Stila Striking in South Beach Review, Swatches, Photos
Stila Striking in South Beach should appeal to my girls that love a good blue palette. Sadly, it didn’t want to corporate with my aging eyes. Damn I miss the days I could rock blue.
Let’s check it out anyway because you know I couldn’t not BUY it. I need a complete set of the Beach Girl Palettes….my beauty junkie ego demands it!
Jump!
One of five new budget palettes for Summer 2011 from Stila featuring four shadows, blush, and a bronzer!
As I mentioned in many of my prior reviews of these new palettes I find they are a great deal. At $14 they are $4 higher than the original $10 price tag of the Travel Girl Palettes however these are a step above in formula as well as products you are getting. The palettes each feature a quad of nicely pigments shadows as well as a bronzer and blush. Compared to those $10 palettes you are getting a bit more here in terms of product (blush and bronzer versus a single cream blush), instructions (how to get the look) for application, plus a mirror all of which the original palette lacked. So yes, I have ranted the price jack but I appreciate more product and other extras so the $4 more is well worth it.
I like that Stila brought back the Stila Girls for these. Each palette features a Stila Girl on the cover of the compact. I had heard that Stila wanted to do away with the girl’s because it was too immature and was less likey to garner the interest of a mature audience. I don’t know if this is true or not but I’m just happy to see them embracing their roots as one of the reasons I fell in love with the brand was because of the Stila Girls.
Striking in South Beach includes:
Eye Shadows:
- Ocean Drive (gray)
- Wave (periwinkle)
- Nightlife (black)
- Cabana (purple)
Cheek Color:
- Art Deco (bright popping pink)
Highlighter/Bronzer:
- Sabe (muddy brownish red)
The shadows range in texture here and I felt like they weren’t as nice as some of the other Beach Girl Palettes I tried. Wave is a tad on the chalky side and Cabana suffers a bit of a problem with patchy blending. Both Ocean Driver and Nightlife have a velvety smooth texture that blends easily. All the shades are richly pigmented and yield good color payoff.
Sabe and Art Deco are both pigmented and blend easily as well with a fine formula.
The palette is nice however…
I’m not partial to all this blue and I do think many folks may have a difficult time playing with it particularly makeup newbies as the colors prove a tad difficult to blend. In my experience with the this palette I find the shadows blend out muddy and it’s difficult to get a good contrasting eye look using them!
- Fans of BLUE!
- Those who like a smokey blue eye look!
- Those wanting a good travel companion palette that’s lightweight but includes essentials for a sultry evening eye look!
- Makeup newbies (I think the application proves difficult for those new to shadow application).
- Those who aren’t interested in a one trick pony (a single eye look is pretty much all you can get out of this due to the limited shade range).
- Those wanting a well contrasted eye look (I find the colors are difficult to contrast with).
Stila Striking in South Beach fails to make my A Grade but it will probably be a hit with girl’s that really dig blue. The shadows are a mixed bag here with some being good and some proving a tad chalky plus they fail to contrast well without looking like you have a single color in place. It’s not necessarily something you need unless you’re really interested in owning a complete set of these palettes but for those who can easily say no, well, just say no because this lacks anything special and the formula isn’t all that fabulous either.
Which Beach Palettes are you loving at the moment?
Picked up this one?
Loved it?
Do share!