Makeup Monday: New Stila Liners for Spring 2011

Stila introduced a few awesome new products this spring, and I had the opportunity to review three of them. Well, it's technically only two products, but three shades. Two new colors of the Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Liner and one brand new Glitter Liner. Take a look:


Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner in Indigo and Dark Brown plus Stila Glitter Eye Liner in Kitten.


The Stay All Day waterproof liner comes in felt tip pen form. Note how the tip of the pen comes to a very fine point. The glitter liner comes with a thin brush style applicator.



Left to right: Stay All Day Waterproof liners in Indigo and Dark Brown (applied with pen tip and then applied using the side of the pen) and Kitten Glitter Liner applied thin and thick.

The Stay All Day liners really impressed me. I have never been a fan of felt-tip liners for a few reasons. I feel like I don't have enough control over my line with a felt tip liner. I also experience skipping and tugging and lines that aren't smooth, and the pens I've tried tend dry out really quickly. The Stila ones are some of the nicest I've ever used.

First of all, the tip is long and tapers into a very fine point. This is good because the length of the felt tip means it will hold more liquid. More liquid means it stays wet while lining and you don't get the lumpy looking line that happens when the tip dries out. And then there's the obvious: The fine tip means you can get a fine line. But that doesn't mean you're limited to a fine line, you can use the side of the tip to make a thicker line just as easily.

Second, the formula is very workable. It stays wet long enough to finish your line, it's opaque enough to get perfect color and coverage without layering, but it also dries fast enough to not ruin your line when you curl your lashes. The formula also has a sticky-rubbery quality to it that keeps it from bleeding and running like some felt tip liners do.

And third, also an obvious fact: It's waterproof. Once it dries, it's there for good. It doesn't smudge, doesn't run, doesn't come off at all until you make it come off with makeup remover. Felt tip eyeliners I've used in the past have such a thin, marker-like formula that they start running at the first sign of moisture. Not these. These last all day (and all night if you sleep with your makeup on, oops). I've been removing mine with jojoba oil or Almay makeup remover pads as they don't come off with regular soap and water.

There are a few negatives to balance out the positives. The tip of the pen can get covered in eyeshadow from application and it can alter the color a little. This is a minor annoyance, but it was the one thing I noticed the most. It can be solved by wiping it on a clean paper towel or on the back of your hand after using it. Also, since it's a pen, it will dry out eventually. After a few weeks of testing, I noticed that it didn't flow as easily as it did when it was new. When felt tip pens start to dry out, they become more difficult to use.

Now, for the glitter liner. It was a surprise! Stila doesn't strike me as a flashy-glittery type of brand, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

The formula of the liner is about average for liquid glitter liners, except the glitter is much smaller so it's not as chunky. It has a tiny metallic type of shimmer that provides most of the bulk and color in the liner and it's accented with tiny flecks of bronze, gold, copper, pink and iridescent metallic microglitter. It's thick, wet and gel-like like your standard glitter liner, but the small size of the particles and lack of large chunky glitter makes it much more smooth and even when applying. The formula contains chamomile extract that's supposed to be soothing to the skin, so that's a nice touch.

I had expected a chunky type of glitter liner, but that's not what this turned out to be. It's a smooth metallic sparkle type of glitter, it flashes several different colors and it is rather shiny, but it's not flashy or wild or over the top. If there could be such a thing as office-appropriate glitter, this would be it. Conservative glitter. How about that? It can be worn sheer or layered for more sparkle. And it's not strictly eyeliner, either. You can dab a little on over your shadow like a glitter gel, or wear it as a solid glitter shadow, or even put a little on your lashes like glitter mascara.

What I like most about this shade of glitter liner (Kitten, after their best selling eyeshadow) is the eye-brightening effect. The reflective quality of the metallic shine really brings some light to my eyes. It makes my dark brown eyes sparkle.

I think this would be great for a subtle bronzed look in the summertime. Maybe a little hint of a shimmery light nude or cream colored shadow on the lid and a big slash of Kitten glitter liner with tons of mascara, maybe some bronzer and a touch of warm coral blush... Maybe a natural lip with it?

