Stila Road to Radiance Across The USA

Stila has released a series of Travel Palettes, each containing four powder eyeshadows and a Convertible Color. The Road to Radiance Across the USA palette was the first in the series. Four palettes have been released to date, and the final palette, Fabulous in Fiji is due out in mid-November. You can view the whole series on the Stila website.

The palette is touted as having a retail value of US$65 but costs only US$10. The fine print is that these palettes are made in China, unlike most of Stila's line which is usually made in the good old USA. I find the retail value claim to be unsettling as there's no way anyone would pay US$65 for such a palette in the first place. But for US$10, it is actually quite a decent palette.

Personally, I have a soft spot for the Stila girl illustrations so I wanted to pick up the whole set of the Travel Palettes if only just for the palette cases. The four eyeshadows have a soft shimmery finish. There aren't any annoying obvious glitter bits. The glimmer has a lovely illuminating effect without being too loud.

I applied these over my usual T'estimo Eye Bright Up Base so I didn't have any problems getting the eyeshadows to show up easily. The quality and texture is certainly not the rich and intensely pigmented shades of classic Stila shades like Diamond Lil and Kitten, but I still found them easy to work with.

I applied Snow Bunny over the browbone area and the inner corners, Valley Girl in the crease, Southern Belle along the lower lashline and from the inner corners to the middle of the upper lid, and City Chick from the middle of the lid to the outer corners. Then I finished with Heroine Make Smooth Liquid Liner along the upper lashline and Shiseido Nourishing Mascara Base topped with Clinique High Impact Mascara.

The other products I used today were: Dior X4 Control Compact Foundation 012, Shiseido Refining Makeup Primer, K-Palette Real Lasting Eyebrow 01, Jill Stuart Loose Powder #1 Natural, Anna Sui Spot Concealer 01, Tarina Tarantino Dollskin Cheek in Parasol and Za Plumper Lips #2 Rosy Flush.


A reader asked me what is my favourite foundation. Actually I have quite a few that I like:

Powder: Dior X4 Control Compact Foundation (Lancome Maquicake UV Infinite is an old favourite but I haven't re-purchased it as I wanted to try out other foundations.)

Liquid: Burberry Sheer Foundation, Guerlain Parure Pearly White Brightening Fluid Foundation

Cream: Bourjois Mineral Matte Foundation

Stick: Maquillage Lasting Stick Foundation

BB Cream: Skin79 VIP Gold

Right now, I'm trying to use up my Dior X4 which is why it appears in many of my FOTD posts.

The Za Plumper Lips #2 Rosy Flush is a pretty peachy pink with a lovely shine and glossy finish. The Plumper Lips glide on with an emollient finish and last about 3-4 hours on my lips (with light drinking). If you press your lips together, you can feel the micro sparkle bits but these didn't feel uncomfortable or rough to me.