One of our absolute favourite brands, Smashbox cosmetics are dedicated to getting girls looking camera ready, an aim that has stayed with the brand since it first originated as an offshoot of Smashbox photography studios in LA (incidentally set up by Dean and Davis Factor, the great-grandsons of Max Factor, the inventor of - you guessed it - MaxFactor!). The makeup line came after the Factors were asked to develop products to cope with the needs of the studios, which they produced with the tips they'd picked up from all the models, photographers and makeup artists that used their studio.
Fast-forward 17 years and Smashbox are now one of the coolest and most innovative beauty brands on the market: their primers are renowned for being, well, bloody amazing (we especially love their Photofinish eye primer (£21) - that eyeshadow will not budge over a layer of that stuff). Their O-Glow blusher (£20.50) is one of my favourite toys, changing its colour from clear to pink as it hits your skin. And despite me being so fussy about mascara, Full Exposure Mascara (£20) is amazing - inspired by the fibre/mascara layering technique, this one has it all in one tube, giving the same false lash effect but with half the time, and delivering beautiful volume and length.
Smashbox's new line for Autumn/Winter has me just as obsessed - the Girls On Film range should get you ready to channel the winter trends, with the Photo Op Eye Palettes (£33) - we love Smokebox, holding six beautiful shades, including a dramatic blue and purple for an even more fashionable smokey eye - and the Blush Rush blusher (£20)is really strong pigmented stuff that lasts for ages.
Going even further to make sure they keep up with the tech-savvy customers too - lots of Smashbox products have tags on them, that when scanned with a smartphone reveal how-to guides and application tips. So clever, and so useful for helping us be more adventurous! Want to see more? Shop Smashbox at Debenhams here.
