lip liner, lip products

Smashbox Always Sharp Lip Liner “Crimson” | Review

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.

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lip products, liquid lipstick

Smashbox Always On Matte Liquid Lipstick “Babe Alert” | Review

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.

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