywhere!

You don’t have to be an aeronautical engineer to put together fly looks with this palette of nine powder shadows in neutral and jewel-toned shades. In it, Smashbox cleverly placed complementary colors in three horizontal rows, basically taking the guesswork out of color matching. It’s a breakthrough of epic proportions, yo! — particularly for lazy chicks and insomniacs (oh, hai!) like me.

After three consecutive nights of absolutely no sleep, I really, REALLY appreciate how easy it is to get ready with this palette.

Of course, if you’re the kind of girl who gets plenty of sleep and prefers to match her own colors, no problem. I think all nine of these shades work together well, and nothing says we have to use them in any specific order.
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The Smashbox Masquerade Collection Unleashes a Sultry, Smoldering Makeup Fantasy for Fall 2010

July 27th, 2010 by Karen 43 Comments

smashbox masquerade fall 2010 collection swatches review photos

Gimme, gimme jewel-toned blues and greens, soft browns, pinks and golds!

SING IT WITH MEH!

Gimme, gimme jewel-toned blues and greens, soft browns, pinks and golds!

ONE MORE TIME!

Gimme, gimme jewel-toned blues and greens, soft browns, pinks and golds!

I’m as happy as a kid at the front of the deep fried Twinkie line at the county fair. 🙂 Girl, grab your ball gown and bedazzled mask, and prepare to be lured by a Smashbox Masquerade.

Available online now, Masquerade’s a small but comprehensive fall release with seven limited-edition pieces dressed in sophisticated indigo blue packaging. Pink, gold and peach shades softly light up lips and cheeks, and rich browns and beiges — along with a sprinkling of jeweled shimmery greens and blues — smolder on the eyes.

smashbox masquerade fall 2010 collection swatches review photos

I think there’s something scary seductive about this collection. When I read the color story, I felt the shades drawing me into a fantasy that starred detailed satin ball gowns and glittering masquerade masks. I think the collection’s much prettier and softer than last year’s Reign, which had a cool edginess to it, but some of the colors in Reign weren’t the easiest ones to wear (two words: red eyeshadow).
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Does Smashbox Photo Finish Lid Primer in Golden Nude Stand the Test of Time?

July 16th, 2010 by Karen 27 Comments

My eyelids and have a thing for shimmery Smashbox Photo Finish Lid Primer in Golden Nude ($20). Released earlier this summer with the Smasbox Naked Beauty collection, the products is supposed to act as a moisturizing base for powder and cream shadows to extend wear time and boost their vibrancy while making fine lines harder to spot.

The new color’s a riff on Smasbox’s standard issue warm beige Photo Finish Lid Primer, and the second I swatched it my heart went bumpity-bump!

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