Hello friends!
Aside from primers, one product that really worked for Smashbox was their liquid lipsticks! So many people discussed them when they first came out, and even years later I still hear people talk about these being a favorite formula.
Color: Babe Alert is a corally-pink nude. It’s got a warm undertone, and is mostly pink but feels more wearable than what I’d consider a “true pink”. Sephora and Ulta both describe this as a “nude rose” – I’d say more rose than nude.
Finish: This lipstick dries down to a completely flat matte finish. Even upon initial application the actual appearance of the dry down was pretty quick; there wasn’t any period of shine.
Packaging: The lipstick that I have is a sample size, but the packaging is similar between the full size and sample size. It is a large square acrylic tube with a black cap. The label is printed directly on the tube and doesn’t appear to be a sticker.
Applicator: The applicator on this lip product is a tear drop shape with a hole (also known as a well) in the center that holds extra product. It’s got a bit of a fuzzy texture to it but I didn’t find that there was any problems with that making the edges less crisp.
Application: Applying this lipstick is very easy. The teardrop shape made getting a sharp line simple, and the well holds enough product to cover both lips without having to dip back in.
I did feel like even with applying the normal amount that comes on the applicator, the product felt thick going on. This, in turn, played in to the amount of time that it took for the product to dry & I believe also played into how it looked later on.
Transfer: If I drank or ate something within the first half hour of applying this lipstick, I would see a bit of transfer. However, after that time I had little to no transfer at all. In a roughly 8 hour period the only transfer that I saw was the edges of my lipstick where my natural oils broke the product down.
Once I ate a slightly messy dinner, and the product had been on for 10 hours, I found that there was a lot more transfer.
Fading: One thing that was very apparent after this product dried is that it sunk into every lip line and was visible even from a normal talking distance. When I smiled the product very clearly looked cracked and like it wasn’t properly smoothed across my lips.
Aside from the dry appearance, which is definitely due to the color and me having textured and dry lips, there was very little fading. I hadn’t noticed any change in appearance at all until about 10 hours, after dinner. At that point, the color faded from the inside of my lips and needed to be removed and reapplied to look good again.
Comfort: Unfortunately I don’t find this lipstick to be especially comfortable. For the first half hour after applying it, it didn’t quite dry down completely, so if I pressed my lips together I could feel it stick. Once it dries down, it feels fine for a few hours, but by hour 3 or 4 I found that it began to feel tight and uncomfortable.
Towards the end of the day (around 12 hours of wear) it definitely started to feel powdery and I wanted it to be off of my lips. That being said, typically you don’t need to wear a lip product for 12 hours – so if you need it to last for a normal work day this shouldn’t be an issue.
Overall: Unfortunately I didn’t really love this color with the formula. I can look past the comfort because of the wear time, but I’m not a fan of pinks, or even pinky nudes, and this is definitely more pink than nude.
That being said, I own a lot of other colors in this same formula that I’m definitely excited to try out still! I really do think that most of the problems I had are with the way the color & formula worked together and not indicative of every shade.
Price Point: This product can be purchased at Ulta, Sephora, or Smashbox’s website. The price is consistent across the board at $24, so if you have a preferred retailer I’d say go there! While $24 is too much for this specific color in my opinion, if I found a color that worked better for me personally, I’d absolutely say it’s worth it! I found that 2 out of the 3 retailers listed have this color sold out – which I assume means it’s a popular one!
Karissa Talks Beauty 