It’s easiest to break down the review by formula. The Lip Enhancing Gloss is Smashbox’s classic lip gloss formula. Full sized they are .2 oz for $18. The ones in this kit are .14 oz, so you still get quite a bit of gloss. Lip Enhancing Gloss comes in 3 formulas: Sheer Color, True Color, and Full Color. Sheer Color glosses are, as you would imagine, just a sheer wash of color but very high on shine. Full size glosses in this formula apparently have a brush wand, but the ones in this kit just have a regular doe foot, which is fine by me. The True Color glosses have more of a creamy pop of color than their Sheer sisters. The Full Color glosses aren’t represented in this kit, but are described as high impact color with pearlescent dimensional shine! The True and Full Color glosses both come with “velour wands” which I think just mean doe foots. These glosses aren’t sticky or drying, and seem to have slightly longer than usual lasting time for a not very sticky gloss. I attribute this to the sort of cushy “thick” formula. It’s not gloppy, but some glosses slip on to the lips like water and seem to disappear. These are more substantial.

The Sheer Color shades in this kit, Afterglow and Illume, are both available in full sizes and said to be best sellers. I’m kind of a Smashbox noob so I don’t know about how popular the colors are, but they are quite pretty. However, if you have pigmented lips and don’t like layering glosses over lipsticks, you probably won’t find much use for these as they are definitely sheer like the name would imply. My favorite of the two is Afterglow, but that’s no surprise as it’s a peachy-pinky coral color that I am usually attracted to. Illume is a beige that doesn’t really lean too warm or too cool and has lots of shimmer. 

The True Color glosses are more my cup of tea, since they show up more on my bare lips (9 times outta 10 I do not have the patience to layer lip products!). These two shades are both new, and as of now are not available separately in full sizes. Glam is an orchid pink with shimmer, and Brown Sugar is a rosy brown with shimmer. Brown Sugar worried me, as I don’t know about brown lips on a cool-toned girl like myself, but since the color isn’t completely opaque and it has some pinkness in it, it looks okay. It’s still not my first choice in lip color on me, but I imagine it looking really pretty on someone else!

The other two glosses in this kit are Smashbox’s new Limitless Long Wear SPF 15 formula. These claim to wear for 6 hours without ever being tacky or dry. So far I would say they really live up to the claim. Except I can’t say that the color lasts as long as the gloss entirely. It does seem to fade some, at least on me. Both of the colors in this kit are available in full sizes, separately. Infinite is a very sheer peachy nude, and 24/7 is a really striking raspberry. These have a weird applicator. They have a “contoured doe foot” meant to hug the lips to provide complete coverage in one coat. It basically looks like a doe foot on steroids. It’s big. It’s not cumbersome or annoying, it’s just funny looking to see this enormous doe foot come out of a lip gloss. Or maybe I’m weird. I don’t know. The full sizes of these are $21 for .1 oz, while the minis in this kit are a .05 oz size.

Top to Bottom: Infinite, 24/7, Illume, Afterglow, Glam, Brown Sugar

Overall this is a nice kit of colors you are a die-hard Smashbox fan, or maybe don’t have a ton of lip glosses in your stash already. I find that the colors themselves aren’t terribly unique, though the formulas are pretty nice. If you have similar colors in your stash but don’t like the formula, you might want to check these out the next time you are out shopping. It’s a good deal considering the size of these glosses. It’s apparently a $77 value but I am way too lazy to do the math to see if that’s right. The whole kit is offered at $29. Not bad at all. 

You can find the Smashbox Softbox Lip Gloss Collection now at Smashbox’s website, Sephora, or Ulta. It will also soon be up on Apothica.