Here's how it looks on my eyes:


You've seen this already, but it's relevant so I'm posting it again! This is the Dark Brown waterproof liner along the lashline and Kitten glitter liner just above that. They go very well together.


This is the waterproof liner in Dark Brown all by itself. Nice smooth line, easy to control the thickness and wing it out at the end.



Here's Indigo and a funny story to go along with it. Not my best application, but I can explain... Was I was applying this to my eye, I noticed that I had a little splatter of it next to my nose. I brushed it off and kept on lining. The I started to notice that my hand felt weird and itchy... I stopped lining and looked at my hand and HOLY CRAP. There was blue liquid running down my arm, pooled under my fingernails, soaked into my cuticles... I don't know how I didn't notice that it had exploded until it was literally dripping off my hand. I don't know what I did to it that made it overflow! I emailed the company and asked what I did wrong, and they said it was just a defective pen and they haven't heard of it happening to anyone else. Why does this kinda thing always happen to me?

And here's the Kitten glitter liner all alone. It takes on a more bronzed look when worn alongside bronze shadow. Against a darker, cooler toned shadow, it looks brighter and more golden.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed all three items. Nice, easy application, beautiful bold color, bulletproof longwearing formula. I'd love to be able to buy these liners in more shades. I know they have a black, but I'm thinking... forest green? Deep violet? Oooh yeah, a violet one would be amazing.

The Stay All Day liquid liner is $20 for 0.016 oz and the Kitten glitter liner is $16 for 0.10 fl oz.

(These were sent to me for review.)

Stila Make Me Blush Set

This sold out really fast. I've only had it for about two weeks, and when I went back to Sephora.com looking for it, it was already completely gone from the site! So... guess I'm a little late posting this... Oops!

It's still pretty to look at, except for the hideous box it comes in:

Really, could they have picked an uglier box? I don't understand this! They need something pretty to store it in, not this generic cardboard abomination!


This is what the items look like when you free them from their brown paper prison. Make Me Blush blush, Higs lip glaze, Kisses lip glaze.


Here they are up close, Hugs on top, Kisses on bottom. Hugs is a sheer red with tiny gold shimmer, Kisses is a fleshy nude pink creme. These are both minis.

Oh man, it's so pretty. Look at that gold sparkle.

Looks shinier in natural light. The gold is sadly just overspray, but it's really really nice overspray. I touched it gently to see what it looked like and it's so bright and sparkly. The powder itself is so gorgeous, but the compact it comes in is ugly! Plain black plastic, generic looking, plain round shape and clear flip lid. I know it's just packaging, but compare it to the Happy Boosters- those have a pretty powder and a pretty compact, why can't this?

I haven't swatched this yet. To be honest, I can't. It's too pretty. I can't bear to mess it up by touching it! I bought the Physician's Formula Happy Boosters to wear, and I bought this just to look at... Maybe I'll wear it one day. But thinking about smearing all that pretty gold foil makes me sad!

I've only worn Kisses lip glaze and it's very nice. Standard lip glaze formula, nondescript sweet scent. The color is great on me, it's a slightly warm nude pink that doesn't make me have corpse lips, I'd love to buy it in a full size if they ever made one!

Look using Wet n Wild Comfort Zone Palette

Finally tried one of the new Wet n Wild 8-pan palettes I picked up. Decided to start with Comfort Zone. This palette is amazing. I took a ton of pictures trying to pick up the green duochrome on that Club-esque shadow, don't know if I really captured it well, though.

Brows are still looking rough. They're almost grown to where I want them to be, but I'm starting to get impatient! Normally I complain about them growing in too fast, now they can't grow fast enough?

Here's what the palette looks like:
I used the right half of it this time.


You can start to see the green duochrome in the flash pictures. Mmmmmm duochrome....

