Different things work for different people, or indeed even for different use cases in the same house. The following thread has some good detailed discussion of the features of different kinds of devices and why you might choose one over another for a particular solution. ( The topic titles of the following threads are all clickable links. )
Mixing smart switches and smart bulbs (like the Hues) gets a little tricky. Unless you need red/green/blue color changing, it might be cheaper just to go with smart switches and regular dumb dimmable lightbulbs. Many people do that and really like the results. Other people want the color effects.
The following thread discusses what kind of switch options you might have for smart bulbs:
BTW, The ability to adjust the fade rate at which a light comes on is called the “ramp rate” or sometimes the fade rate. So look for that feature in switches or smart bulbs if it’s something that you’re interested in.
The fanciest devices have two selectable parameters for this: one which specifies the number of steps the device will take to get from off to your selected dim level(or vice versa), and the other which specifies the speed at which the device will change between steps. So you might take three steps to get to 50%, and specify a half sec.
Less fancy devices will usually have a preset number of steps like 10 or five and you just get to specify the total time it takes to go from off to the dinner setting.
So Read the features carefully to see what’s available. 
