Smashbox, smashbox, smashbox….smashbox…eye shadows

First off…

I don’t like birthdays. I can’t really put my finger on why, but despite having great childhood birthday parties and presents and all that good stuff, as I’ve got older I’ve gradually turned into a grumpy old miser when it comes to the glorious once a year event.
It’s just that honestly I don’t see the point of them. I even persuaded my family to keep to a £5 budget when it comes to them, (which yes, means that I only spend £5 on people’s birthday presents, I told you I was a miser).
Things happen though, and sometimes people don’t get the cheapskate memo, which means this year I got a late birthday present…

Oh yeah.

Suddenly birthdays aren’t looking so bad.

Now smashbox is something that I’ve heard of, because you know, despite my pasty skin I don’t actually live under a rock (and I wouldn’t, because there would be no internet connection) but I’ve always looked at the products, taken a sharp inhalation and muttered, “Yeaaah, too expensive’.

Then run away.

Because I’m a miser. And a wimp.

And yes, it aint cheap. Smashbox creates ‘sharp inhalation’, ‘wincing even as you’re paying for it’, ‘protecting it with your life on your way back home’ products. But dude, if all their stuff is like their eye shadows, then they’re so worth it.

What is this thing?

So the palette itself is pretty interesting because it’s not quite what it seems when you first look at it.
You have your eye shadows, and all of them are gorgeous and shimmery and buildable and blendable (it is a word, I have spoken!), and you start to think ‘do I even need another eye shadow palette’ and then, THEN, it get’s even better.
Wet your brush a little and BOOM (okay not literally boom, but metaphorically) the colours transform!

It’s magic! And I fucking love magic! Some shades become metallic, others get a delicate shimmer to them, and some get darker. It’s like having two palettes in one.
I don’t understand the technology behind this craziness but I don’t care. I never wanted to know Pen and Teller’s secrets and I don’t want to know about this. Unless it involves acid…I don’t…I don’t want that near my eyes.

Extremely bad swatching skills, but you can see that the bottom row is deeper and more metallic compared to the softer look of the top row

The verdict

I have never been so intrigued by eye shadow before, but this really is something special. The eye shadow also dries back to its original shade in the palette, but stays the colour you want it when it’s on your lids, which I was kind of unconvinced it would do.
It’s a versatile palette that I could see working with all skin types, especially the metallic colours on darker skin and the shimmery colours on paler skin. Right now I’m just going to experiment with colours and blending and just having fun with the different shades. So I’m happy.

But I still don’t like birthdays!

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