*REVIEW* Sleek Vintage Romance Palette

Hi!

 

It's no secret that I adore the Sleek eyeshadow palettes...I actually have 7 of them and I have no intention of stopping there! :)

 

 

I love the packaging that these palettes come in - they're very sturdy and (as their brand name would suggest) sleek. They also stack very easily and take up minimal space.

 

These costs £7.99 and I was recently thrilled (possibly a little more thrilled than is rational) that there is now Sleek in Boots stores as well as Superdrug! :D:D:D

 

 

There are 12 shades in this palette: 6 metallic shades, 2 shimmer, 3 sparkle shades and 1 matte.

 

I have to say straight away that I love the mix of shadows in this palette in terms of shades. I love these deep, sultry shadows that can create a smokey look but because of the pinks/purples they still look glamorous and have some colour.

 

The texture of the metallic is (as usual with Sleek) great; they're buttery, smooth and pigmented. A few other shades are a little dry and need perhaps a touch more work to get them looking true to pan but there isn't a dud shade in here. I can honestly say there is no shade here that doesn't work well for me.

 

I'll break up the shades into groups of four as it makes them a little easier to photograph and swatch!

 

 

 

These are the first four shades.

 

From top:

 

Pretty In Paris:

 Metallic, frosty pale silver colour.

This has good pigmentation and whilst it is too much for me to use as a brow highlight it works really well on the inner corner.

 

Meet in Madrid:

Metallic yellow/orange gold.

 I'm SUCH a sucker for gold colours. Again, great pigmentation. This reminds me of UD's Half Baked apart from it has more orange undertones. I love using golds and this has been used quite a few times already.

 

A Vow In Venice:

Shimmery deep plum colour. I'd say this is a shimmer as opposed to metallic because it isn't as intense, yet it is still pretty and works well for a plum smoky eye. The pigmentation isn't perhaps as amazing as the first two but is still very good.

 

Marry In Monte Carlo:

Dark, frosted burgundy/dark fuscia. This (along with the other frosted shades) has pretty stunning pigmentation. This looks so pretty packed on the lid!

 

Here are the second group of 4!

 

 

 

From top:

 

Court in Cannes:

Medium metallic brown/taupe.

I love these types of shades as theyre great for a traditional simple neutral look. This again has great pigmentation and looks so pretty on the middle of the lid.

 

 

Lust In LA:

This is more cool toned that Court In Cannes but with the same metallic/frosty finish and same great pigmentation. I sometimes can see very subtle hints of olive in this shade but that could be my imagination playing tricks on me.

 

 

Honeymoon In Hollywood:

This is a rich berry shade with some silver sparkle. I was impressed because despite the slightly drier finish I found that the pigmentation was great.

 

Bliss In Barcelona:

Frosty, metallic medium purple. This seems to show up with almost a blueish reflex sometimes and reminds me of UD's Psychedelic Sister and also a little bit of Blue Bus but this has a far less obvious blue base. In the pan this looks a lot more purple than in the swatch above.

 

Here are the last 4 shades!

 

 

 

I took the photos for these swatches sideways as it seemed to work a little better this way.

 

From top/right

 

Romance In Rome:

This does remind me of the last shade but although this looks dark in the pan this is a lot more blue. It looks like a dark purple but this does have a similar blue reflex to the previous shade but it is more prominent.

 

Propose In Prague:

This is the only matte shade in this palette and it is an uncommon shade. It's a warm, orange toned mid brown shade and is quite interesting. I think this shade is useful for blending purposes even if I don't use it on it's own that much. The pigmentation is decent but it can be a little on the chalky side.

 

Forever In Florence:

This is a deep plum/burgundy which has some sparkle in it. The texture is again a little dry but the pigmentation is good. This looks quite a bit brighter and lighter than it is in the pan.

 

Love In London:

This is one of my favourites: it is a matte black but with a lovely sparkle to it. The pigmentation is really good and this is such a useful shade for adding into the crease to darken.

 

 

So there are all the shades! I have to say that I'm really happy with this palette and I'm sure I'll use this palette a lot. You can create quite a variety of looks ranging from golden/taupe looks to deep plums. Something that is interesting is that quite a few of the colours look quite different when swatched compared to how they look in the pan, but all the colours are beautiful.

