Review: Sleek - Limited Edition Sparkle 2 Palette

Hi 

I've been posting a lot about lip sticks and nail polishes recently so I thought I would switch it up and show you a eye shadow palette I got just before Christmas:

Now I am a massive fan of Sleek as a cosmetics brand and have several of their other eye shadow palettes simply because the colours are so gorgeous and the pigmentation is amazing. So I was hoping that this new palette would be the same.

The outer packaging is a bit different to their usual plain black box, and I have noticed this more and more with the newer sleep palettes. The seem to decorate their boxes a lot more and I'm so pleased. It may just be me being nerdy but I like to keep my palettes in their boxes to keep them clean, and I was getting a bit fed up of looking at the same black box all the time. This time the box looks very festive with twinkly lights out of focus.

The inner box is very simple but keeps with the look of all their other products. Although yet again the matte finish means every little bit of dirt or make-up sticks to this palette like glue!

Inside the palette is beautiful array of glittery colour eye shadows ranging from dark and sultry to bright and colourful. A large mirror accompanies the eye shadows, which is so handy because it makes it perfect for travelling or a night out. 

On top of the eye shadows (not pictured) is a sheet of acetate inscribed with the names of the colours. This was obviously meant as a Christmas palette due to the names "Mistletoe", "Festive" and "Tinsel" but don't let that put you off. These colours are going to be perfect for any party or night out.

Top row L-R: Chocolate penny, Blue Spruce
Bottom row: L-R: Festive, Gold Ribbon

Without primer. L-R: Chocolate Penny, Festive, Blue Spruce & Gold Ribbon

Chocolate penny is the first colour I came to and isn't actually a glitter shadow as such. But it is super shimmery, and pearlescent. As the name suggests it is a milk chocolate colour with a slight bronze tint

Festive is a bright aubergine purple packed full of silver micro glitter. This will make a beautiful smokey eye or add a hint of sparkle to a more simple look.

Blue Spruce is a bright but deep turquoise/teal. I'd say this more green teal than a blue teal, but never the less a beautiful colour sprinkled with lots of light blue/possibly silver micro glitter

Gold Ribbon is like Chocolate penny in that it is not a glitter but a shimmery pearl shadow. It is a bright yellow gold, like the star at the top of a Christmas tree. Unlike some bright golds which can go quite sheer the pigmentation in this is so high it stands out really well.

Top Row: Mulled Wine, Truffle
Bottom Row: Glitz & Glamour, Tinsel

Without Primer: L-R: Mulled Wine, Glitz & Glamour, Truffle & Tinsel

Mulled Wine is a deep burgundy red with lots of warm gold micro glitter running through it. The name is very apt as the shade of red is definitely the colour of Mulled wine, mmmm I can just smell it now!

Glitz & Glamour is not quite what I would call a grey but it is definitely not a black either, its a smokey/ash colour strewn with silver micro glitter. If a black smokey eye is too intense for you, maybe this colour with offer you a lighter alternative.

Truffle is another of Pearl/Shimmer colours in this palette and is the darker, warmer older brother of Chocolate Penny, and I think the two colours will work really well blended together.

Tinsel is the forth and final pearl/shimmer of the palette and it is a bright, silver. It is at the lightest end of the silver spectrum, almost a white but not quite. 

Top Row: Mistletoe, Illusion
Bottom Row: Twinkle, Starry Night

Without Primer: L-R: Mistletoe, Illusion, Twinkle & Starry Night

Mistletoe is a pine green with bright apple green micro glitter spread through it. Again this will make a great alternative smokey eye.

Illusion is what I would call a dusky purple, and is a lot less bright compared to Festive. This is filled with silver micro glitter which really brings this colour to life.

Twinkle is a true navy blue, with silver micro glitter. Blended into Tinsel this colour will look gorgeous.

Starry Night is a traditional dark black eye shadow but with the added twist of lots of silver micro glitter. The name is very appropriate as when applied it looks like stars shining in the sky.

As you can see from my swatches these eye shadows didn't disappoint  as they are highly pigmented and stand out beautifully on the skin. This palette along with all the others they make are available at Sleek's website and at only £7.99 are a definite bargain not to be missed!

Have you tried any of the Sleek eye shadow palettes yet? 

Love Jude xxx

Day 15: Sleek I-Divine PPQ Shangri-la collection - Respect Eyeshadow Palette

Hi,

Wow what a long name for an eye shadow palette, not quite sure what it all means but basically Sleek have come out with a new collection called "Shangri-la" and within it is 2 eyeshadow palettes and 2 matt lipglosses. I decided to get the respect eye shadow palette and the Jazz lip gloss, as they both seemed to go so well together and the colours are just so bright and beautiful.

