Stila One Step Illuminate

Good Day Everyone,

This was the first product that I ever purchased from Stila (website) and I can tell you that I have become a huge fan ever since. Living near the equator in year round temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius in high humidity can make wearing a full face of makeup a little challenging, especially if you’re going to be spending time outside without air con. I was looking for a product (other than my bodily sweat!) that would give my face a nice subtle luminous glow for the days that I don’t wish to wear foundation and this is perfect!

Firstly, I absolutely love love love the packaging! The product comes in a clear plastic bottle containing 30mls (1 oz) of product with a black pump and lid which, in my humble opinion, has many benefits;

• As the bottle is clear I can see exactly how much product is left before I run out.
• The clear bottle also means that I can see the triple swirl helix and it looks sooo pretty (ok so that's not really a benefit but hey it makes me happy!).
• The pump makes using the product very hygienic as there’s no finger dipping involved.
• The pump also allows me to control the amount of product I dispense and it is easy to dispense half pumps.
•  Being plastic I don’t need to worry about breakages if I drop the bottle (which happens a lot given my arthritic fingers).
• The lid snaps shut when I push it on making it quite secure and does not come off easily which is great if I ever need to travel with this in my luggage. At the same time my arthritic fingers do not struggle to open it either which is a huge bonus :o)

Another great thing about this bottle is that, from what I can tell thus far, there is no product wastage due to the packaging. This is quite tricky to explain so here goes. You know how with some bottles the product sticks to the sides and bottom and no amount of pumping can ever get it all out? Well this bottle has a mechanism, a sort of platform, which pushes the product upwards from the bottom and sides of the bottle so no product is left behind that you cannot get to – genius or what?!

This product is one of those multi-functioning products that offers numerous benefits all in the convenience of one product. The product consists of 3 coloured swirls suspended in Stila’s youth revival bio-available mineral complex^TM serum which is clear in colour. The swirls are;

• Light gold which highlights the skin.

• Pale pink to warm the complexion.
• Kitten which brightens and illuminates (kitten is Stila’s famous eye shadow colour which is also available in other product forms e.g. eyeliner, powder shimmer, liquid luminizer, lip gloss etc).

According to Stila this product instantly primes, brightens and illuminates the skin, improves skin tone, even outs your complexion and helps smooth fine lines and wrinkles. In addition it claims to;

• Helps diminish the look of fine lines and wrinkles.
• Helps minimize pores.
• Helps hydrate and balance.
• Helps control oil.

Wow! Now that’s a whole load of benefits all within just one product! I tend to use this product instead of a foundation on days when I want to go for the no makeup makeup look (rather than as a primer) and I have to say it does an amazing job! The texture of this is more mousse like than serum and it feels incredibly light weight on my skin. It doesn’t leave my skin feeling tacky or sticky or looking shiny or oily in any way.
 

I typically apply this, using my fingers, after my moisturiser concentrating on my cheeks, centre of my face and eyelids and I have to say it just melts into my skin beautifully. I find that one pump is more than enough to do my whole face and therefore this bottle will easily last me for several months. This product instantly brightens my skin giving it that kind of ‘glowing from within’ luminous look. The shimmer in this product is so incredibly fine that it leaves my skin glistening beautifully whenever the light catches it and I don’t have to worry about looking like a disco ball. The glistening effect is why I tend to wear this on my eyelids as then I don’t need to bother with eye shadow and I just use a couple of coats of mascara and voila my eyes are done!

Blends out to give a luminous glow

I tend to have normal to dry skin and I find this product to be hydrating to the extent that even at the end of the day my skin still doesn’t feel in the slightest bit dry. I generally feel that I am feeding my skin ‘goodness’ whenever I apply this product. I don’t tend to have oily skin and rarely get an oily t-zone and therefore cannot comment on the product’s oil control capabilities but it does seem to minimise the few pores that I have and evens out my skin tone. I think it’s too early for me to say whether this product helps to diminish the look of fine lines and wrinkles as I don’t really have any wrinkles (that I’ve noticed) and I don’t think I’ve been using this product long enough to notice a dramatic effect on any fine lines that I may have... I think I need to go examine my face closely in the mirror now to see if I actually have any fine lines or wrinkles ;o)

On occasion I have also used this product on top of my cheek bones, after foundation, to get that glowy highlighting effect and it blends easily without removing the layer of foundation underneath. Overall I have been delighted with my first Stila purchase and cannot wait to try other products from the brand.

Have you tried this illuminator? What were your impressions? What's your favourite illuminator to use? I'd love to hear your views/experience :o)

Love Sheen xxx

My verdict: 5/5

For the UK: http://stila.co.uk/
For Singapore you can find this product at Sephora

(Note: I purchased this product with my own money)