Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Stila Vibrant in Vancouver travel palette review & swatches

Damage: US$16 CAN$21
Stila sez:
"The cute, collectible makeup palettes that started a cult following are back and better than ever. Five palettes featuring 5 ultra-wearable eye shadow shades, which can be worn wet or dry, a multi-tasking convertible color for lips and cheeks, plus a mirror and a how-to face chart make these palettes perfect for on-the-go touchups and a must-have for every Stila girl's makeup bag or clutch. At only $16 each, why not collect them all?"
Nunu sez:
I've never tried any of Stila's travel palettes before, however, I have a few of their regular eyeshadows and have nary a bad word to say about them, so I was quite looking forward to trying this palette!
Designed as an all-in-one travel friendly palette, it contains 5 eyeshadows and a convertible colour blush which doubles as a lip colour. Much like the Tokidoki Arte palettes, these Travel Palettes were originally intended to be a budget friendly line, however, they have escalated from their original price of US$10 to US$12 last year and now to US$16. To add salt to the wound, us Canadians will have to fork out a whopping CAN$21 for one of these palettes.
The cardboard packaging is sturdy and should have no problem surviving in your cosmetics bag. I am kind of iffy about the fact that they put powder and cream products in the same compartment, my convertible colour has already collected a layer of eyeshadow dust :/.
The colours included in the palette are very safe neutrals which are impossible to screw up. It's pretty easy to go from Grouse Grind to Yaletown with this palette simply by adding some of the darker shades and turning it into a smokey eye.
Good concept, baaaad quality!!
I'm sorry to say it, but the quality of this palette really disappointed me. The quality is nothing like the shadows in their regular line. The texture of these eyeshadows were hard and pigmentation was difficult to build up. The shimmery shades fared slightly better but matte shades were chalky and powdery. It is anything but vibrant. $10? Deal. $16? Okaaayyy, but pushing it. $21? Definitely not! Either up the quality or lower the price.
Swatches from left: Cypress, Seaplane, English Bay, Granville, Coal Harbour, and Tiger Lily Convertible Colour. I had to really dig in to get the colours to show up. The small compartments also meant lots of cross contamination.
FOTD using English Bay all over the lid, Cypress in the crease and outer corners, Coal Harbour as upper and lower liner and Tiger Lily on cheeks and lips.

Other Tine said it basically looks like I'm not wearing any makeup. Perhaps that is the point? That Vancouverites are so laid back that even when they put on makeup it looks like they have nothing on?

9 comments:

  1. You still look amazing with little makeup. Such a shame about the palette's pigmentation.

    The Lip colour is nice, is it quite matte or glossy?

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    1. It's the Convertible Colour blush used as a lip colour. It's not glossy and it's not matte either...it's kind of drying and what one would probably call a satin finish I think?

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  2. i think sometimes it's good to have light makeup.

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    Replies
    1. For sure, but light makeup does not equate to poor quality makeup.

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  3. The packaging is cute and the colors look nice on you, but they definitely should up the quality for the price! Thanks for the swatches and helpful review.

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  4. That's kinda "funny" how the palette made for Canadians costs more than norm. I like the natural look it gave! Too bad the quality sucks :( I haven't tried mine just yet, but now I'm looking forward to it a little less.

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  5. It's odd how the palette is named "Vibrant in Vancouver" yet there is nothing vibrant about the eyeshadow colors. Not happy about the price either.. what a bummer palette :(

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    Replies
    1. Why is Vancouver represented by such boring colours?!

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