OOTD 12.07

Here is another outfit post, (let me know if you would rather me stick to makeup) showing the rather simple, yet ready for whatever this unpredictable British summer should throw at me.
T-shirt: New Look - £8
Jeans: Primark - £6.50
Flip flops: Havaianas (from Office) around £18
Bag - Luca Bocelli - £29

T-shirt is from New Look, priced around £8. New Look are great for basics like vests and t-shirts as they are inexpensive and wash well (it's important ya know, there's nothing worse than washing something once then it drops to pieces!). I particularly like the little knot tie at the bottom.

The jeans are another pair of Primark's finest, the amazingly comfortable and well fitted skinny jean I have ever come across. Even more amazingly, they were in the sale this time around, £6.50 instead of £8. I bought these in a very pale wash the first time and these are just a darker version, I did however find that there's not much uniformity among sizes, and had to size up in this colour.
The bag was a present from my lovely Mum as she said I needed a bag to start my new work with. I really love satchel bags, but she wanted to get me a briefcase type one, we looked around and I think this is a happy medium. I saw a bag by the same brand that was a hot pink brief case which was tempting, but perhaps a little too legally blonde?! This is fantastic quality soft leather, and was priced at a discount of £29 down from £80. Although I haven't heard of the brand, I trust this Nappa leather to be good quality. I think it's all in the feel and the smell!Looking rather foolish in the above photos, I'm not a comfortable poser, I wore over my t-shirt my Kimono style top from Peacocks. It's a bit too warm for a jacket, but you never know if it's going to suddenly rain or turn to winter here.I have practically lived in my Havaianas since I bought them a few months back. I went for the slim fit ones in metallic blue. Quite expensive for a flip flop at £18 but these are a flip flop like no other, they don't drop apart like others or wear down. I might aswell throw in some make-up shots here. I went for a bright red lip (Sleek OMG, I will post a separate review on the Too True lipsticks) and neutral eyes using the Sleek Oh So Special palette. Bronzer is by MAC, Refined Golden which I bought ages ago and still use religiously.
This is probably one of my favourite make-up looks, it's pretty effortless really but without looking like I made no effort. I like that the red lip does the talking for this look.

I think this photo might be a little deceiving because I don't feel that in person my hair is that shiny! It's not in bad condition for blonde hair, I haven't used any heat, or at least minimal, say a blowdry every 3-4 days or so, but it is still due for a cut and colour. I haven't decided where I'm going to go yet so I'm going to have a browse online and see what I find.

Sleek Oh So Special and Curacao Palettes

I bought these palettes together so I might as well write a joint post about them. Sleek you've done it again. Just when I thought there were no more colour combinations that I needed, you brought these two into my collection. I don't really think I needed these, but I am a make-up addict, I am weak, and I caved.


This is Oh So Special, the palette I have been waiting for. A gorgeous collection of neutrals. There is not a skin tone, eye colour, age range etc etc that could not find a colour combination in this palette. It's suitable for day or night although I have only ventured towards the left hand side of the palette rather than the right as I've only used this for day time. My favourite lid colours are the second from the left, top and bottom colours, they're called Organza and Gateau, both quite similar rose gold shades.

I think out of all the palettes I own, this will become my most used as it is so versatile. I suppose I do still have a criticism of this as a neutrals palette however. For me there's a couple of shades that are just a bit out of place in this palette, Ribbon and Pamper. Ribbon is a gorgeous colour but not entirely in keeping with the rest of the palette, it does work well but I think I would have replaced it with a colour more like MAC's Retrospeck. Pamper is a pretty colour too but it's just neither here nor there as a lid, crease or brow bone colour, and I think I will wear it the least. What would have made this palette perfect is another shade or two for the crease (Boxed is perfect for this) and another lid colour. The four shades on the right side are all suitable as outer corner colours, when a couple would have been enough. This is of course me being fussy and dreaming up my perfect Sleek palette, one day I'm sure they'll nail it and bring out a palette that has it all.

I also happened to find the Curacao palette, which I really hadn't seen anything of beforehand. This is from the Caribbean collection and prior to this I had only seen the blusher and pout polish from this same collection. This reminds me a lot of the Circus palette which was also limited edition, the colours are very bright and because they are so pigmented, are true to the colour you see in the palette.

This is a good palette to buy if you're a green eyeshadow lover, there's 5 shades in there that are in green or aqua family. Apart from those, it might be difficult to pick out a few shades to wear together but it's a nice palette to have to choose one colour and make that your focus, mixing it with more wearable shades from elsewhere.

