It’s cool how Smashbox numbered the pans in the new Click You’re It Holiday Eye Palette ($49; available now online), yeah?
I like colors 6, 11, 10 and 15. How about you?
Color By Numbers
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Don’t Be Camera Shy with Smashbox Girls on Film
“Girls on film (two minutes later); girls on film (got your picture)!” – Duran Duran, Girls on Film
Does Duran Duran’s ode to celluloid sirens have anything to do with Smashbox’s new eight-piece Girls on Film collection for fall?
Perhaps, but either way, I’m just glad the references aren’t more obvious.
I remember being very, very confused by the Girls on Film video when it came out… My eight-year-old mind just couldn’t put the pieces together. I mean, why was that nurse giving that husky dude a massage? More importantly, why was she doing it in a boxing ring?
Hell, I’m 36 now, and I just have to assume that some questions are better left unanswered. 🙂
What I do know is this: Smashbox must have had wearable makeup in mind when they developed this collection. Available now at Sephora stores and also online, the one neutral eye palette, smokey eye palette, two cream liners (a shimmery brown with golden pearl and a shimmery black with blue pearl) and four cheek/face products (in pinks and nudes) that comprise Girls on Film practically beg to be worn.
I’ve been carousing with three of the eight products from the release for a few days, and we’re getting along well.
- Girls on Film Cream Eye Liner & Travel Brush Set in Sepia ($28) What a gorgeous twist on brown! It looks like a boring ol’ brown in the pan, but on my lids this creamy, smooth liner looks more like a plum with flecks of golden glitter. When I apply it with the flat brush that comes with the kit, I get a lovely soft line slightly blurred at the edges. Smooth, pigmented and easy to apply, it lasts all day long on my lids, whether with or without primer. MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A+
- Girls on Film Blush Rush in Pose ($24) I used three layers of this matte rosy pink blush to get it to appear on my tan skin the way it does in these pics (at the top and bottom). Lighter lovelies should be able to get away with less (and darker damsels, a little more). I wish I didn’t have to use so much product, but I do love how easy the finely milled powder is to blend. MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B+
- Lip Enhancing Gloss in Underexposed ($18) I have a feeling this pigmented brownish pink would be a perfect date night gloss. I think the strong cinnamon flavor and scent feel très fall, but they’re a little too intense for me; the color says, “Sure, I try to look put together, but I don’t obsess.” With a super sticky texture, this gloss lasts for hours (about four between meals). MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B
Girls on Film Blush Rush in Pose
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Smashbox Brow Tech Wax Disciplines All But the Most Unruly Brows
I don’t know what I did to lose their support, but at some point over the past few weeks, my brows decided to stage a coup. A chunk of my left brow just didn’t come to work one day, like it decided, “That’s it! Game over.” Now I have a brow bald spot, and I’m really not sure how it happened.
Then a group of longish witch hairs rode into town one night, probably detecting an opportunity to seize power. I call them “Kool and the Gang.” There may be someone, somewhere out there who finds insubordinate, mutinous brows alluring, but I’m not crazy about the look.
I would have reached for my Benefit Instant Brow pencil to restore balance to my brows, but I used the last of it a few weeks ago.
Perfect excuse to visit Sephora to look for something new. 🙂
But where do I start? I wondered, as I browsed for brow solutions in the store, and that’s when I saw the gal with the bangin’ brows…
They were perfectly filled in and sculpted, the hairs all lying nice and neat, so I asked her for her secret. She said she filled them in first with eyeshadow using an angled brush, and then set them with Smashbox Brow Tech Wax ($20).
Eureka!
I’d heard of it before, Brow Tech — a colorless brow wax that comes in a pot. It’s part of Smashbox’s permanent line.
I already had MAC Concrete and the MAC 266 Angled Brush at home, so I grabbed a pot of Brow Tech and hoped for the best.
There’s really not much to it. It’s a soft, colorless wax that dries to a matte finish. To apply, you brush it directly onto your brows with an angled brush. You can wear it alone or on top of a powder or pencil; I tried it both ways.
