A Fantastic Range of Shades (Stila Eye Shadow)

Member Name: coffeelover

Product:	Stila Eye Shadow
Date:	14/09/02 (674 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: wide selection of shades, ease of application, can be used wet or dry

Disadvantages: price, they come in flimsy cardboard pots

There is something addictive about these eye shadows. Case in point, I currently own about 15 of them. I keep telling myself I don't need anymore. Every so often, though, my evil twin ends up splurging for "just one more."

The best thing about them is the selection of colors. The shades range from subtle neutrals to shimmery bright jewel tones and everything in between. With over 50 to choose from, everyone should find some to flatter her features. Here are descriptions of a few personal favorites:

"Barefoot Contessa": Deep brownish burgundy with a subtle gold shimmer. Perfect for the crease.

"Puck" A medium gray-plum, subtle and sheer yet lovely. Hard to describe!


"Eden" A matte creamy mauve-beige, perfect for daytime lids.


"Lempicka" A shimmery pastel yellow. Something different for my grey-green eyes.

The only shades I don't care for are the ultra-shimmery ones such as "Kitten" and "Grace." While these colors are lovely, the amount of shimmer is excessive to the point that tiny sparkles migrate from my lids to everywhere else on the face. I can always tell this has happened when people start peering at some part of my face.

All the less shimmery shades I've tried, however, have nice staying power. Moreover, they are easy to apply and blend. They are fragrance-free and non irriating even when used to line the eyes.

Another advantage to Stila shadows is that they can be used both wet and dry. Stila doesn't even make eye liner crayons, since the shadows are intended for this purpose. You just need to find the right brush, as no applicator is included with the pots.

Which brings me to my next point, the packaging. The eye shadows are flat pans which are surrounded by recycled carboard pots. The pots tend to dent too easily. In the US, you can also purchase any shade in a pan refill. These
are slightly cheaper than the pots. Stila sells several types of palettes ranging from 4-pan to 12-pan size. The palettes are magnetized. You just pop the pans in there. Voila! The pans stay put since the bottoms are metal. It is not difficult to take the shades out and replace once they are used up. Some of the palettes have limited edition cover art and are quite the collector's items on Ebay It is possible to extract the pans out of the pots if you later decide to go with the palette system. It just requires a flat knife and a great deal of caution. I am not sure whether if the pan refills and palettes are availibe in the UK.

The Stila line is availible at Space NK. I also saw them at the new Boots beauty hall in Heathrow's Terminal Four at duty-free prices. If you want to see the shades, try gloss.com or sephora.com.

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