Recently, Stila released five Collectible City Palettes plus a Stila + BP palette that is exclusive to Nordstrom. The Collectible City Palettes are very much in the style of the earlier Travel Palettes of 2010 and Beach Palettes of 2011, featuring the iconic Stila Girl living it up in various cities.
Stila has changed the size of the palettes yet again, making them short and wider. The Convertible Colors make a comeback in this year's palettes, which also each hold five eyeshadows. I much prefer the format of the Beach Palettes which had four powder eyeshadows and two powder blush/highlighter shades, as the cream Convertible Colors inevitably get contaminated by the eyeshadows and are generally just messier. Furthermore, cream products also have a shorter shelf life than powders.
The price has increased to US$16, versus US$14 for last year's Beach Palettes and US$10 for the original Travel Palettes. When the Travel Palettes were first introduced, their affordable price tag was very much part of the appeal. The quality of these made-in-China palettes was not on par with Stila's regular eyeshadows, but they were decent for the price. If the price keeps increasing without a commensurate increase in the quality, that is bound to turn even collectors off at some point. Getting all five City Palettes will cost US$80 (and that's not even including sales tax), for which you could buy a Urban Decay Naked palette ($50) and still have a hefty chunk of change left over.
Stylish in Seoul is the first of the five palettes that I'll be reviewing.
Again, I much prefer the layout of the earlier Beach and Travel Palettes which had round eyeshadow pans that are easy for brushes of virtually any size to pick up without resulting in excessive powdery kick up.
Like previous palettes, a small mirror, application tips and a thoughtful quote are included.
Stylish in Seoul is pretty versatile as it works well for both the office and night thanks to the fairly classic combination. The eyeshadows are Zen (pale beige with a pearlish glimmer), Dynasty (shimmery medium beige), Palace (shimmery taupe), Midnight (satin dirty brown) and Empire (matte purplish brown). Azalea Convertible Color is a medium orange-toned red.
Swatches done on bare skin with no primer.
Palace and Empire swatched less smoothly than the other shades, but when applied over a primer, they do build up easily to an even finish.
Using Too Faced Shadow Insurance as the base, I applied Zen as a wash over the browbone area, Empire along the upper lashline to the crease, Midnight in the crease, Palace blended in the outer corners, Dynasty just above the crease and along the lower lashline. MAC Blackline Pearlglide Intense Eyeliner was used to line the upper lashline.
The eyeshadows lasted quite well over eight hours of wear with a bit of fading but no significant creasing, whereas the Azalea blush had completely vanished by the end of the day. Although the Convertible Colors are a signature product for Stila, I've never been a fan of them. I only use the Convertible Colors as blushes as they do not apply well on my dry lips. When I first received the palette, I was worried that the eyeshadows would end up looking muddy on me but fortunately, that was not the case. Although the shades aren't terribly unique and can probably be easily duped if you have a large makeup collection, they do complement one another well.
Hope this review has been helpful!
Stila has changed the size of the palettes yet again, making them short and wider. The Convertible Colors make a comeback in this year's palettes, which also each hold five eyeshadows. I much prefer the format of the Beach Palettes which had four powder eyeshadows and two powder blush/highlighter shades, as the cream Convertible Colors inevitably get contaminated by the eyeshadows and are generally just messier. Furthermore, cream products also have a shorter shelf life than powders.
The price has increased to US$16, versus US$14 for last year's Beach Palettes and US$10 for the original Travel Palettes. When the Travel Palettes were first introduced, their affordable price tag was very much part of the appeal. The quality of these made-in-China palettes was not on par with Stila's regular eyeshadows, but they were decent for the price. If the price keeps increasing without a commensurate increase in the quality, that is bound to turn even collectors off at some point. Getting all five City Palettes will cost US$80 (and that's not even including sales tax), for which you could buy a Urban Decay Naked palette ($50) and still have a hefty chunk of change left over.
Stylish in Seoul is the first of the five palettes that I'll be reviewing.
Again, I much prefer the layout of the earlier Beach and Travel Palettes which had round eyeshadow pans that are easy for brushes of virtually any size to pick up without resulting in excessive powdery kick up.
Like previous palettes, a small mirror, application tips and a thoughtful quote are included.
Stylish in Seoul is pretty versatile as it works well for both the office and night thanks to the fairly classic combination. The eyeshadows are Zen (pale beige with a pearlish glimmer), Dynasty (shimmery medium beige), Palace (shimmery taupe), Midnight (satin dirty brown) and Empire (matte purplish brown). Azalea Convertible Color is a medium orange-toned red.
Swatches done on bare skin with no primer.
Palace and Empire swatched less smoothly than the other shades, but when applied over a primer, they do build up easily to an even finish.
Using Too Faced Shadow Insurance as the base, I applied Zen as a wash over the browbone area, Empire along the upper lashline to the crease, Midnight in the crease, Palace blended in the outer corners, Dynasty just above the crease and along the lower lashline. MAC Blackline Pearlglide Intense Eyeliner was used to line the upper lashline.
The eyeshadows lasted quite well over eight hours of wear with a bit of fading but no significant creasing, whereas the Azalea blush had completely vanished by the end of the day. Although the Convertible Colors are a signature product for Stila, I've never been a fan of them. I only use the Convertible Colors as blushes as they do not apply well on my dry lips. When I first received the palette, I was worried that the eyeshadows would end up looking muddy on me but fortunately, that was not the case. Although the shades aren't terribly unique and can probably be easily duped if you have a large makeup collection, they do complement one another well.
Hope this review has been helpful!
2 comments:
hi Haru,
it's always nice to see STila's travel palette. This one looks cute, and I am liking the color. However the idea of combining lip and eyeshadow isn't a good idea in my opinion, the eyeshadow fallouts tends to mess the lip palette. Nonetheless the colors are pretty :)
hi memoiselle,
I agree, the convertible colors in all my palettes are now sporting a few specks of eyeshadow!
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