Smashbox Always On Liquid Lipstick – Some Nerve and Girl Gang Review

Product Purchased by IMBB

Hey Gorgeous Gals,

You know my love for lipsticks, especially liquid lipsticks. I have tried quite a few of them from various brands like – Kat Von D, Lime Crime, Beauty Bakerie, Revlon, Chambor, Sephora, Colourpop, YSL, Giorgio Armani, MAC, Huda Beauty, etc. Today’s review is for another brand of liquid lipsticks, this time, from Smashbox Cosmetics. This popular brand is now easily available in India through Sephora (in-store and online) and through their stand-alone outlets (in collaboration with Shoppers Stop). So, I tried a few shades from this line and would love to review these for you. Let us cuss and discuss!

The Product Details(from the website):

What it is:
An eight-hour, liquid matte lipstick that’s specifically formulated to be comfortable and not dry out your lips.

What it does:
Give lips bold, lightweight color with a liquid matte finish. Formulated with Advanced Polymer Technology, it ensures that your lip color last up to eight hours, and it won’t smudge, budge, or feather. It’s infused with Primer Oil complex to condition lips, and it features a range of vibrant, highly pigmented shades, and a precision tip applicator that perfectly lines and fills in lip color.

 

What it is formulated WITHOUT:
– Parabens
– Phthalates

What else you need to know:
The Bawse shade is a collaboration between Smashbox and YouTube megastar Lilly Singh. It’s a red matte that’s inspired by her bold spirit with every swipe.

This product is cruelty-free and is formulated without sodium lauryl sulfate and talc.

Suggested Usage:
-Define lip with easy-to-use precision tip.
-Use flat side to fill in with color.
-Allow to dry.
-Layer with a lighter hue in center to make lips look fuller.
-When you’re ready to remove, wipe off with oil-based remover.
-Tip: Layer with a lighter hue in center to make lips appear fuller.

Ingredients:

*Isododecane, Dimethicone, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Polybutene, Petrolatum, Cyclohexasiloxane, Kaolin, DisteardimoniumHectorite, Beeswax, Silica Dimethyl Silylate, GlycerylBehenate/Eicosadioate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Propylene Carbonate, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, PrunusArmeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil, SimmondsiaChinesis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Cyclopentasiloxane, Flavor, Caprylyl Glycol, Hexylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, [+/- Blue 1 Lake (CI 42090), Carmine (CI 75470), Iron Oxides (CI 77491), Iron Oxides (CI 77492), Iron Oxides (CI 77499), Mica, Red 6 (CI 15850), Red 7 Lake (CI 15850), Red 22 Lake (CI 45380), Red 28 (CI 45410), Red 28 Lake (CI 45410), Red 30 (CI 73360), Red 30 Lake (CI 73360), Red 33 Lake (CI 17200), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), Yellow 6 Lake (CI 15895).

Price:

US $24 / INR 2050 for 3.84ml – which is on the lower end of the spectrum – compared to the other liquid lipsticks like Kat Von D (6.6ml) and Huda Beauty (5ml). That does make it an expensive lipstick in its league.

My Experience with Smashbox – Always On Liquid Lipstick – shade Some Nerve & Girl Gang:

Packaging:

The Smashbox lipsticks come packaged in a cuboid clear tube with a black cap. The clear tube makes it very convenient for one to identify the colour of the product. The outside packaging consists of a black cardboard cover with a colour coded stripe on it. The beauty of the packaging lies in 3 things. One, is the distinct cuboid design with just the brand name emblazoned on it.And two, the applicator – which is a tear-dropped shape with a small well in the centre. While the well allows you to pick up sufficient product for both lips – without having to dip the wand again; the sharp end of the applicator allows you to line your lips very precisely. This really helps you to get clean and clear lines. Also, the applicator spreads the product evenly on the lips. Since the size of the tube is small, the length of the wand is also small. This too, allows one, more precise application. Three, the neck of the tube is fitted with a silicone stopper which ensures that the applicator does not get loaded with too much product. It wipes the applicator as you pull it out, ensuring that there is just about the right amount of product on the wand to allow for a clean application.

Shade:

The 2 shades that I am reviewing today are – Some Nerve and Girl Gang.

Some Nerve:

The shade is described by the Company as a “Vibrant Purple”. I’d say– that’s one way of putting it. To me, it looks like a medium, cool-toned, bright neon-ish Lavender shade. The cool neon vibes make it more difficult to pull off than say, Lime Crime Utopia– which is technical another bright purple– but not as neon and with a bit more pink in it. While nothing stops one from wearing any possible shades and I am the last person to recommend warm tones to warm skinned girls, etc, etc… I do feel that this cool-toned a shade would work better for the more cool-toned females – across the spectrum of skin colours. A hint of pink in it would make it more easily wearable – with emphasis on “easily” and not “wearable.”