Sleek Monaco Palette

I can't seem to resist buying a new Sleek palette. As if I need any more of them really. I think the brand is bang on by releasing a new collection so frequently, it keeps the brand fresh and up to date. Each palette is always so different from the last too. This one features some very bright pastel shades as well as a few lighter shades that are more suitable for me as lid colours. I tend to use the bright shades just as a pop of colour in the crease or line the bottom lid with them. My particular favourites in this palette are the four colours you see in the bottom. They work really well together and with a summer tan, turquoise is a great colour to wear, you still need to be a bit brave about it though!
I checked out the pout polish that was released the same time as this but is part of the Caribbean collection. It isn't really me, it's very orange and whilst I am actually on the hunt for an orangey lip gloss/lipstick of some description, this just isn't it. The blusher is part of the Monaco collection, but again I skipped it. I don't know what I can do with neon pink!

This eyeshadow palette is definetely the highlight of the latest products released from Sleek. On another note, I saw a couple of tester palettes whilst I was browsing the Monaco collection. I saw a neutral palette and a smokey eye palette. There were none available to buy however. If anyone is able to fill me on this would be great as they both looked pretty amazing and I would happily have snapped them up, have I missed these two palettes or are they not released yet??

Merry Christmas and a Giveaway!

It really doesn't seem that long ago since I did my 100 followers giveaway. I decided to do another since reaching 250 followers seems like a big milestone to me. Since I have been all over the Sleek Sparkle palette since it's release, and since it's Christmas time, I think a Sparkle palette is the perfect giveaway gift (sorry if you have it already!) so here's an opportunity to get hold of one.

I wrote a previous post about this palette and another post with a FOTD using the palette which you can check out if you want to see how pigmented and wonderful the colours are.

The giveaway is international so wherever you are in the world I will post it to you! The only requirement I ask is that you are over 18 years old, or if younger, you have parental permission to enter the giveaway. You must be willing to provide an address I can post the palette to via email.

Since this is a followers giveaway, you obviously have to be following my blog. To enter, please leave a comment below, and keeping it Christmassy, I want to know:

What is the thing you love most about Christmas time?

The winner will be picked randomly. For an additional entry to the contest and therefore a greater chance of winning, you may post a link to my giveaway on your own blog.

The giveaway will be open for one week, so you have until 31st December 2010, 17:00 GMT to leave your comment. Good luck and Merry Christmas!

Sleek Sparkle Palette

Sleek have released a new limited edition palette that looks very fitting for the run up to Christmas and New Year. I snapped one up as soon as I saw them after missing out on the Bad Girl palette that was full of great smokey colours, similar to the Graphite palette. This one features a lot of darker sultry colours with glitter particles to create some great looks for the party season. Although a lot of the shades are darker toned, theres also a bright pink shade thrown in there and a yellow gold and silver which are shimmery rather than glittery, and of course there's a matte black shade as with pretty much all Sleek palettes.

Palettes are priced at £5.99 in Superdrug and if you go now you can take advantage of the 3 for 2 offer which is available on all cosmetics.

Here's a break down on the colours:

Cranberry: a hot magenta pink with glitter particles.
Dream Maker: a greyish, silver blue with glitter particles.
Galactic: a medium royal blue with glitter particles.
Twinkle: a navy blue with glitter particles.
Starlight: a dark grey with glitter particles.
Noir: a matte black.
Illusion: a dark midnight purple with glitter particles.
Festive: a rich plum purple with glitter particles.
Mistletoe: an emerald green with glitter particles.
Glitz & Glamour: a smokey off black with glitter particles.
Gold Ribbon: a shimmery yellow with a hint of gold.
Tinsel: a shimmery light silver.

100 Followers Giveaway!

Hurray! I’ve reached 100 followers now and decided I really want to do a giveaway as a way of saying thank you to everybody who’s followed. It really means a lot that people take the time to read what I write so wanted to give something back! It’s really simple to enter, the only condition is that you are a follower of my blog. You can also leave a mention of my competition with a link on your own blog if you would like, but it's not compulsory.

Here are the prizes, (each of your choice!):
1x Barry M Nail Paint
1x Barry M Dazzle Dust
1x GOSH eyeliner
1x Sleek Eyeshadow Palette

I will post the prizes anywhere in the world, so this is a good opportunity if you live outside of the UK to get your hands on some great UK brands, but if you're under 18 please get parental permission. Just leave me a comment below to tell me you want to be entered. Contest closes at 10pm GMT on Tuesday 10th November.

