Lipstick Diaries #7: Stila Beso and Hourglass Empress

Entry #7 includes two faboosh liquid lipsticks in bold colors, just in time for fall!

Stila Beso is my current favorite matte red. It's relatively neutral, with a good balance of blue and orange, though if I had to peg it as either cool or warm, I'd say it reads a bit more warm. The formula is very moussey and creamy, and it spreads easily on my lips. This lipstick will last through eating and drinking with next to no fading. Also, if you do experience any fading, it's easy to touch-up.

Hourglass Empress is my vamp shade of choice. It's a deep-but-not-too-brown plum shade that will flatter a lot of skintones. The Hourglass formula is a bit thicker than the Stila, which means touch-ups are not recommended; however, I find that this lipstick lasts pretty damn well through eating and drinking. This is one of the more drying matte lipstick formulas on the market, so if you're already prone to dryness, give this one a pass.

While I love both of these shades, I'm not totally wild about the applicators. The doe foots are flexible, so I have to be very careful when applying to avoid a mess--I usually start by lining my lips with the tip of the applicator. I also have to wipe off a lot of excess product on the mouths of the tubes, because a dab goes such a long way!

Stila Convertible Color Swatches

I used to own a Stila Convertible Color or two, and I always enjoyed the formula. Granted, it's meant to be a dual lip-and-cheek product, but it's not the most comfortable or flattering lip product. Still, it's an emollient cream blush formula, and I'm all about that. I resisted purchasing more of these, though, because I am a cream blush queen and really shouldn't collect more.

So why did I cave? Well, Stila released some trios of "mini" Convertible Colors for spring. Now that fall is coming, the trios are on sale for $10 each (get them while you can!), and there was also a coupon for an additional 20% off of all sale items.

6 blushes for $16 plus shipping? Sold!

The compacts for these minis are not as sturdy as the full-size compacts. The plastic is thinner, especially at the hinge, so you need to be careful when you open and close these. The actual product, however, is the same. The six colors I got are, from left to right, Camellia, Petunia, Tulip, Lillium, Hibiscus, and Peony.

Camellia is a warm nude shade. It will definitely look terrible on me, so I plan on giving it away. Petunia is a warm pink; it reminds me of a peachier Kevyn Aucoin Isadore. Tulip is a berry red, and it's definitely the most pigmented out of all of these. It's also slightly less emollient than the other shades, but it's by no means dry. Lillium is a soft pink nude, one of those rare nude shades that is doable for pale skin. Hibiscus is a bright coral shade; out of all of these, I think it sits on the lips the best. Peony is a pink nude that I might be able to get away with, but if I can't, it'll look great on my mom.

All of these swatch relatively true to what's in the pan with one weird exception:

Petunia arrived with a weird layer o' fuchsia on top of it. I've heard of this happening with this particular Stila CC shade, so I just scraped off the top layer. But c'mon, Stila, you should figure this stuff out!

As a side note: a few of the tags have been moved to a new "Challenge Series" category on the blog side bar! :)

FOUL TEMPTRESS! Duping (most of) the Stila Convertible Color palette

Truth time: Stila is not a brand I am particularly drawn to. I think most of their products would sell better if they were priced lower and sold in the drugstore as "almost mid-end" stuff, like Hard Candy or Flower Beauty. However, there is one product Stila makes that I am madly in love with: the Convertible Colors, their cream lip-and-cheek product that is eh for lips, great for dry cheeks like mine. Through some mystical magic, I've resisted the urge to buy a ton of those things.

Now they've come out with a limited edition palette of Convertible Colors for their spring collection. My magic is fading. Those suckers are tempting. Imagine: having every color I could want for trips to visit my boyfriend, beach vacations, and rushed work days! With 12 shades for $49, I'm having a hard time not buying the thing.

So I decided to be proactive and steal a page from the bloggers who attempt to dupe eyeshadow palettes: I'm trying to find alternatives to this palette in my current stash. I use cream blushes exclusively these days, and I'm only interested in duping 8 out of the 12 colors (the top left corner has lots of brown tones, which I could give or take on my pale skin). Here are my results!

I lined up my stash and, based on how the product looks in the pot/tube and how it wears on my skin, I made my choices. With two notable exceptions, I think my line-ups are close enough to count. And the two exceptions? Well, I think I kind of prefer them to the shades in the Stila palette.

Let's take a closer look at what I came up with, starting with the peaches and corals on the left.

I swapped Stilla Gladiola for MAC Neon Orange lipstick. Yes, this is a lipstick, but the formula is quite creamy, so I can use it as a blush. Neon Orange is a faux dupe because it has distinct red tones, whereas Gladiola is a true orange. Still, it functions fine on my cheeks. My only quibble: Neon Orange is so dense that I have to mix it with some moisturizer or foundation if I want to wear it as a blush and not look like a clown.

I swapped Stila Peachblossom for Kevyn Aucoin Creamy Moist Glow in Tansoleil and Stila Gerbera for Becca Beach Tint in Grapefruit. The swatches make it look like I should've alternated Tansoleil and Grapefruit; on my cheeks, however, Tansoleil pulls slightly darker and more orange, and Grapefruit has the softer, peachier tones. Beach Tints and CMGs are two of my all-time favorite formulas, so I'm glad to see they work as dupes!

