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| Bright sunlight |
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| Overcast lighting |
I shall start with the eyeshadows. Sand Dollar is a medium pink with quite a lot of shimmer. Although it's quite pigmented it is possible to sheer this one out to use as a wash. Sunset is a shimmery russet colour. Of all of the eyeshadows this has the best pigmentation and the smoothest texture. Cove is a mauve taupe colour and contains a discrete amount of shimmer. Bonfire is a chocolate brown with russet shimmer.
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| L-R: Sand Dollar, Cove, Sunset and Bonfire |
I had expected to really like both Cove and Bonfire. Unfortunately their texture means they are tricky to work with. The powder is tightly packed, it picks up on a brush or a finger with a bit of effort but I find it hard work to transfer the colour to the lid (I tried the back of my hand too with a brush and had the same problem). In the placement guide inside the palette it suggests using Bonfire with a damp brush. It's possible that it would work ok like this as a liner. It might be a bit fiddly though if you were using this as a travel palette.
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| Flash |
The cheek colours have been my surprise favourites in this palette. Although Pacific Coast Highway is supposed to be a bronzer I find it pulls quite peachy on my skin rather than tan. I think both of these make nice cheek colours. You can see how Pacific Coast looks when worn as a blusher at the bottom of this post.
I had a go at creating an eye look with the palette today. I'm very sorry to say that I failed to execute something I was happy to share because of the issues mentioned above. I found I couldn't get Cove to transfer onto my lid and Bonfire was too patchy to use as a crease colour. I tried with a variety of different brushes but had no success. Unfortunately the standouts shades, Sand Dollar and Sunset, are not flattering on my colouring without using other colours alongside them. If you would like to see how all of the colours look when applied, I can recommend taking a look at Lipglossiping's beautiful look.
I think how much value you would get from this palette depends on your colouring and also somewhat on your patience when it comes to applying dampened eyeshadow. If you enjoy pinky neutrals and could wear Sunset with confidence, I think this would be a worthwhile purchase. If you gravitate to more cool neutrals or wanted it just for the mauve and brown eyeshadows, I think you might want to pass on this.
The Stila Beach palettes are available from Escentual.com and Beautybay.com, as well as several other online retailers.
Disclosure: PR Sample.
This palette is so pretty! I am very fair and feel like these colors would make my face look more alive.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy your eyeshadow posts as they are so detailed and definitely the best out of all the blogs I read x
ReplyDeleteJust ordered mine! The colours should suit me, I have fair skin. This will save so much time and I'd use it everyday...shame it's limited edition :( I like the other ones too, lots of nudes but this is best for me. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI like these colors but they probably wouldn't work on my skintone I'm too tan for them to show up :(
ReplyDelete@Kathleen Novak: Although I didn't get a look I was happy with, I thought it looked beautiful on Charlotte. I imagine it would look very pretty on you also.
ReplyDelete@Claire McDonnell: Thank you so much Claire. Your comment really made my day :D
@EJ: How have you been getting on with it? Are you living the life in Laguna? :)
@Eden-Avalon: I imagine Sunset would work well but you might struggle with the others because of the pigmentation. I've yet to try the colours wet.
Jane x
well...how I should have listened to my Aunty Brown! Actually the blushers (or whatever they are) are amazing, both colours suit me. I love anything peachy, it's probably a bit more tan on me as I'm paler and I have been looking for a nice light pink so that part is great. The blushers are quite buildable and so I'm looking forward to using them in Summer.
ReplyDeleteThe shadows on their own work quite well. I wanted something all in one that I could just grab in the morning rather then opening lots of pots so it works for this but while I can work with individual colours and get a nice day look I cant get them to work together. Same problem with bonfire, doesn't blend very well. And all together either as instructed on the packaging or the way I make smokey eyes just looks horrible, very mucky! Trying them wet may be a good idea as you mentioned above.
So I am living the life in Laguna...but only a bit. This is the first time I've tried Stila so it's put me off their other products a bit :(