 

As mentioned earlier, there isn't a bad shade in this palette!

 

Have you tried this palette yet?

Thanks so much for reading!

Libby x

*REVIEW* Sleek Storm Palette (+ Swatches!)

Hi!

 

It's no secret that I'm a massive fan of Sleek eyeshadow palettes...I really love them and I now have 5 and plan on getting more!

 

If you're interested I've already done reviews and swatches of the Ultra Matts V1 palette, and the Au Naturel palette.

 

I got the Storm palette quite a while ago and decided it was about time I did a review of it!

 

 

I love the "Sleek" packaging of these palettes! These cost £6.99 each from Superdrug and online and you get 12 eye shadows.

I also love the fact that you get a great mirror in this palette and even a semi-usable eye shadow brush!

 

This palette is kind of a smokey palette and generally has quite a few dark neutral colours mixed in with some smokey shades.

 

 

For some reason only some of the Sleek shades seem to have names and I think it's only the newer palettes that have the plastic insert that has names of the shadows on it. This palette has been in the permanent line so these shades don't appear to have names.

 

Here are swatches of the first 6 shadows!

 

 

For sake of ease in describing these colours I'll just call them Shade 1, 2 etc!

 

Shade 1:

Metallic mid golden brown shade...reminds me of toast. (?)

This shade is really well pigmented and blends well too as do most of the metallic in Sleek palettes.

 

Shade 2:

One of my favourites. This shows up a little more golden in real life than in the swatch above but it is a light, creamy golden metallic shade again with plenty of shimmer and pigmentation.

 

Shade 3:

Matte mid brown. Not one of my most used shades as I don't wear a lot of mattes unless they are an obnoxiously bright colour. This shadow is harder in texture than the others so far and is perhaps slightly harder to get full pigmentation.

 

Shade 4:

Metallic golden brown  colour with a hint of taupe and quite cool tones. Again, very pigmented like all the metallics here.

 

Shade 5:

Pearly, dusty rose gold metallic shade. This actually looks really good for creating a rich pink & burgundy smokey eye.

 

Shade 6:

Deep, metallic, burgundy/wine red colour. Works great blended in with the previous colour (the rose gold) and makes any eye look appear very rich and sultry. Again, very pigmented. I just love the texture of these metallic shades.

 

 

Here are the next 6 shades!

 

Shade 7: 

Deep metallic bronze shade. Almost similar to Shade 6 but with a lot more bronze instead of wine red. Beautiful colour for creating a bronze smokey eye with the lighter golden shades in the palette.

 

Shade 8:

Blue toned silver colour that reminds me of Urban Decay's Gunmetal shade. Again, metallic and creates a very smokey eye.

 

Shade 9:

Deep, metallic forest green colour, similar to UD's Loaded. Unfortunately my shadow was partially broken but I've still got enough of the shadow left luckily!

 

Shade 10:

 Very dark metallic navy blue colour with hints of lighter blue shimmer in it. Works really well with Shade 8 to create a blue toned smokey eye. One of my favourite shades here as it's not often you get such a dark blue shimmery colour.

 

Shade 11:

 Matte dark brown, still cool toned but darker than Shade 3. Like the other mattes in this palette it is slightly harder in texture and harder to blend.

 

Shade 12:

Matte plain black. Harder in texture etc and not a shadow I tend to use a lot despite the fact that Sleek usually puts this matte black in their palettes. As much as I like this black I feel it is slightly hard and so I tend to reach for slightly softer black shadows!

 

 

Wow that took a while to write out!
Generally this palette has seen good use from me and I love the well pigmented, long lasting shades. I feel you can create a lot of smokey eyes with this palette, a bronze one, a pink/burgundy one, a blue one...the possibilities are quite endless!

This palette is something I reach for very often so I think that it's well worth picking up if you can, especially for the price!

 

Have you tried any Sleek palettes yet?

Thanks for reading!

Libby x

*REVIEW* Sleek Ultra Matts V1 Palette (+ swatches!)

Hi!

 

I have  another review for Sleek today...I have quite a few of their I-Divine eyeshadow palettes (5 in fact) and this is my latest addition. I showed this in my latest haul post which you can see HERE.

