Stila Holiday 2012: Snow Angel Color Palette Swatches, Review (and a Discount Code)

I was able to try some of Stila's Holiday offerings, and one of my favorites is the Snow Angel palette.  This is a snow-flake shaped palette filled with dozens of shades that you can wear year-round.  It contains 18 eye shadows and 12 cheek colors.  The outer rim of the snowflake contains the cheek colors.  The middle ring houses light to medium eye shadow colors which are perfect for the lids or as highlight.  The core circle has mostly matte, very saturated dark eyeshadow shades as crease and liner colors.

This kit also contains a mini Stay-All-Day Waterproof Volumizing Mascara which I will be reviewing in a separate entry.

Here are the swatches of the cheek and eye colors, in clockwise order:

Cheek Color Swatches (clock-wise from top):

Matte Pink, Matte Plum, Shimmery Plum, Shimmery Snow Angel
Matte Bronze, Shimmery Coral, Matte Clay, Shimmery Apricot

 Matte Pink, Matte Plum, Shimmery Plum, Shimmery Snow Angel

Matte Pink, Matte Plum, Shimmery Plum, Shimmery Snow Angel

 Matte Bronze, Shimmery Coral, Matte Clay, Shimmery Apricot

 Matte Bronze, Shimmery Coral, Matte Clay, Shimmery Apricot

Matte Bronze, Shimmery Coral, Matte Clay

 Matte Berry, Matte Melon

 Shimmery Peach, Shimmery Pink

 Matte Berry, Matte Melon

Shimmery Peach, Shimmery Pink

As you can see, you get a wide variety of cheek colors!  I like both the shimmery and matte shades as I like to experiment with a lot of different shades and textures for my blushes.  I even like to combine mattes and shimmers.  I would use the matte to contour or add depth to my blush, then apply the shimmery shade on top of the matte as a highlight.

The only downside that I can think of for the blushes is that they are so small that you would have to cram your blush brush into the tight spaces prior to application.  I would use a blush brush with a compact head to get the product evenly on the brush.

Eye Shadow Swatches (clockwise):

 Merry, Kitten, Jingle, Peace, Love, Gold
Sleigh, Cookie, Dashing, Eggnog, Icicle, Dance

 Merry, Kitten, Jingle, Peace, Love, Gold

 Merry, Kitten, Jingle, Peace, Love, Gold

Merry, Kitten, Jingle, Peace

Kitten, Jingle, Peace, Love, Gold

 Merry, Kitten, Jingle, Peace, Love, Gold

 Sleigh, Cookie, Dashing, Eggnog, Icicle, Dance

 Sleigh, Cookie, Dashing, Eggnog, Icicle, Dance

Eye Shadow (inner core, darker crease/liner shades):

 Fairy, Gingerbread, Truffle, Chestnut
Coal, Clove

Fairy, Gingerbread, Truffle, Chestnut
Coal, Clove

 Fairy, Gingerbread, Truffle, Chestnut

 Fairy, Gingerbread, Truffle, Chestnut

Coal, Clove

I am so in love with the crease/liner shades that are located in the innermost circle of this palette!  The shades are rich, pigmented, and glide like a dream on the skin.  I love all the shades in this inner core.  They can all be good crease shades or to contour the crease/outer V.  They would also make great liners for a smoky look.

As for the middle circle of highlight and lid/transition shades, I am glad they included the iconic Kitten shade in this palette, especially for those who will get this as their first Stila product, it's great that they have the bestseller shade in this kit.

All in all, I think this is a great palette of good value (only $39 for products worth $270).  But wait, here's the good part: Stila has extended a special reader discount for the readers of The Shades Of U! Our readers will get 25% off the holiday products at www.stilacosmetics.com through Dec. 15th. Just use The Shades Of U's special Stila code upon checkout: STILA27.

Note: Media sample was provided by a representative of the brand for consideration.  All opinions are completely mine.