Stila: Convertible Eye Color Review


I got this a couple of years ago, in my early beauty awakening days when I was all starry-eyed about makeup. Unfortunately, newer additions to my makeup collection pushed this Convertible Eye Color further and further into the back of my drawer.

I dug it out again and have been showing it some love lately. I was so sure that it would have been discontinued by Stila by now but I was suitably surprised to find out that it's still available, as per their website. I don't even remember now how much I paid for it, so I got this information from their website: Price - USD22. Contents - eyeliner: 0.007 oz / 0.2 g, eyeshadow: 0.007 oz / 0.2 g


According to Stila
This versatile, dual-ended eye color wand is a sleek, pen-shaped makeup ace that has an eye pencil on one end and a smudging tool on the other. Twist the middle and there you have the perfect coordinating eye shadow ready for application.

Perfect for the Stila girl who is looking for no mess, no fuss and no worry color-coordinated lids in a flash!


Ingredients
Eyeshadow
mineral oil (paraffinum liquidum), dipentaerythrityl tetrahydroxystearate / tetraisostearate, sorbitan isostearate, methylparaben, propylparaben, tocopherol, mica, synthetic fluorophlogopite, talc, iron oxide (ci 77491, ci 77492, ci 77499), titanium dioxide (ci 77891), ultramarines (ci 77007), ferric ferrocyanide (ci 77510)

eyeliner
ethylhexyl palmitate, triethylhexanoin, ozokerite, euphorbia cerifera (candelilla) wax/candelilla cera, microcrystalline wax/cera microcristallina, polyethylene, dipentaerythrityl tetrahydroxystearate/tetraisostearate, sorbitan isostearate, hydrogenated polyisobutene, tocopherol, mica, silica, talc, titanium dioxide (ci 77891), iron oxide (ci 77491, ci 77492, ci 77499), ferric ferrocyanide (ci 77510), ultramarines (ci 77007), manganese violet (ci 77742), carmine (ci 75470)


The Three Parts
Eyeliner
It is an eye pencil that can be twisted up and down. It is fairly soft, creamy and very easy to apply. So, there is little tugging involved here.


It is easily smudgable, which essentially means we're looking at an eyeliner and eyeshadow in one. It's partially waterproof, I've noticed. If it's a light application, it's easy to remove with normal eye makeup remover. If it's thickly applied and with an eyeshadow primer as a base, it would be better to use waterproof eye makeup remover.

It does crease within an hour or two but using an eyeshadow primer would delay that by about another three hours. It smudges a bit at the end of the day.

The one I have has a hint of shimmer. There is a reminder by Stila to always turn down the pencil portion of the pen before putting the cap back on. This would prevent breakage.

Eyeshadow
This is revealed by unscrewing the middle section. One portion has a stubby sponge applicator and the other is the well that contains the powder eyeshadow.


It can be a bit messy here with eyeshadow fallout. This eyeshadow definitely needs an eyeshadow primer as otherwise, it just disappears before you even get to your lipstick. Thumbs down.

It is a shimmery eyeshadow.

Smudger


On the oppposite end of the eyeliner, you'll find the smudging sponge. I tend to use it for its intended purpose and ocassionally, I'd use my fingers to smudge the eyeliner. It's a decent smudger but it gets dirty very quickly from the dark colour of the eyeliner. I wash it regularly in my attempt to keep it clean (pictured is the just-washed smudger).

As a Whole
The Convertible Eye Color feels light in the hand. The one I have is in Forest. The eyeliner portion is an olive green shade and the eyeshadow is a beige/champagne colour that takes on a golden tint on my eyes.


The Stile Convertible Color wands are available in a total of ten colour combinations. The eyeliners are dark shades and the eyeshadows are light-coloured.

Conclusion
Versatile indeed! It's a very convenient multi-purpose product that has:

• an eyeliner, plus
• two eyeshadows - a dark one (the eyeliner through smudging) and a light-coloured powder eyeshadow.

Image right: Eye look with just the eyeliner portion. I'll probably do one or two proper eye looks later with this product.

It's a clever product, no doubt. It's just a pity that:

• the eyeliner creases quite easily (needs eyeshadow primer)
• the eyeliner is not fully waterproof
• the eyeliner does smudge by the end of the day
• the eyeshadow has no staying power (an eyeshadow primer helps just a little bit)

I know that after reading this, you won't want to buy this Convertible Eye Color. My personal conclusion about this product will go against the grain: Since I already have it, I might as well make the best use of it. So, despite its shortcomings, I'm won over by its versatility and convenience. Its problems can be solved to some extent with the use of a good eyeshadow primer.

There is room for improvement and well, frankly, it would be great if Stila could also include a mascara somewhere in the product!

If only that were possible.......


More information:
Stila products are available through websites such as ASOS, Beauty Bay and feelunique.com.
Stila Cosmetics website

12 comments:

The Student's Guide To Nail Polish said...

I love the idea of that - having an eyeshadow, pencil and a smudger all in one product. It's very innovative! Pity that the powder eyeshadow has no sticking power.

sugar sugar said...

i suppose they can still fit the mascara somewhere in the middle LOL! :D

Adis said...

Looks like a very useful product, shame about the formula :/. I think adding mascara would be overkill :p. The wand would be too long to be travel-proof XD. Unless they reduced all of the products so you'd get about 2 to 3 months worth of product with daily use :o! That's even better no-fuss: your mascara should be thrown out after three months anyways :p.

Or am I just being weird? o_o?

Witoxicity said...

@The Student's Guide To Nail Polish
Yeah, it's a great idea, combining the different products into one. Stila only needs to tweak the formulae to make them more lasting. :)

@sugar sugar
Haha! That would make it one very interesting eye product. :D

@Adis
No, not weird at all! You've put forward some very valid points there! The length would indeed be an issue if our imagined mascara were added. And yes indeed! If the quantity of all three products (including said mascara) could be matched so that they finish at about the same time, that would be ideal. I like your thought process, my dear. :)

Anonymous said...

Great detailed review as always! Job well done my dear. Take care, Nicole x

Witoxicity said...

@Nicole
As always, thank you, Nicole! Detailed, it is. I couldn't have done the review any other way. :) Have a fantastic week ahead, my dear!

DinaXYYan said...

This product does look really versatile but too bad it's not as good as it's promised.

Witoxicity said...

@Dina
Yes, it's a pity indeed. :)

Unknown said...

This is my favorite eye pencil, but it runs out soooo fast! I liked it more the old way, where you had to sharpen it (like a real pencil)

Witoxicity said...

@Jackie S.
Hi, Jackie! I can certainly imagine it running out quickly if you used it almost every day. I haven't been using mine intensively (more like start-stop-start-stop, haha!), so I think it will last for quite a while still. :)

Vonvon said...

I have quite a number of these in my stash but they are back in Malaysia. :S

The idea is great, handy and practical, though not on the powder eyeshadow part. 'Accidents' can happen with it. And the eye liner though soft and glide on easily, smudges. If they can improve on that, it would be perfect. Great for travelling especially. Put a few in different shades in makeup pouch and good to go. And saves space too. And you can carry it onboard in the plane. ;)

Witoxicity said...

@Vonvon
Precisely! These are so easy to carry around. Having these would make packing for a holiday/trip easy-peasy. All Stila needs to do is improve the formula and voila, perfect eyemakeup kit (well, if they could add a mascara somewhere..... ;D).