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Beautiful Beginnings with Stila
Beautiful Beginnings with Stila
What was the first Stila product you ever tried? Did it pave way for a real romance or did it put you off the brand entirely? What was the first Stila product you purchased? Did you love it? Hate it? Still own it?
my answer: The first product I really fell head-over-heels for was their Barbie palette. I remember it was one of the first A+ products on the blog. It was SO phenomenal! I haven’t tried as many products from Stila in the past year or two, though I enjoyed their Sparkle eyeliners.
Eh. The first thing I tried was a mini Holiday set of their Lip Glazes. I expected to love them because everybody raved about them. Three years later and I haven’t even finished one yet because I can’t get over how sticky they are. And I hate the click tube packaging. Then I got the Fabulous in Fiji palette for my birthday two years ago and hated it so much that I threw it away. Sheer, chalky colors that wouldn’t blend if the fate of the world depended on it. And despite my previous failures with Stila, I gave them one more chance when I bought one of their Smudge Stick eyeliners a few months ago. I used it twice and tried to twist the tube to expose more of the eyeliner so that I could use it a third time…the tube wouldn’t twist at all. Exchanged it for a new one because clearly the packaging was defective. Tthe new one twisted and twisted and twisted and wouldn’t expose the product (seriously, I did this for a good five minutes). Assuming I was twisting the wrong way, I twisted the opposite…and the whole tube snapped in half. Needless to say, I’m done with Stila. Lol.
I don’t have much from Stila, but the few pieces I have are amazing. A few years back, I decided to switch back to stick foundation, but Max Factor was being discontinued in the US, so I went on the hunt for a new one. First, I tried MAC, but I was “matched” to NC30, which was the *worst* color match I’ve ever had. I happened to be at Sephoa when I saw a box set with 2 foundation sticks (a&b), a lipgloss, and a radiant moisturizer, for around $30, so I decided to try it. I really liked it, but of course, it has since been discontinued. I really liked the gloss, though, and subsequently bought a Holiday set, one of the Barbie sets, and the In the Light palette. Although I really like the brand, I find myself actually buying other brands, perhaps because at one particular Sephora, they’re shelved next to NARS, and at the other, Urban Decay, which are the two top brands I tend to go for. However, I feel the brand is very good, and I haven’t had any disappointments. If they reintroduce the stick foundation, I may find myself more inclined to look at the shelves, though.
@xamyx Are Mac MUA’s trained to match everyone at NC30? *giggle* I’m MAC bashing again. My worst match ever as well!
@wwendalynne The worst part is, I actually really liked the product itself. It felt really good, no adverse reaction, buildable coverage, and was very creamy. As a product, I would definitely rate it a 10, but at the time that I bought it, MAC was phasing it out, and I wasn’t going to try to track it down in a different shade. It turns out, though, that it blended really well with the Stila stick foundations, so not a total loss. I find MAC hit and miss, but the foundation was a total hit. By the way, my shade is NARS Deauville, MUFE 115, and the like.
@wwendalynne The worst part is, I actually really liked the product itself. It felt really good, no adverse reaction, buildable coverage, and was very creamy. As a product, I would definitely rate it a 10, but at the time that I bought it, MAC was phasing it out, and I wasn’t going to try to track it down in a different shade. It turns out, though, that it blended really well with the Stila stick foundations, so not a total loss. I find MAC hit and miss, but the foundation was a total hit. By the way, my shade is NARS Deauville, MUFE 115/117 (mixed), and the like.
The first Stila product I tried was their Vanilla Lip Glaze and I loved it. Then I purchased the Cherry Lip & Cheek Stain and wore them together because I loved the scent they created! After paying full price for many products at Sephora, I finally figured out HauteLook and Stila’s own Warehouse/Last Call sales offered many of their products for less than half the price. My favourite products from them are their eyeshadow pans (especially the matte ones), they’re large and are easily moved from small compacts to palettes.
which product of stila is that first photo?
An old bronzer!
