STASH PICS! Aka why I can swatch and compare from my stash alone

So early on in this blog I said I wouldn't be doing the whole checking-out-new-color-collections thing, and of course the only reason why I said this was because I already have TONS of my own makeup, and I'd like to swatch them for my own reference.

So of course, since stash pics are always a beauty to behold, no matter the eye of the beholder, without further ado, here you go, along with wordy running commentary courtesy of yours truly:



That is my stash of eye palettes. These are Stila, Becca and MAC, I believe. I like my MAC - I've always been fortunate enough to pick the colors that didn't suck, and I LOVE my Stila. I know right now they're pretty much an over-the-hill brand, but back then once upon a time it was the fashionable thing on MUA to collect Stila eyeshadows, believe it or not. And for good reason too - the older ones in the cardboard packaging were the softest, pigment-est, and blendable-est things ever, AND they had great staying power. I kind of feel that the quality of Stila has gone down the hill in recent years, even with the eyeshadows. I had a Stila Espresso once in a cardboard tin, and swapped it away. Later I had swapper's remorse and got another Stila Espresso (by then they were selling them in pans like they do now), and the quality was le suckage compared to the old one. Sigh. Sad but true. Now I'm holding on to my Stila palettes, which were depotted from the cardboard tins, and I'm never letting them go - they're memories of a brand long gone by..



That's my single eyeshadows stash. Since this picture was taken I've depotted some of them and paletted them. Only 1 15-pan palette though. I kind of feel like I use my shadows more when they're in singles than when not. I've no idea why, I'm weird like that. I'm totally partial to MAC when it comes to shadows (although I'll be the first to admit they're super hit-and-miss when it comes to quality, but still not as hit-and-miss as NARS is), although I do like WnW, Urban Decay, and some other brands like Chantecaille.




Mmmmmm....Blushes. There are fewer things that make me happier than blushes. Despite the fact that I have chronic acne and super sensitive skin, it hasn't stopped me from getting more blushes...As a result I've become really awesome at reading ingredients in blushes and picking out the comodegenic ingredients. LOL. Sadly since this photo was taken I've gotten rid of the NARS (I think it was the isopropyl palmitate inside breaking me out) sadly, but I love much of the rest, esp the BB, Stila and Becca for cream blushes, and the WnW for powder.




Lipglosses! This was my first foray into the world of makeup! I'm a huge fan of lipglosses, and I totally don't discriminate - as long as it has no huge bits of glitter (ahem MAC Dazzleglasses), I'm one happy kid. As you can see I'm partial to Stila, but I also really like Smashbox (totally underrated IMO), and NARS. But my good ol' stanby is that old dingy Sally Hansen gloss you see up there - top row, 2nd from left. Can you say HG?




Lipsticks....So recently I've gotten into lipsticks, and have proceeded to build up a collection of them. As you can tell I like the rosy-lipcolour look, since I don't really like nude lips. I had a lot of MAC in this picture, but honestly I found them kind of drying, so I swapped them all away, except for 2 or 3. My HG of HGs for lipstick would be the Covergirl Trushine in Blushberry, which @#%@#$#*%* Covergirl had to discontinue. *Shakes fist angrily*



Lastly, random misc stuff, like my cream eyeshadows, eyeliners and loose shadows. Since this picture was taken, I've discovered the wonderful world of gel eyeliners (esp love BB and MAC), and have swapped away my loose powder eyeshadows (I guess I'm too clumsy for them). Still mucho love to the rest that remain though! I still have all my Urban Decay 24/7 liners, if not more, since they're literally the best pencil liners around.

So there you have it, that is my happy stash. I hope to do swatches and comparisons from my own stash - maybe it'll help me weed out the dupes in my stash too!