Smashbox Girls On Film Collection: Fall 2011
Some pieces from the Smashbox Girls on Film collection for fall 2011. More info/reviews coming soon!
Gotta love the Duran Duran ref. 🙂
Swatch Ya Think About These Custom Color Kits from Smashbox?
Last night after dinner I felt like having eye candy for desert, so I zipped over to the Sephora down the street (there’s one literally blocks away, which is equal parts good/bad) just to browse…
No, really! Just to browse. 🙂 And miracle of all miracles, I managed to leave without bringing anything other than these Smashbox swatches home.
These $59 Sephora exclusive Custom Color kits come in three flavors, one for ladies with light skin, another for medium skin and one for dark skin, and each one comes with seven products for eyes, lips and cheeks that, if purchased separately, would cost about $175.
Not too shabby, tabby.
Apologies for the in-store Blair Witchy camera phone pic…
Take a quick look at the swatches, and let me know what you think. Those Cream Eye Trios look pretty awesome to me…
Smashbox Custom Color kit for Light Skin
Swatches from the Left: 1. Eyeshadows in Fizz, 2. Minx and 3. Obsidian; 4. Fusion Soft Lights in Light; 5. Cream Eye Trio in Light; 6. Limitless Eye Liner in Onyx; 7. The Nude Lip Pencil in Light; 8. Lip Enhancing Sheer Color Gloss in Radiant; and 9. Reflection High Shine Lipgloss in Pink Sorbet
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Like These Colors, I’m Cool and Warm on the Smashbox Softbox Eye Palette
I woke up this morning thinking I’d get a ton of stuff done today, but I’ve been feeling like a spazzy hyperactive chihuahua all afternoon and haven’t been able to focus at all, gah! Maybe this is the universe’s way of telling me to lay off the caffeinated tea…
The only thing that’s kept my attention for any length of time is the new Smashbox Softbox Eye Shadow Palette ($48).
Pretty, yeah?
I guess what they say is true — makeup really does soothe the savage beast. 🙂
The new eye palette, brimming with sweet neutrals, hails from Smashbox’s summer Softbox collection, and the products, like a real soft box a photographer might use, are designed to diffuse the light and soften any shadows falling on a subject’s face. With the palette, you get nine powder eyeshadows, two cream liners, a double-sided brush, a mini-Photo Finish Lid primer and a fold-out Get-the-Look Guide with step-by-step directions for three different looks.
Smashbox Softbox Eye Palette
Smashbox Softbox Summer 2011
The new Smashbox Softbox Eye Palette, from the Smashbox Softbox 2011 collection ($48).
What do you think?
For more on the new Smashbox Softbox collection, check out Smashbox Softbox Collection for Summer 2011: Diffuse Me, Please.
The Smashbox Sultry/Sweet Glambox Takes the Guesswork Out of Looking Good
By the time I finished folding my laundry last weekend, there was a stack of 10 surf tees sitting on the bed. I don’t know when or how it happened, but it’s official — I have the wardrobe of a tween surfer boy.
It’s not that I wouldn’t like to wear other things. I just don’t like to spend the time and energy (read: I’m too lazy) it takes to put together comprehensive, fashion-forward looks. What I need is a wardrobe correction kit, a single set of pieces designed to create comprehensive looks, like a wardrobe version of the Smashbox Sultry/Sweet Glambox ($68).
Here it is next to an iPhone for scale
New for spring, the eight-piece set comes with seven full-size makeup essentials, and one smaller item, in new shades of berry, pink and plum. Put them together for either a Sweet daytime look or a Sultry one for nights. Just add a little elbow grease and your favorite foundation and powder (and maybe also a brow filler if it’s part of your regular routine), and you’re good to go, day or night.
Smashbox equipped the kit with a full-size powder eyeshadow quad in medium pigmentation, a pencil liner, a sheer powder blush, a lengthening mascara, two lip glosses and an under-eye brightener. They also included a generous travel-size tube of their Photo Finish Luminizing Foundation Primer (available in one shade, a golden peachy pink) and a simple step-by-step tutorial sheet which I followed to create the day (Sweet) and night looks (Sultry) here. 🙂
