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| Smashbox Light It Up L.A. Lights Palette |
Smashbox caused a bit of a stir with their holiday collection this year. It seems a good amount of people had put Smashbox on a shelf feeling that the brands' latest products were a bit underwhelming. Leave it up to lit packaging to remind consumers that the brand has some solid offers out this holiday season.
I picked up the Ulta exclusive on a whim while I was on a completely necessary second round of online holiday shopping. The Sephora exclusive, packaging aside, didn't impress me much and once the reviews started coming in I did not scramble to place an order. I was glad I popped on over to Ulta because, blush fiend that I am, this pretty girl was just sitting there, begging to be picked up and taken home. The pictures really don’t do this piece justice. I’m a sucker for neon colors and especially paired with the sleek, matte black casing that Smashbox is known for, it’s a pretty hot item for any cosmetics collector.
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| Smashbox Light It Up L.A. Lights Palette |
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| Smashbox Light It Up L.A. Lights Palette |
For $39, I think this piece offers a lot. You get 3 highlighters and 5 blushes, and one which is supposed to be a contour shade but I feel is more of a bronzer. The pans are a healthy size, a bit smaller than the pans in an Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kit. The blushes are lovely. Quite buildable, blendable and sit nicely on the skin. Don’t rely on one swipe to give you a full impression of what each shade can do. The swatches in the image below are 3 or 4 finger swipes each so you have a lot of control over how you want the colors to appear. This doesn’t bother me, especially with blush. I would much rather have control over how I want the shade to build than rely on blending out excess color and risk getting the shade all over my cheeks. Shade-wise, I always go straight for the coral shades (the top 3 swatches on my arm in the below pic) but I'm really enjoying Rich Berry. It’s a great shade for the chillier seasons and I’ll be using it all throughout Fall and especially in Winter.
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| Smashbox Light It Up L.A. Lights Palette |
One thing that I do want to address is directed, not at the product itself, but at some of the reviews for this product and other, similar products. Regarding the highlighters, some reviewers seem to feel that the 3 highlighters are somewhat “lukewarm” in an otherwise hot item. Now, while I wouldn’t compare the highlighters to that of a Becca or the ABH Glow Kits, not every highlighter needs to “pop” that much to still be good quality. I for one like to have highlighters that offer both looks: the more subtle, light, “glow from within” look, and the ones that really stand out and create that “pop”. The shades of these 3 highlighters are lovely, I especially am happy they included a peachy-pink one because there don’t seem to be many peachy-pink, high end highlighters on the market. These are more subtle highlighters, yes, but they are still quite good quality.
I've also worn some of the shades (both blush and highlighter) to the gym and they can withstand some sweating from a decent cardio workout.
Overall, I adore this product all the way around.
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