Stila Illuminating Finishing Powder in Rose Gold

I’ve always wanted to get something from Stila because, well, it’s Stila! I’ve been hearing rave reviews about the brand for some time now. Since I was looking for a convenient finishing powder that could give me a nice glow, I went with their Illuminating Finishing Powder in Rose Gold.

It’s very pretty on the pan. As promised, it does look like a golden rose, so I was excited to see how it looked on my skin. Truth be told, it didn’t look like anything. The baked powder is hard - you have to scrape the domed surface with your brush to get a decent amount of powder on it! The glitters are too obvious for my taste. I was expecting a subtle shimmer but there was nothing like that once you get the powder on a brush. It just looks like gritty powder with gritty glitter.

I’m really disappointed. I was stumped on how to use it since the powder was quite hard to scrape off with a soft powder brush. To salvage the situation, I used my NARS bronzing blush and poof! It worked. The brush hairs are stiff and the brush head is dense, so I picked up a decent amount of powder. 

I’m not sure if the powder does illuminate my face, but it will do. I use messy, loose mineral powder which is quite inconvenient to apply when I’m in a hurry so I think this is ok for my purposes. Still, I’m very disappointed. I expected more from Stila, since the brand is so respected.

I won’t buy this again, and I suggest you don’t either since you won’t get your money’s worth. Sad face.