The outer packaging is very vibrant when compared to sleek's usual black on black so stood out a mile on the display stand:

Inside the packaging is the usual from sleek shiny black on matt black, simple but I love it. The only downfall to this is that at a glance I can't tell all my sleek palettes apart?

what's inside this simple looking palette however more than makes up for the exterior. The glorious warm colours of the 12 eyeshadows dazzle you as you open it, with oranges, ochres, browns and creams this is a palette that could take you from the day to night with ease.

The large mirror makes this ideal for travel with room for a small brush if you
don't like the applicator sponge it comes with.

What I also love about this palette aside from the gorgeous colours is their names. They have clearly been inspired by 60's motown, as the names contain some of the best musicians from that era.

Top L-R: Gladys White & James Brown
Bottom L-R: Roberta Black & Vandellas

Top L-R: Shalamar & Count Basi Beige
Bottom L-R: Cameo Cream & Motown Mink

Top L-R: Aretha Orange & Otis Red
Bottom L-R: O' Jays & New Jack Pink

 As always with the Sleek palettes the colours are highly pigmented, the only colour that I felt wasn't, was Gladys White which I could not get to swatch at all. I've swatched them in the three sets of four as above (they are all with primer as I always use it nowadays):

L-R: Gladys White, James Brown, Roberta Black & Vandellas

L-R: Shalamar, Count Basi Beige, Cameo Cream & Motown Mink

 L-R: Aretha Orange, Otis Red, O' Jays & New Jack Pink

Let me know in the comments below if you have tried this palette or any other products from Sleek.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Love Jude x

Day 13: Biba Face Palette

Hiya,

Whilst wandering around one of the shopping malls in our city centre on my lunch break I found myself in the House of Fraser beauty department, (by accident of course) and spotted a discount table they had set up with lots of last seasons products or damaged items they could no longer sell at full price and amongst this table were 3 stacked Biba Face Palette's. They all appeared to be the same but in different levels of damage,  so reduced down from £34 to £17. Now I thought this was not an opportunity to pass up, after watching Lisa Elderidge's video's on You Tube describing her collection of vintage Biba makeup and her demonstrations of how the palettes compare to today's make up products.

Now this obviously wasn't a vintage palette, it was a new release of an old brand but I was still keen to try out the products Lisa raved about so massively so I found the least damaged of the 3 and took it the till. The palette includes 6 shimmery eye shadows a creme highligher and a shimmery blush, and it was the blush that had shattered and covered the rest of the palette. Despite this sounding pretty bad damage, compared to the other 2 palette's I left on the table it really was easily fixable.

When I got home I opened the palette and tapped it upside down onto some kitchen paper to catch the blusher and then used a fairly big blusher blush to clean up the the eyeshadows and the rest of the palette. The creme highlighter as you can imagine had clung to the blusher quite well so that took a little more cleaning but soon the palette looked as good as new if only with one pan empty. I decided that I was not going to try and recover the blusher in its pan form but instead put in a small screw lid tub to use as a loose powder blush instead (waste not want not and all that).

Both the outer and inner packaging was very classical gold inlay on a black background, and being shiny rather than matte means it is easily cleaned.

The shimmery gold logo harks back to the Art Deco era

The palette is about 2" wide, 3" long and about 3/4" deep, making it reasonably small if you wanted to use it for travel. However it is rather heavy at 125kg, which i think comes from the mirror on the inside rather than extra large amounts of shadow.

The palette contains 6 shadows, a creme highligher and a powder blush
which was broken so I had to remove.

Swatches are without primer or flash.

As you can see the lighter colours (1,3 & 4) are very light, however I think these will work really well as highlighters blended with the other colours. The darker colours (2,5 & 6) are highly pigmented, and swatch really well.  All the colours are very shimmery and catch the light beautifully, so will look lovely for a nude eye if you are having a bold lip.

The creme highlighter is very light on the skin and blends beautifully, it adds a delicate golden sheen to the skin, rather than a glitter or sparkle. This would work very well on the cheekbones and bridge of the nose any the other high points on the face.

Overall this palette looks beautiful from the outside and doesn't disappoint inside either, for the price I paid I think I have got a really good deal, because I still have all the product, with only the blusher not in its original form.

I've just looked on House of Fraser's website and they still have these palettes at 50% off, so if you like what you see you can order one now, but be warned they may be discounted because they are damaged.

Let me know if you have any Biba make-up and what you think of it in the comments below.

Once again thanks for taking the time to read this.

Love Jude x

Haul: Topshop Cosmetics with Louise Gray

Hi again,

The new cosmetics range from Topshop who have collaborated with Louise Gray is out and I was bursting to get my hands on some of the range.

What happened when i got in there though was that i wanted more than just the Louise Gray range so a thought since I only had 1 nail polish from their original cosmetics range I would get a few other things since I have friends who swear by their make-up I thought it was about time I sampled it for myself 

As you can see I got quite the range of products, and I'll be reviewing them individually over the next few weeks, so keep a look out.

Speak soon

Love Jude xxx




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