Tuesday 9 August 2011

Stila Striking in South Beach

Striking In South Beach (S$29) is the third palette in Stila's series of five Beach Palettes. All five are now available on Stilacosmetics.com and Sephora.com, where they retail for US$14. In Singapore, the Escentials boutique at Tangs Orchard currently has only the first three palettes: Stunning in Sayulita, Haute In The Hamptons and Striking In South Beach.

Striking In South Beach is my personal favourite in this series, thanks to the lovely Wave (periwinkle blue) and Cabana (dusky dark lavender).

The two photos below were taken next to the window, so the shimmer is less obvious.


Ocean Drive is a pearly light grey. Of the four eyeshadows, it is the most sheer and required a few layers to show up. Nightlife is the most sparkly of the lot with silver shimmer, while the other three eyeshadows have more of a soft glimmer. In terms of the colour payoff, Wave and Nightlife are more well-pigmented than Ocean Drive and Cabana.

Swatches on bare skin versus over Too Faced Shadow Insurance. (Do click on the photo to view it in full size and better resolution.)

The two blushes feel silky to touch and apply sheer at first but can be easily layered for a soft, natural finish.

For this look, I used Too Faced Shadow Insurance as the base all over the eyelid, Cabana along the upper lashline, Wave in the crease and Ocean Drive as a wash over the browbone and along the lower lashline (it doesn't show up well in these pics for some reason).


On the cheeks, I used Sobe. Used with a good primer, the eyeshadows lasted well on me throughout more than 12 hours of wear with minimal fading or creasing.

Like the other beach palettes and last year's Travel Palettes, the palette is made in China. Considering the number of shades and the amount of product (the eyeshadows are 4.2g in total and the blushes are 3.1g each), I think it offers good value for money although I think the claim that this has a US$62 value should be dropped.

On the inside of the cover, there's a simple tutorial for how to apply the shades.

With Haute In The Hamptons (center) and Stunning in Sayulita.

And to end off this post, here's a quick snapshot of my Stila palettes collected over the past decade! You can read more about them in this post. Hopefully, Stila will continue to release the travel palettes in future years as I've enjoyed collecting them.

11 comments:

Jamilla Camel said...

Very pretty look! I am very impressed by your collection!

galpal.hi said...

That's an amazing collection!

-lyne said...

oh my that's A LOT of palettes!

Noniek said...

Wow Haru, your collection so huge! Amazing :)

maccaroon said...

WOW!
Very impressive collection Haru (:
You must really like them a lot.

How do you keep all these palettes?

Haru said...

Hi maccaroon,
I store them in a Jill Stuart makeup case, and they kept beautifully through the years :)

Lynn said...

That is A LOT of stila palettes! Awesome stuff, and i'm just drooling over your collection...i wanted to get Ulta's exclusive which was empowered in pink, a collaboration with breast cancer awareness, but it sold out rather quickly.

Pink Angel said...

Hi Haru!

Awesome collection! I love & collect stila too! especially their GWPs and Stila Paint cans :) thanks for sharing!

Chloe said...

Hi Haru I love reading your blog! From what I learned some makeup items like powdered eyeshadow and blush is best used within 2 years. What is your take on old makeup? Do you still use them after a period of time? Hope to hear from you soon!

yen said...

I like collecting makeup too, but i read that it only lasts for about 3 years before mould sets in etc?

Haru said...

hi Chloe,
For powder eyeshadows, I still use them if there are no visible signs of them going bad, e.g. smell, change in texture. In my experience, powder eyeshadows can last 5 years easily and be used without any problems. But for liquids and creams (e.g. foundations, lipglosses), or lipsticks, I do make it a point to throw them out after 2 years or once they start to show signs of going bad.

hi yen,
Most of my powder eyeshadows have been able to last more than 5 years without showing any signs of going bad. Liquids and creams do go bad much faster, and one should definitely throw them out once they go bad. My Stila powder eyeshadows still look fine but I don't use the older ones. I still keep the palettes though as part of my collection.