All pictures taken in natural light without flash.
According to Stila, these trios are meant to be a convenience, each with a base/highlighter, medium/crease, and liner shades. I do like that arrangement, but I'm not sure I'd agree that they're convenient ^.^ It's lovely to have versatile wet/dry shadows, yes, but 99% of the times when I sit down to put on makeup, I'm also in a rush to get out the door and be on time. So the last thing I want to do in that moment is to dip my brush into water to dampen and then apply these eye shadows wet. I mean, it took me sooooo long just to muster the energy to swatch these wet and dry for pictures, so chances are I'll only be using these dry, which means wet/dry shadows are kind of a waste me :(
The base/highlighter shades are silky, almost buttery, with decent pigmentation in all 5 trios I have, but this is the only consistency. The medium/crease shades are thankfully more hit than miss, but the liner shades are mostly misses, which is unfortunate. Truth is, I don't love all 5 trios I have and do regret a couple of them. You'll see which ones and why below.
- 02 Rocker: a trio of silver, slate, and black. This is the most pigmented trio out of the bunch. I also dislike it due to the frosty silver as well as the black shade being matte based with scattered shimmers. Urgh. Why don't I just buy charcoal powder (or, hell, soot?) and press that into eye shadow instead? So yes, I have skipped this Rocker trio and went for the Goddess one instead.
From left to right (top row dry, bottom row wet):
- Medium crease: metallic, high intensity (dry/wet). A super pigmented metallic slate and buttery soft when used dry and becomes even more intensely metallic with a silvery sheen when used wet.
- Liner: matte base with floating shimmer, medium intensity (dry), high intensity (wet). Soot powder with floating silver shimmers when used dry. It even feels like it, dry and chalky! The silver shimmers become much more prominent when used wet and this becomes a sparkling black, but still matte based. Do not like.
- Base/highlighter: metallic, medium intensity (dry), high intensity (wet). When used dry, this is a semi translucent silver with an opaque metallic sheen when seen from an angle, not buttery like the slate above but still soft. When used wet, it becomes even more translucent with an intense foiled metallic sheen from an angle. Sounds great, right? Sadly, it's also very frosty on me T.T
- 03 Venus: a trio of pink, wine, and purple and is my second favorite trio in the lot. I like the colors and finishes (3 colors, 3 different finishes!) very much. Also, all 3 colors are silky soft and smooth, with the medium/crease shade being most buttery. The only thing lacking in this trio is pigmentation, which could be better but it's not too bad.
From left to right (top row dry, bottom row wet):
- Base/highlighter: metallic, low intensity (dry), high intensity (wet). When used dry, this is a translucent shell pink with lots of shimmers and a more opaque metallic sheen when seen from an angle. When used wet, it becomes completely opaque and intensely metallic but retains the high sparkles. Very pretty!
- Liner: satin, low intensity (dry), high intensity (wet). I have a love/hate relationship with this color. On one hand it's a lovely satiny red wine, which should make a kick-ass liner, yet when used dry it's semi translucent and lacking in pigmentation! What happened here? When used wet, it becomes a shimmery metallic and completely opaque. Sigh...
- Medium crease: semi metallic duo chrome, medium intensity (dry), high intensity (wet). When used dry, it's a smokey purple with a warmer semi metallic violet sheen. When used wet, the violet disappears, replaced with an intense metallic silver sheen.
- 04 Bella: a mostly warm trio of pink, peach coral, and brownish maroon with great pigmentation. It's my third favorite in the lot! Like 03 Venus above, all 3 colors in this trio are silky soft, with the liner shade being most buttery.
From left to right (top row dry, bottom row wet):
- Base/highlighter: pearl and medium intensity (dry), metallic pearl and high intensity (wet). When used dry, this is a pearly princess pink that's a bit too cool for this color combination, which is why I said this trio is mostly warm above. When used wet, it becomes completely opaque with a metallic pearl finish, and it's even cooler than when used dry. Ha...
- Liner: shimmer, high intensity (dry), high intensity (wet). A shimmery brownish maroon when used why, gaining a shimmery metallic sheen when used wet. I was afraid this color would turn red on my lids but it didn't. Awesome!
- Medium crease: metallic, medium intensity (dry), high intensity (wet). When used dry, it's a gorgeous metallic peach coral. When used wet, it gains an intense, almost glossy metallic sheen! Woot! Both this shade as well as the liner shade are pigmented wet or dry!
- 07 Ethereal: a neutral trio of peach beige, taupe, and deep taupe brown. It's my favorite trio -- are you surprised? ^.^ This trio isn't as buttery as 03 Venus and 04 Bella above but it's still very soft and smooth, with the medium/crease shade being softest. Pigmentation is decent, could be better but, again, not bad.
From left to right (top row dry, bottom row wet):
- Base/highlighter: shimmer and low intensity (dry), metallic and high intensity (wet). When used dry, this is a translucent shimmery peach. When used wet, it gains some opacity as well as a sparkling, intense metallic sheen. If I were to ever muster up the energy to wear these eye shadows wet, I'd definitely wear this shade wet just by itself with liners, but I love it wet or dry!
- Liner: satin and medium intensity (dry), shimmer and high intensity (wet). A satiny deep taupe brown when used why. When used wet it becomes a beautiful brown with gold shimmers. Wow! See why this trio is my favorite? I love all three shades wet or dry!
- Medium crease: semi metallic and medium intensity (dry), metallic and high intensity (wet). When used dry, it's a semi metallic taupe with a glistening wet sheen. When used wet, again it becomes intense and sparkly metallic. Love this too, wet or dry!
- 08 Gilded: a trio of beige gold, bronze, and chocolate brown. I was expecting this combination to be warm, but it shocked me turning red, especially when wet. Pigmentation is ho-hum, and the only shade that's soft and smooth is the base/highlighter. The medium/crease is soft but super gritty due to the shimmers, and the liner shade is dry and chalky. So sadly, this trio is another dud for me.
From left to right (top row dry, bottom row wet):
- Base/highlighter: metallic, medium intensity (dry), high intensity (wet). A beautiful beige gold that's opaque and intense when wet. This is the only shade I like in this trio and it's very very pretty when worn alone with liners, wet or dry!
- Liner: matte base with floating shimmers, medium intensity (dry), high intensity (wet). When used dry, it's a chocolate brown that's unfortunately muddy, and it's yet another matte based with floating shimmers. Urgh. When used wet, it becomes a reddish brown and is still matte and boring. Blah.
- Medium crease: satin base with floating shimmers and medium intensity (dry), shimmer and high intensity (wet). When used dry, it's a bronze with gold shimmers that unfortunately turns too red on my skin. In addition, as you can see it didn't swatch very well, patchy and uneven. When used wet, it turns a shocking reddish rusty brown with lots of gold shimmers. Whaaa...?
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