Stila Magnificent Metals Liquid Eye Shadow
Stila Magnificent Metals Liquid Eye Shadow ($24.00 for 0.15 oz.) are glitter-tastic liquid eyeshadows. I picked up three when they initially launched, wasn’t particularly impressed, but they started to get more buzz recently so I thought maybe I just picked three of the worst shades. We shall see! In the meanwhile, here are swatches:
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For anyone else who follows this sort of thing, Stila has recently pulled out of China and is once again cruelty-free. 🙂
seriously? cuz I’ve been eyeing one of those new highlighters!
Just found out from crueltyfreekitty.com! I hope I’m allowed to link to another blog for this purpose: http://www.crueltyfreekitty.com/news/does-stila-test-on-animals/
Thanks! How do you keep up to date on this with brands?
I follow a couple of beauty bloggers who work really hard at keeping up with companies’ cruelty-free status, including Suzi of Cruelty-Free Kitty, linked above. I check their blogs regularly and follow them on Twitter, as I do with Temptalia. I found them by Googling for lists of cruelty-free brands and then seeing which bloggers updated regularly and contacted companies personally. Christine, thank you for your own hard work and for letting us chat about this here!
Hm- some pretty colors in there, but liquid/ wand shadow is my least favorite formula, even below cream! I think I’ve seen one review of these and the person mentioned that there is definitely fallout. They just look very limited in use to me.
Ditto~ Can’t pull them off and glitter fallout looks so cheap. I definitely do not need help drawing attention to my under eye area.
I am eagerly awaiting your reviews on these – some of the colours look kind of meh and there are a few that I think could be interesting to get! I haven’t tried much of Stila’s eye makeup products!
Violet Vixen is pretty, the others look kind of scary or iffy. Yikes what are those black flecks?? Looks like dirt but think it’s supposed to be glitter?
Yikes, I know. Some of those swatches remind me of being a kid, getting a bad knee scrape and bits of gravel getting ground into the wound.
LOL!! Yes, it does remind me of a knee that ate some gravel
These caught my attention the last time I went to Ulta, but I had a feeling I might regret it if I bought one so I left them alone.
Yeah. I don’t get the hype. I bought Smoldering Satin, and while on my arm it swatches beautifully, it looks TERRIBLE on my eyes no matter what primer I use. It’s like straight glitter with none of the pigment showing, and blending? Forget it. Unless you want glitter EVERYWHERE. I adore glitter, but I am not a fan (obviously), lol.
I picked up the Kitten Karma and Smokey Midnight when they launched. I’ve played with them a bit and while they can be a little chunky, I think a little goes a long way and I was impressed with how… blendable they are! Like, that was NOT a quality I was expecting of these liquid shadows.
I think Ulta has an exclusive one that’s like Ballet something something?
Yes it’s Ballet something at Ulta and it is a very sheer light pink glitter. I love it though I love all pinks and I love glitter.
I absolutely love these, I have purchased 6. They may not be completely opaque but work fantastic on top of other shadows as a glittery highlight. Or I wear one shade as a sheer glittering all over shade if I am in a hurry. They last all day on me without creasing
I want to get excited about these, but the colors are kind of “meh” and I just imagine this being a huge mess with my hooded eyes. I think I’ll stick with loose glitters and UD’s Moondust formula.
Hey AJ
Yup I have hooded eyes too & it probably wouldn’t work out for me either maybe I’ll try the Urban Decay Moon dust product you mentioned. Thank you ?
Nikki, just make sure you don’t get the liquid moondust! Get the dry pressed ones 🙂
I’m Asian and have hooded eyes, and these work fine on me!
I have slightly hooded eyes and they work beautifully on my eyes. I have gotten so many questions and compliments on Kitten Karma when I wear it. You do have to be a little more careful when applying it but it is wearable.
How quickly do they dry down? I find that I can never wear liquid liner because I get impatient waiting for it to dry, I open my eyes, and then POOF it’s up in my crease *sigh* So I can see myself just mucking this up by opening my eye before it’s dry.
It dries down very fast. I tried putting it on my hand to get a more sheer wash and it was dry within 15-20 seconds.
I have to say, I checked these out in store and your swatches do not come close to show how amazing they are. They just have to be seen.
This product is so amazing! I bought all of them because I liked them so much. They are so easy to use, and that’s what makes me happy. Working with glitter can be a pain in the ass sometimes, so this is definitely a game changer. I find them opaque and it works best with using a brush instead of the applicator itself. There may be little fall out, but I don’t mind.
These are probably best for accent work on the eye. Or to put on top of another shadow. I’m curious to use it in person
Those last two look really nice, but on the whole? Not so much. Cannot help but wonder just how painful these must be to remove. Even UD Moondust particles don’t feel too great when I’m taking off my eye makeup, and those are not as chunky as these appear to be! ?
