Sleek MakeUp Review - The Best Surprise of 2014

Now there are many, many reasons why I love England. But today I want to tell you about one thing in particular that makes me want to border hop a little bit.

I've been looking for a new eye shadow palette to complement my beloved Naked palette, because one of my new year's resolutions is to be a bit more brave with make up (and to learn how to properly apply everything). Now if any of you are like me and spend more time than you should reading beauty blogs and watching Youtube videos, you have probably heard of the Lorac eye shadow palette that everyone's raving about.

Long story short, you can't buy it in France.

But I didn't know that and did a quick little search on Amazon to see if it was in my budget.

Surprise, surprise, it did not show up. However, there was this incredibly cheap (10€ free shipping) eye shadow palette that popped up as number one in my search results that had a large number of positive reviews. This in and of itself is surprising because make up products on Amazon France tend to rarely have reviews.


One Google search later, and I found a ton of British people who were raving on and on about how they love these palettes just as much as their M.A.C or Urban Decay shadows. I personally wouldn't go that far, because I really believe that no one will ever beat the Naked palette. That one just takes the cake. 

But these babies are still incredibly smooth and pigmented. I got the "Oh So Special Palette," and I love it. Plus it comes in very sleek packaging (see how punny I tried to be there?) & has a huge mirror. You could actually do your whole face with this mirror if you had these eye shadows in your purse while you were out and about.

There are 14 different palettes and each comes with 12 eyeshadows (that have gorgeous, gorgeous pigmentation). I secretly want them all, but don't know what I could possibly do with 14 eye shadow palettes. Any suggestions? :)

Cons: Though the packaging is beautiful and compact, I have a really hard time opening mine. I haven't read anywhere else that this is a problem. In fact, the contour kit I got from them has the same opening mechanism, and I have zero problems with it. So either I just got a dud of a clasp or I'm opening it the wrong way - which would be super embarrassing.

Highlight & Contour

They also are well known for their freaking awesome contouring kits. I'm really happy with the highlighter that I've already got, but I've been on the hunt for decent bronzer ever since I became a Maskcara addict reader. I've swatched quite a few (all drugstore brands because I can't justify spending 30€ on a bronzer), but they've all had problems. Too orange, too glittery, too dark, too "Honey does this make my face look dirty?", too little pigmentation, etc.

Well hallelujah! I've found my holy grail of bronzers. It's the right color for my pale complexion (also comes in several other shades for darker skin tones), and there is no shimmer which means it great for contouring. It's also very buildable, and I recommend starting with a light hand.

This is what it looks like when a person who has no idea what they're doing applies it:

I took this picture at night so the lighting's awkward, but I hope you can kind of see the contouring here
and will forgive my crooked nose. I broke it when I was 18 and they never popped it back into place.

Cons: While the highlighter is simple, classic, and gets the job done, I feel like I have to use a lot of product to get it to show up. I prefer being able to just get everything on my face in a few sweeps. I still prefer my Benefit highlighter by a long shot!

This review is not sponsored by Sleek. They don't even know that me & my little blog exist. I'm just on the hunt for affordable make up options in France.

Plus international shipping's dirt cheap! :)

So now would be an excellent time to try it out if you're curious. Supposedly their blushes are amazing and their lip stains are as good as OCC Lip Tars. Sadly, I'm not in need of either of those products right now, but will definitely be trying them out later on.

If you've tried any Sleek products, please let me know in the comments what you tried and what you thought of them!