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stila

This Stila Smudge Crayon Waterproof Primer + Shadow + Liner Is Turning on the Sprinklers at Midnight Blue

July 9th, 2012 by Karen 47 Comments

stila smudge crayon midnight blue

You used to see it a lot in movies that took place in Brooklyn, New York, where on a blisteringly hot day, one of the so-called dog days of summer, someone, most of the time you didn’t know who, would crank open a fire hydrant on a busy street, and all of the kids in the neighborhood would laugh and play in the spray.

Back when I was a kid, since none of the houses on our street had a swimming pool, and fire hydrants were deemed off limits and impenetrable, we did something similar with sprinklers.

It never seemed planned, but on some of the hottest days, one of the moms or dads would turn on the sprinklers in the yard, and all of us kids would converge on the house like a swarm of butterflies, buzzing and darting through the spray.

My thing was cartwheeling, which I’d deftly do directly over one of the sprinklers, up close like to thoroughly soak my hair.

Big sigh… That was always one of my favorite things about summer.

Ya know, someone should pass an ordinance making it socially acceptable for adults to leap and frolic through sprinklers in their bathing suits. I’d strongly support something like that.

Among the selling points: sprinklers cost less than swimming pools, they’re a very efficient way to cool off, and you can use the opportunity to try out some waterproof eye makeup at the same time.

LOL! Don’t even front. I know you were thinking it, too. It’s one of the reasons I love ya.

Not wanting to miss a millisecond of fun, I’d look for a smooth-as-silk liner with lots of pigment, ideally one that I could quickly apply, like Stila’s Smudge Crayon Waterproof Primer + Shadow + Liner in Midnight Blue ($22), a chubby, twist-up waterproof crayon able to draw thick, rich lines that dry in less than a minute.

It’s one of eight Smudge Crayons that recently made their way onto Stila shelves last spring, each one promising to prime, shade with shadow, and line.

stila smudge crayon midnight blue

Okay, but what makes it worthy of one those great summer sprinkler sessions?

I’m glad you asked. 🙂

The answer: intestinal fortitude! Also known as durability. On my bare combination dry/oily lids, as long as I’m careful not to rub my eyes, it won’t budge for a solid 6-8 hours, 5-6 on my water lines, and it’s totally fearless around water, and that includes perspiration.

When I’m in the mood for thick swipes of dark blue, I like to use it as a liner…

stila smudge crayon midnight blue
Stila thoughtfully tucked a sharpener into the base of the liner, making it a snap to sharpen

stila smudge crayon midnight blue swatch
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There are 47 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Eyes, Makeup, Product Reviews, Stila Keywords: stila

A Stila Stunning in Sayulita Palette Hump Day Face of the Day

May 4th, 2011 by Karen 80 Comments

Rise and shine, morning glory. 🙂 I felt like wearing my green dress today, so I thought I’d incorporate some green in my eye look, too. A color called Palm Tree from Stila’s new Stunning in Sayulita Palette provided the green.

The $14 palette (BARGAIN ALERT!) comes with four powder shadows, a powder blush and a bronzing powder, which, hello, is so light that it probably performs better as a highlighter on my tan skin.

For this look, I followed the little tutorial that comes with the palette (I appreciate when companies include these things; they’re cheap to make and great for ideas and inspiration) and then wrapped it up with Bobbi Brown’s High Shimmer Lip Glosses in Bellini on my lips.


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There are 80 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Face of the Day (FOTD), Makeup Keywords: stila

Hold That Curl (Temporarily, at Least)! New Stila Forever Your Curl Mascara

May 3rd, 2011 by Karen 12 Comments

“Hey, baby! You’ve got to remember (got to remember)… I’m forever your curl!” It sounds like someone over at Stila HQ rocked out to this song back in the day because the name of their new lash lengthening and curling mascara is practically a titular dupe.


Forever Your Girl, Paula Abdul, 1988

I LOVED that song. Nevermind Paula’s sometimes questionable singing in it or how the song sounded auto-tuned (I don’t know if it was). Gotta give the gal credit for turning lemons into lemonade.

I remember a trip back in eighth grade with my friend to Great America, one of the Six Flags amusement parks, and they had this thing that was kinda like a karaoke booth, where you could sing along to a song that they’d turn into a taped recording for you. My friend and I sang Forever Your Girl. And it was awful. It was absolutely terrible.

Thankfully, I have no idea where that tape is now. 🙂 If I did, I’d probably be tempted to share it on the blog (NOOOOO!).

New for summer, Forever Your Curl joins the Stila permanent line, and I wanted to meet her mostly because of a claim Stila makes. They say it curls lashes immediately AND over time.

“Forever Your Curl Mascara contains an encapsulated raw ingredient that enhances lash-curl memory and a proprietary styling resin that dries down and holds the curl of the lashes. A film forming polymer also wraps lashes and lengthens without fibers. Plus, a patent-pending brush coats and extends each lash, from base to tip, dramatically lengthening and curling…”

–StilaCosmetics.com

Interesting concept, right? Since my lashes are naturally so dang straight that I sometimes think they have anti-curling powers, I couldn’t wait to give it a try.

But after wearing it daily for one full week, all I can say is…

Eh.

For regular, temporary lash curling, yep, I think it delivers, but it seems no more potent than that. It’s just a straight-up curling and lengthening mascara, as far as I can tell, fine for cute doe-eyed looks.

