They’re only just getting more on my radar these days, so I don’t have too much to say since I haven’t tried a slew of their products in recent years. I am a huge fan of the Smashbox 24HR Eyeshadow Primer and their Be Legendary lipstick range!
— Christine
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I don’t own a lot of Smashbox. So I guess my biggest rant is that they don’t seem very exciting and are rarely on my radar. Their eyeshadows are nice enough, but nothing to get excited about. The Full Exposure Mascara does nothing for my lashes.
My rave would be the Photo Finish Primer. It’s on the spendy side, but it does work really well.
I love their Be Legendary lipsticks.
All I’ve tried is their ‘Camera Ready’, BB water-based foundation, which I like a lot. Supposedly it’s the same formula as MAC’s Studio water-based foundation, though not sure since MAC’s oxidized quickly and Smashbox’s has not.
Otherwise, I’ve just not found anything I couldn’t resist in their line up, though I’ve looked since recent great lipsticks. I look forward to hearing others’ experiences.
I LOVE Smashbox, they are my favorite. I love that for my dark skin they have many items to match like foundation (studio skin) and the lipsticks are my favorites! Cognac is my number 1 repurchased item and their liquid lipstick are now a fav as well because they are so lightweight and holds all day with minimum drying. Their shadows are not the best but they are solid and consistent. Their primers, gift sets, liners, and mascara are all good products.
The only con are the holiday palettes (or just the bigger ones) they can be a bit bulky and have some duds but overall they are my go-to line.
I agree Mo! Smashbox, to my knowledge, is the only brand that debuted a BB AND CC cream for dark skintones that I really like. It is challenging to find this cream that has many skin-perfecting benefits in dark tones. Smashbox did it, and right on time when the popularity of them was on the rise – not years later when the product’s popularity starts to wane. I always have both the Smashbox BB and CC creams on hand for a quick, light application.
Because of your recommendation of the lip products, I’ll be looking to make some purchases on those as well.
I love their eyeshadow primer, it is really good.
i am not a big fan of their eyeshadow palettes. i think that the quality is not consistent between all the shades.
I’m not overly familiar with Smashbox either, but I do really like their Always On Liquid Lipstick formula!
Rave: I love the Be Legendary Lipsticks — I picked up five of them when the line expanded in September! I am especially fond of High and My Digits. I have used the Smashbox CC cream for several years now (pretty much since it launched) and it’s a perfectly fine souped-up tinted moisturzer/light foundation.
Rant: the Smashbox primer clogged my pores painfully!!! Not fun, but luckily cleared up quickly once I stopped using it (switched to Hourglass, which I love).
In LOVE with the holiday Black Cherry lip.
They aren’t a favorite brand of mine, probably because their primers and bases don’t suit me other than their priming oil. The newer lipstick formulas seem pretty excellent though!
Hmm, I don’t believe that I’ve tried enough Smashbox products to form much of an opinion either way? But out of the 4 items I’ve tried, I really did love their X-Rated Mascara that I received as an Ipsy deluxe sample! However, I hated their BB cream, too dry and it didn’t help that the one I got in my Sephora’s Favorite bag was in the shade “Light”! LoL! Medium may have given me a truer baseline to judge by. Light, I tried under foundation as my all-in-one primer. The only thing I do want to try out in the future is the Be Legendary lipsticks.
I have been using the Smashbox primer water and primer oil for awhile now and I really like them both. The oil is really light and gives just enough slip to help my foundations go on without looking too cake face, since I have bone dry skin. It doesn’t seem to break me out at all. I have just picked up a couple of their new lipsticks and so far I am liking those also. Otherwise, I really haven’t tried much from the line and will be paying more attention to them in the future.
Smashbox who? I’m not sure I’ve even swatched one of their products. Will be interested in hearing the input from others on this line.
I absolutely love their Full Exposure mascara… one of my holy grails and I also love their primer to reduce redness. My hate (though I hate that word) is they are a tad pricey.
I love their Always Sharp Waterproof Kohl Liner. Their blush is great too. I haven’t really been disappointed by anything I’ve tried from them.
Rave: I love their LA Lights blush/highlighter sticks, the shimmery shades are really beautiful on the skin.
Rant: I think their popular Studio foundation is just okay, it’s quite heavy and gets cakey really easily. Their eyeshadows are a bit hit & miss, I have the Double Exposure palette and while I like it overall, some shades are really much better than others.
I’m not so familiar with their products. I got to know the brand as I picked a few samples : the Photo Finish Primer , which didn’t suit my dry skin on the cheeks at the time, and the Full Exposure mascara which I ‘m currently using and enjoy a lot actually.
I have to give the Photo Finish Primer another try but my rave will be about the Full Exposure Mascara as it defines and separates very well the lashes, it’s not clumpy and gives my lashes volume. Prior to applying mascara, I’m using the Tarte Opening Act Lash Primer.
I love their light peach/orange color correcting stick and their contour stick. The colors and consistency/ease of application are spot on. I hate that they sell their contour stick as part of a trio, because I don’t want/need the other two sticks (highlighter/bronzer) that come in that set.
I’m definitely a Smashbox fan! They have some great eyeshadows and blushes, and I absolutely adore the Be Legendary Lipstick formula.
I hate their foundation primers. I’ve tried 3 of them, including the green colour correcting one – and found them all to be cr*p. Fortunately, my daughter likes them so I gave them to her and she was very happy. I also find that they tend to be overpriced/pricey, at least here in Canada. Their brushes, the Halo powder, a few other things I use, seem high-priced compared to similar products from other companies. What I do like – their eye shadow brushes, that Halo powder (the one with the “shaver”), the Primer Water (it may be a bit gimmicky but I like it well enough) AND especially the fact that the products are sold at Shoppers Drug Mart so I can either accumulate points when I do purchase or I can get products at significantly reduced prices by using my Optimum Points to pay for them.
I had a sample of their Full Exposure palette and I wasn’t impressed. But then I was watching an older YouTube video and it said that their Photo Op formula from the permanent line was good. So I bought a trio and it’s surprisingly blend-able. I say surprisingly because the texture doesn’t seem like it’s going to be blend-able but then it does.
I really use to love Smashbox, but they changed their line quite a bit and I just don’t find them as appealing as I once did. They use to have several different shades of the Fusion Soft Lights and they changed their lip gloss formula and removed a lot of shades. Every year at Christmas they would put out a really nice lip gloss kit and brush kit that they haven’t done in years. I guess I’m disappointed to see the line diminish to what it is now.
I love the original Photo Finish Primer and I do like their Photo Op Eye Shadow Trios.
I was never really all that interested in Smashbox, until I tried their Always On liquid lipsticks! They have such a fantastic formula, and a great color selection. So far I have Chill Zone, a deep gray, but I definitely want to pick up some more.