Guest Post: Stila in the Garden Palette Review

Today I have invited a friend of mine FZ, who is just beginning to step into the world of makeup, to give her two cents on a certain makeup product that she was gifted. It was sad to see her not knowing what a jewel she had acquired, but as we all know, good stuff doesn’t need any selling, it sells itself. Surely she fell in love with the all famous “Stila in the Garden Palette”. I find it quite interesting to see what someone who is relatively new at trying out different products and brands has to say are unbiased and more pragmatic in their approach and this is what she has to say about it:

Hi all! I am a 24 year old housewife, just beginning to appreciate the world of makeup. It makes sense then that when recently I was gifted a Stila eyeshadow palette, as appreciative as I was of the gift sender’s gesture, the product itself didn’t cause me to swoon. I hadn’t heard of the brand name before this… but then how many brands do I do know?! :P. I tossed it aside as just another addition in my collection of unused shadows which will make it all the more difficult for me to choose a shade in the fifteen minutes that I  am willing to spend on makeup before going out. A certain makeup geek friend of mine had a totally different reaction however. One look at it and she exclaimed what a catch it was, envying my luck for having such makeup gifting friends.  (Boy ain't that the truth!)

The geeks are more right than wrong they say. This Stila “In the Garden Palette” is the first thing I reach for now when giving myself a quick presentable look. 

It contains ten shadows and a smudge stick eyeliner. The palette itself came in a cardboard box which doesn’t really look very appealing at first sight.

But when you open the box and slide out the palette and then open it, you’re already sold.

These are the swatches without a primer:

L to R: Choinois, Breeze, Bark, Freesia, Rosette

Lto R: Nectar, Honey, Sage, Moss, Juniper

The names are so appropriate to the name of the palette as are the colors.

In layman terms, it is an easy to use palette. Not only does it contain the right assortment of shades that make it perfect for both day and night wear but the shades are also highly pigmented and blend beautifully. For a beginner like me, you have the brow highlighter, base shade, crease plus outer lid darkening shade and lash liners all next to each other.

The set of browns is just enough. A girl’s gotta have browns right? Another singular thing about these shadows is that when a combination is applied for example: Bark, Breeze, Honey and Moss, they stand out distinctly yet gently fade into each other.

 Browns that stand out on medium skin tone like mine, deserve credit because usually you can’t tell where the eyeshadows start vanishing off to and they all look the same.

The addition of blue, violet and green give the palette a good color pick. I am not a big fan of blues and pinks like Freesia and Rosette but I think they’re not totally useless. I hear color is in for 2014.  Can be used to throw in an unconventional look once in a while, but wearing these as an eyeliner on the lower lids might work. Must try that! 

Sage, Moss and Juniper however, are loves. They just complete the palette and make it useful for smoky eye purposes too.

About the liner: 

The Liner looks festive, as opposed to the packaging…but looks can deceive.

Swatch: Not at all pigmented.

Don’t really like the faint look of the eye liner. I am more of a solid sharp gel liner person. Again with medium skin tone and dark circles, unless you’re a pro at using smudge pencils, pencils like these in my opinion end up giving a not so pretty dark shadowy look to your face and end up with raccoon eyes.

All in all, it’s a useful palette to have. Good fit for a go to kit in terms of its size and application versatility.

 Well then, the verdict is in... this palette just made my wish list…what about you?