Oh Crap! I never thought of that, Nancy! I bet it would feel grainy, dare i say, scratchy for removal!
Um, they aren’t difficult or painful in the least to remove. They actual don’t feel any different than removing regular shadow in my opinion. I have 4 shades and find them to be amazing quality and very very easy to remove with my micellar water.
Agree with Joss; these don’t feel grainy at all! I use a wipe and then wash my face, and I haven’t had any issues.
Smoky storm!! :O ! These are beautiful and RIGHT up my ally/aesthetic!
If they don’t have carmine, Rose Gold and Kitten are totally calling to me. I’m really into coppery shades these days.
I’ve been seeing these used in youtube tutorials and they come out gorgeous! I’m really curious what your thoughts will be on them Christine. I actually put them on my “check out” list for next time I’m in store.
I know these shadows have been very well received, I’ve hear so many rave reviews, but based on your swatches the formula is all over the place. Not my kind of thing anyway.
I bought the Rose Gold Retro back in December when they launched it and it’s a gorgeous colour. It applies smoothly on my eyes and there is a little bit of fallout. The application is a bit tricky. I apply a thin layer with the wand, one eye at a time; I close my eye and let it dry for 2-3 minutes before tapping with my finger. If I’m tapping right after applying the colour, I will pick up almost all the glitter/colour on my finger.
As Veerle suggested, next time I will use a brush for application, perhaps the Real Technique Detailer Brush; I think it will work better than the wand as the liquid is quite thick and the wand pick up too much.
I see in Christine’s swatches that the Rose Gold seems to have some dark particles (perhaps the glitter magnified under the camera?) and that it applies with some bumps. When I swatch the Rose Gold Retro on my hand, there are no visible dark particles. One swipe and the colour applies smoothly, with no bumps.
For taking it off, I use the Annabelle Eye Make-Up Remover Lotion and a square cotton pad (both side are used); two swipes/eye are usually enough.
Hmm – lots of fall out I think from some of these. The shade range is lovely but I don’t get the black little bits, particularly evident in Gold and Karma.
The picture isn’t true to how they look on the eye. When I wear kitten karma, which is almost every single day, I don’t see anything black. Lol
Some yt gurus mentioned thst they need to be shaken to prevent separation. I wonder if thats why the shades are all over the place
Wow! Your swatches look terrible and I know how amazing these are. I love Karma Kitten and have worn it multiple times. I plan on purchasing all except golden goddess, smoky storm and smoldering satin.
I feel like these swatches don’t do the shadows justice. I have 4 of the shades, and they are AMAZING. I have no trouble working with them, and I have ZERO fallout. I’ve read reviews and watched quite a few and everyone seems to love them for the most part. I have had plenty of glitter shadows not work well, and I think Stila knocked it out of the park with this formula.
Glad you picked these up, look forward to your views after testing them.
These seem to be re-interpretations of the poorly performing magnificent metals release? At least these seem like what the other was trying to be.
Rose Gold Retro, Smoldering Satin, Molten Midnight looks good, but these black flecks…
I definitely need to see these on the eyes. If there is a lot of fall out these will be a definite no for me as I wear contacts & getting glitter caught under a lens is not fun! (I’m looking at you Urban Decay Heavy Metal Liners!)
Can’t wait to try gold goddess all over my lids!
I hear the fallout is pretty minimal on this, so I’m pretty down to try one if you give them the stamp of approval.
I picked up Diamond Dust last month and I love it to death. I like a good glittery eye look but I’ve had some issues with loose eye shadows (sneezing + holding an open jar of loose glitter shadow = disaster). I’ve tried this both by itself and on top of another eye shadow. I’ve experienced minimal fall out and it’s easy to disperse the product before it dries or pack it to get an extra glittery look.
I tested Rose Gold in the store, dried down too quickly to blend or to get a sheet wash, and chunky cheap looking glitter is what stands out. Not for me.
I swatched these at Ulta a few trips back, shopped around, totally forgot they were on the back of my hand, and then got into the passenger seat of my boyfriend’s car. When we got back to my house (a 10 minute ride), I got out of the car, I looked down at the seat, and there was just glitter everywhere where my hand had been resting. “A little fallout?” Haha, sure. Had to lint roll the seat! So then I stood outside and actually rubbed my hand, and sure enough, off came the glitter particles, flying everywhere. So if you were to rub or pick at your eyelids for any reason, the glitter would just fall right off onto your face. I will say that they were easy and comfortable to remove with a makeup wipe, no scratchy feeling whatsoever. But I personally don’t think that they were as successfully executed as they could’ve been. I had much better luck with swatching their Glitterati lip topcoats.