Sunday, July 19, 2015

Stila Summer 2015 ::: "Sun, Sea & Splash" Collection

Bright & bold shades of makeup products are my addiction :-) If you ask me to choose just one lipstick shade for the rest of my life, I will probably pick “Red”. On the other hand, I don’t care much for limited edition seasonal makeup collections that companies develop. But these vibrant joyful products from Stila Cosmetics for Summer-2015 "Sun, Sea & Splash" Collection stole my heart right away! Who does not want to slather herself/himself in bright fun lip colors and creamy-sheeny cheeks during summer? :-) ;-) There are 5 new All Day Liquid Lipstick bright and neon-y shades, 5 Aqua Glow Watercolor Blushes, 3 Stay All Day Bronzers and a few other items. Apart from the vibrant shades of the collection, the glass and gold metal packaging is very adorable too! The shades in this collection are bright and vivid- they may appear a little bit intimidating to someone who are afraid of colors. :-)


Stila was offering 25% off on their website for this collection and that’s what encouraged me to buy these. I got “Bella” and “Venezia” liquid lipsticks and Aqua Glow Blush in “Water Lily”. Regular price for the lipsticks are $22 for 0.10 oz. and $26 for 0.21 oz. of the blush. With the discount code, all these 3 items cost me $52.50 before taxes, which seemed reasonable to me. I don’t think I would be willing to pay the regular price of $22 for the lipsticks but I will happily spend $26 for the blush!


Aqua Glow Watercolor Blush in Water Lily”: It comes in a beautiful jar container; sturdy and functional with gold lids! Like the name suggests it is a water-based blush and is instructed to shake it before using. There is a mesh panel color dispenser but I actually like to use the product that adheres to the back of the lid when you shake it. I love the consistency of the product; as you can see in the picture it is thicker than liquid and much thinner than cream! It is pigmented, very easy to blend, does not emphasize my pores and you can easily build it up with multiple layers to control the amount of the color you want. If cream blushes scare you, this might be a good alternative. On my light coverage foundation, a good decent 2 layers of the blush stayed from 7 am to 3.30 pm - left a beautiful sheeny cheek in its wake. So, the staying power is pretty good, but I wish it were a bit more long-wearing.

“Water Lily” is a rosey mauve shade with a hint of coral and just a little bit of shimmers. You can see the shimmers if you hold the product against sunlight. But it does not transfer to the cheeks that much! I have been loving the blush and its application process; it feels like painting with my fingertips. It brings back a lot of memories of my art classes from childhood!! I think my mom still has all those painting kits me and my sisters used. This definitely excites me.

All Day Liquid Lipstick in “Venezia”: These come in a glass tube packaging with a normal doe-foot applicator; it’s kind of similar to Anastasia Beverly Hills liquid lipsticks. “Venezia” is an uncommon name and I love it :-) Stila describes “Venezia” as bright red but it’s not; it’s a very bright neon-y a true coral. I was most excited about this shade and was very sure that it will absolutely flatter my skin tone! Unfortunately it looks a bit unnatural on my lips. I guess it’s one of those corals that look better on fairer skin tone rather than deeper skin tones. Otherwise tan/medium/deep skin tones can rock coral lip shades very easily. Colors aside, I found this particular formula very difficult to apply. It is liquid lipstick hence very drying and emphasizes all the fine lines on my lips. It stayed 4-5 hrs. but towards the end it crumbled up along my fine lines which is not a good look. I then started applying very thin-light layer with a lip brush along with Too Faced Lip Insurance lip primer underneath and I was able to make it somewhat wearable. But, overall this disappointed me. Return shipping to Stila is not free and I am not spending $5 to have a lipstick returned which cost me $16. :-) It needs a lot of effort with lip balm, lip primer and lip brush but nonetheless, I am resolute to make “Venezia” work! 

All Day Liquid Lipstick in “Bella”: Beautiful fuchsia pink! Very bright and looks almost fluorescent :-) It has just a little bit of neon! I am pretty sure I have similar shades in my collection but I still could not resist it. “Amalfi” looked more neon-y so I went for this. It is drying but not as much as Venezia. It can make the fine lines on the lips look a just bit more prominent. It is also a lot easier to work with. The formula feels smoother on this one; comparatively! Also, this makes my tooth a little brighter.  These are the first liquid lipstick that I have tried, and I can definitely say that there is a definite learning curve to it. The first time I tried them on, it was too goopy and I did not really enjoy the look. But slowly and steadily I am getting better at this. 

Among the very few Stila products I have tried I really love the All Day Liquid Eyeliner, Bronzing BB and I am glad that I got these for my collection; I specially ADORE everything about the blush. I have really started to like “Bella” and slowly starting to warm up to “Venezia”. These are limited-edition but are still available in Sephora, Ulta and Stila Cosmetics. Have you got any of these and what’s your thought?  



Love,
~Arrru

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