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.

Stila Holiday Smudge Pot Set 2009, and some more Konad

This year's Stila Holiday Smudge Pot set came with 4 mini gel liners. Each pot is 0.07 oz and is half the size of a regular smudge pot set. The set retails for $32 and comes with smudge pots in Kitten, Violet, Starry Night, and Black as well as a mini brush. It's a pretty good value for the smudge pots especially since a full size smudge pot is so large that I don't think I could ever finish it. However, despite the beautiful colors of these liners in their pots, I wasn't impressed with them on my lids. Additionally, the plastic caps on the jars are flimsy and will probably break easily.Kitten is very similar to the eyeshadow it's named after and is a shimmery champagne color. It's fairly sheer applied with a liner brush, as shown below, and would seem better used as a cream eyeshadow.
Violet- a blue based purple with purple glitter. I love the color of this, but again, when applied with a brush, this was much sheerer than I had hoped
Starry Night- Navy blue with gold shimmer. This is, in my opinion, the prettiest color in the set. Unfortunately, it's also really sheer, so I was again, dissapointed with this.
Black- This was the only one that was easily opaque in the set, and therefore the only one I was satisfied with.
My overall opinion of the set is that it contains beautiful colors, but falls way short of being a must have. The swatches above were all done with my Smashbox Cream liner brush.

I posted a couple days ago that I got the giant Konad set so I decided to play around with some of the goodies in it and did this:It's plates M21 and M36 over Zoya Demi with some pink rhinestones. Excuse my hands..they're peeling a bit since I've been lazy and neglecting them.

Stila Silver Maple Trio

Today's topic is Stila's Silver Maple Trio. This is an older LE Trio, and is no longer available anymore, but you can still find it through swaps or eBay. This Trio comes with 3 shades of eyeshadow, a glimmering light peachy beige color, a shimmery grey, and a slightly shimmery dark grey/off black. The texture of these shadows isn't quite as buttery as Stila's regular shadows, but they are still very very nice. However, if you have a large stash like mine, the shades in here aren't unique and you will probably already own something similar if not dupes of these shades. As such, I have maybe tested this trio once myself, and haven't found it worth keeping. The packaging itself round pewter colored faux leather with the stila logo and leaves imprinted onto its cover. There is a mirror inside and it closes with the help of a weak magnet.

Stila Madagascar Agate palette

The Stila swatch frenzy continues with what is probably my favorite Stila palette, the Madagascar Agate palette. I bought this palette by accident at the Stila Warehouse sale last December for about $12. (I meant to get the Laguna Agate palette, but didn't notice that the box behind the display palette was filled with Madagascar palettes, and unfortunately all sales were final...I don't think there were actually any Laguna palettes there so I feel a bit miffed, but it turned out well in the end) The palette doesn't look like anything special at all, but I like the nice easy everyday sort of look it gives. Plus, it contains the one Stila blush I actually LIKE. The base shade is a cream colored shadow with slight shimmer. Like all the base shades in Stila palettes, it's a nice wash color. The lid shade is a warm bronze color, and the darkest shade is your standard dark brown color. All 3 colors are smooth and buttery. The blush is a great peachy pink shade with gold shimmer. It applies quite smoothly unlike the other Stila blushes I've owned


Swatches (natural lighting, no base). The dark brown doesn't actually have a funky texture like the swatch might suggest, my skin was reacting funny to the massive amount of swatching I did that day)Swatches in warmer, indoor lighting. I chose to post a 2nd pic because this one brings out the golden shimmer in the blush better.
None of the colors are really unique or must have, but put together, this palette is very very nice. It's the sort of palette that you have around as a staple if you had a small stash (or makes a great gift for someone who isn't super crazy about mu, but wears a little from time to time) Additionally, it's small size makes it ideal for travel (I wrap my hand around this one quite easily)

Stila Glacier Ice palette

I'm powering through old swatches tonight so up next is the Stila Glacier Ice palette. I was lucky enough to receive this palette in a swap, but I never reached for this, so away it went to a new home. Like most of Stila's 4 pan palettes, this came with 3 shadows (labeled base, crease, and liner) and a blush.

The base shade is a nice shimmery pinkish cream. Nothing special, but it's a nice color for a wash/highlight.
The lid/crease shade is a nice silver color that from what I remember, pulled a tiny bit green on me.
The liner shade is a kind of boring shimmery black shadow. I'm not sure if it was a full on black, I think it was more of a muted black color.
The blush was a soft pink color, which I thought was kind of nice, but slightly chalky. I'm not a big fan of Stila's blushes though.

Zero's a fan of participating in my swatching/blogging activities...

Stila Palettes--My collection and Stila Blanc

I still have a couple of Bobbi Brown palettes, but since I don't have those swatched yet, I'll give you guys swatches of my Stila palettes...which should keep me busy for oh...a week or less :] (I've swatched and labeled most of these think I've swatched them all already so this should go quickly)
Here they all are...
I never did swatch the contouring trio before I got rid of it...but oh well. First up is the Stila Blanc palette, which seems to be a board favorite on MUA, particualrly amongst the paler ladies. It contains 3 eyeshadow shades (base, crease, and liner) and a blush. The palette is definitely nice, but I'm not in love with it at all...
The base shade is nothing too special, just your basic shimmery yellowy cream shade. it's a nice all over/highlight shade.
The "crease" shade is a soft, shimmery warm golden brown. Although this is labeled as a crease shade, I prefer using this on the lid
The liner shade is my favorite out of the 3. It's a darker brown with some olive tones to it and glod shimmer. I tend to use this one in the crease instead of the crease shade.
The blush in this palette is the real reason why I'm not in love with this palette. It's a beautiful coral colored blush in the pan, which unfortunately, for some reason, gives my skin kind of a toasty sunburnt look.
Swatches in somewhat warm indoor lighting

I'm not entirely sure what this palette retailed for, but I got this one for $12 (plus expensive shipping) off beautycrunch. It was releleased last year in a kit at Ulta as well.

Stila Lip Pots

Stila's lip pots are potted tinted lip balms that come in cute little glass jars with a floral print on them. There are 7 shades in total and they retail for $17 USD each or for $25 for a set of 5 of them. I have been intrigued by these since Stila's warehouse sale last month so I ordered the set from Stila's website; http://www.stilacosmetics.com/ for $25 on Monday, which arrived today via UPS.





The set included the shades pecan, amande, baie, mandarine and cerise.

• Pecan gives a nude tint to the lips
• Amande gives a brownish nude tint to the lips
• Baie gives a really pretty mauvey pink tint to the lips
• Mandarin, which looks fairly orange in the pot, gives a slight peachy tint
• Cerise, which looks red in the pot, gave me a corally pink tint
  

All of the potted balms go on sheerly, imparting just a hint of color to my lips with a glossy sheen. The texture is light, somewhat jelly-like and moisturizing without any stickiness, which I was quite pleased with.
They are comparable to MAC's tendertones, in my opinion, in terms of moisturizing ability, though they are of a much lighter texture and less sticky. They also don't last as long as MAC's tendertones because of this. On first try, just sitting around with one applied on my lips, it took just over an hour for the balm to dissappear completely. Because of this, I would say that I would buy these balms again because they look and feel really good, but I would never repurchase them at their full retail price, but I would repurchase them at the price of the set, or off of http://www.beautycrunch.com/ when it pops up on there.