Getting Naked...with Stila?!

Stila Not So Nude and The Natural, $20 each at Ulta

While at Ulta recently, I impulse bought two neutral palettes from Stila. (Because I need neutral palettes like a hole in the head). I don't know what initially drew me to these palettes. Maybe because they're small and perfect for travel. Maybe because they're pink and girly. Maybe because they're filled with a mix of mattes and shimmer..Whatever the reason those suckers found their way into my grey mesh bag. And I didn't even bat an eye.

Each palette is slim and opens like a book. One the cover we have girls with long, flowing hair in their undies. Cute and innocent! The palette feels like cardboard, but a little sturdier than the cardboard that houses my Stila In The Light palette.When you open up each palette you have a small mirror on the left hand side and an illustration of one look using the majority of the products in the palette. The palette has a magnetic closure. It doesn't feel expensive and sturdy, but it doesn't necessarily feel cheap and flimsy either.

Let's take a closer look at each palette.

l-r: Stila The Natural and Stila Not So Nude

THE NATURAL

l-r: Innocent, Linen, Pure, Element, Demure, Silk

l-r: Organza and Soft Clay

The Natural palette contains six eye shadows, one all over shimmer, and one bronzer. 

Pure – a matte ivory cream

Linen – a matte light brown

Innocent – a matte medium warm toned brown

Element – a goldish brown sheen

Demure – champagne with a hint of pink sheen

Silk – a bronze sheen

Organza – a peachy pink with sheen

Soft Clay – a warm bronzer with sheen 

The three matte shades (Pure, Linen, and Innocent) are silky and smooth. There are not as pigmented as other matte shadows I've seen from Stila (namely from the In The Light palette), but they are buildable and perfect as transition colors. On their own they are subtle enough to use to blend other eye shadows. Although they are nice, they are definitely not the stars of the palette.

That title would definitely go to the other three eye shadows, all with a sheen finish. There is no shimmer, but there is definitely some shine. Applied wet (or under a primer) these shadows are absolutely gorgeous. I love all three of them. They seem like shades I would have numerous dupes of, but they are actually pretty unique in terms of browns and neutrals. Demure reminds me a little bit of Stila’s ‘Kitten’ shadow, but more beige than pink.

The two cheek products are not my favorite in the palette. I do like Organza, but not as a shimmer over the face (I’m thinking Stila is referring to this as a highlighter). A peachy pink highlighter is just not flattering on me. I think on darker skin tones it would look lovely. The same goes for the bronzer – not flattering on me at all. Instead, I like to use both as eye shadows. If you think like me, then essentially this palette contains eight eye shadows. Organza is absolutely gorgeous as a lid color. I don’t have an eye shadow quite like this. And a plus – the pan is huge! More than half the size of a normal full size eye shadow. The chances of me hitting pan are very slim. This shade is especially beautiful with my blue eyes!

NOT SO NUDE

l-r: Barefoot, Dolce, Mink, Buff, Fawn, Sugar

l-r: Kitten and Lily (blended out on the right)

The Not So Nude palette contains six eye shadows, one all over shimmer, and one convertible lip/cheek color. 

Sugar – a champagne beige with sheen

Fawn – a cool toned light to medium brown with slight shimmer

Barefoot – a dark purple with a hint of brown/black and red shimmer

Buff – a matte camel beige

Mink – a cool toned matte taupe brown

Dolce – a true gold sheen

Kitten – a champagne shimmer

Lily – a peachy pink sheen

This palette only has two matte shades and they are both very similar in terms of texture and pigmentation as the mattes in the previous palette. Buff is a hybrid between Pure and Linen and Mink is a shade or two darker than Innocent. It’s probably not necessary to have all five unless you love matte shades. Buff and Mink would make excellent transition and blending shades.

There are two actual shimmer eye shadows in this palette and they could not be more different. To me Fawn looks like an olive green neutral in the pan and swatches similarly. It’s not a very flattering shade on me, but I can imagine it looking quite lovely on medium to dark skin tones. Barefoot is probably the most unique eye shadow shade in both palettes. It’s a gorgeous dark purple with red shimmer. I saw this and immediately thought of Blackheart from the Naked 3 palette. I think Barefoot actually swatches more pigmented and feels smoother than Blackheart.

The other two shades in this palette have a sheen to them, but no shimmer. Sugar is a gorgeous lid shade and Dolce is perfect for all those gold lovers out there. I personally am not a huge fan of gold eye shadows – they look gorgeous, don’t get me wrong, but I tend to gravitate towards champagne shades. Both are very pigmented and smooth.

The all over shimmer in this palette is called Kitten. It is not a dupe for the eye shadow by Stila of the same name. The Kitten eye shadow has a much stronger pink tint to it whereas the Kitten in this palette has a more gold look to it. Again, I don’t like this as a highlighter for me. Maybe I’m just not as comfortable with highlighters just yet, but I think this looks like too much on my cheekbones. I will be using this primarily as an eyeshadow.

I am happy there is a convertible cheek color in this palette as I’ve always wanted to try one, but it is not sealed or separated from the powder products and I fear it will get dirty really quick. This particular shade is very pretty, although it’s a little bolder than what I prefer for a cream blush. I do not like how this looks on my lip. It clings to imperfections and makes my lips look shriveled. Not a pretty look.

DUPE TIME

I was able to find a few dupes between these two palettes from Stila and the three Naked palettes (well four if you count Naked Basics) as well as the Stila In The Light. 

l-r: W.O.S., Buff, Bare 

The first dupes I detected were of these light, matte cream shades. From Urban Decay's Naked Basics palette we have W.O.S. and from Stila's In The Light palette we have Bare. Both are very similar to Buff in the Not So Nude palette. Depending on the light I can't tell Buff and W.O.S. apart. Bare is similar to both, but more cream based instead of W.O.S.'s pink undertone and Buff's beige undertone.

l-r: Sugar, Organza, Kitten eyeshadow, Kitten shimmer, Demure

The next comparisons we must make are with all the pretty champagne colors! Of course we have to compare them all with the original Stila Kitten eye shadow (mine is from the In The Light palette). I didn't find any dupes with the Naked palettes. As you can see the shade most similar to the Kitten eye shadow is definitely the Kitten all over shimmer. Not very surprising if you ask me. Since these shades are my weakness I don't mind owning all of them, but I know they are not a necessity for some people. 

l-r: Blackheart, Barefoot (with flash)

l-r: Blackheart, Barefoot (without flash)

The last dupes I bring you are very interesting. We have Barefoot from Not So Nude and Blackheart from Urban Decay's Naked 3 palette. If you've been lusting after that shade, here's a cheap alternative! I have to admit I prefer Barefoot because the shimmer/glitter is more subtle and the dark base is more pigmented. 

CONCLUSION

Over all I think both palettes are great for the price, however most of these eye shadows are not unique shades at all. If you own all three Naked palettes plus Naked Basics you probably do not need these two palettes. I would also say these palettes are not a necessity for someone who owns the Stila In The Light palette as that palette pretty much has variations of all these shadows. I would recommend these to someone just starting out with makeup or someone looking to increase their collection. The small size is perfect for travel. My favorite of the two would be “The Natural” even though I really don’t like the bronzer and probably won’t even use it much for eye shadow. The “Not So Nude” palette is nice, but Fawn is not a shade for me and even though Barefoot is gorgeous I don’t need it since I have Naked 3. I could also do without the convertible color since it’s not sealed. 

xoxo,

A