Some Stila duos and singles I guess (with Stila grey look palette)

I've been sitting by somewhat idly the last few days since, as I mentioned a few days ago that there hasn't been any sun at all (or much light for that matter) which has made swatching difficult (my room generally just doesn't get bright enough with all the lights on for me to make good swatches on my arm) However, since my sister's home and finally got around to bugging me for some of the stuff on my portable hard drive, I got around to taking a look at what was inside...and there were some unposted Stila swatches that I had made over the summer but never got around to posting...so I figured that this was a good opportunity to do so while I wait for clearer days. First up is my Stila Grey look palette. This palette was available at Costco last year for some ridiculously good deal price. It came with 2 brushes and a mascara. The mascara was complete crap and went straight into the garbage after 1 use, while the brushes are still around (though I seem to have misplaced one lately...or the purrball lying next to me carried it off at some point when I wasn't home). It's made up of permanent colors, so I'm posting it anyways. It's actually almost identical to the Korean version of Stila's Smoky eye palette except the Smoky eye palette contains Kitten instead of Starlight
Chinois-matte beige
Starlight- shimmery champagne color similar to kitten but much less frosty and slightly pinker
Slate- a nice satiny grey
Ebony- probably the best matte black I own (I probably have a lot since a lot of brands are fond of putting blacks in palettes) This black is definitely pigmented and lacks any chalkiness that is common in a lot of black shadows.

The other palette I found swatches of is the palette containing 6 of Stila's duo eyeshadow shades and 3 single e/s that I picked up along the way. The duos also came in a set at Costco for what I believe was $17.99. The duos are slightly larger than the singles due to the split pan shape (each color comes in a half pan shape). The palette I have these in is what I believe to be a Japonesque palette (obtained from makeupmania.com) It's a simple black cardboard palette with a magnetic base.
Salome- This duo contains a light peach shade with silvery gold sparkle and a very warm brown shade
Mara Simba- was the entire reason I bought this set; it's a buo of two taupes.
Fandango- contains a lime green shade and another warm brown
Lilly- contains a peach shade and a pink shade. I really don't care for this duo much due to personal preference, so it's barely been touched (I think I've only ever swatched it, come to think of it)
Vieux Carre- contains a warm violet with gold shimmer and a warm brown with gold sparkle.
Kajiki- is a duo with two blues in it
Coco- a warmish matte brown. I think I only own this shade because I got it for $1 at last year's warehouse sale
Kitten- Supposedly Stila's bestselling shade, it's a very frosty champagne color. I really have to wonder if this sells the best because it's in practically half the sets Stila sells, because this shade is frosty hell. The only way I can get this shade to work on me is to sheer it out as much as possible with the fluffiest eye brush I can find. It's definitely less frosty looking on really pale skin, but still frosty nonetheless.
Cassis- kind of a satiny purple. I like the color in the pan, but I really don't care for it on my lids. I feel like it lacks a certain oomph.

Review: Kirkland by Borghese 15 Piece Premium Cosmetic Brush Set

Good morning ladies. Has everyone finished their Holiday shopping yet? It's 4:30 AM and I'm taking a quick break from playing Zelda Spirit Tracks to bring you a quick review of this year's Kirkland brush set from Costco. This 15 piece set contains a 8 piece full sized brush set, a 4 piece mini travel brush set, and an eyelash curler and retails for $19.99 at your local Costco store (unfortunately, they don't appear to carry this online. I bought this set a few days ago after obsessing over it for a couple of weeks, and I'm really glad I caved and got this set; it's the nicest synthetic brush set I've come across (I like them better than ecoTools) All of the brushes are super soft, and both the full size set and the mini set come with really great quilted brush cases that remind me a bit of Trish McEvoy's packaging.

The full sized set comes with 8 super soft brushes;

The Powder brush is a nice fluffy brush that isn't too densely packed, but is excellent for depositing a thin layer of powder all over the face

Flat-Top Bronzer brush- this brush is small enough to fit well on my cheeks and can be used for buffing in a powder or applying blush or bronzer. It's not nearly as dense as my Every Day Minerals flat top brush, but it's still really nice and super soft

Angled Foundation brush- a densely packed angled brush for applying foundation. I'm pretty sure you could easily get away with using this for blush.

Eyeshadow brush- good, somewhat fluffy basic brush for applying eyeshadow. I was pleasantly surprised with this one since I wasn't expecting too much out of this since my ecoTools synthetic eyeshadow brush is pretty awful for applying powder eyeshadow, but this one is actually pretty decent at applying powders as well as creams

Eye blending brush-decent for applying shadows into the crease

Flat Eyeliner Brush-nice, soft flat liner brush

Eye Smudger- the one super boring "brush" in the set..it's a typical foam smudgy thing

Angled brow brush and Brow Spoolie- a very nice angled brush with a small spoolie on the other end. It's thicker than what I would prefer to use for a liner brush, but it'd be soft enough if you wanted to use it for such a purpose. It's also a good size to use to apply brow powder

The travel set comes with

Powder brush- the head of this is a lot smaller than the full sized powder brush...making it good for apply blush. It's also good for light powder touch ups, but I prefer the larger brush for all-over
Concealer brush- this also has a smaller head than the eyeshadow brush in the full sized set. I'll probably just be using it for eyeshadow since I like using stick concealers and blending with my fingers.
Eye Blending Brush- again, this has a smaller diameter than the full sized brush..making it better for my tiny creases. I also feel like it's just a bit stiffer than the full sized one
Flat Eyeliner brush- a bit smaller/thinner than the larger version

The brush case for this mini set is ingenious; at first glance it's a regular envelope style case that flips open with a little band to hold the case shut, but upon a closer look, you'll discover that each brush has it's individual slot to hold it in place.
The last item in the set is the eyelash curler. I didn't have too many expectations for this either, but it's not a bad eyelash curler. It fits easily in my hands and gets the job done, though I have to hold the curler in place longer than I do if I use my Shu Uemura curler, but it's a decent curler that makes it difficult to overcurl or accidentally crimp your lashes. It's great for a beginner. It kind of looks like Shiseido refills would fit this curler so it can last you a nice long time if you don't abuse it.
The set's a steal at about $20 and I think it makes a perfect gift for both newbies and makeup lovers alike...it's a great little gift to pick up for somebody if you haven't finished your shopping yet or just want to add a little something more to an existing gift.