Stila Kitten Eyeshadow and Smudgepot

Stila Kitten is undoubtedly Stila's best-selling eyeshadow. It's so successful that they just had to make a smudgepot and a lip glaze version! I don't have the lip glaze but I have the smudgepot and the eyeshadow. I got the eyeshadow as part of a set. At first, I neglected it but now it's actually my favorite highlighter! And since I love Stila smudgepots I got myself one in the same shade too!

I don't have the container for the eyeshadow since you have to buy it separately, I think.

Here are the swatches. On top is the eyeshadow swatched once. Beneath it is the smudgepot, swatched twice.

As you can see, although they are similar in shade, they differ in terms of intensity (to think I already swatched the smudgepot twice). The eyeshadow can't work on me as an all-over lid color, it's just too light and obvious on my NC25 skin tone. This is really meant to be a highlighter. On the other hand, since the smudgepot is less intense, I can actually apply this all over my lid as an everyday color! It just gives the right amount of shimmer on my lids.

Here's the Kitten smudgepot on my lids:

The camera wasn't able to capture it properly, but it does give a little shimmer to brighten the eyes up. Perfect as an everyday all-over lid color! And the best part? Smudgepots are very crease-resistant, so even without an eye primer, they last around 5 hours without creasing! That's a long time for my very oily lids. With a primer, it stays crease-free even longer!

Have you tried Stila Kitten products? I'd like to know what you think!

Something New: Stila Eye for Color Palette

I've been eagerly awaiting this palette, so I was happy to finally get my hands on it. I like Stila palettes because they have good pigmentation for a reasonable price. And packaging is cute too!

It opens up to reveal 13 shades.

Here are some swatches. They have good pigmentation, not chalky, although some of the light colors a little light to see. I just wish they had some matte colors, since they are all shimmery.

Have a great week everyone!

Quick Post: Rustan's Mini Haul

Last saturday, I went to Shangri-La and really couldn't resist buying a few stuff from Rustan's. First I went to Stila to get the Eye for Color Palette, which I've been waiting for since the month began. I also got a Kitten smudgepot! I love the Kitten e/s so I wanted to try out the smudgepot version.

Then I went to the back of Stila, which was NARS! I got a blush in Amour, which is great because I'm really lacking in matte blushes. I can't wait to try it out! I also bought a lip pencil in Dolce Vita, which I'm loving! Reviews to follow shortly, starting with the Dolce Vita Lip Pencil.

Here's my small haul that still burned a hole in my pocket:

But I don't feel so bad because I get to use them on my gigs (nevertheless, I'm going on a makeup no-buy after this month hehe)! Yey for a fruitful December! Have a great day everyone!

Stila Ulta Mate Set

Hello everyone! You know, one of my goals for the New Year is to blog 5-6 times a week. But obviously that's not happening as I'm still blogging my 3-4 times a week. Sorry for that. I'm just quite busy.

Anyway, I'd like to show you what I got from a pool order with Her Royal Bleakness: the Stila Ulta Mate Set.

This is really a value for money kit! It comes with an Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer, a  mini Convertible Color, a mini Lip Glaze, a mascara and four eyeshadows!

So here are the actual products:

 

 Here are the eyeshadows. Of course, they had to include their best-selling shade, Kitten. Wheat and Kitten are quite similar but Kitten is more pinkish gold than Wheat. Both of them would make good everyday eyeshadows for me. Golightly is a pigmented brown while Mystic is sort of an aquamarine color. These e/s have very good pigmentation, except for Mystic which is not as pigmented as the others.

 

So let's go the the other stuff on the kit. On the very top is the Convertible Color in Peony. This will work well underneath peachy-pink blushes like NARS Orgasm. Below that is the Lip Glaze in Ulta mate pink. It actually goes on very sheer but buildable. What surprised me the most is the Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer. When I read that it was Shade 01, I was worried that it would be very fair. Well, as you can see in the swatch, it's fair for me. However, when I blended it out, it disappeared on my skin! I think it will work well as a makeup base. Because once I blended it out, what was left was a dewy look and a slightly brighter face.

