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Judith checks out the new selections from Smashbox
Several years ago, when I first began to see Smashbox online and in the department stores, I saw it as a young, hip line - not for
folks my age. Well, either I've gotten younger or Smashbox has matured, because I've fallen in love with several items in their current line!
Color Fusion is the name of Smashbox's fall collection, with products that allow you to multitask - each product has multiple options for use. All products are available at smashbox.com Nordstrom, nordstrom.com, and some items are also available on QVC.
Starting with Fusion Soft Lights ($28), a compact with six shades, it is reminiscent, to me at least, of Neopolitan ice cream. With shades of beige, rose and ivory, swirled together with your blush brush, the colors combine to make a perfect warm blush that is very subtle, yet very flattering. The powder is sheer and extremely natural.
Fusion Lipstick ($16) is a super creamy and emollient two-toned lipstick with a beige-pink nude on one side and a sheer mauvey rose plum on the other. Use each side separately, or blend them together for a beautifully natural rose shade.
Fusion Lip Gloss ($20) is a two-for-one product with deep plum on one end and a caramel-honey shade on the other end. Each color is beautifully wearable, or you can mix them with the Fusion Lipstick for more color combos.
Fusion Eye Shadow ($28) is a compact palette with six stripes of color - ivory, two shades of mauve and two shades of green - with enough contrast that you can use the lighter shades as your base and the darker shade as an eyeliner. I preferred blending the two coordinating tones together, but each color is perfectly wearable on its own. If you swoosh all six eye colors together, as I did when I experimented with Fusion Soft Lights blush, you end up with a very natural beigey shade.
Fusion Lip Illusion ($22) is another two-for-one product with a translucent pearly-white gloss at one end and a translucent black at the other end. Designed to either lighten a too-dark lipstick shade or darken a too-light shade, this nifty little item really made interesting colors with the lipstick I tried them with. I was especially curious about the black gloss, which muted a light pink shade to an interesting lilac.
Tinted Treatment Lipstick ($16) is a nifty lipstick with a center core of lipbalm. The colors, which are stronger in the tube that on the lip, are sheer and very wearable. Containing vitamins A, C and E, was well as aloe, shea butter, avocado oil, jojoba and chamomile, this will be a great product to use through the winter. Available in five shade, my favorite colors are Smashing Sun, an russet-orange shade, and Smashing Beam, a mocha-nude. This is a gotta-try it product, because the color is completely different when applied with the balm in the middle, as the balm lightens the shade of the lipstick.
Fusion That's a Wrap mascara ($20) was the only disappointing item of the collection. With a medium brown mascara at one end and a muted teal at the other, I found the mascara brush too big and bulky to hit my light lashes without smudging. I do like the effect of a colored mascara over black mascara, but prefer a more muted shade than this one.
My alltime favorite Smashbox product is their cream eyeliner, which is almost foolproof, even for an almost blind (without my glasses) older Diva like myself! Smashbox makes super 10-color eyeliner palettes with their cream eyeliner - a great way to try the product in a variety of colors. There are two of these collections available on QVC, each with a superb short-handled eyeliner brush and easy directions. Check out the colors at QVC.com. You won't go wrong with either Proof Cream Eye Liner Palette or "Best Of Shades" Cream Eyeliner Palette. Both are $29 each. If you prefer a long handled eyeliner brush, try Shadow Eyeliner Brush #9 ($18).
Smashbox is definitely a brand worth checking out. Their colors are beautiful and the quality of the products is great. The creators of the line come from a family tradition of creating cosmetics and beauty products! They are great-grandsons of cosmetic legend Max Factor!
Happy Shopping!
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Posted September 19, 2005
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