Stila is another one of those new boutique-type lines that are getting so incredibly popular. The main difference with Stila is its elusiveness. Unless you live in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or San Francisco, you are just about out of luck. Stila is not interested at this point in a huge expansion, which makes it a bit tricky for most of us to see the colors.

I was lucky enough to be in San Francisco over Thanksgiving, so I paid a visit to the Stila counter at Nordstrom. The Stila resident makeup artist, Don, was doing free makeovers, so of course I couldn't resist! I had a really fun time, and I think he picked some great colors for me. The only thing was it was hard for me to justify spending $14 plus tax on eye shadow colors that I could probably get at MAC at home for $11 with no tax (California has sales tax, but Oregon, where I live, doesn't). I decided only to purchase the one thing that I felt was different about Stila, something that was a good representation of the line. I chose a tube of their Lipshine lipgloss in Lilac Shine.

Here's a list of what I tried, plus how I feel about them:

• Oil-Free Liquid Makeup $30
  I think $30 is a little steep for foundation, but this one from Stila did have a nice feel and looked very natural all day. It is fairly light coverage, blends well, and leaves a natural looking finish. If you have pretty nice skin to begin with and just need a foundation as a base or to even out some blotchiness, this would be a good choice.

• Complete Coverage Makeup
  If you have dry skin or just like a more creamy feeling makeup, Complete Coverage is a great choice. Although the name sounds like the coverage might be masky and opaque, it really looks natural and provides just a bit more coverage than the Liquid Makeup.

• Loose Powder
  Stila's loose powders comes in a great selection of more yellow-based tones, and they comes in a convenient shaker container that I liked very much. Just shake a bit onto a tissue and dip your powder brush in it for easy application. This powder could be a little dry for a very dry skin, but for those of you with oily skin, it does a great job.

• Eye Concealer $16
  This concealer seemed nice, but Don applied it very lightly with their concealer brush, which I think made the coverage a little thin. Once I got to work with it on my own, I liked the coverage very much - great for dark circles. For long lasting wear, make sure to put a thin layer of loose powder over it to lock the color in.

• Face concealer $16
  For those miscellaneous red spots, blemishes, and even undereye circles that we all seem to get a some point, this is a very nice concealer with great, long lasting coverage. I didn't think separate face and eye concealers were necessary until I tried them for myself; the face concealer is too dry to use under the eyes, while the eye concealer has too much slip for anywhere else on the face. If you don't mind using two individual products, the effect from both is worth it.

• Blush in "Fade" (neutral brown rose pink) and "Heat" (sunkissed earthy red tone) $14
  Almost all Stila's blush colors are soft and subtle, great if you like natural looking blush colors.

• Eye Shadows in "Dune", "Puck", "Java", and "Viola" $14 each
  Again, these colors are very soft and pretty. The environmentally-conscious cardboard packaging and the little sayings on the lid from famous women in history make it fun and memorable.

  More Shades:
  

  • Bouquet - very light pink
  • O'Keefe - soft lilac purple
  • Kahlo - light mint green
  • Kitten - shimmery pink-peach pearl
  • Eden - matte brownish peach

• Lipshine gloss $16 for a .26 ounce tube
  I had the most fun with this product. The consistency is creamy, very shiny, and comfortably moist. It comes in some fantastic shades: lilac, rose, taupe, cocoa, plum, and red.