February 9, 2011

Stila Live from the Red Carpet Stunning Starlet Palette Review, Swatches, Photos

Stila has successfully redeemed themselves with the new E! Live from the Red Carpet Palettes. If you get felt like some of their recent ten buck offerings haven’t really reflected well on the brand, no worries, these new palettes bring the game back to a fair playing level. I recently tried out the Glamour Goddess Palette and fell in love!

This week I decided to dig out the new Stila Stunning Starlet Palette out for a try out to see if it would be love too!

Check it!


A palette package for lips, eyes, and face featuring a Stila Glamoureyes Mascara.

I loved Glamour Goddess Palette however I am not in love with Stunning Starlet but it has nothing to do with the formula, packaging, or price, I’ll tell you more in a moment.

First off packaging is fabulous. The brand embraced the Stila girls for the palette and I couldn’t be happier as I’m a big fan. I had heard they stopped making palettes featuring them because some felt it was too juvenile, I personally love it and embrace it.

The value is fabulous as well. Priced at $25 you get six shadows, one convertible color, a Kitten Highlighter plus a mini mascara. Since the formula doesn’t forsake anything to get to this small price tag, I’d call it a steal particularly if you recall that palettes like this 10 years or so ago would have been twice that amount from the brand. Moral? If you’ve collected and used Stila for a long time you can remember the pricing wasn’t as friendly as it is now a days.

Finally the texture of the shadows forgoes nothing and is pretty much on par with their normal range. I felt the same about Glamour Goddess but I mentioned it was two or three steps above the Travel Girl Palettes and NOT quite the normal catalog formula. However, I’m withdrawing that statement and will say that these indeed mimic the formula to a tee with that smooth, buttery velvet texture that Stila eyeshadow is known and loved for.

This also includes a mini Stila Glamour Eyes Mascara. I’ll leave you with before and after shots using the mascara but if you’d like a full review please click here.

Now the problem…


I thought the shades were terribly unflattering. I’m not sure if this is a personal issue with the palette or if it’ll be a universal problem but the shades are just very, very uneventful.

The first look is with shadows Paparazzi as a base shade, this is a pale pink, followed up with Red Carpet a burgundy that quickly turned into a blackened matte shade when blended out (very unflattering), and finally Hollywood in the crease. I’m not sure what they inteded with this look but combining the matte of Hollywood in the crease and Red Carpet on the lid, well, it’s just an overall muddy look. The entire eye look I created came across frosty on the highbrow area and matte and awful on the lid and crease. You can chalk this up to my blending skills or the fact that the shades just don’t work together.

I haven’t tried the second look which is created using A-List (shimmering pale lilac), VIP (shimmery voilet), and Backstage (pewter) but I will say A-List and Paparazzi are pretty darn similar so I’ll probably get an overall same look using the shadows.

I mentioned in my prior review with Golden Goddess that I felt the Kitten All Over Shimmer was too frosty and shimmer for my face and I still feel the same. If you can’t use it to highlight I suggest using as a shadow as the effects on the face aren’t too flattering (it’s way discoball-ish).

And finally Stunning Convertible Color can easily be a dupe of shades found in the Travel Girl Palettes but simply renamed. I thought it was mismatched as hell with the shades above. I think a nice dusky rose or mauve rose blush would be more flattering with the eyeshadows included however Stila thought it was a good idea to include a really deep shade of brown-ish peach bronze for cheeks. Why!?

  • Those who look flattering in mauve-ish shades of color!
  • Those who wear a matte smoky look well!

  • Those who like their palettes to have an arrangement of color that contrasts well (the shades just seem mismatched all around).
  • Those with older eyes or dark circles (the shades will really give aging eyes a tired look and those with dark circles will feel this emphasizes the problem.


Where as Glamour Goddess was a well thought out, flattering palette, I can’t say I feel the same for Stunning Starlet. I’m not sure if I’m being too harsh but I honestly felt the colors were crazy mismatched and just all over the scale here. Hollywood, Stunning, and even Kitten all feel like they just don’t belong.

If you’re wanting to indulge, I’d go with Glamour Goddess as that proves a most excellent palette however Stunning Starlet left much to be desired in my opinion!

Anyone own it?

Do share your review.

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

  • Missy

    I’m really glad I didn’t get this one… I have Glamour Goddess and the other one (Breathtaking Beauty?) and I absolutely love GG! The colors are gorgeous. This one… it just didn’t grab me. I really had to fight that “collect ’em all” disease though! 😀

    • the Muse

      missy I purchased all three with my bonus points so I’m thinking of this as a free palette ;-D as I’ll wince thinking I paid for it lol! but I can relate to the collect ’em all disease on so many levels!

  • HautePJ

    I must say Muse – the look you created with the colors in this palette looks quite nice and appropriate for a dramatic look. I could def see myself using it for special occasions, but maybe not every day? I do agree it looks like the bottom row of shadows are too cool-toned to go well with the warm cheek color. Well, I ordered it from Ulta Sunday and it should be arriving this weekend! Thanks for the review!

    • the Muse

      aw thanks PJ! I thought it made me look tired 🙁 my pleasure, update me when it arrives I wanna hear your thoughts!

  • Casey

    Aww, it sucks that the colours didn’t work out for you.
    I only really like the convertible colour in this palette, actually. I’m a fan of warm-toned blushes and lip colours.

    I actually really want the Breathtaking Beauty version of these palettes, but they’re not available in Canada yet! Grr! Ulta.com and StilaCosmetics.com both only ship within the US 🙁

    • the Muse

      hey casey I really love warm tones too but I thought it was mismatched with the shadows in this case 🙁 aw sorry hun hope you get ’em soon 🙁

  • Suzy

    Thanks for the review! I’m wondering what you think about the Breathtaking Beauty palette? Can’t wait to see your review on that 🙂

  • Chelley

    Hi Muse, I was wondering if I can request for reviews on some all natural lipsticks? 😀

    • the Muse

      if I come across some that look interesting I’ll try to review Chelley 🙂

  • Hing

    I totally loved this palette at first glance but now I can see why you’re not in love with it 🙁 The color combination really looks mismatched!

    Can’t wait to see your review on the Breathtaking Beauty palette!

  • Z

    THREE of the eyeshadow shades looked the same! i would not get this palette.

    thanks for your review!

  • Chelsie

    I bought the Breathtaking Beauty Palette (mostly because it came with the Lipglaze in Fig) and I was… not impressed. The shadows are a nightmare to blend and the convertible color doesn’t really work well for cheeks unless it’s set with another powder and doesn’t work AT ALL on lips, That is, unless you like feeling like you’ve smeared candle wax all over them.

  • Deb

    Muse, I don’t think it’s you or your blending skills. These colors look just….wrong? Too muddy? Something. Not a flattering look and normally your smoky and/or dramatic eyes look great on you.

    • the Muse

      aw thanks dev ;-D I sometimes question if it’s my app skills or just the shades 😛 these were way difficult to work with 🙁

  • Carrie

    How disappointing – A-List and Papparazi might as well be dupes and wth is such a warm convertible color doing amongst all those cooler tones?

    I’m glad I saw this though, this was the only one I was considering!

    As for the look…yeah. Paparazzi just looks out of place as a highlighter and given that other brands (like UD Mating Call) make burgundy colors that stay true to pan on the eye just..a disappointment.

  • breyerchic04

    The thing about the $10 pallettes was the convertible colors were a great size and of normal quality for such a tiny price. With these I, I don’t feel like I’m getting as good of a deal because who needs three huge Kittens and more shadows that don’t really really work together.

    But if they release a plummy convertible color, I’ll buy anything 😉