This was:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Browbone shade on browbone and in inner corner
Lid shade on lid
Crease shade in crease and on lower lashline
Definer shade in crease
Stila Waterproof Liquid Liner in Chocolate Brown
Stila Glitter Liner in Kitten
Cover Girl Lash Blast

If you have brown eyes and an extra $5 to spend on makeup, YOU NEED TO GET THIS! It's AMAZING! It makes my black-brown eyes look like there's actually color in them and it's so easy to apply and blend. The shades are nicely pigmented and super soft, no chalky hard shadows here. Every color in the palette is gorgeous. I can't believe it's only $5, it's so nice. The only downside for me is that the shades labelled "Browbone" are way too frosty for me to wear on my browbone. I'm just not a fan of that frosty-shiny-reflective white browbone highlight look. I prefer a matte or just a slight shimmer as a highlight. But, other than that, excellent palette.

And I forgot to add- I use a Shiseido eyelash curler. People always ask and I just forget to mention it. I recently switched from the Shu Uemura and I couldn't be happier. I love the Shiseido way more, especially since they actually sell refills for it, unlike the Shu. I've been meaning to do a full review of it, but I get so distracted by pretty shiny things that I never end up posting one!

Valentine's Day Beauty Wishlist

You all know how much I love holidays... So whenever I see something holiday-themed, I immediately want it. I've been putting together my Valentine's Day beauty wishlist over the past couple weeks and I thought I'd share my favorites with you. Since I started putting together this list, I've actually bought some of the things, so you can expect full reviews soon!


Urban Decay's flavored body powders. I actually have all of these scents in the old-style packaging, but the new style packaging is even better! I am a total sucker for packaging, I know. I'd get them again just to have the gorgeous boxes. I really do like these, they're sweet scented (Cocoa is amazing, I wish it had a matching perfume) and they also taste sweet. The have a little bit of a tinted shimmer. I used to wear them on my chest/collarbone/décolletage when I was wearing lower-cut shirts. Oddly enough, whenever I wore these, this guy I worked with always told me how pretty I looked.




Physician's Formula Happy Booster blush, bronzer and powder. I don't think I've lusted after any beauty product quite like I did with these. The minute I saw them I just couldn't stop thinking about them. I did end up finding these last week and I love them so much. I'll do a review on them shortly, but let me mention that these currently have $3 off coupons attached to them, so if you're thinking about getting one, make sure to get one with a coupon on it!



Stila Make Me Blush. I feel the same way about this that I do about the Physician's Formula Happy Booster powders. I know that logically, it's just a blush. But when I see it I go crazy. It makes me giddy to look at. Of course, I caved and ordered the set that comes with the Hugs and Kisses lip glazes. It's actually a pretty inexpensive indulgence- the set is only $20.


Philosophy Sweet on You set. One of my readers told me about this! It's supposed to smell like those candy hearts that I love. I have the sweetest readers :) Anyway, I'm a huge Philosophy fan so this is extremely appealing to me. I really really want this!


Bath and Body Works Valentine's Day PocketBacs! They're 5 for $5 right now. These are so cute. I'm a bit of a germophobe so I always have hand sanitizer in my purse, but I wish I had these instead of my plain unscented Purell! Here's what the scents are:

• I Love You (aww ♥) in Sweet Pea
  
• I Love Shoes (lets get ‘em!) in Stylish Strawberry
  
• I Love Cake (maybe just a mini cupcake so that I can fit into my LBD tonight) in Buttercream
• I Love Boys (#bieberfever) in Berry Crush
• I Love Bling (who doesn’t) in Rock Candy

Buttercream and rock candy scented hand sanitizer! Must have these!


YBF Pucker Up lipstick set. They're in heart-shaped tubes! I remember that Models Prefer used to have a set just like this, and I remember always wanting it. I'd probably only be able to pull off that pink color in the middle, but like I said, I'm a complete sucker for packaging.


Kiss Catwalk Nail Decals. Actually, this isn't so much a wishlist item as a recommendation. I just got these and they're perfect for Valentine's Day. Just wanted to make sure I mentioned it!


