Smashbox Light It Up Holiday Collections – Review & Swatches

I know I am late sharing about the Smashbox Light It Up holiday collection for this year, but I did want to still share my thoughts since some of the sets are still available. Smashbox released a bunch of different sets, exclusive to the different stores. I am not sure how many different value sets they put out this year, but I have three of them that I’ve been able to test out extensively this past month.

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Smashbox Light It Up Collections

Light It Up: L.A. LIGHTS PALETTE: CONTOUR. BLUSH. HIGHLIGHT

Retail: $39 || Click to See Availability

This set is already sold out everywhere that I’ve looked, but I do still want to share my thoughts in case they decide to restock it or bring it back at a later date (as brands are doing more and more these days!). This is a very large palette with 3 highlighters (or blush toppers), 5 blushes, and 1 bronzer — though I will say that the shade True Flush could be used as a light bronzer on very pale skin.

All the shades are very pigmented, soft, and blend well. I don’t think this would be worth the money for very tan to deep skintones, because most of the palette wouldn’t show up as well. But for fair girls this palette would be a one-stop-shop. And the price, in my opinion, is very reasonable for a palette that gives you highlight, blush, and bronzer shades! Personally, I loved the fact that all the blush shades in this palette are common ones that people wear. So if you are new to makeup — or wanting to buy this for someone who is — for $40 you could be totally set for cheek products.

The only con is that I frequently struggle to pop the palette open. This might just be me, but 8 times out of 10 I have to try several times before I get it open. 😛

Light It Up: 3 Mini Palettes: Eyes, Contour, Lips

Retail: $45 || Currently on sale for $29! || Click for More Information

I’ve been seeing this three piece mini palette set getting a lot of flack on social media, so I was really curious if I would agree or disagree with the general consensus that the cheek palette is too small to be able to use appropriately, and therefore the set is not worth the money. Not to spoil my review, but…I completely disagree!

Smashbox Eyes

The eyeshadow palette contains 6 shades — three matte and three shimmers, though the purple has more glitter than shimmer. In the photo above I only swatched each color ONCE on my arm. Pretty impressive swatches, am I right? On the eyes they perform even better. I had no issues blending them and all the colors except the purple showed up true to the color in the pan. That one, because of the glitter chunks, requires a good base or glitter glue to really use it.

But even still, if you don’t want to mess with the glitter you still have 5 fantastic shadows to work with. I used this palette several times to get a matte every day eyeshadow look using all the mattes and loved how it turned out!

Smashbox Contour

I am pretty sure everyone agrees that the formula inside of this palette is outstanding. It’s supposed to be the same formula as this contour trio palette. I don’t own that palette but all of the shades in this trio were extremely buttery soft, very pigmented, and blended out effortlessly. The swatches on the arm above are, once again, only ONE SWIPE across my arm.

So I use this Real Techniques brush when I contour and I didn’t have a problem with the pan sizes being small. I mean, they ARE small for a face palette, but these are mini palettes and supposed to be small. Makes it great if you travel! And when I set my concealer I use this Real Techniques brush and, once again, had no issues accidentally mixing in the other shades. So…if you like using a very large brush to contour or highlight, this set might not be for you, but if you use the brushes that I have mentioned above…you’re basically getting two contours and a highlight powder for only $15. You don’t get a lot of product, true, but it’s a great way to try it out and see if you like the Smashbox formula!

Smashbox Lips

The lipsticks are actually all shades from their Be Legendary lipstick line. So if you fall in love with one of the 6 shades, you can purchase the full size. The swatches on my arm are with a small lip brush, swiped twice on my arm. They all looked and applied more like a moisturizing lip butter. No mattes or thicker lipsticks, which makes this a great palette to throw in your purse. Since using my finger doesn’t weird me out, I could touch up anytime during the day pretty quickly and easily. And I actually liked the application I got with the red shade using my finger — it wasn’t as intense and looked more like a lip stain then a true red lipstick.

In short, I like this palette! All three of the palettes, if you can’t tell. If mini palettes don’t bother you — these fit in the palm of my hand — this set is one to look at. And right now it’s on sale for $29! That makes each palette only $10. That’s comparable to drugstore prices for similar type palettes! A serious deal, in my opinion!

Light It Up: Gloss To Go Set

Retail: $25 || Click for More Information

I wasn’t extremely wowed by this set. But it could mostly be due to the fact that I prefer lipstick over lipgloss. These lipglosses are really nice and comfortable, though. They wear well and don’t feel stick, which is great. This would be perfect for someone who isn’t into makeup, but likes some color on special occasions. Or if you like lipglosses, this might be the set for you!

I hope you found this post helpful! Again, I apologize for not getting it up before the big palette sold out. I hope they bring it back, in some form, in the near future! The quality is really fantastic!

Let me know if you want to see the Light It Up: 3 Mini palettes in an Instagram tutorial! Have you purchased any of the Light It Up holiday sets from Smashbox this year?

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