Stila Kitten was my HG e/s wash but now that I’m older, it’s too much shimmer – I feel like I’ve outgrown the brand in every way. Nothing really works anymore, not like it used to. They also used to have the best lipstick shades but discontinued those. There’s nothing left for me with Stila.
Luce lipstick, around 1997 or 1998. That was the least brown/most colored of their lipsticks then, but on me? Just brown anyway. I think I used it once.
I have never tried Stila…. just not drawn to them, although if someone could give me a persuasive reason to try I am open to it!
@brigidbeauty 2 reasons – Starlight and La Douce eye shadows! They are such flattering colours and, in the case of La Douce, unique (at least I think so). You get LOTS of product for the price too, so if it’s a shadow you love, you’re getting a good bang for your buck. Maybe just check them out and take a look.
I had a Costco set with Major Lash mascara, a small black smudge pot and an eyeshadow trio that had Kitten. The mascara was amazing for my asian lashes but is almost impossible to find now and Kitten is a big mess of glitter and I don’t understand the cult following. I still use the smudge pot for winged liner, but I find that even it can’t cope with my oily lids for more than 4 hours without transferring/smudging. They were nice products, but I don’t get the hype around the brand. It was nice to try their products without breaking the bank, but I’m not going to go out of my way to purchase anything.
I like Stila’s eyeshadows, but I bought some of those $10 palettes they were making a while back, and it kind of turned me off the brand. The shadow quality in the palettes was so poor, especially compared to how high-quality Stila make-up can be. If those are the kind of products Stila is making now, I’m not interested.
Oh, my beloved Stila!!! I didn’t even know Stila was available in Canada til maybe 2 years ago when I discovered it quite by accident at Shopper’s Drug Mart. I was thrilled. My first purchase was La Douce eyeshadow, quickly followed by Diamond Lil, Cloud (a makeup obsessed friend sold me on that one), Grace and Starlight. My daughter talked me into trying their liner but the sample at the store was dried up and then, when the SA opened a new one, it was dried up too so I ended up going to Sephora for one (they also carry Stila in Canada). A few more shadows and some blushes are up next – the Convertible Colour ones and that custom colour one they have that self adjusts (I love the look of the pink shade and will have to try it). I’m so happy with the products I’ve got from Stila and so happy that the brand is available here.
I think mine was a couple of eyeshadows I bought at the Cosmetics Market. To this day, I love using Nanda Devi to fill in my brows.
I tried their Illuminating Liquid Foundation and LOVED it; I ended up going with my trusty MUFE HD, but I was really impressed with Stila’s. I’ve never tried any other product by them though!
I only have a couple of Stila items — a Smudgestick eyeliner in Peacock, and their Backstage eyeshadow palette from summer/fall 2010. I like the eyeliner, and the eyeshadows are very pigmented, but I just don’t reach for them very often.
Actually, I wish I’d sent the palette back after I got it. Not because it sucks but because, when I received it in the mail, three of the eyeshadows were crumbled/broken. (Instead I tried to repair the broken ones. Mistake.)
I just recently tried Stila for the first time. I bought a tropical looking palette on Hautelook for cheap. It’s OK. I like it well enough and the price was right but I wouldn’t say it’s a favorite.
I made the mistake of purchasing a huge eyeshadow palette at Costco… Never again! The texture of many of the shadows was chalky, and inconsistant. The wear time with out a primer was terrible. The glitter ones had fall out city… I eneded up throwing away the set and promised to never buy Stila eyeshadow again! The lip gloss in the click pens are fair- I have enjoyed the taste of many of them, and find I like to leave two in my husbands truck to gloss up on the go… I figure if he cleans out the truck and “accidently” tossed the Stila lippies I would have no remorse. My husband mentions that I have too many lipglosses fairly regularly!
First thing I tried from Stila was the kitten eyeshadow and I have been in love ever since. I still make sure that i’m never without it!
@michou83Me too!!!! It is my go-to neutral…I love it!
I was never a fan of liquid foundation but on cyber Monday this year Stila had a good sale and I bought their One Step foundation and fell in love with it!
