Smashbox Soft Lights: A Review

One of my favorite Smashbox products is Soft Lights. They weren't intended to be blushers or bronzers, but to provide all-over color that works with your blush and bronzes. Each season there are new shades, and new designs, and each time I see one that I don't already have, I want it.

The first Soft Lights were one color. Tint, Glow, Shimmer - all of these were colors to use all over your face. Apply lightly with a fan brush, or go for broke with a face and cheek brush. They work on all skin tones, although they may appear different on different skin tones. Shimmer, for example, acts as an all-over bronzer for my very fair skin; on a darker-skinned woman, it might be a light powder. Tint and Glow add a touch of pink, and Pearl (not shown) makes the perfect highlighter for cheek bones and brow bones, or could be a finishing powder for a fair-skinned woman. The single colors retail for $28, but you may find them for less on eBay or similar websites. Shimmer and Lens (a pale pink) were a Best of Sephora nominee in 2007.

Soon the Fusion Soft Lights, retailing for $30, came out. Sunset (not pictured) is a multi-colored palette without clear delineation between the colors, but gives your skin a warm sun-kissed glow. Other Fusion Soft Lights had lines of colors from light to dark, allowing you to use one color, or to swirl your brush around all the colors and apply the mix to your skin. Intermix, Guru, and a special Breast Cancer Awareness product in shades of pink ensure that everyone can find just the right one. Baked Fusion Soft Lights, winner of a Self (magazine) Healthy Beauty Award in 2008, are available in shades like Starburst, a subtle bronzing shade, and the very pink Starlight with this spring's Heartbreaker line. (There are also Fusion eye shadows, but I'm not talking about those here!)

The upsides of Soft Lights are many. The variety of colors they come in; the fact that they are packaged in large amounts (typically between 0.27 and 0.35 oz.) and they last forever (you'll be tired of one before you run out of it!); and their multi-tasking skills. They may say they're for your face, but there's nothing stopping you from whipping out an eyeshadow brush and using a single color from a Fusion Soft Lights on your eyes. The downsides include the price; $28 to $30 may seem like a lot to budget-conscious beauty junkies; and the amount of room they take up for those of us who live in small spaces with very little storage space.

But for me, the upside will always win. I admit it: I'm a pushover for Smashbox Soft Lights!