Sephora Collection Flower Kabuki brush set. Gah. I can't handle how cute these are. I'm not sure how well they would even work for applying powder, but I need them. Anyone have these? Are they good? I love looking at them.


Viktor and Rolf Flowerbomb gift set from Nordstrom.com. It comes in a heart-shaped box, just like a Valentine's Day box of chocolates! I'd rather have perfume than chocolate. Well, maybe. Perfume lasts longer. Can I get perfume and chocolate? I've been meaning to get a full sized bottle of Flowerbomb...




Kat Von D Adora fragrance and Painted Love Lipstick in Adora. Adora doesn't even sound like a fragrance I'd like based on the list of notes (Lychee, Boysenberry, Thyme, Cassis, Hyacinth, Jasmine, Mango Flesh, Patchouli, Sheer Musk, Amber Wood.) but I love love love the bottle. It looks so heavy. And the lipstick? I don't think I really wear red well, but the color of it is so bright and sparkly and look at that romantic looking tube! The red flowers on the black satin background! The little clear base that shows the color!


I'm having cute makeup overload.

First try with The Falsies....

Well... here it is. First attempt with a new mascara! I usually have trouble when I first use a brand new tube of mascara and then it usually evens out by the third or fourth time I use it. I'm on my fourth try now and it has gotten better, but my first try was pretty scary looking.

This was:

MAC Paint Pot in Painterly
Aromaleigh Viviane applied wet on lid
Stila Ebony in crease
Aromaleigh Mirielle on lower lash line and over Ebony in the crease
Stila Wheat highlight
Milani Liquif-Eye in Gold
Maybelline The Falsies Volum' Express mascara

Eek... it looks like I have a grasshopper leg or something coming off of my eye! When I first applied it to my lashes it immediately clumped them together into four groups... like four clumps of spikes... it was odd. I kept brushing through with my lash comb but it was removing too much mascara and made my lashes look skinny and short. So, after fighting with it for ten minutes or so I ended up with this compromise- short but dark and clumpy lashes!

Second time wasn't so good either, I'll post that in a bit. Third try was marginally better but I forgot to take pictures of it!

The eyeshadows were pretty at least. So much beautiful sparkle in those Aromaleigh shades. Shame. *sigh* Oh, and the eyeliner? Milani Liquif'Eye? Phenomenal. I like them even better than Urban Decay 24/7s... they just don't come in as many colors. I've been meaning to review them. They're awesome, total drugstore hidden gem, I can't believe they're under $7!

Hot Pink and Black Look

I did this one on Monday... I was wanting something bright mixed with black in matte shades and this is what I ended up with. I love how it turned out, so simple, only two colors!

(I know my brows look bad, don't make fun! I'm half Yeti!)



This was:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Make Up For Ever #75 on lid and inner corner
Stila Ebony in crease and lower lashline
Laura Geller Wonder Wand highlight
Urban Decay Liquid Liner in Minx
Cover Girl Lash Blast Fusion (the purple one, not the orange one like I usually use)

Make Up For Ever 75 is probably the best neon pink in my collection. It does lean more on the fuchsia side than pure pink, but it goes on so easily. It's a little sheer but it isn't chalky and streaky like all my other neons. Neons are a pain, but the end result is so worth it. Maybe I should post some neon looks! I took pictures of my Kryolan UV palette years ago and never posted it... I'll have to pull that one out and use it for a few looks. Such a pain in the ass though... Chalky!

I love those Urban Decay liquid liners so much. Minx and Ecstasy are definitely my favorites, but I've gone through two whole Perverions and I've almost finished my Roach, Radium, Honey, Oil Slick, Gash and Revolver too... Highly recommend. Two thumbs up.

Anyway, this is such a simple and borderline plain look (it only uses two eyeshadows) but it has so much impact! Had dinner with my parents wearing this... My Dad really liked it but my Mom hated it as usual.... haha. I love the contrast. Bright pink against black with a little pop of turquoise. So 90s. I think everything I owned in the 90s was black, hot pink and neon green. I miss that color combination. Reminds me of Troll hair.

