Stila NaturalEyes / Natural Eye / In The Light Shadow Palette Fall 2011 Swatches and Review

I've been eyeshadow shopping for my mom lately and when the email from Stila previewing this palette from the fall collection arrived in my inbox, I knew it was something I had to get for her. Except... it looked so pretty, I had to get one for myself, too. Really... this thing is gorgeous.

It's called the NaturalEyes palette. Well, it was called the NaturalEyes palette, but about an hour ago I learned that they've now changed the name to Natural Eye Shadow Palette. Mine says NaturalEyes on the back, but the new ones will probably be different.

Anyway, it's a palette of 10 neutral/earthy eyeshadow shades in a mixture of matte, shimmer/frost and glitter finishes plus a full size Stila Smudge Stick eyeliner.

The palette is housed in cardboard with a bronzy metallic sheen. 'Stila' is printed on the front in gold foil and the back side lists the shade names.

The shades are (left to right, starting with the top row): Bare, Kitten, Bliss, Sunset, Sandstone, Champagne, Gilded Gold, Luster, Night Sky, Ebony. Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner in Damsel.

Closer look at the glitter in Gilded Gold and Luster.


The Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner in Damsel. It's a very dark matte brown.

Swatched over Urban Decay Primer Potion. Left to right: Damsel eye liner, Bare, Kitten, Bliss, Sunset, Sandstone, Champagne, Gilded Gold, Luster, Night Sky, Ebony.

The texture of the shadows is varied but good. The metallic/frosty/shimmery shades like Kitten, Sunset and Champagne are amazing. They're soft, pigmented, have great payoff and look really bright and shiny once applied. The shimmers, which are almost really mattes with microglitter, are a little hard and they payoff isn't as good, but they're still nice. The true mattes are a little chalky but apply pretty smoothly. I'm happy with the quality of the shadows. They apply and wear well and the colors are very pretty. Especially Gilded Gold- it's a dark coppery metallic gold with gold glitter!

The eyeliner is amazing. It's so creamy and easy to apply, even on the waterline. Once it sets, it lasts until you take it off. I'm impressed with the formula but I also like the color. It's a matte brown, but it's so dark it's almost black. Very flattering shade on my brown eyes. I've never tried the Smudge Stick eyeliners before but now that I've used two shades, I want more!

The palette also comes with a tiny 'how-to look book' which is actually pretty nice. It's printed on sturdy glossy paper and has instructions for creating six different looks using the shadows in the palette. I didn't get any pictures of it, but I am surprised at how nice they made it instead of making it a throwaway/afterthought to the palette.

One small detail worth noting: The palette claims that the shadows are made in the good ol' US of A, and the liner is made in Germany. That's nice to know, since a lot of the palettes I've been buying lately are made in China.

I played with the palette a little bit but I still haven't tried all the colors on my eyes. Here's a look I did using some of the shades from the palette. It's not a pure NaturalEyes look because it uses things that aren't in the palette, but it is a pure Stila look!

This is:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Kitten on inner lid
Champagne on middle of lid
Stila Glitter Eye Gel over Champagne (seems to be the same shade as Kitten glitter liner)
Luster and Gilded Gold mixed in crease
Gilded Gold on lower lashline
Bare on browbone
Damsel on upper and lower waterline
Stila Smudge Stick in Koi as liner
Revlon Grow Luscious mascara, melted by Visine-A eye drops XD

Nice earth toned shades... Really good palette for making bronzy smoky eyes. I'm thinking I might actually like this better than the Urban Decay Naked palette.

This is part of the Fall 2011 collection, but it's already available on Stila's website, which is where I ordered both of mine.

EDIT: I still can't post comments on my own blog, but I wanted to add this: I have the Urban Decay Naked palette also and I do think this looks very similar. It seems to me like the Stila shadows are better pigmented compared to the Naked palette, but honestly I haven't used my Naked palette much!

EDIT again: And now I realize that I actually uploaded one swatch of the Naked palette instead of the second swatch of the NaturalEyes palette XD I fixed it...

EDIT for hopefully the last time: The name of this palette has been changed again and it's now called the Stila In The Light Shadow Palette.