review: stila merry & bright holiday 2012 palette and lip glaze set

hi loves.
earlier today i dressed up to the nines ie., full make up (using colours from this palette), nice dress, colour tights et al but the thing was i only went to the food court...

not the club, not a hipster joint.

just a non air-conditioned food court (maxwell market).
lotsa yum yums there...

but who cares?
i just felt like dressing up today to match my makeup.
why must i dress sloppily just becos im going to the food court and not some establishment??

i hope more people (especially my countrymen infamous for their t-shirt, shorts & slippers) will be more inspired to dress up for themselves.

not just to please anyone but yourself.

anyways, darlings.
today i have this baby to review


stila holiday 2012 merry & bright collectible palette and lip glaze set

what a mouthful. but yeah
open up the palette and you'll see





the palette up close...

the palette contains a mirror (above the instructions, not pictured), simple makeup instructions, six eyeshadows and one convertible color at the bottom.

swatches of the eyeshadows


six altogether.

from the top:-
chill (disappeared into my skin)/ glisten/ joyful/ ebony/ butterscotch/ molasses

chill: skin beige, matte

glisten: light pinkish brown shimmer

joyful: soft apricot brown shimmer with a tinge of copper

ebony: black, matte

butterscotch: medium nude brown, matte

molasses: soft chocolate brown shimmer

makeup instructions


as in the pic, the instructions:-
1. apply chill from lash line to brow bone

2. apply molasses onto lid

3. blend butterscotch into crease

4. diffuse ebony or molasses
under lower lash line to create a sultry eye

5. apply joyful to inner corner of the eye

6. apply lillium (the convertible color) to cheeks and lips to complete the look

okk... i followed these steps and improvised a little and ended up with...








i improvised by applying ebony along my lash line and glisten to highlight my brow bone.

you get 3 mattes and 3 shimmers and their quality is good enough.
it's best to use a brush than fingers to pick up product and apply onto your lids for better shade definition, layering and blending.

colours need to be built up but not with too much effort.
ebony and molasses are pigmented.
the lighter shades def need layering.

swatch of lillium


applied heavily on the left
blended on the right

lillium is the main reason i got this palette.
it is such a great colour that flatters alot of skintones, i believe.

lillium is a medium nude pinkish brown that when applied, makes you radiant and flushing naturally but go easy with lillium first.

apply with a light hand and build up from there. i didn't know better and ended up with clown cheeks.

plus points for lillium for being very creamy, pigmented and blendable.

lillium lasted about 4 hours on me with obvious fading but im still very happy with it.
on my lips, lillium turned into a light nude pink that acts like a lip concealer...

swatch of kitten lip glaze


kitten is a metallic warm pink bronze with micro fine glitter.
it feels a little sticky but i can bear it.

i have a feeling kitten will look better on top of other lipsticks.

overall thoughts
merry & bright is not a must have, i have to say, even though this palette is my first from stila.
my first stila product is the ever famous kitten eyeshadow.

but. but... as my first stila palette im kinda won over becos each product in this palette does its job ok to give me a pulled together look whenever i do not want to think too much about what colours to match on my face and it's also perfect for travel (so compact!).

totally lovin lillium.
im glad merry & bright introduced me to this wonder girl and i might get a full size when i finish this and my canmake cream blushers.

for collectors of stila makeup palettes, i don't think this palette will garner a standing ovation but for me, a practical girl (*snort*), this does fine.

and sometimes fine is swell.
xoxo,
ah nais.

edit!:
ok i take it back, all is not that 'swell'. i found something im not too pleased with this palette.

even though i use a brush to pick up and apply the shadows, there is still fall out and this becomes an issue when flecks of ebony (black, the darkest in the palette and directly above lillium) get on top of my dear lillium and as a result the colour gets muddied.

so if you have this palette, please keep the plastic film cover.
it will come in handy, yes siree.
use it to cover and protect lillium from any fall out when you pick up the shadows.