And that would have been good enough if it wasn’t for the claim: that it also curls “over time.” I suppose I haven’t used it long enough to realize long-term benefits yet (I’m impatient), but still. My lashes look just as straight as they did before.

Even as a regular mascara, it has its flaws. The brush tends to deposit more product than it should (even when I dilute/attempt to remove the visible excess), and I see smudges along my lower lash line after just a few hours.


Before


After two coats
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There are 12 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Eyes, Makeup, Product Reviews Keywords: stila

Look Stunning in Sayulita (or Any Town) This Summer with the $14 Stila Stunning in Sayulita Palette

April 29th, 2011 by Karen 19 Comments

Stila Stunning in Sayulita

H-O-triple-T-HOTTT!!! with three exclamation marks at the end. That’s how hot it was in Sayulita, Mexico (outside Puerto Vallarta), the one time I was there about 10 years ago. It was August, well over 100 degrees, and it had one of those beaches straight out of a Corona commercial.


Wish we were here!

Not gonna lie: I’ve been lusting after Stila’s limited edition Stunning in Sayulita Palette ($14) mostly because of the water. It was a clear teal blue with flecks of what looked like golden glitter in it, and I remember sitting on my surfboard, looking down and watching the glitter just swirl around my ankles and feet. It was beautiful. Almost surreal.


That’s me in the middle clinging to my board for dear life


Beach dog, woof!

The colors in the palette, which comes with two powder blushes (a cheek color and a bronzing powder) and four powder eyeshadows, should play up tan skin nicely. The shadows include a peach, brown, taupe, rose and green. Considering the theme and the cutie pie surfer girl cover art, I was also kinda expecting to find at least one shimmery gold or teal, but alas, nada.


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There are 19 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Makeup, Product Reviews Keywords: stila

Stila Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner Is a Surfer’s Delight

April 29th, 2011 by Karen 22 Comments

I love surfing and like to think of myself as a water baby…but I’ve never actually done anything really cool on a surfboard. I’ve never ridden a tube or hanged (hung?) ten, and terms like “double overhead” (a wave twice as tall as the surfer riding it) fill me with far more fear than excitement.

For me, a good surf day involves simply standing up on my board (sometimes in the water) and, if I’m lucky, not colliding with anything or falling too ungracefully into the waves.

Great surf days include all of the aforementioned aspects of good surf days but happen only when I’m able to paddle out without getting my hair wet. As you can probably imagine, those days are few and far between.

I used to surf up here in the Bay Area, but not anymore (never got used to the cold). Now I wait for trips to warmer waters, like the one I hope to take this summer. This time, thanks to Stila Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner ($22 each; available in eight colors), when I fall off my board, all arms, ankles and elbows, at least my eye makeup will look cute. 🙂

With eight bright, shimmery colors, the new line of waterproof, long-wearing liquid liners is just in time for surf days and lounging by the pool.
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There are 22 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Makeup, Product Reviews Keywords: stila

Stila Stunning in Sayulita

April 29th, 2011 by Karen 10 Comments


The Stila Stunning in Sayulita Palette, $14. Available now at Sephora and also online.

What say you?

There are 10 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Daily Photo Keywords: stila

Stila Long Wear Lip Color Lipsticks: The Long and Short of It

October 11th, 2010 by Karen 35 Comments

stila long wear lip color swatches review

Things I wish were shorter:

  • Winter and the annual rainy season
  • The line at the DMV
  • Titanic (seriously, we already know how the story ends)

Things I wish were longer:

  • Summer
  • Cat lifespans (I might clone Tabs)
  • The wear time of these $20 Stila Long Wear Lip Color Lipsticks

It would make sense for the 16 permanent collection members of Stila’s Long Wear Lip Color Lipstick team to last a long time, wouldn’t it? I mean, Stila went out of their way to include the words “Long Wear” in the name, and they even wrote about wear time in the official product description…

“The next revolution in lip wear is here! A lipstick and lip gloss all in one that boasts extended wear while keeping lips feeling soft and smooth – never dry. The secret is a blend of patent-pending polymers that provide long-lasting wear with rich pigment that glides on like your favorite gloss. The tip of the pen is contoured to provide easy, precise application – hugging every curve of your lip.”

With that kind of pomp and circumstance, I expected at least 5-6 hours from these — but that’s about two hours longer than they actually last. 🙁

stila long wear lip color shades

I’ve tried three of the shades so far — Outrageous (a matte Mad Men reddish orange), Lover (a creamy deep red) and In the Nude (a creamy beige).

My eyes lit up the first time I saw them swatched on the back of my hand. “OOH!” I cried, “Look at how opaque and pigmented they are!”
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There are 35 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Makeup, Product Reviews Keywords: stila

Stila Long Wear Liquid Lip Color Swatches and Gratuitous Kitten Pictures

August 6th, 2010 by Karen 44 Comments

stila long wear liquid lip color review swatches

Today I started the day with a long list of good intentions and tasks on my to-do list, but several other pressing matters needed attending to, like housework and these cute kittens at the Marin Humane Society.

The Society’s temporarily reduced their usual $100 adoption fee to $50. For a CCL (crazy cat lady) like me, that’s like a Feline Friends & Family Sale!

Gee, I can get two for the price of one!?

Kitten Quest 2010


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There are 44 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Makeup, Product Reviews Keywords: stila

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