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.)

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Shadow Pencils Spring 2011

Urban Decay has just announced the newest member of the 24/7 family: the 24/7 Glide On Shadow Pencil. The 12 shades of waterproof eyeshadow are new for Spring 2011 and I have them to review, so I'm going to do my best to show you how pretty they are!

Like their eyeliner counterparts, these come in pencil form with a shiny silver cap. They're chubby pencils, about twice the diameter of a 24/7 eyeliner. They are actual pencils (not twist-up/automatic) so will need to be sharpened, but if you have the Urban Decay Grindhouse sharpener, they fit perfectly in the large side.


The shades are:

Barracuda, black with silver glitter.



Clash, a bright aqua blue with a hint of green, iridescent sparkle and a subtle purple sheen.

Clinic, a medium blue-toned emerald green with shimmer and subtle silver sparkle.


Delinquent, an amazing jeweltone purple with iridescent sparkle.



Lit, a light bronzy gold shimmer.



Mercury, a grey-silver shimmer.


Midnight Cowboy, a light peachy-beige gold with silver microglitter, just like the powder eyeshadow.


Morphine, a light lilac purple with blue duochrome and shimmer.


Narc, a mossy, olivey yellow-toned green shimmer.




Rehab, a light brown/taupe shimmer.




Sin, a delicate champagne shimmer.



Wasteland, a chocolate brown shimmer.

And, on my arm, applied straight from the tube, no base:

Sin, Midnight Cowboy, Lit, Morphine. If you enlarge this, you'll be able to see the gorgeous glitter in Midnight Cowboy. Also note how awesome and glowy Morphine looks. It has really strong blue iridescence so it looks like it's glowing blue. It's amazing.


Delinquent, Clash, Clinic, Narc. I tried to capture the sparkle in these, you may need to view it full size to see it. Delinquent is incredible, look at that rich purple color and all that electric purple shimmer in it!



Mercury, Barracuda, Wasteland, Rehab. Barracuda really stands out here, doesn't it? I love that glitter. And I'm not sure if you can see it very well, but Rehab has a really pretty reddish-gold duochrome sheen to it. It's subtle, but when you catch it just right, it's so pretty.

The texture of these pencils is really similar to the 24/7 eyeliner. They're soft, silky and extremely smooth. They really do glide on, no tugging or skipping. They're very opaque and pigmented and you really don't need more than one or two swipes of color.

You can apply them as eyeliner or eyeshadow. You'd think with such a chubby pencil, you wouldn't be able to get a nice line, but that's not the case. The thickness of the tip actually makes a really even line that isn't too thick. If you prefer a super thin line, you can always sharpen the tip before using it to line.

I've been testing them out over the past week to see how they hold up, and these are a few of the ways I've used them:

(All of these looks use Too Faced Shadow Insurance as a base.)

This is Lit on the lid and on the lower lashline, a green Anastasia shadow in the crease, Delinquent as liner and a tiny bit of Clinic on the outer edge of the lower lashline. Isn't Delinquent amazing?





This is a silvery smoky eye using Lap Dance and Stilletto from the Too Faced Naked Eye palette and Urban Decay Delinquent 24/7 shadow as eyeliner. Seriously... just look at that purple! It's so awesome! I can't get enough of it.




This is Morphine on the lid with Kat Von D Prague (from the Truth palette) in the crease and on the lower lashline and MAC Blacktrack Fluidline as liner. Morphine has that amazing blue glow that I love all by itself, but it does something cool when you layer with it. When other shadows are layered over Morphine, they become duochrome! Prague is a matte formula, but you can see in this picture that it takes on a red pearl duochrome effect everywhere it touches Morphine.

Now that I've used these a few times, I have a few observations.

First and foremost, when they say 24/7, they mean it! This is by far the longest wearing eyeshadow I've ever used. At first I was afraid that they'd crease due to the creamy texture, but that is absolutely not the case. They are bulletproof. No amount of rubbing or sweating or crying or rain will make these run or crease. Once they're on, they're on. They're so hardcore that they're even a little hard to remove- they don't come off easily with soap and water. I'd recommend an oily makeup remover to take these off- I use pure jojoba oil.

Because of this long-wear formula, you have to work quickly. They set extremely fast. Faster than the 24/7 pencils. Because they set so fast and don't budge when they're dry, you can't really blend them. I've tried and failed. There's literally no time to try to smudge your lines or blend out the colors, and if you try to blend after they're starting to set, it causes some uncomfortable tugging on the lid. Lightning fast. That's why I'm sticking to using these as a lid color or a liner.

The slight tackiness/stickiness (disappears after a few seconds) of these when they're freshly applied makes them a great shadow base. You can lay down a base of 24/7 and then pat your powder shadow on top while the 24/7 is still sticky to intensify the colors and smudge/crease/fade proof them. Also makes a good base for glitter if you work quick enough!

