Smashbox • Smashbox Spider Club • Palettes

Where To Buy?

blairb22 on 4/21/2006 11:02:00 AM more reviews by blairb22

Age: 19-24   Skin: Combination   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Brown    

Best palette I've EVER purchased. I love the colors, they work great. Packaging is very nice and brushes are nice quality.

    Was this review helpful to you? Yes   No

GeorgetteOrwell on 2/4/2006 12:18:00 PM more reviews by GeorgetteOrwell

Age: 36-43   Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Green    

I have the lengthy review below, but just a note to say I would agree that the eye shadows are NOT of the quality of the other eyeshadows I have from smashbox. You can see before even trying them on that some of them are more sparkly than shimmery (hence I deliberately used the word "sparkle" in my review".) I also found them less easy to blend. I however could not resist all the colors. I still like them. I think they work well with each other.

I do not have a problem with them lasting, but maybe that is just because of my skin. I do have a problem with some other shadows lasting or creasing. I have seen reviews of other products complaining about lasting-power or creasing where I had no problem, so perhaps my eyes are simply a little easier in that regard.

If you only use eyeshadows of the highest quality, you will be probably dissapointed. For a convenient fun little palette, I thought it rather nice.

    Was this review helpful to you? Yes   No

*TOP REVIEWER* wabdon on 2/1/2006 12:49:00 PM more reviews by wabdon

Age: 25-29   Skin: Acne-prone   Hair: Black   Eyes: Brown    

I bought this after seeing it on The shopping channel and couldn't resist. When I rec'd it, I was surprised at how small it was, about the size of a credit card or slightly larger. It is cute and convenient with the pouch and 3 brushes howeever, I was dissappinted with the quality of the e/s and the cremeliners. The e/s were not that pigmented and there were 4 shades of green, 2 shades of brown and 2 purple shades. I think they could have put a pink or gray shades. Anyways, I had to reapply the e/s to have it show up on my lids. Then the cremeliners were the same thing. I had to stroke it on numerous times in order for me to get a nice line on my top lid. The lip sheers were nice and the creme blush was non-greasy but a little too sheer. the brushes are pretty good but I don't think I'll be spending on any of their palettes if the quality is not up to par.

    Was this review helpful to you? Yes   No

GeorgetteOrwell on 11/5/2005 9:01:00 PM more reviews by GeorgetteOrwell

Age: 36-43   Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Green    

I saw this at Marshall Field's but did not have much time to really look at it. I later remembered how pretty the colors were, so I ordered it from Sephora.


The packaging is cute and eye-catching, but bulky. The 5.75 inch by 3.5 inch by 1.5 soft pearly winter white case has a pocket for the pallet and slots for each of the three brushes. It is soft and feels like it has a little padding. The only closure is a loop and button, but the pallet fits well so I do not think it would fall out, and the brush flap should keep the brushes contained. The pocket also fits Trish McEvoy's Little Black Card (i.e. Simply Gorgeous).

The palette packaging is cardboard with a pearly white finish. For all that it is cardboard, it does seem sturdy (considerably sturdier than some nasty plastic packaging we have all seen) and even has a nice real mirror. It has a magnetic closure which is fine for holding it shut if it is in the soft outer case, or a snug cosmetic case, but I would not throw it free in a purse unless I ruberbandded it.

The brushes are 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 inches from tip to tip. The eyeshadow brush is nice with tapered bristles, a little large for contouring, but nice for lid, under brow, and blending. The eyeliner brush is okay for the cream eyeliners, but I like the double-ended brush which I received in another Smashbox kit better. The brush in the Spider Club kit is a little stiffer, with shorter bristles. The lip brush is not retractractable, which I find incredibly icky in a travel lip brush, especially one in a white case.

I did not buy this set for the packaging. I bought it because I thought the product colors were pretty.

The red lip brilliance goes on sheer and adds a little color and a little shine. After eating, the shine was gone, but the color had not faded completely away. The pink lip brillance does not have much color, but it does impart a little shine and a little subtle shimmer. A big plus for a lip product, they actually feel nice on the lips and are not perfumed.

The cream to powder blush is in a warm shade. It is okay. Myself, I would prefer to use either Smashbox's skin tints (which I love because they are so easy to apply, blend, and build), or a powder. It did last all day.

The eye shadows are well pigmented. There is a pretty,matte, medium pink, but all the other colors have a bit of sparkle to them: light green, winter white, medium bronze, dark-purpley bronze, light-golden sage, soft-medium green, soft-darkish purple. The shadows are not the easiest blending shadows, but they look very nice with each other and last well. I monitored them through a looong day and they lasted. Later in the evening (no touchups) I noticed they were starting to crease just a little, so I gently rubbed my finger over my lids and they looked good as new.

