Hello friends!
I’m back again! This time, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on another Smashbox product – one that I’m not sure ever got as much buzz as the brand had hoped. While I do find the idea of a built in sharpener interesting, I’m not sure I love it in practice; that said, let’s just get into the review!
Color: The name gives it away – Crimson is a blue based red. It’s a very classic shade; the kind of color you would immediately think of if someone said red lipstick. I do feel like while it is pigmented, it doesn’t quite compare
Finish: The finish of this product is completely matte, with no dry-down time or shine at any point.
Packaging: The entire gimmick with this product is the cap having a sharpener on the inside. The pencil is plastic and the product matches the color of the lip liner. The cap is definitely heavier than a standard one due to the built in sharpener, and feels hefty.
Applicator: This is a twist up lip liner that has a built in sharpener in the cap. That means whenever you twist the cap off to use it, the product will sharpen into a point and make getting a straight line easy; as the name suggests there will always be a sharp point. I am curious how much product ends up being wasted by getting stuck into the cap, though.
Application: If you’re just using this as a liner for the edges of your lips, I think it works pretty well. The issue that I began to have is when I wanted to fill in all of my lips with it. I found that the amount of product that you have available is enough to fully fill in only one lip, and I had to put the cap back on, screw it down, and screw it back up to get more. Additionally, the product I got for my second lip wasn’t sharp and crisp, so I had to twist the cap back on and off again. At this point the product was sharp enough and had enough exposed for me to fill in my top lip, but it was a tedious process.
Transfer: With the formula being immediately matte and dry, it’s unsurprising that there isn’t a ton of transfer. It performs a little like a very dry liquid lipstick where the top layer of product will wear off, but there is still plenty of pigment left over to make it look good still.
Comfort: With the product being completely matte and its focus on longevity, I didn’t find it to be comfortable at all. While that’s also not something I had expected from it, it’s still important to note. Immediately upon application my lips felt dry and they remained that way through the entirety of wearing. I didn’t feel like they had gotten any drier throughout the day at least.
I have a feeling that if you put a lip gloss or balm over top, even though the wear might be compromised a bit it would add a lot of comfort back in.
Fading: The good thing about this liner is that it doesn’t have a ton of fading. I wore it all day (like literally put it on in the morning at work), and didn’t take it off until the next day, and it was still there! While I do not recommend sleeping in your lipstick, I do have to admit I was impressed with just how long it lasted for. As the lip liner fades, it begins to show a more hot pink undertone instead of the more cherry red.
Overall: Despite this being a pretty good formula, I don’t use lip liners enough to justify keeping this particular one, especially in a red shade. I have enough great liquid lip formulas that don’t wear off enough to need a lip liner underneath, and since the color isn’t bold enough for me to want to wear on it’s own, I’ll be passing this product on to someone else.
Price Point: If you’re interested in trying this formula out, you can find it at the QVC website for $21. I was unable to find it on the Smashbox website, Ulta, or Sephora, so it look has probably been discontinued and QVC is the only place with any stock left. This particular color isn’t available on QVC, so you’ll have to try a different one if the mechanics of this intrigues you enough!
Karissa Talks Beauty 