Summer Beauty Haul: Stila Aqua Glow

Summer is almost here! So excited for warmer weather, sunny days, cold lemonade, ice cream, and summer beauty products. Stila has a great line out right now, and I picked up some goodies at Ulta recently. Here they are!

First up is the Aqua Glow Watercolor Blush in the color Water Blossom. The concept is pretty interesting - it's a liquid blush.

Packaging is nice, but I did notice that the pictures on Ulta's website are not the same as the packaging of the product I purchased. It's black online and this is white. That doesn't matter, but I thought it was interesting to note.

I chose this color over the others because it's cool-toned and bright, which is what I wanted. It seems like there are a ton of warm or coral-colored blushes out there, and with my complexion (I'm a Spring, I think, with pink undertones) I thought this would be pretty. I want a nice polished glow.

The formula is really nice. It's bright and smooth, and it's definitely a liquid, not a gel or cream.

It blends nicely, as you can see. You can really sheer it out. I read some preliminary reviews that stated that it didn't show up on the skin and/or removed foundation when being applied, but my experience wasn't that at all. I build a little more coverage by patting on a second application. (Think Beauty Blender patting on the skin.) Lasting power is good, and I actually love the really pretty glow it gives me.

Next is the Aqua Glow Perfecting Bronzer.

All of my bronzers are your typical powder compact versions, so this is new territory for me.

The packaging is nice with a pump, which is convenient for sanitary reasons, but does make controlling how much product you get for one application a bit difficult.

A little goes a long way here! The color is alarmingly dark for someone with my skintone, but it blends out nicely and leaves a subtle, sheer tanned effect. I like how it looks on my face, but I definitely must remember to bring it down my neck in order to avoid looking like I'm using the wrong color foundation.

The amount that comes out of one pump is actually too much for my face - a little goes a LONG way! I'll keep working on pumping out a smaller amount. It's definitely a nice little pick-me-up for the summer.

Then we have the product that was the most out-there for me... a super bright lip color. This is the Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in the color Bella, which is a nice bright pink.

The formula is matte, and it doesn't apply as smoothly as lip glosses do - it applies like a liquid matte lip color.

The color doesn't stain the lips as I'd feared, which is good. The first time I tried this out, we were going to our friends' house to hang out, and I didn't have a mirror right in front of me to make sure I wasn't getting clown mouth. Because I don't love the completely matte lip look and my lips tend to be a little dry, I put a balm underneath and a very light layer of gloss over top. It left a lipstick mark on my water glass... not a big deal. It also came off on my hamburger bun. I feared it was moving all over my face, but it turns out, all was fine. By the time we'd eaten and come home, I'd left all of this lip color on my napkin and was back to essentially bare lips. So - this is not a stain.

UPDATE: This lipstick IS long-lasting. I tried it out again without a gloss over top and without a layer of lip balm immediately applied before. I went out to eat, wiped my mouth as usual and drank using a straw. The color mostly lasted, and only got slightly patchy by the end of the afternoon. It did not dry my lips out, but I did moisturize them before beginning my makeup routine (just not immediately before applying this lip color). It still doesn't seem too much like a stain, but it is long-lasting and can survive eating, talking, etc. I needed a makeup remover cloth to get the rest of it off my lips.

Last but not least, we have the Aqua Glow Perfecting Primer.

I actually love this packaging. It's one less thing I have to get on my fingers and one less thing I have to wipe off my fingers.

I like this primer because it feels like a thin, cooling gel. It doesn't have that thick, silicone, suffocating-my-pores kind of feel to it. This is perfect for summer time because it's lightweight and feels so nice and cool on the skin, almost soothing. I also noticed that my foundation looks smoother with this underneath it (which I guess is the point!) and it's really nice!

I have been paring down my makeup inventory and have definitely slowed down purchasing, so now I make more purposeful choices, and I'm happy with these purchases. They're all good quality, packaging is good, and they each are different from things I already own.

If anyone is reading this and planning to shop any fun summer makeup releases, tell me about it!

Items presented in this post were purchased by me with my own money and without compensation or affiliation. Stila has no idea I exist. All opinions are my own.