I had gotten one of these earlier last year and it was the Haute in the Hamptons palette. This one, Striking in South Beach, I got for Christmas last year from my mom and I'm just now getting around to review it.
So to start with the packaging, it has a hard cover and opens up like a book. On the inside there are four round shadows, a blush, a bronzer, a square mirror, and instructions on how to create a look.
Also, as you can see, every color is named.
Now for some swatches and first impressions:
L-R: Ocean Drive, Wave, Cabana, Nightlife
These shadows seemed very promising as this is a higher end company and is known for great shadows. Ocean Drive and Cabana were both definitely lacking in pigmentation. I had to swipe them a few times to get the color in the picture. Wave and Nightlife were pretty pigmented, but still not as much as I was expecting. Nightlife was overall the best shadow from the palette, but honestly I can get a sparkly/shimmery black anywhere...
Another thing I should note is that Wave shows up on my eyelids splotchy. Whether I use a primer, pat it on, or sweep it across my lid, Wave will always be patchy and not smooth on easily at all. Major disappointment.
What can I say... I have ELF $1 shadows that are better than these. They are hard to blend, powdery, and some are just not pigmented. I would expect better quality from Stila.
Top color is Art Deco and bottom color is Sabe
Where the shadows were lacking in quality, the blush and bronzer picked up the slack. I really do like these. They're much better quality, smoother, and more pigmented. The one thing I don't like is that the "bronzer" seems much more like a blush to me...
Sabe is more pigmented than Art Deco, but that is good because if the Art Deco were any more pigmented, it would make you look like a Barbie or a clown.
I did my own look with this palette because I didn't like the look following the instructions it gave me.
All the pictures are with flash (they didn't look good in the natural light without flash)
Look at how brown my eyes look! That's the one thing I really like about this shadow combination.
I applied (or at least TRIED...) Wave all over the lid. I used Cabana in both the inner and outer corners, and also in the crease. I used Nightlife in the very outer corner and used it to let my liner on both the upper and lower lash lines. I used a little bit of Cabana on the lower lash line. I used Ocean Drive as a highlight, although it is a little too dark to use as a really good highlight.
Even though I think Sabe is a little too rosy to be called an actual bronzer, I used it as a contour and think it looked surprisingly nice that way. And then Art Deco I used on the apples of my cheeks and blended it into the Sabe.
Pros of this palette:
- Very affordable - under $20 for a high end palette
- Packaging is adorable
- Colors are coordinated, do the choosing for you
- Instructions provided for creating the look
- Colors are perfect for brown-eyed girls
- *Almost* complete look in one simple palette (just add a little mascara and foundation of your choice)
Cons:
- Eyeshadows are hard to work with, some are not pigmented enough
- Shadows can be powdery
- Bronzer is not really a bronzer, maybe a dark blush
- Made me look a little too over "done"
Overall, I might give this palette 6/10. I don't think it is available anymore, but Stila is coming out with more of the Travel palettes. I do recommend picking up at least one if you haven't tried them before. They're easy - they have everything there that you need to really complete a look and it even tells you how to do it! Also, they're really cute and pretty small so they don't take up too much room!
I have another Travel Palette that I like so much more than this one. I think this may have been a dud because from what I've read and from my own experience, these palettes are of great quality.
Have you guys tried out any of the Stila Travel palettes? What do you think of them?