Girl Gang:

Described by the Company as “Plum”, which to me is not an apt description. To me, it looks like a deep purple, rather than plum. There is enough pink in it to make it wearable but not enough red to pull it to plum. I am able to see this clearly because this range does actually have a plum shade too– which I will review shortly for you. This shade is so stunningly gorgeous!! Deep, dark, vampy and yet wearable (at least to me).It reminds me of a glass of young red wine – which still has hints of purple in its depths. A bold shade– perfect for fall, a winter evening out or for the Indian wedding or a night of the party.Should work for all skin colours.

Texture:

These are made in Italy. The texture of these is lightly creamy, slightly moussey. They aren’t thick – but aren’t as liquid as Lime Crime or as lightweight as Huda Beauty either. The creaminess makes you feel that they may be heavy on the lips – but they aren’t. The texture is fairly lightweight – but not entirely weightless. Once applied, it dries down fairly quickly and gets totally budge-proof and transfer-proof. As it starts drying, you initially feel the slight pull on your lips – a typical feature of a traditional matte lip. This may make you weary that it will get further drying as time goes on. It doesn’t. It sits comfortably on your lips. There is no deathly drying phase. It does not dry out your lips, nor does it hydrate. Again, as all liquid mattes – it will accentuate any dry patches that are there on your lips – with continuous wear.

Pigmentation:

Pigmentation varied depending on the shade. The Shade Some Nerve had good pigmentation and applied evenly in one go– covering all natural lip pigmentation. I didn’t need to build it up or go for a second coat. The shade Girl Gang is a deep shade but has a tendency to sheer out while applying. It does not apply streakily. But, the pigmentation is not as rich as Some Nerve. However, it did not take me too much effort to get even rich coverage. Maybe a swipe and a half are what this shade needs. Once on – it did not seem sheer/uneven, etc – it looks fully opaque. One point that you do need to remember with this line – the shades dry down darker than when they first apply. So, when checking for colours, in store, do let the shade dry down completely before you decide to decide on the shade – because it can go one or even 2 shades deeper post drying.

Lasting power:

Both shades gave me about 6 – 6.5 hours of wear time. A lot depends on what you eat. The formula of these 2 shades tends to break down more easily with oil. So, if you are just sipping and nibbling – this may stay put. But even slightly greasy food will start breaking this up very quickly – making it disappear from the inner portion of the lips (not really the whole lip). The shade Some Nerve breaks down from the inner portion of the lips. The shade leaves a faint pink stain – so, from a distance, it may not look too bad, but up close, it does not look too pretty coz it does not break down smoothly. It looks fairly patchy. The shade Girl Gang – being deep, when starts to wear off the centre/inner portion of the lips, looks extremely obvious even from a distance. This shade also leaves a pinkish purple stain. However, the stain is distinctly lighter than the lipstick shade – and so, isn’t able to carry the illusion of the lipstick still being on.

Either way, you will need to go in for a re-application post meals. The good part is that it is easy to re-apply. The fresh coat merges seamlessly with the existing coat and you do not need to take it all off before re-application.

Fragrance:

There is a slight sweet fragrance. I did not feel its presence while using the lipsticks. I obviously smelled them up close while penning this review #lifeofabeautyblogger. So, while there is a fragrance, it is very subtle and should not be a bother.

To sum this up for you:

Pros of Smashbox – Always On Liquid Lipstick – shade Some Nerve & Girl Gang:

1. Amazing shade range – both shades are a variation of purple – but distinctly apart.
2. Lightweight texture.
3. Good pigmentation.
4. Very easy to apply with the applicator and get clean, crisp lines
5. It applies smoothly and evenly
6. No feathering or bleeding
7. Decent packaging
8. Easy to identify colour from the tube itself
9. Does not flake
10. Not overly drying. Does not create dry patches post use.

Cons of Smashbox – Always On Liquid Lipstick – shade Some Nerve & Girl Gang:

1. Decent wear time but does not live up to the claims made by the Company of 8 hours of wear – unless the Company expects you to not eat for 8 hours.
2. Will accentuate dry patches, if they already exist.
3. The quantity is almost half/less than half of other comparable brands in the market, in the same price range.

IMBB Rating: A 4/5 product

Overall Thoughts:

I like the shade range (love the shade Girl Gang) and the formula is fairly comfortable to wear, considering it’s a transfer proof matte liquid lipstick. Also, the packaging is quite neat. And yet, I do not see this range trending in the Beauty community – except for the PR driven YouTube videos by certain Influencers. The question is why? I am just heralding a guess here but I would say that while it has a beautiful shade range and a fairly decent formula, it is too late on the scene and lacks a wow factor. By now, every brand and their grocer has a liquid lipstick range. Which means, as a customer, I have amazing colours and beautiful textures to choose from. So what really distinguishes this from the rest? In my opinion, nothing at all. So, unless you are a Smashbox loyal or fall in love with a particular shade – I don’t really see people running out to pick one – even though it is a good quality product.

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