Stila Custom Color Blush in Pink and Coral–Swatches and Review

I’ve been pissed off – irrationally – with Boots for some time now. Urban Decay withdrew from Boots stores a couple of months ago (hence the irrationality – my anger should really be directed at Urban Decay) and I was fuming because I was saving my Advantage Card points to pick up an UD palette. But Stila is back in Boots stores now, so I thought I’d sooth my rage and go treat myself to my first products with them. I immediately fell in love with the Custom Color blushes:

Why settle for "almost the right shade" of blush? This perceptive one-shade-fits-all powder blush reacts with your skin's pH to create a one-of-a-kind, customized shade perfect for you!
The ultra-blendable, velvety-soft formula magically smoothes the appearance of fine lines, pores and pigmentation, leaving skin with a luminous, flawless flush*. The weightless powder can be layered to achieve just the right amount of color and coverage.
Key benefits:

• No more guessing or wearing the wrong color blush
• Reacts to the wearer's pH levels to create the perfect shade every time
• Harmonizes with your own skin tone to enhance your natural beauty, not overwhelm it

A blush built truly for everyone, a one-of-a-kind customized color is just a brush stroke away. * The blush contains a spherical silicone elastomer treated powder that provides a soft focus effect and diffuses light. There is a silky feel leaving skin soft and smooth. The treated silicone powder fills in fine lines and wrinkles on the skin, making it appear more youthful.

Taken from the Stila website.

Sorry for the TL;DR wall of text, but I had to put that in. I’m VERY sceptical of anything that claims it adjusts to ones skin, or reacts to pH levels, etc, and tend to think that things just react to heat, or are a universally flattering shade. So before I’d swatched these I was already a bit ‘really?!’ It’s something we’d all like to think could happen, but I just don’t buy it.

The pink is labelled as ‘self adjusting,’ the other is ‘self adjusting coral.’

The pink is a beautiful bright, slightly lilac leaning bubble-gum , while the Coral to my eyes leans very slightly pink, with lots of gold shimmer. The pigmentation is lovely on both of them; enough that I can trowel it on without too much effort, not too much that I’ll look like a clown with one swipe, which I admit was initially a worry with the pink.  I picked up the coral first because I was upset that I’d hit pan on my favourite peach-coral blush which has since been discontinued (oh, first world problems! )  but had to go back the next day for the pink as I couldn’t stop thinking about it. A simple skin swatch looks very similar to the pan colour in both cases, but how do they translate on the face?

Here’s the pink, fairly lightly applied – not as bright as in the pan but very pigmented and actually looks like more of a rosy flush than the almost neon pan colour.

And here’s the Coral – a bit more subtle and not as pigmented as the pink, but I’m diggin’. Sorry bout the no makeup, I was re-doing some looks so I took off my eye!

 

Do I think these colours have adapted to my skin tone? No. Not at all. I have several bright pinks that look rosier on the face than in the pan – Darling Girl Pink Outrage and Sleek Flamingo spring to mind – and Coral looks like the pan colour, so I’m not buying that claim. While they do both suit me, I’m quite lucky in that respect as there’s not too many colours that I put on and go ‘Ugh!’ I’m not sure about the soft-focus either, as my cheeks don't have any fine lines, but they do both give you a nice glow.

Overall, I do love these blushes – very pretty product, pretty packaging, and they last through a working day- What’s not to love? A £13 a pop they’re a bit more expensive than what I’d normally pay for a blush (although I'm a cheapskate Superdrug groupie) but I’m sure I’ll be back for more Stila soon!

Any favourite Stila products to share?