When the Stila Shimmer & Glow Liquid Eye Shadows first released last year, they caused quite a stir in the beauty community and received mostly rave reviews. We picked up a few shades, and a certain makeup obsessed Best Coaster (ahem, Liz), ended up with six shades from the range. As we get closer to the recommended 12-month expiration date for some of our shadows (nooooo!!), we wanted to revisit them, recommend our favorite shades and see how they’ve held up.
Price: $24
Find it HERE
Tested August 2019
Liz:
I have a confession to make: I have a lot of eyeshadow. A lot. Due to this obsession, there are products that get neglected and put away when new, exciting things launch and must be tried. A few of these Stila eyeshadows, however, have retained their prime location in my vanity organizer because they’re that good.
“I do think they’re best as toppers and wouldn’t recommend using them under other shadows.”
Boheme, described as a shimmering pale lilac, is one of those shades. It’s a perfect eyeshadow to brush directly onto the lid with the applicator and lightly tap with my finger to blend out, no primer needed. It’s shimmery and reflective and brightens the eye with practically no effort. I do recommend you tap it into place and then leave it for about a minute in order to let it set. Once that’s done, the shade lasts through an entire workday without creasing. Score!
Grace, a shimmering rosey taupe, works quite well to bump up the shine on a neutral eyeshadow look. My favorite way to use this shade is to paint in on the inner half of my lid to highlight the eye and add more dimension. All of these shadows play well with others and apply easily over other products. I do think they’re best as toppers, however, and wouldn’t recommend using them under other shadows (plus, why cover their amazing glow?).
Now, to the sad news. My shadow in the shade Twig is one of the oldest, and it’s starting to show. The formula has dried out over the course of the year, and although I can still use it, there’s a lot of crumbling and fallout trying to apply it with the applicator. If this has happened to your shadow, try using it as a liner and do your eyes before the rest of the complexion. I used a small, dense brush to pick up product from the applicator and rim the eyes using the brush.
The deeper shades, like Twig, aren’t something I would generally put all over the lid, but still work nicely on the outer corners or as a liner. In my opinion, the lighter shades in this range are the real shining stars and will be worth repurchasing.
Liz’s Verdict: Love
Lea:
Liz actually gifted these to me for Christmas last year and I had no idea what a gem they were. The formula is spot-on, definitely blendable and buildable. Imagine you crushed your favorite shadow then mixed it with your favorite base, voila. I cannot even wait for the end of this post to say how awesome I think these little shadows are! Buy them, go now.
“If you have hooded eyes like I do take heed; patience is your friend (and perhaps a light hand).”
Kitten is the perfect shimmering champagne and a “liquid” version of their cult favorite pressed shadow with the same name. I write liquid in quotes because it doesn’t feel wet, more gel-like. I appreciate that this is a true shimmer and not a glitter. I’m 31 and a contact wearer, chunky glitter is not my friend. One drawback: this formula stays tacky for a few minutes so if you have hooded eyes like I do take heed; patience is your friend (and perhaps a light hand).
Starlight is essentially Kitten in gold. I don’t reach for this as much because I don’t think gold is as flattering on my skin tone. Silver lining of this situation- it affords me the opportunity to compare the way the two have aged. I assume that each time I use one of these little wands I am allowing air to enter the tube; this would make sense as Kitten is much drier now compared to Starlight. At this point Kitten is starting to flake a little straight out of the tube, unless I really dig to the bottom (which is basically impossible to do) versus Starlight which still feels like new. Also I was able to blend Starlight out to be just an even wash whereas Kitten stayed thicker and more opaque (check out the slightly awkward eyelid swatches to see what I mean).
I have a love-hate relationship with Vivid Smoky Quartz. It’s a beautiful swatch but difficult to blend and in my opinion, too dark for an all over color. As opposed to the lighter shades that can be tapped in with your finger fairly effortlessly, that method with this shade is a mess. Not only does it take up whatever was underneath it (in my case concealer leading to an uneven, muddy wash) but leaves all of the pretty sparkles on your finger. The only way I can make this work is to use a small brush, take some product from the applicator and sweep it once on the outer lash line then use a completely different shadow to blend the edges. I used this method in the eyelid pic below and the 6 year old sitting next to me on a plane told me he “liked my sparkly eyebrows.” I’m fairly certain he meant eyelids.
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