This iconic dual purpose lip to cheek product has been around for a long time.
A two-in-one lipstick and blush to easily transform your beauty look.
Marketed as a multi-purpose product for use on the lips and cheeks, this has been a staple in many people's collections. I recently panned all of my Stila compacts as part of my 2018 and 2019 project pan because mine had been sitting around for a while. When it came time to buying a replacement, I had to think long and hard about whether I'd be repurchasing this one or not.
Long before the dewy, glassy skin trend took off, Stila offered the Convertible Colour Dual Lip and Cream Cheek compact within a market focused on recreating the matte look. I remember seeing these a decade ago but I feel like they had their moment in the mid 2010s. These were all the rage five years ago and I'm sure they still have a place in many a collection but has it withstood the test of time?
Price, packaging and availability
This retails in Australia at Mecca for $38. It is also available at a lower price from Cult Beauty for £16.50 (AUD$31.50) accounting for a weak exchange rate, as well as from a number of other retailers. A single compact yields 4.25g or 0.15oz of product.
I usually feature the packaging of the product on this blog but unfortunately I sent my empty product off for recycling as soon as I finished it. The outer compact is comprised of a lightweight plastic and the outer colour mimics the cream product inside. A raised filigree design of overlapping flowers marks the top of the compact and it inside opens to reveal a mirror on the inside of the lid. The compact is light but sturdy as it snaps shut with a solid click which is important when you have a cream product.
Convertible Colours: The formula
"This innovative and versatile product can be blended into the cheeks as a creamy, luminous blush, or lightly pressed onto the lips as a sheer tint."
The Convertible Colour formula is one of the softer, creamier products on the market. Texturally, these feel very slippery both in the pan and on the skin. It almost feels like rubbing your finger in a stick of softening butter because it's a little greasy to the touch. As a blush, it remains tacky on the skin and will never fully set or dry down. If you leave your hair down and you're wearing this on a windy day, you are 100% guaranteed to get this in your locks.
"Featured in creamy translucent colours, the compact adds a sheer glow to the cheeks and warmth to the lips for a radiant looking complexion."
The Convertible Colours look bright and pigmented in the pan but don't let the colour of the pan fool you. It is definitely a sheer product. These are pretty heavy swatches which are unblended. Stila makes no secret that they are quite diaphanous because it's marketed as a translucent colour on their website. I concur with their description that you get a sheer glow to the skin though. In the light you can see that there's a sheen imparted that's a little glossy but not wet-looking.
I know Stila said "translucent" and "sheer" but I didn't expect this product to disappear as much as it did when I blended it out. The pans look so vibrant and vivid but alas, it does blend away quite quickly.
I prefered to apply this using my fingers to give more pigmentation than I felt was achieved by using a sponge. Pictured left, I'm wearing the shade Peony which is described as a 'dusty rosy pink'. Really? It pulls more brown on my skin tone, especially under warm lighting.
For shade reference, I'm wearing Hourglass Vanish Seamless Foundation Stick in Bisque. Don't expect this to show up on dark skin tones.
I prefer a pigmented lip colour to a sheer one, however if you like a light, balmy gloss on your lips, this is a good product for you.
These don't provide enough glossiness on my dry skin as I would like it to, however it does look soft and natural. In direct sunlight and just applied it can look glassy as shown in the picture on the right. I'm wearing the rosy pink shade Lillium here. When the sun hits the skin at the right angle it does look lustrous, however the other cheek not facing the sunlight looks quite natural.
I applied a lot of product here to build the colour intensity. At least two dips into the compact was necessary to achieve this level of pigmentation, especially since I had a medium-full coverage matte foundation on.
Product Swatches
Below are heavy or double unblended swatches of the Stila Convertible Colour Compacts and their shade descriptions. I'm not sure I concur with some of these representations so judge for yourself.
Petunia: coral peach cream
Peony: dusty rosy pink
Gerbera: dusty peachy pink
Magnolia: warm browny red
Lillium: rosy peachy pink
Camellia: light dusty pink
Conclusion
The current oversaturation of makeup products means that I have an abundance of products in one of my favourite product categories: cream blush. It seems that now nearly every major brand offers a cream blush so unfortunately, the Stila compact isn't doing it for me anymore. Don't get me wrong, it's a perfectly nice product but it's not one that will wow you, especially now that there's so much competition.
Individually, they aren't great value products and as the years have gone on, Stila has ceased offering the better value palettes of the Convertible Colours in their annual holiday sets. I remember a 12 pan offering of minis in a palette as part of the 2015 collection. At this price point, you're better getting a more pigmented, more innovative formula. I'd only recommend this product to someone who wants something extremely natural or one who tends to overapply blush because this is easy to blend if you somehow manage to overdo it.
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