I first bought their liquid eyeliner pen, which i liked, but after a while, it was hard to get the eyeliner out; Once while at Ulta to buy this eyeliner, I was given a free eyeliner by them, it was a crayon in a pretty blue color. I put it on my waterline and after a little while, the eyeliner stuck to my contacts and I couldn’t see! Ever since then, i’ve been very turned off to Stila products.
i have 6 eyeshaadow palettes or may be more, and love each of them. i even have 3 in neutrals, and they’re really great: last a long time, smooth and buttery to the touch, and very true to pan colors. i also have one lip color that is long staying, and that is good too, but it’s such a dark color that i don’t really wear it often. BUT the last time i bought anything from stila was perhaps 1.5 years ago. nothing really catches my fancy now, and i’m not liking the recent reviews. i don’t want to have the whole image ruined.
I actually have yet to try a Stila product so it’s interesting for me to read these comments. Any reccomendations?
@Marina Amazon has their In the Garden palette for 22 bucks (normally 40). This is how I tried them and now I’m in love!
Years ago I tried the tinted moisturizer with spf 30, mainly because of the high spf, but I remember not liking it because it was heavy and thick and didn’t hold up on my oily skin. Stila tends to be one of those brands I overlook. I’ve swatched eyeshadows and blushes over the years, but nothing has every stood out to me.
The Precious Pearl Palette (middle photo). It was really the first makeup that got me INTO makeup 🙂 Still love it! Perhaps I’ll pull it out and use it tomorrow . . .
I love their daydream pallete!
There is one shade in it though with bad fallout, the darkest blue.
The first and so far only Stila product I have tried is a Lip Glaze in Apricot, which I loved! Stila products were sold for a while at a well known department store in Mexico (at least that is the only place I saw them), but for some reason they stopped selling them and therefore, I was unable to get anything else. But now we have Sephora in Mexico City, so I’ll check the items out; who knows, maybe the Lip Glaze was the beginning of a love story!
I miss Stila’s lip glosses in a metal tube (rose shine and petal shine) and their lipsticks.
I miss the metal tube lip glosses too 🙁
Desperatly looking for a Petal Shine dupe on MAC… any ideas??
Please, ladies! :))
ooops sorry I meant ROSE shine… it’s been such a long time. I really loved this one! That was a beautiful neutral, shimmmery rose/brown tone.
About 10 years ago or so Stila had a tinted moisturizer in a kajillion different shades and I don’t know what they put in their formula, but it made my skin look just incredible and I rarely used foundation at all, just their TM. That seemed to be at the height of Stila’s popularity and I purchased eyeshadows and foundation for formal occasions as well. All of the products were very impressive. Gradually, it seemed they dropped off the map a bit and discontinued a number of items including my beloved TM. Fast forward to about 5 years ago and Stila came out with these phenomenal leather covered eyeshadow trios and they were amazing and each pan held a large amount of product..huge, in fact. A year or so later, and the trios shrunk to less than half the size and I remember the shadows were horrible and not pigmented whatsoever. They were, in fact, cheaper, but I didn’t want cheap eyeshadow. It was such a disappointment it turned me completely off the line and I have not purchased anything from them since.
The In the Garden palette is the first Stila product I’ve ever tried, and I love it. I haven’t tried anything else by them, but the palette has definitely opened up to the possibility of me trying more from the brand. 🙂
Back in the ’90s, Stila was THE cool, distinctive cosmetics line designed by a makeup artist. Its products had unique colors (for those days) and high quality. It also broke the rules by being the first brand to use recyclable paper packaging. Sadly, flash forward: it was sold a few years later to a megabrand (Lauder?) which disassembled it. Popular items simply vanished, overall quality diminished, fad promotions and tie-ins became the norm. It never really evolved like other similar brands; instead, it just sort of existed under various attempts at personality. I’ve glanced over Stila’s lines at stores such as Sephora but it’s a shadow of its former self, and – as many posters here note – a not too provocative one. It’s a shame; I’ve hoarded a few of my favorite shadows, powders and even a random lipstick or two and they’re still decent. I wish the original vision would return.
The Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer was my first Stila product. I would put it in my top 3 TMs of all time.