All-in-all, I give a thumbs up to this set! Yey Stila!

The Best of 2009

Hello everyone! Christmas is done, and the year will soon end. So, I'd like to present my list of the best of 2009. Now, when I mean that it's the best of 2009, I'm talking about products that were released in 2009, or have been released previously but didn't make waves until 2009. I loved a lot of products this year but if I put them all, it might take forever. So, here's my version (Please note that they have no particular order):

1. Adorned With Grace Foundation

This foundation was released in 2008 (I think) but didn't become really popular in GirlTalk until late 2008 until early 2009. This is my favorite mineral foundation brand, although I still don't have a full pot myself (I haven't gotten to it yet). It gives me a really natural finish, but at the same time giving me coverage. I wouldn't say full coverage; it's probably a medium.

2. Saizen Charcoal Masque 

This product made waves amongst GirlTalkers and bloggers alike. And why wouldn't it? Its job is to remove whiteheads and blackheads in our faces. And it does exactly what it's supposed to do. And the best part is, it's only P85 (around $1.60).

You can read my full review HERE.

3. Kryolan Products

Makeup artists have been using Kryolan for a long time already, but it didn't make waves in GirlTalk until the 2009. A lot of beauty addicts now have turned to Kryolan as less expensive alternatives to more expensive brands. Products in particular that because sellouts were the TV Paint Stick and the Anti-Shine Powder.

4. MAC Beauty Powder Blush in Summer Rose

This beauty powder blush came out in MAC's A Rose Romance collection. The moment I swiped it I knew it was love! This quickly became my everyday blush. It gave me a sheer wash of color, very natural, as if I didn't have anything on, yet it lasted all day. And who doesn't love the rose design?

5. MAC Mineralize Blush in Hand-Finish

Another favorite blush of mine that came out this year as part of MAC's Colour Craft Collection. It goes on sheer but buildable. It has big glittery bits which not everyone might like, but since I like shimmer I sometimes put this alone for daytime, or put this on top of another blush for night time events.

6. Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol. II

This is one of the two must have limited edition palettes this year. I missed out on Vol. I and I made sure I wasn't going to miss out on this one. How can I resist Urban Decay? They're creamy and nicely pigmented. I love UD e/s. This palette has 16 shades! It doesn't hurt either that they included two travel sized pencils and a travel sized UDPP to match.

7. Barbie Loves Stila All Doll'd Up Palette

 

 

 

This is the second must-have limited edition palette. Even though I had the UD Book of Shadows already, I couldn't resist getting this too! This palette offers great pigmentation, and it's a steal for P1250 (around $25). The advantage of this over the UD palette is that this is much smaller and easier to tote around.

So this is my list. What's on your list? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

Quick Note: Stila is Back!

Ok, I know I said that I'd go bye bye for now, but I just had to share this bit of news before I go. Stila is back! Click HERE to read the story. Wahoo! I'm happy that Stila is back because I really love their smudgepots and now I don't have to worry that they'll stop making them soon. Anyway, that's all. I better get back to packing. Ciao!

Recent Hauls + Award

Let me show you a picture of my recent hauls. Mind you, I did not buy them all at the same time! I'm not that rich. LOL.

Anyway, since Stila is having some problems and is refinancing, I thought it was best to purchase some items already since I really don't know what will happen to them.

I bought the Stila Contouring Trio, it comes with tiny lights as you can see on the side. I'm sorry I forgot to swatch them, though.

Anyway, I also bought a set of mini Smudgepots. It has the bestselling colors: Black, Bronze and Gray. For me, Stila Smudgepots are better than MAC Fluidlines. However, I didn't expect it to be this small. When it said mini, they really meant it! This is much smaller than the regular Smudgepots (which is big). This is smaller than MAC Fluidline. I purposely didn't swatch it to prolong its lifespan since I still have my MAC Fluidline.

My Lumiere Pre-buy brushes have finally arrived! Thank you Grace (OD from Girltalk) for hosting these! We made our order last January pa and it finally arrived. I ordered the LHK, FO and angled FO. I haven't washed these so I can't say how they are. The LHK is very soft though. They're very well packaged for shipping! I can't wait to join Lumiere's next prebuy to get some more brushes since I regretted not buying the FT.