Prizes!

I was very excited to hear I’d won a prize in let there be shopping’s contest. I won two products I have been quite eager to try. Firstly there’s the much blogged about Colorsensational lipstick by Maybelline in Ambre Rose. I’ve had a chance to try it out now and am really happy with it. I really like the consistency of this lipstick, it’s very moisturising and has a nice glossy feel to it, so I don’t feel the need to wear a gloss over the top. The colour pay-off is pretty impressive too, this is one of the most neutral colours in the range but still makes a considerable difference to my lips. I would recommend viewing these lipsticks for yourself, if you like your dark shades or reds, there’s plenty to choose from, but make sure you swatch them because I find the colours very untrue to the stickers on the bottom. I’ve never really found the colours of the stickers very useful, but they are particularly unhelpful with this range of lipsticks!

The second product I received was the Sleek pout polish in Electro Peach. I'm a huge Sleek fan so keen to try out any of their products, I haven't had a single disappointment yet which is great for a relatively new brand. The colour is very bright and conventionally a bit off putting for someone of my skintone. You can get quite a good colour pay-off with this product if that’s what you want, but I will use this in the same way I’d use a lip balm, just a small amount so the colour is a lot less scary. I actually love the smell of this, it reminds me of a Natural Collection set of stackable lipbalms I had when I was younger and used to death (they were such a novel idea, I wish they’d bring them back!). There are some key ingredients in here which are very beneficial for keeping your lips in good condition, those being: Jojoba oil, Shea butter, Sweet almond oil and avocado oil. I was quite surprised to see so many nourishing ingredients in one product, especially one not from Lush! May need to stock up on a few more of these, I'll see how I get on with it for a few days and see if there's any improvement to the condition of my lips.

So big thanks to Marcia for the prizes. xXx

Sleek I Divine Jewels Eyeshadow Palette

Continuing the love for Sleek, I thought I’d show you the second palette I picked up at the weekend. This one is called Jewels for its rich, deep colours.

As far as I can find out about this palette, it was released at the end of last year along with Acid. For some reason my local Superdrug only just decided to stock Acid within the last month, but I’ve still not seen this one. I picked this one up from a larger city store and I might go as far as to say I like it even more than Storm! While that palettes great, it has a lot of neutral colours you can wear on the lid, and much darker colours for the outer corner and the crease. The Jewels palette makes up for what it lacks, with much bolder colours you can work with to create a brighter look as dramatic as you feel.

None of the colours are duped from Storm, the champagne colour in this looks very similar but it’s a little darker, and the black is even blacker in this palette too! The consistency of the shadows is pretty much the same shimmery, pearlescent effect, with no matte colours besides black. The mint green is more sheer, as is the silver and gold. Where the other colours have an iridescent, almost two tone effect, these give just a sheer wash of one colour, they’re just as pretty though. I wouldn’t say buy this instead of Storm, but certainly alongside it to create a wider variety of looks. Swatches:

Make-up Product of the Month - June: Sleek Ink Pots

Even though I’m not 100% happy with this product, I’ve still decided to feature it as my product of the month. Firstly there aren’t many drugstore brands that actually make their own gel liners so the fact that Sleek do one at all is pretty good, but to be able to compare it to MAC is even better.
Black eyeliner is pretty much a staple item with me. I think I used to overdo it when I was younger, but I’d like to think I’ve mastered the art of applying it now. Liquid eyeliner, namely the Loreal Superliner is one of my top ones, but I am trying hard to replace it with gel liners after hearing such great things all over the magazines and beauty television programmes. The reason why it’s supposed to be much better than liquid is that you can still create quite an intense line but it doesn’t look overdone, and much more natural compared to liquid. Admittedly liquid liner can look a little cakey. Gel liner is also recommended for older women because it’s a more toned down way to wear it. My general opinion of it is that it’s the hardest to master, and the messiest, definitely not for if you’re in a rush as you need an eyeliner brush to apply it, but once you get the hang of it, it can really set your makeup to create a flawless finished look. When I decided to venture over to gel liner territory, I started with MAC’s Fluidline because when can you go wrong with MAC? I was happy with it, but wanted more colours to create different looks. At close to £11 for 3g these are a bit too expensive to buy just to play around with colour. I was pleased to find that one of my favourite budget friendly cosmetic brands had their own version. Under £4 for 4g of product!

