Braving Berry Lips - Smashbox Be Legendary Long-Wear Lip Lacquer - Currant*

Despite all the beautiful, wild and crazy lip colours that are now on the market it's pretty safe to say that I'm quite boring when it comes to lip colour - My vast lip collection is full of varying shades of pink, and nude, with the odd and barely worn red, berry and coral thrown in for good measure. As much as I would love to wear a deep wine or burgundy shade like MAC Sin or even something a little bit more daring, I'm just not brave enough.

Sometimes though you need to step outside of your comfort zone, and recently Smashbox gave me the opportunity to do exactly that with one of their Be Legendary Long Wear Lip Lacquers in the shade Currant.

Hailed by Smashbox as the new generation of lip colours, the Be Legendary Long Wear Lip Lacquers promise long wearing, vibrant colour, without any stickiness, tackiness, dryness, or uneven fading. They contain a special combination of strong, staining pigments, glossy pearls, and Vitamin E for moisture.

There are currently around 15 shades to choose from but the one I received was Currant, although this is probably a pretty safe colour for most of you, for me this pink toned, muted raspberry shade was a real step outside my comfort zone,

Although it looks a lot darker in the funky, angular square tube than it does when it's swatched and on the lips, it still took me a good six months before I plucked up the courage to give it a go and wear it our of the house. I wasn't sure at first but this product has really grown on me and it's become one of my go to lip colours since the Autumn of last year.

This product is basically a clever cross between a lipstick and a lip gloss. It has a smooth creamy formula, with only the merest hint of taste and scent, that feels moisturising on the lips, and has the sheen of a gloss but without the sticky or tacky feel - perfect for windy days and if you've got long hair like me

It comes with a cleverly shaped sponge, doe foot style applicator that allows you to both line, and define, and fill in your lips. The pigmentation on this one was excellent, and depending on heavily and how much product you applied you could either create a full on glossy block shade, or by
applying it lightly and blending it out with a brush you can create more of a glaze effect.

I'm going to be honest with you, I've read a few reviews and a few people have said that this is quite a messy product to apply, and unfortunately I have to agree with them. Although the applicator is very well designed the formulation is quite liquidy so it does have a tendency to migrate beyond the lip line especially if you have any fine lines around your lips. I don't mind tidying up as I go but on Mummy Lou who cough cough has a few more lines than I do, the effect was something along the lines of eating a jam doughnut, not a good look, and clean up was definitely required. Just a quick tip though if you do need to do a quick clean up, use a damp cotton bud or you might be left with a bit of staining around your mouth!

In my experience this product isn't quite as long lasting as Smashbox claim, the gloss that you get with the initial application does last quite a bit  longer than say a conventional lip gloss, but you do get a lot of transference onto glasses, cups, and dare it say other people ;) As the glossy finish fades though you're gradually left with a semi matte, pink, berry stain that fades fairly evenly and lasts for a good few hours

Despite the duck faces (sorry I was having a bad facial paralysis day :() I hope you can see just how pretty this shade actually is. I've actually grown to love the pretty raspberry shade but I do think that the formulation needs some work. Yes it's definitely moisturising and unlike some reviewers I didn't feel any extra dryness at any stage, the pigmentation in this case is superb but I just found it way too much effort to apply neatly and unfortunately it didn't wear quite as well as Smashbox claimed. Yes the gloss aspect lasted way longer than a conventional lip gloss, but it still transferred and disappeared within the hour, leaving behind an all be it nice shade of lip stain. I like the colour but given the application, transfer and wear issues, at £19 I just couldn't justify purchasing this product either in this shade or anyone of the other 14 colours. Smashbox Be Legendary Long Wear Lip Lacquer in Currant retails at £19 for a 6ml tube and is available from both the Smashbox website and Boots online and selected Boots stores. Are you a fan of berry lips? Let me know and if you have any similar toned berry lip recommendations I'd love to hear them x

*Sample