I looove the Stila Convertible Colors (lips/cheeks). Some of my favorite blushes!
When the line first launched in Saks short Hills….luce lipcolor
In 1997 gasp im old
Love one of their palettes! It’s my favorite! Also their eyeliners are great!
First makeup product I ever purchased from a actual makeup stope (Sephora) was by them 🙂
Stila got me into makeup! Loved the array of colors, Eco friendly packaging, and wearable (but fun!) shadows and lipsticks! BUT…Stila has changed for the worse. Palettes made in China, no fun collections, plastic eye shadow pots… 🙁
I’m right with you on that one. They outsourced a lot of jobs to China but kept the prices the same. $22 for a lip glaze that used to be made in USA? No, thank you. >:( The quality has gone down as well although some people claim it’s still the same.
I started with those amazing cardboard trios. Walk in the Woods was the best! They’ve really gone downhill since then 🙁
First foundation I used- loved it! I also really enjoed their brush on lip glosses:-) Fast forward 11 yrs… I no longer impressed:-/
I=I’m
My first purchase was the Lip glaze in Fruit Punch which I really enjoyed. They have amazing makeup that I use daily.
HA! So, I’m actually relieved to see others referencing Stila back in the 90s…when the first Sephora in the city opened up something like 12ish years ago, I got hooked on Stila’s cardboard seasonal trios. There was a gorgeous winter one with two blues and a matte white eyeshadow, and a trio that went along with the Jade Blossom perfume release-a gorgeous jade shadow, a peachy/coral blush, and a shimmery, gold-toned highlight shade. I still use both palettes (what expiration date?), had the perfume, and some lip pens from years ago. I hated it when they discontinued that stuff. Great packaging, wonderful color combos, and good quality powders in the trios. Still love Stila’s eye stuff.
I’m pretty sure that the “Andie” and “Natalie” lipsticks were my first Stila purchases. I remember visiting a Stila counter at my local Saks and falling in love with their glosses in the tube! Rose and Petal were favs.
This really was a great line when it first launched. They definintely needed to improve the quality of the lipsticks (rancid crayon smell) but I became a fan. In the years since Jeannine departed, it seems like they’ve pared down the line significantly and discontinued some terrific products. I’ve never found an exact dupe for Natalie lipstick and that’s a shame.
The first Stila product I tried was the cream stain (long wear lip color) in Patina, back when lips stains we “in”. I absolutely fell in love with their lip products after that! I have since also purchased the cream stains in Muse, Fiery and Petal. And also the lipstick in Lover. I also loved their liquid liners, but the packaging sucks. Not even a month after I bought the sparkly charcoal liner the lid started breaking into pieces. Very lame. Put the only red lip colors I ever wear are Lover and Fiery and I get tons of compliments every single time. LOVE LOVE LOVE!
My first Stila experience was back in the days of free-standing Stila boutiques. It was across from MAC in the mall, so I went in and had a full makeover and bought so much stuff…I loved it all! ILF, IPF, cream blush, shadow trios, lip glaze. Man I miss the old Stila days :o(
I think the very first product I ever tried was a lipgloss, but it came in a little tube – like toothpaste. This was back in 1999, 2000? maybe?? The love affair began!! I still collect a lot of Stila products and love them all.
Back in the 90’s when Stila was really cool–I purchased about ten of their shimmer eye shadows. My favorites were–Barefoot Contessa, Viola, Charm, Rumba, Twilight, Storm, Rain, and Kitten. After Jeanine Lobell sold the company–the products are now quite mediocre, at best.
I actually just bought my very first Stila item just a couple of weeks ago at Sephora. Its the Convertible Color in Lillium and I will not be without this product! I use it on my lips and cheeks and its in my purse so that I can reapply as needed throughout the day! I stay away from all things “made in china” but this compact is made in USA and I am looking at buying some more convertible colors in different shades so that I can change up my looks from time to time.
I tried several products by Stila and wasn’t impressed with any of them besides the lip glazes (but they’re made in China and way overpriced now). And as many have already mentioned, Stila has really gone downhill with their quality. Definitely not a brand I look out for when shopping for makeup.