I was actually having a chat with myself when the holiday season came rolling in and concluded that I’m finally over eyeshadow palettes. Nothing new popping up in new brand collections seemed interesting except for perhaps the “pocket-able” Urban Decay Naked Basics palette which I thought was genius save for one important fact, they didn’t throw in a matte taupe shade or shades you can alternate for brows (brow shades make any palette an instant win). I was Christmas shopping the other day at Rustans Shangrila Mall with Mom and finally got a much needed alone moment without her (so I could shop for her, which I did) but you know being joyfully alone during the Christmas season in a Rustan’s beauty hall can ultimately lead you to some awesome discoveries for yourself…like over at the Stila counter for example.
The Stila In The Know eyeshadow palette would make a pretty gift for a beauty enthusiast, a beauty blogger, or a makeup professional with a budding bridal makeup career which involves a nearly neverending use of neutral matte eyeshadows (which are also ideal for mature clients). I personally think that Stila is the next best brand to Urban Decay you can actually get here locally that reflects the same sort of young urban “it” vibe and there’s something more silky and creamy about their award-winning powder eyeshadow formulas. Another in the series of palettes they began releasing, like the “NaturalEyes” palette I blogged about, the In the Know eyeshadow palette comes with 10 pigmented matte shades, 6 of which are nearly identical to the Urban Decay Basics offering which includes a matte black, Ebony.
ROW 1: Air / Wind / Desert / Clay / Earth | ROW 2: Driftwood / Fire / Rain / Smoke / Ebony
Oh, lest I forget (actually editing this in after having already published the post) the palette, just like the Naturaleyes one also comes with a Stila Smudgestick, a blendable waterproof automatic eyeliner in a lovely, rich deep gray shade called “halfmoon”. The In the Know palette has won me over because unlike the UD Basics set this set also has a rust shade called Fire, a gray called Smoke, a vanilla shade called Air, and *drumroll* a very wearable taupe called Rain. The light and darker coffee-like browns included are also slightly more ashy than the ones in the UD Basics palette, thus making this work for brows as well. At Rustans, the Stila In The Know palette costs Php1750…just so you know locally there isn’t too big of a price hike in comparison to the price on the Stila website where it costs about US$39 which is just under Php1650. The great thing about this Stila palette is this one unlike the “Naturaleyes” palette last year, this has got a mirror…and that proves I think that they revised packaging based on consumer feedback.