I also got my loot from EG minerals from an order we placed last January! LOL. It's been with Grace all this time. Thank you for holding this for me.

And here are my recent purchases from Rustan's. A Coffret D'Or liquid pen. This is my 2nd one already. It's not boxed anymore since I started using this already. Gia also informed me that Fasio mascaras are back in stock at Rustan's Gateway (Thank you Gia!) so I bought one when I happened to be in the area since I've been dying to try it for a long time.

I also got this friendship award from Chrissy, Donnarence, Khymm and Soapaholic. Thank you dearies! Mwah mwah mwah!
The rules are:

1. Take your award here

2. Put the logo on your post

3. Link the person who awarded you

4. Nominate at least 7 other bloggers

5. Add the links of those bloggers on yours

6. Leave a message for your nominees

So now, I'm passing this to 7 different bloggers:

1. Nikki

2. Nlng*Star

3. Gale

4. Shasta

5. Aileen

6. Yumeko

7. Blair

Ask Me Whats Seminar for a Cause Photos

Yesterday was Nikki's Ask Me Whats Seminar for a Cause. As I have posted before, all the proceeds will be used to help Judith's hospital bills. I'm so proud of Nikki for doing this! She's using her talent to help others!

The attendees (aside from me) were Gale (galelovescolors), Rhea (did I spell your name right?), Shen (shensaddiction) and Nina. Also present were the hubbies! Keith (Nikki's hubby) and Nap (Rhea's hubby).

Here are some photos from the workshop. I'm sorry I wasn't able to take any more.

These are pictures of Nikki working it! She did a great job on all of us. I love the smokey look she did on Gale!

Here's a pic of me wearing nothing but foundation and eye makeup. My eye makeup looks brown on picture (because of bad lighting). Yeah, I'm no photographer. In person, it's really pretty! It was a combination of fuchsia, gold and black. Nikki showed us how to draw eyelids. It's really useful for me since I'm very single-lidded.

One more perk I got from this workshop is that I got to try on different products that I've been curious about. These include Smashbox Photo Light Primer, Urban Decay Primer Potion, MAC Painterly (c/o Gale), Urban Decay Eyeshadows, Urban Decay 24/7 liners, Stila Smudgepots and and Paul and Joe Eyeliner.

Here is what I found: the Smashbox Primer is good for controlling the oilies, but for now I think I'll stick to my primers since I have a lot left and Smashbox is pricey. The products in my eyes were amazing! I have really oily lids and I can't get anything to stay put but with UDPP in my left eye and MAC Painterly on the other, my eye makeup stayed put! After 9 hours, my eyeshadow was perfectly intact on both eyes. The Stila Smudgepots (which was on my upper lashline) stayed perfectly in my left eye but in my right eye, it creased a teensy weensy bit. It was almost invisible though. As of now I can't blame the MAC Painterly because my right eye is slightly more single-lidded than my left eye, so things really have a harder time staying put on my right eye than on my left. I have to try both UDPP and MAC Painterly one more time (on both eyes) to really see which one works better for me. On my lower lashline, Nikki used a Black Paul and Joe eyeliner for the outer 3/4 of my eye and then Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Yeyo (white) for the inner 1/4. She earlier told me that Urban Decay 24/7 smudged on her waterline so it was probably going to smudge on me too. She recommended that Paul and Joe might be a better choice. However, I checked my makeup 9 hours later (I intentionally left it that long to see how they perform) and found that the Paul and Joe eyeliner was almost completely gone while the Urban Decay liner stayed put! No smudging. What a surprise. The opposite thing happened with Nikki and I! I've already been lemming for Stila smudgepots and Urban Decay 24/7 even before this, but after what happened, I really want it! At the end of the day, I felt sorry about taking my makeup off because of the excellent staying power. I love it!

Anyway, my only regret is that I didn't get to try on the Coastal Scents Gel Liners. It slipped my mind. Oh well, next time.

Nikki, thanks for the fun and educational seminar. I'm sure Judith and her family really appreciate what you're doing.