I have not yet tried the cream eyeliners in this kit, but they are in my favorite Smashbox cream eyeliner colors, a beautiful dark greenish gold, and black.

I knew I would not use the original packaging because although it is cute, it is bulky. Also, I like to mix and match. The lip, cheek, and eyeliner pans were easy to remove. Width wise, these fit snuggly into Trish McEvoy's little black card. The eyeliner pans are narrower than the other pans, therefore the other pans are wider than the original little black card pans and cannot be evenly swapped with them. The Spider Club pans are shorter than the original Little Black Card pans, leaving about 1/4 inch of room front to back wise, but the pans are smidge tall for completely closing the little black card. Maybe if I got all of the rubber cement off the back of the pans they would fit, but I do not think so. I can see they are the smallest tad taller than the original pans. If I press down on the lid it closes, so I could in a pinch put on an ugly rubber band. The pan height does not interfere with closing a Trish McEvoy double charger.

The eyeshadows were more difficult to remove. Unless you are a fanatic about making your own palettes, I would not recommend it. I LOVE to play with colors, but even I am thinking maybe I should have left the palette alone. The pans themselves are thin and bendy. If you do attempt it, I stongly recommend heating to loosen the rubber cement. Even with the heating, some of the cakes splintered a little, especially that dificult first one. The pans do stick to magnets, but they bend like aluminum. The pans in the other level are similar, but the product can take the bending. The eight eye shadows placed in a little black card leave about 1/8 gap front to back and also side to side. Note - the external dimensions of the Spider Club palette are larger than the little black card.

These pans are not filled all the way to the top. I found this especially irritating when I was trying to close the lid of the little black card and it was the pans, not the product, prevening me from closing the lid. However, in the original packaging, this might help in keeping the colors separate when using a brush with the small, compact packaging.

Overall, I find the packaging cute, but bulky and impractical. The product itself is good. Personally, I would prefer a pan of the skin tint to the pan of their new cream to powder brush. Two or three more loops on the brush side of the case would have been nice, if I was actually going to use it. This sells for about $48 US. I have seen this promoted with a actual retail price of near $100, but given the tiny sizes of the product and actual quality of the packaging, I find the $100 quote reaching.

edit

I've used this a bit more and I find some of the colors a little muddy. I am still using the products, except for the cream to powder blush. I was mistaken about the being sensitive to magnets, I think the backs were just a little sticky.

5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.     Was this review helpful to you? Yes   No

*TOP REVIEWER* ziebam on 11/4/2005 9:45:00 AM more reviews by ziebam

Age: 30-35   Skin: Acne-prone, Olive   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Brown    

I was highly disappointed with this kit. I usually love Smashbox products but this kit fell short. The Spider Club set was released Holiday 2005 and is limited edition. The set comes with a white cardboard palette inside a white case. One side holds the palette, the other side holds three mini brushes in white, a shadow brush, cream liner, and lip brush with a flap over the top. The white is a pain in the neck. very easy to dirty. The brushes are nice but the lip brush has no cap, so you can get lip stuff on the white case. I hate the white. Too messy. The white cardboard palette has two layers. First layer has a mirror and eight shadows. You get a pink and a darker shimmer purple. A medium green, a light golden green shimmer, a medium tan/brown, a dark shimmery green, an olive and a dark shimmery brown with golden glitte that doesnt get everywhere. The colors were more pigmented than they looked. Went on smoothly but didnt last all day even with my UD PP. (I tried this with three shadow primers and no luck). The second layer has two lip brilliances in a dark burgandy and medium pink. Both are much sheerer than they look but still nice pigment. No scent and really moisturizing and glossy. The cream blush is a nuetral browned red. pretty, but i needed a lot of product to get enough color. Finally this comes with two creme liners. Looks like caviar and Image, a black and golden khaki black shade. I had a problem with the lower lid fading through the day. None of the colors in this compact are super unique or must haves. the crappy white packaging reallly turns me off this and although i collect SB, I think this isnt even worth keeping. Retails for $49.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.     Was this review helpful to you? Yes   No

*TOP REVIEWER* Clare_3108 on 10/28/2005 2:26:00 PM more reviews by Clare_3108

Age: 30-35   Skin: Combination, Fair   Hair: Brown   Eyes: Green    

I just love these gorgeous new colours, both the packaging and the actual product!

The packaging for the actual palette is not as good as usual for Smashbox in that it is made of a heavy duty cardboard that said this is still a brilliant product, the eyeshadows come in gorgeous greens and neutrals and are the same quality as the smokebox.

On the second level you get 2 lip products a cream to powder blush and 2 cream eyeliners and with 3 brushes this is good to go, I really love this!

    Was this review helpful to you? Yes   No