So a couple of days ago I walked into Sephora for the first time in what seemed like ages, and the first thing I saw was Smashbox O-Gloss.

This was not a good way to start off the new year.

Remember O-Glow? Smashbox's gel blush that promised to "react with your personal skin chemistry to turn cheeks the exact color you blush?" I tried it (see the post here), and it turned my cheeks a garish shade of fuchsia that was nowhere near my "natural blush" color. While a cool and innovative product with a fab gel texture, O-Glow's claims that it magically interacted with your skin to produce the perfect blush shade were just crap. Sure it looks different on every skin tone...the same way NARS Orgasm or any other blush looks different on every skin tone, and there's no magic there.

The truth is that O-Glow contains red dye that appears colorless in a waterless gel base. When the product comes in contact with moisture, the pink color is produced (see The Beauty Brains' excellent post for full details). While this shade looks great on many women (especially those with dark skin), it's not a miracle product and doesn't intuitively "change" color based on your skin tone.

So, if you like bright pink blush, by all means go for it, but don't fall for the claims that the color is being produced by some "microcirculatory effect." Want proof? Look at the pink ring around the tester cap. That's residual product where the pigments have developed.

So anyhow, now there's a lip gloss version that claims to "transform lips into your own custom shade of pink" with the same technology as the blush. Now, see, I like pink lip gloss. O-Gloss looked good on me when I tried it. But I'm certainly not going to buy it when there are umpteen other pink lip glosses on the market that don't carry these gimmicky claims...and charge a premium for them!

Are we really expected to believe this bull? It just upsets me, especially coming from Smashbox, a brand that has produced some of my favorite beauty products of all time.

My advice? Save your money on O-Gloss and pick up some of the products in the new Smashbox Green Room collection (biodegradable, recyclable, and pretty!). NB, the Green Room glosses are $7 cheaper than O-Gloss!