The range of colours available is not bad at all, and although I didn’t like all of the colours, I think there’s a colour there for everybody. My favourites were Purple Rain, an aubergine and Stone Cold a navy/silver blue. I plumped for Purple Rain, wanting to give it a try before I purchase any more.
The testers in the shop had been seriously manhandled so were pretty scutty and dried up. I assumed my untouched version would not be as dry. I was a little disappointed at first to be honest. The brush that came with it is perfect for picking up product but hopeless at applying it so was soon discarded. I used my MAC 263 which works fabulously with Fluidline, but not so well with Sleek inkpots. I had to warm this product a little before I could use it more effectively with my eyeliner brush. After a few uses, the product does appear to be loosening up and gradually getting easier to use. Perhaps it is just the top layer of product that’s a little on the hard side. The quality of the liner is still very good, once it’s warmed up, it’s much easier to work with and has great staying power, it lasts all day with no smudging. So I still wanted to rate this highly and call this my make-up product of the month because considering this is nearly a third of the price of the MAC liners, I can forgive it for being a bit on the hard side.

Sleek I Divine Acid Eyeshadow Palette

Whilst perusing the isles of Superdrug, I also noticed Sleek had a new eyeshadow I Divine palette. This is definitely not one for the faint hearted, I saw it (from a mile away), and approached with caution. These are some shocking colours!
I think because I’m aware of just how pigmented and vibrant Sleek eyeshadow turns out on the skin, I saw these and knew that the colour I saw in the palette would be the colour on my eyelid, and I’m not sure I’m ready for fluorescent eyelids. So I didn’t buy it, but now I’m left wondering about it, because whether I like it or not neon is a trend that doesn't seem to be disappearing as quickly as maybe I'd like it to. Maybe I could make neon green work for me somehow. Has/would anyone try this palette? Is this one to be left for the teens, or do I need to be more openminded?!

EDIT: I am currently selling a Sleek Acid and Graphite palette on ebay, they are brand new in box and I'm shipping internationally! Ends 13 December 2009.

Eye of the Day - black and gold

I'm not sure what's going on with the weather, London looked incredibly murky today compared to the past week. I haven't really been wearing a lot of makeup recently, because it's been so hot, but I took advantage of not feeling like my face would melt today if I put any makeup on and resorted to this look which I love.

It is a little dramatic I suppose, as in I normally wear this on an evening, but you know, it's Friday so why not. I think black and gold together looks stunning, quite a contrast between the two but because they're neutral they don't clash. I used shadow only from the Sleek palette I previously wrote about, and only used a tiny amount of shadow over primer which gives you an indication of just how pigmented they are. The black especially is very impressive, I think it's hard to find a black that gives a good colour pay off but I literally touched the brush into the black shadow and it gave more than enough product.

Sleek Eye Shadow Palette Review

Yesterday I came across this eye-shadow palette. It's available from Superdrug in the UK and is by a brand called Sleek. I think the palettes were released a while ago but not that easy to get hold of since not all Superdrugs stock them. There's 3 different palettes to choose from, Original, Chaos and the one I bought, called Storm. I chose this one because I thought there was a great range of colours in there, plenty of neutrals, and a few bolder colours, but overall very wearable.

Having got it home and been able to try out the colours on my eyes, I'm very impressed with the quality. I tried the testers in the store and they felt very smooth and looked richly pigmented. Over a primer, they apply very easily, blend well and are very long lasting!
The first one and the fourth one along are lovely golden colours that will look great as a lid colour. The second one I've used as a highlight colour, it's probably the only colour suitable for a highlighter as the rest are too dark. Most are shimmer eyeshadows, with the exception of three of them, the third one on the top picture, and the first two on the picture below. The black eyeshadow is noticeably pigmented, usually you don't get a very good colour pay-off with black, they can be quite grey-ish, but this is very impressive, a great eyeshadow for the outer corner and under the eyes for a smokey evening look.

I would definitely recommend purchasing this palette, the colours are quite unusual, and it might be unlikely you owned a dupe of the bolder colours. The browney-pink shadow in the top right corner, and the denim colour on the bottom row second in are the two stand out colours for me. I hope to make some fun looks from this palette, and am tempted to buy the others, at only £4.87, can't really resist them! And the good news is, if they're not available in your nearest Superdrug, check on their website to see if they will be soon. This summer Sleek will be expanding and will appear in a further 132 stores. Has anyone tried these before, and how do you rate them?