 

I love the packaging of these palettes they look so Sleek. I guess that's the point. :)

 I like the fact that it comes with a great mirror and an eye shadow brush that is actually semi-usable!

 

I was originally looking for the Acid palette but couldn't find it in my Superdrug so I got this one instead...there are two Ultra Matts and this is Version 1. Version 2 has some darker, smokier colours I think.

 

These cost about £6.99 each.

 

Also apologies for the sideways photos. Hopefully it doesn't detract too much from the super bright colours...for some reason when I transfer photos over to my computer sometimes they get flipped somehow!

 

Here's a run down of the colours!

 

 

 

These are the first 6 colours...

I'm not going to say matte each time because all of these colours are matte!

 

Chill: Light, sky blue

Pout: Bright hot pink (I'd say a Barbie pink!)

Sugarlite: One of my favourites...a bright medium purple

Dragon Fly: Dark forest green

Pucker: Similar to Pout...slightly cooler toned?

Bamm!:  Bright, obnoxious yellow

 

 

And here are the final 6 colours...

 

Cricket: Slightly lighter green than Dragonfly

Bolt: Bright electric blue

Strike: One of my favourites...apologies for the smudge on the left side of the swatch I didn't clean my brush that well..anyway this is a bright medium orange

Floss: Baby, pastel pink

Crete: Pale, concrete grey

Pow!: Pure white (sorry you can't see this swatch too well because it blends in with my skin tone!)

 

 

I find that all of these shadows are...decently pigmented.

My favourite shades are Sugarlite, Bamm!, Bolt, Strike and Pow!.

All of these are pretty well pigmented.

However there are some which let the palette down slightly..

 

Cricket, Chill, Floss And Crete were slightly harder to build up the colour on and they just weren't as pigmented.

 

Colours?

 

Also one downside of this palette is that they haven't thought through the colour selection too well...let me explain.

Pout and Pucker are VERY similar. In fact at a glance, in the palette looking now it seems as though they are the same colour.

Also, Dragon Fly and Cricket are also a little too similar for my liking.

There is difference in these shades, but it isn't hugely noticeable. I feel that Sleek could've taken out one of the bright pinks and one of the bright greens and replaced them with something else...maybe a bright red would make it more interesting, or just a lighter green or really deep burgundy.

I just feel that they didn't do too great on the colour selection here. They have a good highlight in Pow! (as long as you are fair skinned like me) but there also isn't a really dark colour that you could use for a liner or to darken a look.

 

In saying that it is fun to use this palette because there are so many bright shades...I think Strike and Sugarlite are what drew me into getting this palette.

 

Pigmentation?

 

I think that in terms of the shadows they are good, but not fantastic. Some of them feel a little chalky and just don't quite have the amazing pigmentation that we've come to expect from Sleek. But then I know that it is harder to formulate matte colours and Sleek's shimmers and metallic have always been their highlights.

 

I swatched the shades above just using a primer and after using these shadows I now know that they work best over a sticky base, something like the NYX shadow bases would work well, or the Jumbo Eye Pencils. They just work better with something to cling to.

 

 I created a look using this palette after getting it so I thought I'd show you!

 

 

 

I used Sugarlite, Bamm!, Strike, Bolt and Pow! to create this look.

 

 

Overall?

 

So generally while I do like this palette I don't feel like it's an essential item to have in a collection.

I like the bright colours and although it's not a wearable palette it is fun to create different bright looks when I'm feeling creative!

However some of the colours are lacking slightly in the blendability and pigmentation department and I feel the colour selection isn't great.

 

This is a fun palette to have and I'm sure I'll be using it especially for fun, colourful looks but I don't feel that you'd need to rush out to get this.

I still ADORE Sleek shadows though because they are great for the price, it's just that matte colours aren't their speciality.  

I'm still looking for the Sleek Acid palette....wish me luck!

 

Thanks so much for reading!

Have you tried any of the Sleek Palettes?

Libby x

 

 

*REVIEW* - Too Faced Natural At Night Palette

Hello again :)
Today I've decided to review a palette that I've had a really good chance to experiment with over a few weeks...the Natural At Night palette from Too Faced.
There are a load of other palettes from Too Faced with other themes (Natural, Romantic, Matte, Naked to name a few) but this is the only one I have.
 

