Customizable, color-changing products are a rarity in the beauty world because there’s always the expectation of knowing what you’re getting into every time you pick out a new beauty product. But this is the very raison d’être of the O-Glow Intuitive Cheek Color by Smashbox. The product, when first dispensed from the tube, is translucent and a little silicone-like, texturally similar to the brand’s classic Photo Finish Primer (which we’ve reviewed on the site here).
The product delivers a nice touch of rosiness to the cheeks upon application, depending on how long you leave it on your fingers before application. See, the color of this product is not necessarily dependent on one’s actual skin tone, but more on heat, which is probably where the confusion about this product comes from. Because of the silicone base of the product, this blush is also great at controlling oil as opposed to other creamier non-powder blushes. Because of this, the product manages to stay on for a good amount of time.
Despite the product’s aforementioned ability to give a nice, adjustable, rosy flush, it’s still definitely not as customizable as it hypes itself up to be. It’s certainly not skintone-adapting, and the color it does deliver is not universally flattering, which is disappointing. This “one-shade-fits-all” product works mostly on people with lighter skin tones, and ends up looking a little muddy on medium-dark to dark skin. Another fault of the formula is it’s difficult to get consistent coloration with this product because it does adjust a lot. Finally, the silicone, which makes up the base of this product, feels heavy—much heavier than you’d ever expect or want a blush to feel.
Overall, it’s an interesting experiment with some positive results, but we just feel that it falls really short of its own expectations for itself.
SUITABLE FOR: Light to medium-light, normal to oily skin.