Sick EOTDs

Somehow I seem to have caught a cold in the middle of summer. It's either a cold or allergies, I can't tell... I'm sniffly and my eyes won't stop watering. Haven't really felt super awesome for the past few days.

And when I'm sick I rarely feel like putting much energy into my makeup, so here's a few of my lazy sick looks from this week!


This one needed a ton of pictures to show all of the amazing sparkles in these shadows. This was:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Aromaleigh Concrete Jungle, applied wet on lid
Stila Jewel Palette- brown shade, or purple shade? I thought it was brown but it really looks purple this time... whatever color it is, it's in the crease and lower lashline.
Fyrinnae Finnegan's Wake highlight
Black matte shade from the Cargo Wet/Dry liner palette
Urban Decay Zero 24/7
Cover Girl Lash Blast

Aromaleigh Concrete Jungle is an amazing shade. It was the first shade I tried from them and I instantly fell in love. It's a light taupe sort of shade with tons and tons and tons of sparkle. Tiny sparkles. Gold sparkles, silver sparkles. And, most importantly, BLUE sparkles. Little mini blue sparkles. This is the only picture I could get to show them, I apologize for the disturbing angle:

See the blue sparkles? Sadly, Aromaleigh is closing in less than a week so you might want to order it now if it interests you at all!

And the Stila Jewel palette shade is perfect for minimal makeup days for me. It has all the sparkle I crave but none of the effort of applying multiple shades and separate glitter. I freaking love that palette. Did I tell you I bought two backups of that palette? Eep. I know. But it's SO AWESOME.


Brown and teal. No-brainer!
This was:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Fyrinnae Greenman's Forest, applied wet on lid
MAC Go in crease and lower lashline
MAC Teal pigment applied wet as liner
Fyrinnae Finnegan's Wake highlight
Urban Decay Zero 24/7
Cover Girl Lash Blast

Greenman's Forest is a really sweet duochrome. It's light brown and a little goldish brown and a little green. I don't think I did a very good job of capturing the color shift, but hey, I'm sick, give me a break! :P MAC Go is one of those amazing Starflash finish shadows so it's totally buttery and effortless to blend. Starflash was amazing, I really hope they do more of them. I don't think I have them all, I have most I think, butI wish I had gotten the whole set! And of course MAC Teal is the perfect eyeliner for brown eyed girls like myself.


This one I didn't get any daylight pictures of so flash will have to do. You can see the sparkles better with flash anyway.

This was actually a cover-up job! I did one look, realized I didn't like it and immediately covered it up with different colors!
It consists of:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Aromaleigh Oberon (over MAC Vex) on lid
Aromaleigh Ambre (over MAC Club) in crease
MAC Club on lower lashline
Fyrinnae Finnegan's Wake highlight
Kat Von D liquid liner in Black Metal Love
Urban Decay Zero 24/7
Cover Girl Lash Blast

Oberon is another duochrome shade... Can you tell I love duochromes? I do. A lot. I took a blurry picture to show the sparkles of green against the taupey brown base:Blurry pictures show glitter really well. Though this isn't really glitter... it's just smooth shimmer in different colors, no flaky particles that are a different texture like real glitter is.

Ambre is also pretty cool... I used it again yesterday. It's a little tricky to work with but if I layer it I have good luck. It's a really rich smoky looking metallic gold... a little dark... gold shimmer on a smoky base. I'll post that look soon.

I've had a couple people ask me what brushes I use, so I'm going to attempt to remember to take a picture of them. My staples are MAC 219, 209SE (I like the SE way better than the normal one), Studio Gear #37 liner (I don't think they make this anymore, It's over 10 years old!), Smashbox 30, something-20 dual ended (the numbers have worn off but I can not live without this brush) and Sephora brand smudge.

Now I'm going to go make some of that awesome Traditional Medicinals Throat Coat tea... that stuff rocks. Way better than Yogi's throat tea. Random. But yay tea!