 

In this palette you get 9 eyeshadows: 3 large eyeshadows (2g each) and then 6 smaller ones (0.9g each)

On the back of the palette there is information about the palette but not the ingredients.

 

AVAILABILITY & PRICE:

You can find this in Boots or online at www.toofaced.com

I imagine in the US you can get Too Faced products at places like sephora :)

It is listed on the website as being $36 in the US and £28 in the UK. This does seem like quite a lot but there are quite a few eyeshadows in the palette there are some larger shadows too.

 

PACKAGING:

 

The packaging for this palette feels pretty sturdy and is made of that strong cardboard, even so I wouldn't risk getting it wet or bashing it about too much in case the eyeshadows break. I would trust this for travel though as it is quite strong.

 

A nice touch that comes with this palette are 3 instruction cards corresponding to the "sets" of eyeshadows, Night, Classic and Fashion. These could be quite useful if you didn't know which eyeshadows to pair together but I tend not to use them too much. I also like that there is no space wasted in this palette with a tiny brush, but there is no mirror.

 

COLOURS:

 

From top to bottom: Full Moon, Nightcap, Cocoa Star, Night Light, After Hours, Eclipse, Spotlight, Moon Stone, Night Fever.

 

From top: Full Moon, Nightcap, Cocoa Star, Night Light.

 

 





Full Moon:

A shimmery gold colour with some glitter, this can be quite easily compared to Urban Decay's Half Baked from the Naked palette. The texture does have some fallout but is generally very pigmented.

Nightcap:

Mid-light brown with some sparkle, but not nearly as much shimmer as Full Moon. Soft texture and blends out well.

Cocoa Star:

 Deep, matte brown. Very good texture for a matte, creamy and easily blended. One of my favourite colours, works great in the crease.

Night Light:

 Definitely my least favourite colour in the palette. Champagne colour with FAR TOO MUCH glitter. Very chunky and has a lot of fallout. The swatch above is even after I've done my best to get rid of the glitter. Very hard to use as it falls off easily. Colour comparable to Urban Decay's Sin but has chunky glitter similer to UD's Uzi.

From top: After Hours, Eclipse, Spotlight, Moon Stone, Night Fever.

 

After Hours:

One of my most used colours from this palette. Light taupe/brown with a lot of sparkle, but not nearly as much fallout as Night Light. Could be comparable to UD's Sidecar.

Eclipse:

Plum colour with shimmer but no sparkle. Good pigmentation and blends well, similar to UD's Last Call but with more brown tones.

Spotlight:

 Matte cream colour, again like Cocoa Star very creamy for a matte shade. Unfortunately this isn't light enough to be a highlight for me (I have fair skin) so you may need to combine this palette with another shadow to get a highlight. Works well in crease.

Moon Stone:

Yellow/brown with shimmer. Good pigmentation and interesting colour that makes the palette slightly more unique.

Night Fever:

Dark brown base with green tones and gold sparkles. One of the most unique colours in the palette. Works well in the crease but does have a lot of fallout, though it isn't as chunky glitter as Night Light.

 

 

Overall:

Generally I like this palette and have probably used it around 10 times since I got it (around Christmas) and I like the shadows. There are a few interesting colours in this palette and I like all of them (except for Night Light, far too chunky to be of any use, bit of a waste of one of the bigger eyeshadow pans) and you can create a lot of combinations with this palette. You can create quite a natural look with some of the lighter shades but also build it up to a more intense, dramatic look.

I do wish one of the other shades was in a bigger pan rather than nightlight, as this does seem a waste. Also something I've noticed is that all the shades kick up a bit of shadow, and could cause fallout, so I'd recommend holding a tissue underneath your eye to catch fallout.

The only other issue I have is that there isn't a highlight colour for me, as Spotlight is too much of a cream shade and isn't light enough to be a highlight.

Despite that, there are some really nice shades in here, (my favourites are Cocoa Star, After Hours and Eclipse) and is very useful for everyday looks that you can make more dramatic.

 

Would I buy again? Yes, I will probably end up buying more of these sets, maybe with my Boots advantage card points when I get enough! :)

 

Thanks for reading, I hope this review was useful to you!

Libby x