The most accurate swap for this portion of the palette is probably Stila Petunia for Kiss Me Touch Me Lip&Cheek in Mango. An afforable Korean cream, Mango is incredibly smooth and super-pigmented. It's a pink coral that borders on neon.

On to the reds and pinks! I swapped Stila Tulip for the Lipstick Queen Rose & Shine pot. The Lipstick Queen product looks more red than the Stila in these photos, but it looks like a true berry shade on my cheeks. Beauteous.

The most obvious faux dupe in this whole set-up is Chanel Fantastic, meant to replace Stila Rose. The Chanel appears lighter and pinker in these photos than it looks on my cheeks; when I actually put it on my face, it has more of a plummy shade to it. Still, it's a far cry from the deep, purpled burgundy of Stila Rose. As much as I wish I could truly dupe that shade, I really do think this Chanel blush would be the more flattering option on my skintone. Furthermore, swatches of Stila Rose are varied: sometimes it looks burgundy, sometimes it looks dark pink. Hmmmm.

Two more very accurate dupes are Stila Hibiscus for Canmake CL01 and Stila Fuchsia for Kevyn Aucoin Isadore. I've owned Fuchsia in the past, and I replaced it with Isadore because I prefer the Kevyn Aucoin formula. I haven't owned Hibiscus, but I've had a similar red shade from Stila: Poppy. I prefer the Canmake because of its jelly texture. As the swatch suggests, this product is hard to overdo because it maintains that gooey, delightful jelly sheen on the skin.

Those are my dupes and faux dupes! Have you found anything to replace the Stila palette? Or have you tried the actual Convertible Color palette? Comment with your thoughts!

Beauty Sightings: Sex and the City, season 1

I have a love-hate relationship with Sex and the City. On the one hand, I can see how it brought third-wave feminism to the forefront of pop culture and promoted the idea that strong, powerful women are still mere mortals. On the other hand, I found many of the storylines unrealistic, close-minded with regards to sexuality and gender stereotypes, and yes, even a little anti-feminist by promoting phrases like "I can't be in a committed relationship/marriage because I'm selfish." But truth be told, I've rewatched every episode a dozen times. The show is generally light-hearted, makes me laugh, and contains numerous beauty sightings, though they can be tricky to spot.

Season 1 beauty sightings are especially difficult to capture. The video quality didn't really go up until about season 3 or 4, so any screenshot that can capture the rough textures and colors of the items is bound to be grainy and blurry. Still, I managed to spot a few products I definitely recognized; about half of the rest look very similar. Those who are going to help me with brand names and products, please do! This show ran from the late 90s to the early 2000s.

Carrie's purse gets smacked out of her hand in the first episode. Several gold-cased lipsticks and gold-capped lipglosses pop out--they appear to be Estee Lauder--and a mascara-looking object in a thin white tube with a blue stripe. Anybody recognize the mascara-looking thing? Also, on the right, there's a tube of concealer with a satiny silver cap...I think it might be Clinique?

I can't recognize the silver compact, but a makeup artist friend of mine said that the round lipstick shape and silver-and-black tube are signature 90s Dior. Can anybody back this up for me?

A makeup artist with a bag of tools, and she's holding a sponge, a brush that appears to be from Estee Lauder, and something in a red compact. My immediate reaction was "Kevyn Aucoin!", but I'm pretty sure KA's beauty line launched closer to the time of his death in 2002--this season was filmed in 1988.

Carrie seems to keep a lot of her makeup in this wicker basket. There's also a vanity behind her--it looks like there are some serums and an eyeshadow and blush/gloss in black compacts, but they're hard to see.

Early-episodes Miranda has relatively light, natural brows. Here we see her running a spooly through her brows before she runs off to work.

Anybody recognize this lipstick packaging?

The ladies testing makeup. I'm dying to know what brand these products are! They remind me a lot of Estee Lauder, but of course, I can't be sure. The window in back seems to say "Desse," which isn't a boutique or store I recognize. (Then again, I'm not a New Yorker.)

Carrie in the same boutique holding a compact, most likely an eyeshadow.

Samantha's vanity, which cotton rounds, a powder compact, nail polishes, and lipsticks. Anybody recognize any of this stuff.

Carrie's plummy-pink lipliner. The writing is actually embossed silver. Liners are some of the hardest things to recognize because they're so tiny and their packaging is rarely distinctive.

Carrie's bathroom table. There's a Laura Mercier compact, a lash curler, and a bottle of Benetint. Makeup 411 notes that they used Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage on Sarah Jessica Parker, but I think that's a powder compact. I have a really hard time recognizing the foundation or the hair products. I'm 95% sure the pot of cream on the far right, which keeps popping up, is Ponds. (UPDATE: Emmeleine has pointed out that the cream might actually be Olay. Thanks!)

I don't recognize the liner, but those pots in the center are almost definitely La Femme cake glosses and blushes. EDIT: According to Amanda, the liner is very similar to old-school Stila. Thanks, Amanda! I think the small bottle with the white cap might be another Benefit product...High Beam or Posietint, perhaps?

Carrie applying mascara. I'm pretty sure that this is YSL--confirmation?

 Sam applying a really beautiful plum-nude lipstick.