Hiya everyone!
I’ve been doing my best to consistently put money to the side and the plan was to put a little less than usual in my savings to account for things like Christmas shopping. My personal rule is only to take the money back out from the savings account if I really, really need it (often, I do not) or once I have hit my target for the big thing I am saving for.
But then I forgot about it and stuck in my regular amount into the savings (probably for the best) and so, long story short, I had less money than planned for Black Friday things, cut into my food budget, and I didn’t even spend that much overall anyway. £30 total spend is nothing compared to the stories I heard that weekend!
A lot of self-control happened which was good, and on top of that Black Friday is generally largely underwhelming in the UK anyway. I think back to the KIKO and ELF sales sometimes and maybe I should’ve bought other various things, but they’re sales and they’ll always come back around (LOL).
Anyway, I picked up Smashbox’s Studio To Go Lips set, which includes their ‘Be Legendary’ cream lipstick in the shade ‘Legendary’ and their Insta-matte Lipstick Transformer which claims to be able to mattify cream lipsticks. They are both mini sizes, and the set was previously sold for £14.50 but were £9.66 when I purchased them. I thought it would be a good time to try out some items from the brand as I have not tried any Smashbox before.
The colour of the lipstick looks very vibrant and pure-red from the bullet but it swatches to be a little on the pink side. I was a little disappointed with how it swatched with one swipe, although this may be personal taste more than anything. I do tend to lean more towards opaquely pigmented products and that’s what I’m used to. Luckily, it’s easy to build up with more swipes.
On my lip, there are two dark dots that seemed to appear out of nowhere one day (as I wear lipsticks a lot it’s no surprise I missed this) but since then I’ve been using those dots as a measure of opacity. For example, you can’t see them at all under these Colourpop lipsticks.
The Be Legendary lipstick didn’t cover up those dots completely even with lots of swipes. That said, there is still plenty of pigmentation happening here, which is fine. Paired with the shiny finish it makes the red look quite soft and lush I actually felt was nice for everyday wear as it’s not too harsh.
However, I feel that’s not what this product is meant to be as they are described as ‘pigment loaded’ with ‘brilliant colour in one swipe’. I really don’t think this is the case.
On top of that, the lipstick has a slippery formula and I had to quickly reapply whilst taking photos because my slight puckering lead to my inner lips being a little bare! I think you can also tell in the photo that it’s a little patchy just from the product moving around.
Afterwards I tried out a bit of the Insta-matte Lipstick Transformer, and patted it on top for both my arm swatch and lips. It comes out of the tube as a transparent silicone texture (sure enough the top two ingredients in this are dimethicones) and it feels just like any other silicone primer.
Patting it on top of the lipstick essentially blurred some of the shine but I also ended up patting a way a bit of the lipstick itself. It wasn’t super mattifying either, it came down to more of a satin finish. I think it might be because the texture of the Be Legendary lipsticks is already so slippery that the mattifier does not help that much.
I do want to experiment with more lipsticks in order to get a better grasp of how it’s supposed to work so I am not ruling it out as a dud just yet.
Overall, despite the flaws, I can actually imagine myself reaching for the lipstick as a winter option, and the mattifier requires further experimentation but so far, I’m not impressed with it.
What else should I try from Smashbox?
Until next time,
X
Twenty Swans 