These would definitely be ideal if you're a swimmer or for a trip to the beach since they're waterproof and they don't melt. One color as a lid color, another color as liner and some waterproof mascara. Pool-proof makeup.

Besides being totally waterproof and crazy long wearing, another advantage of the 24/7 Glide On Shadow is that there's no glitter fallout. This is especially pleasing to me, as I've had a love-hate relationship with Urban Decay's glitter shadows. I am extremely happy that they've made Midnight Cowboy into a pencil. In pencil form, you can enjoy all the glitter in the iconic Midnight Cowboy without it ending up all over your face. The glitter stays on your eyelids and doesn't budge. Very, very happy about this.

I'm someone who never uses cream or liquid shadows because they're a pain, but these have changed my mind. They're creamy but they don't crease! They're easy to apply- just scribble all over your eyelid and you're done. They make nice, bold, even lines as eyeliner and they stay on all day. They're not really blendable, so I personally can't use them as a crease color, but as a lid color and a liner, they're great.

My top picks? Delinquent and Morphine are my must-haves from this collection. Delinquent is the purple pencil I've been searching for all my life. It is pigmented, sparkly and very obviously purple. Morphine is just insanely cool and you know I can't resist a duochrome. Midnight Cowboy is another top pick because it's a perfect neutral lid color and unlike the powder version, the pencil has no glitter fallout. Mercury is also great for an extremely fast, easy smoky eye look.

All the colors are gorgeous, vibrant and sparkly but I have a soft spot for purples and glitter. I really hope they do more glitter shades! I'm hoping for the old version of Oil Slick with the rainbow glitter. I'd also love to see SWF, Goddess, Kiddie Pool, Uzi and the other Midnight shades in pencil form. One can dream...

Have you tried these? I want to know what your experience with them was.

They're available now on Urban Decay's website, Sephora and Ulta.

(These were sent to me for review.)

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!

Kat Von D True Romance Eyeshadow Palette in Truth

I *almost* didn't get this because the colors seemed bland online, but since I liked all the other palettes so much, I decided just to get it anyway to see if it was better in real life. It is.


The Kat Von D line always has really nice packaging. This is the outer box! It's so nice. It opens like an accordion to reveal this:


The palette, wrapped in grey metallic paper and sealed with a shiny gold sticker. My paper got a little crinkled and ripped. Aw. That's okay, you have to rip it in half to get to the palette anyway.

This is the front of the palette, almost just like the outer box. I like the old antique keys and the gold lettering. Were they going for a bit of a steampunk theme or something? I like the keys better than the previous tattoo designs.

Shadow names and ingredient label. Just realized that I should have turned this the other way because now the names are in backwards order.




The palette in artificial light and natural light. Left to right: Sugar Skull, Long Distance, Snake Eyes, Finland (cream shadow), Prague, Galeano, Rehab, Sister.



Sugar Skull, Long Distance, Snake Eyes, Finland, Prague, Galeano, Rehab, Sister.


The pigmentation is pretty good. Much better than the last palette (Adora). They're really soft and silky and easy to blend, just like all the previous palettes. Thankfully there's only one useless cream shadow in this palette, but I'd rather that number be zero.

I put together a quick look with this to test out the application, and I'm quite happy with it!


I know, I know. My brows look freaky. I'm trying to make the front part thicker so I'm growing them out.

This was:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Sugar Skull on inner third of lid
Long Distance on middle of lid
Prague in crease and on lower lash line
Sister on browbone
Smashbox Artificial Light
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack (the glitter was leftover on my brush from something else I'm reviewing)
Cover Girl Lash Blast

Everything went on easily, good pigmentation, smooth texture, maybe even a little too smooth because I had a lot of powder loose in the palette after applying. Easy blending, too. The only thing that seems wrong to me is that the bright green shade, Long Distance, starts fading right after I apply it. When I first put it on my lid, it's vibrant light chartreuse, but then it starts to look less bright almost immediately after, so I find myself wanting to pack on more and more shadow to get the intensity back. I'll have to try this with Urban Decay Primer Potion to see if it's a primer issue.

This palette is really springy. The greens and blues are crisp and the purples are soft and romantic. This doesn't seem like the rest of the dark, edgy, colorful palettes Kat/Sephora have done, but it's still nice despite the change in theme. I'll have to try out the rest of the colors soon, and figure out what to do with that damn cream shadow that's taking up space in the palette.

Oh yeah, this palette comes with those weird brushes like all the other ones. They're completely useless for applying shadow, but they're GREAT as lip brushes and concealer brushes! So, I guess they're not completely useless, only useless in context.

Interestingly enough, the Truth palette isn't listed as limited edition on Sephora.com. They should just make them all permanent! You should see the dent I've put in my Gypsy palette. Should have gotten a backup.