Cheap Stila? NOWAI!

Haaaai guuuurlz!

The PR peeps that handle the gloriousness that is Mecca Cosmetica got in contact with me and sent over a few goodies. This made my day for two reasons:

1. Mecca is cool

2. Mecca has cool brands

I guess I could’ve condensed that into one reason.

Whatever.

Stila’s living the life in laguna palette is what I’m going to be talking about today.

The little touches i.e. the face chart and cute quote overjoy me.

Before I even start the review, I’d like to point out that this little cutie costs $29. $29! I’m so used to brands like Stila being stupidly exxy/mainly out of my makeup-pricing-comfort-zone, that it was major shock to the system when I found out this was under $30. Good times. For those of you who stick to ‘drugstore’ or don’t like to regularly drop $$$ on cosmetics, this one’s especially for you. Well, us. ;)

Let’s start with shadows:

Top 2: sand dollar and sunset & Bottom 2: cove and bonfire

The pigmentation of these is pretty decent, but while they appear very shimmery under artificial light, they actually go on matte. This isn't too big a problem as I like both shimmer and matte, but I thought it was worth a mention as it may be a dissapointment for some. E.g. I was to really keen to use sunset when I first spotted it, but since it lost its shimmery prettiness and depth when I slapped it on my eye/swatched, it proved to be a slight downer. I still like the colour (it's a light cranberry kinda shade, despite the fact that it looks quite orange above), but it's just not what I expected it to be. If you see this palette irl, you'll know what I mean!

My faves of the bunch? cove (mushroomy purpley taupe), bonfire (chocolate brown) and sunset (light cranberry). sand dollar (pinky champagne) isn't really my thang.

Now to the cheek colours:

seashell & pacific coast highway

Well done on the tiny font, moron. Click to enlarge!

The palette lists pacific coast highway as bronzer. A bronzer! WAT. I don’t know in what universe that shade would be considered a bronzer, but hey – that’s a matter for the peeps at Stila. I did notice that on Mecca’s website, it's listed as a bronzer/highlighter which makes slightly more sense. Well, not really. Actually, not at all. Should’ve been labelled a ‘blush’ imo. Anyway, pch is my fave of the two and is a decent blush shade. Soft, pretty and would look especially lovely on those who have very pale skin. seashell aka the blush was pretty bad. Chalky and practically non-existent on the mug. And on the hand. It was a major fail, tbh.

So, there we are. I adore the cute, little touches that Stila has added to this palette (it's very enjoyable when cosmetic companies add cutesy things to their packaging and put a little extra thought into things) and the shadows are a win, but the cheek colours are a bit of a fail. Especially the blush.

I think this would be best for those who wanna inject a little high-end into their collection, but don’t wanna spend too much. Can’t really beat $29 for Stila! Check it out on Mecca here.

P.S. These are touted as Limited Edition, but will be available ‘til stocks run dry. Word has it that the Mecca in Paddington has a decent stockpile...

Thoughts? Questions? Go!