Stila 'In The Know' Eyeshadow Palette Review!

Who needs another matte eyeshadow palette because this girl right here certainly doesn't. However, that didn't stop be from heading out to my local Shoppers Drug Mart and picking this bad boy up after seeing it there during work one day. Sadly, not all Shoppers Drug Mart stores are going to carry Stila products, so I'd double check in your stores. I was just lucky enough that there are some high-end goodies that come in every once and a while. And, of course, you can also buy this palette at Sephora, here in Canada as well as Ulta and the Stila website if you are from the United States. For my other country readers, I'm not 100% sure where you can get it besides ordering it online if Sephora has it in stock. Stila has always been one of those brands that has been forever on my wishlist but was never something I gravitated towards when I went into Sephora because it just seemed like a lesser known brand with products of lesser quality. I know "Krystal don't judge a book by its cover' - this statement definitely rings true with this product.

All of the Stila Cosmetics Palettes come in sturdy cardboard packaging with the brand name and palette name written clearly across the front. In specific, the In The Know Palette comes in a sleek light blue color. On the back of the packaging, it gives you the names of each of the shadows inside of the palette as well as sizing amounts for the palette. Once you open this palette up you are presented with ten beautiful and true matte shades ranging from very light highlight colors to the darkest of blacks. Also included in this lovely palette is the Smudge Stick, Waterproof Eyeliner in Halfmoon which is a dark grey taupe type of shade, this also happens to be matte. The other really cute and fun detail is that it comes with a decent size mirror but above that it has the lovely quote by a girl named Sarah Lucero. This really gave it more of a personal touch for me cause I love anything that inspires me and makes me feel beautiful. This certainly does when I open that palette and see the colors but then see the quote as well. It really encourages me to create something beautiful and meaningful with the palette.

Shades - Top Row; air, wind, desert, clay and earth. Bottom Row; driftwood, fire, rain, smoke and ebony.

Shades: earth, fire, smoke and ebony

As for the overall formula and usability of the shadows this is where I was the most surprised. These shades are not the softest matte shadows I've ever tried, but they certainly give tons of pigmentation and payoff, as you can see from the swatches. The shadows blend out beautifully on the eyes, but I do find that some of them require some building and playing with to really blend them out softly. The other main thing that stands out about this palette is how many really light flesh tone shades there are compared to how many medium shades there are. I wish there were some more soft brown or grey shades to balance out the contrast from the light shades to the dark shades. Overall, I'm really impressed with the palette and I think it's fantastic, but I think it's that type of palette that has to be used with other shadows that you might already have in your collection. Personally, my favorite way to use these so far is to use them with the LO'Real Infallible Eyeshadow. This creates a beautiful pop of color and also dimension since it's enclosed with all matte shadows. 

Have you tried this palette?

What are your thoughts?