Monday 12 October 2009

Sleek Haul/Mini Review

So Sleek finally came to one of my local Superdrugs, although I am slightly baffled why. Not that I am complaining! Sleek is a cheap and generally excellent range aimed at those ladies with darker skin, so I am surprised it came to my town. The population is almost 100% white. Half hour away, in a city, they haven't got Sleek and they should, there would be a call for it. However, for everything other than their face products, your skin colour is completely irrelevant!

Almost everything I've tried in this range is highly pigmented, with excellent pay off and even better value for money. In the make up community, Sleek are probably most well known for their excellent i-divine palettes, priced at just under £5. I now own all 7 of these and love them all, with the exception of the Chaos palette, which is full of mattes and therefore harder to work with. But believe it or not, they make a whole lot more! Lipsticks, foundations, eye dusts and blushes as well as the other usual suspects are all there too.

Sleek is such good value for money! Nothing below cost more £5 (it might even be £4 but I can't for the life of me, remember the price on the blushes and I threw my receipt.). I think the priciest items are the foundations, powders and the highlighter at a little under £7, less than a MAC pan refill eyeshadow!

So on Friday I picked up this lovely little lot below:

Three of the liquid liners in Gold, Purple and Pink
Two Pout Polishes in Electro Peach and Cadillac Pink
Two blushes in Flamingo Pink and Pixie Pink

I love pink blush. Seriously. I have probably 20 blushers all very similar shades of Barbie-hot pinkness. These two are fab. I thought the palettes were always going to be favourite item in the range, but since they changed the blush packaging, it's definitely these! They used to be round pans with a silver base and a clear flip top lid and the Sleek logo in gold. Now they are black rectangles, like the palettes and helpfully labelled "blush", just in case you forget :). You also get 8g of product now, instead of the old 4.5g, almost double. *swoon* They come with a mirror in the lid and no brush. I prefer not to have one as I chuck them anyway and that empty space could be filled with product!





The Flamingo is a true vivid Barbie pink. It's awesomely pigmented and smooth. No chalkiness here. I think this colour is great for all skin tones.
Pixie Pink is similarly hot pinkish, as you can see from the pictures, but in reality between the two is quite clear. Pixie has almost got a blue-violet turn to it. I feel I've got to use it with a slightly heavier hand to make it work for me.
I don't know whether Sleek changed the formula when they changed the packaging, but I find these too much easier to use than my Flushed and Sahara. Whilst those two are beautifully pigmented colours, they are somewhat harder to blend out.
I wish sometimes my skin were darker so I could really pile these colours on and see the contrast!
Packaging: 5/5
Quality: 5/5
Would I repurchase: Yep


Now I have to say, these eyeliners disappointed me and I really wanted to like them!
The swatches make them look better than they are, I'm afraid! It was more so to do with the packaging than the formula I think, so maybe I can save these. First of all, I was disappointed that these colours weren't matte like the bottle. But OK, never mind they still looked uber pretty.
However, the brushes are crap! They are really hard to use, they stop the liner sticking properly, it picks it up fine in the bottle, but on the skin, it leaves, whatI can only describe as track marks. Drag marks? It's hard to describe. It then takes away what's underneath too. Ick. I'm going to try these again, I really want these to work, as they have some beautiful shades, like the pink, that you don't see often in a liquid liner. They might be OK on the side of the eye/face, for artistic looks, but on the eyeline? FAIL.
They are however, good value, think they were under £3.
Packaging: 2/5 (I hated those extended handle things and the stupid brush)
Quality: 4/5
Would I buy again?: Not unless they change the brush, or I can figure out a way to solve my issue myself.

And finally, the Pout Polish swatches. Ignore the mess in the background haha, it's my dad's fault.
On the left is Pink Cadillac is on the left, Electro Peach on the right.
I'm not a huge wearer of lip products, particularly coloured products but I'd been eyeing up MAC's tinted lip conditioner and thought I'd give these whirl, as they are some much cheaper at only £3.91.
My main reason for not wearing lip gear is that I am too lazy to reapply. Not only that, in my job, I don't have the time! I also drink a lot (not alcohol haha!), as I have this crazy fear of being thirsty, so it tends to wear off pretty quick.
I thought these would be good as they are sheer, if they wear off, it won't look stupid, like lipstick. They taste good too! So far, I like them. Even after the glossiness has gone, the tint remains and it looks pretty natural. It's definitely softened my lips too, without any other products.
Unfortunately, Sleek only make four shades, the other two are a plummy colour and a brown. Not my scene. A clear would be great and some more variety!
I've got all the girls in work obsessed with these now!
Packaging: 5/5
Quality: 4/5 (More variety please!)
Would I buy again?: Yes, if I remember to wear them!




3 comments:

  1. love the nail shades!! 80s!

    fab blog, we'll be back!
    Come follow TBAG
    we have an amazing beauty giveaway! :)

    Have a lovely weekend xx

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  2. I am insanely jealous that you can get Sleek products lol Those blushes look fab and I LOVE the palettes! I had a MUG nice enough to get me the Sunset and Graphite palette lol I wish we could get that here. Like baddd!

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  3. I know, we are lucky in the UK on occasion, but overall, I think the US gets the better deal!

    Thanks for commenting!

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