I love cosmetics! As a mildly acne-prone makeup junkie, I'm always on the lookout for good cosmetics. However, my skin type, skin tone and "student's budget" tend to limit me a bit. I love to try new lines, as well as visit some of the "old standbys". As a makeup junkie, I enjoy department store lines, however as a "Business" major, I know that the majority of my makeup dollar is being spent on "the rent" of the space in the department store, not always the quality of the cosmetics. With that in mind, here's my review of Stila Cosmetics.

Makeup artist Jeanine Lobell created Stila Cosmetics. She offers a line of cosmetics that are fashionably correct, environmentally correct and wearable. The packaging is made largely of recyclable materials like aluminum and recycled paper. Much of the product packaging includes interesting logos or memorable quotations. Although there is not much here for darker women of color, those of us with lighter complexions can find more than a few interesting items. After my recent Prescriptives experience at Nordstrom, I decided to buy my Stila products from Sephora.

Liquid Makeup in E (1 oz for $30)
This foundation provides good, lightweight, sheer coverage. It last fairly well, requiring only one or two touchups before going out for evening. As I said before, as far as foundation colors go, Stila is pretty limited for women of color, however, I was able to use Stila E for a fairly good color match. In the summer, I'll need to use Stila F or G. However, for $30 I expect a foundation to be non-comedogenic - I mean, isn't that why we pay the high prices for "good quality/high quality ingredients". This liquid foundation contains stearic acid and cetyl alcohol, both comedogenic ingredients, so this product may not be the best product for the acne prone.

Complete Coverage Foundation in E (1.4 oz for $40)
This is a very well pigmented foundation. It provides a more "polished" look than the liquid makeup. It provides moderate coverage that last well thorough out the day, requiring only one touch up before evening. Like many other products of this type, it contains silicon, small amounts of aloe vera gel and whole-wheat proteins. Unfortunately it also contains stearic acid and cetearyl alcohol, both comedogenic ingredients, so it may not be the best product for the acne prone. Again, for $40, I expect a foundation to be non-comedogenic. Since the packaging is made from recycled materials, what all that money for?

Illuminating Powder Foundation in 50 watts ($22 plus cost of compact)
Unfortunately, this foundation did not look good on me. This product is supposed to leave a transparent "luminous finish" to the skin. Although the color matched well, on my skin the "luminous finish" translated into an "ashy" appearance. It does contain a sunscreen with an SPF 12; however, it just didn't look natural, causing my skin to look gray. It does provide sheer coverage and is lightweight, but it does contain corn oil, so it's not oil free. This may not be the best product for the acne prone. It did last fairly well for a powder foundation, about 5 hours without a touch-up.

Loose Powder in Dark ($27)
With this product, I loved the "salt and pepper shaker" packaging. It's great for traveling. However, I wasn't quite so enamored with the product itself. This is a talc-based powder that also includes mica and octyl palmitate. Octyl palmitate is a comedogenic ingredient. Mica tends to collect and illuminate creases and further age the appearance of aging skin, like mine, so I didn't find this product to be complementary. Although it does provide a matte finish, I did need to touch up quite often, about once every couple of hours. This product may be better for younger, less oily skin than my own.

More than enough has been written about Stila eye shadows, besides, after my foundation shopping spree, I really couldn't afford to buy any more products from this line on this particular trip. They are great shadows, particularly if you like or can wear shimmers. I am, personally, beginning to get a little bored with the mattes and naturals, so I do own a couple of Stila eye shadows, however, I use them mostly as liners or to create interesting evening effects. They are continually adding colors, however most of the current colors would be more complementary to the lighter skin tones versus the darker skin tones. Stila also offers a fairly comprehensive line of lip colors priced at about $16-$17. They offer great colors for both the fair and dark complexioned person, however, in my opinion, they are a little pricey.

Overall, I'm pretty neutral on Stila. I feel if I'm going to pay this kind of money for products, I should be getting better quality, non-comedogenic ingredients. If you aren't acne prone, this may not be a concern for you. Besides, nothing beats "whipping out" a high end compact in the Ladies Room and having everyone else "ooh and aah". Stila Cosmetics are available at Nordstrom, Sephora and online at www.stila-cosmetics.com.