03 January 2010

Good things come to those who wait for the sale - Smashbox Cream Eyeliner Palette

How often does it happen that something you have been really, really - and I mean really - coveting comes up on sale? In my experience not very often, but somebody was smiling down on me today because while browsing the sale racks at Life Pharmacy I found the Smashbox Cream Eyeliner Palette for NZ$34.00, reduced from NZ$55.00.  Now I've had a serious case of the covets for this for the longest time, even though I've read some mixed reviews of it, but I could never quite bring myself to fork out the money considering how many eyeliners I already own.  But now it's mine, all mine! My Precioussssssss:



Top row left to right: Lava, Picasso, Midnight Purple, Midnight Brown and Putty. Bottom row left to right: Caviar, Thunder, Midnight Green, Deep Bronze and Cameo.

Here's the top row swatched:



Top to bottom: Lava is a charcoal with silver shimmer, Picasso is dark blue grey, Midnight Purple (which looked gorgeous in the palette) is actually a rather disappointingly sheer purple, Midnight Brown is a fairly standard dark brown, and Putty was the surprise of the bunch - in the palette it looks taupe, but it goes on a dark and quite intense brown. 

Bottom row swatched (I had to use my other arm, because the first lot were really hard to remove with baby wipes, which I guess bodes well for it's wear time!):



Top to bottom: Caviar is your bog standard black, Thunder looked boringly brown/grey in the palette but went on much darker - albeit very close in colour to Midnight Brown to my eye, Midnight Green I didn't think I'd like but it's actually a gorgeous dark forest green which unfortunately doesn't photograph well, Deep Bronze is more copper than bronze and has a copper shimmer, and Cameo (another one I didn't expect to like) is a lovely rust brown.

All in all I'm super pleased with my purchase - the formula on these is nice and creamy and applies well and the colours are overall very nice. Whether I would have been so impressed had I paid full price I'm not sure - I think I would rather have seen less browns and perhaps more variations on the blues and purples.

Oh, and the brush that comes with the compact? Throw it out - nasty synthetic thing with too-soft bristles.  I'll be using my trusty M.A.C. eyeliner brushes.

For my fellow kiwis - I got this from the Life Pharmacy in Westcity and it would be well worth your time to check your local Smashbox-stocking Life Pharmacy to see if they're having the same sale - there was a big range of Smashbox products on sale at roughly 40% off, including eyeshadows, blushers, foundations and lippies - I was very restrained just buying the one thing!

2 comments:

  1. I love the Smashbox eyeliner palette. I've had mine for about 4-5 years. It's still nice and creamy. This color palette was my second one. I also have 2 other palettes. I believe one was just made for QVC. Putty is my favorite liner color. I didn't think I would like it either but I love it. Midnight Green and Cameo are also favorites. Terrific colors and easy to apply. They really stay in place on your eyelid.

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  2. I haven't actually worn these on my eyes yet Lucy, I'll be really interested to see how they wear, especially as it's summer here which means hot, humid, melt the makeup off your face weather!

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