I’ve tried a few Smashbox products over the years but it’s been a while (throwback to this post from 7 years ago HAH)! I’m super excited to get in touch with their PR team recently and test out a few new products including the Smashbox The Cali Contour palette. With the winter weather upon us, I’m definitely dreaming about the California sunshine.
Basics
Name: Smashbox The Cali Contour Shape Bronze Glow
Shade: 1 contour, 1 bronzer, 3 highlighters, 1 blush
Price: $52 CAD
Size: 20.56g
Packaging
The Smashbox The Cali Contour palette feels really hefty in the hands and comes with a large mirror inside. It is a great size for travel as it takes care of bronzer, blush and highlight. The bronzers and blushes are in bigger square pans which fits brushes easily while the highlighters are in smaller pans which reduces size but can also fit highlighter brushes. I’m a big fan of the selection of shades to give as much versatility as possible in a small palette.
Formula
I am very impressed by all of the shades in this palette! The most pigmented is the matte blush and I only need to dab my brush in it to get enough color pay off. Both the contour and the matte bronzer shade show up well on my skin. The formula is on the hard side but there’s no issues with pigmentation! The blush also kicks up some powder but I haven’t had any issues yet with colors crossing pans.
Shades
The Smashbox Cali Contour palette is made for those with medium-darker skin tones. On the top left corner is the contour shade which is a very cool tone grey bronze. For a warmer look, there is the matte bronzer on the top right corner. Pink blushes look terrible on me so I’m very happy with this terra cotta shade.
At first, I thought the matte highlight (bottom left) was a chalky white and unflattering. However, the highlight showed up very nicely in photos. The two middle highlighters also produced a nice glow to the face.
Swatches
Here are the six shades swatched! As you can see, they are all decently pigmented but not so much that it’s hard to work with. The blush shade is the only one I need to be a bit careful with.
Ratings
Packaging 9/10
Pigmentation 10/10
Shade 10/10
Value 9/10
Overall 38/40 A+
I am a big fan of this palette and would highly recommend it if you want a streamlined cheek routine. It includes all the shades you need for a sculpted look. If you enjoy variety, you might be bored with just one blush shade. But I think this would be great for packing in travel or just having all the essential shades in one! The pigmentation is great and I enjoyed the quality of this product a lot.