One Brand Review - Sleek Make Up

Sleek is one of those brands that you hear a lot about certain products, but a lot of them are never spoken about, so I thought I would write a blog post about the Sleek products I have and what my thoughts are on them. Alongside the products listed below, I have used the Cream Contour palette which used to be raved about, but the palest version was WAY too dark for my skin, and even the contour shades were orange or too dark so there was no way I could use it - hence I don’t have it anymore to include in this blog post. Sleek make up in sold in Boots stores and online as well as Superdrug. I love the packaging of all Sleek products - it is usually ‘sleek’ (ironically) matte black packaging which is right up my street.

Solstice Highlighter Palette - £9.99
I’ve spoken about this palette before, because it’s a cult favourite palette and it’s also great for pale skin. In this palette, you get 3 powder highlighters and 1 cream highlighter. The powder highlighters give an intense sheen (these are not natural looking highlighters!) and the cream highlighter gives more of a natural look. These are very pigmented and do not have chunky glitter. The shades are great for pale skin - my personal favourite is the pink / purple shade. I tend to use a mixture of the three powder shades or the pink purple shade by itself. The palette itself is sturdy and has a mirror and this is a great highlighter palette in my opinion.

iArt Precision Liquid Eye Colour (Symbolism) - £4.99
These liquid eyeshadows / liners were released late last year and come in a range of shades. I had high hopes for these and loved the shade range, but I thought i’d just pick up one to see what the formula is like before I purchased the rest of the shades - and I’m glad I did only purchase one. These are not overly pigmented and it is difficult to build up the colour. The actual shade is lovely and they are metallic without being overly glittery, however, they just look patchy when applied all over your eyelid. The applicator is quite a thin, flimsy brush, which seems to thick and flimsy to use these as an eyeliner but they are too thin to apply all over your lid - you end up dipping it back into the tube 50 times to get a thin layer of product. These work well as an eyeshadow base for metallic eyeshadows of a similar colour, however, I wouldn’t recommend them to be used alone.

Matte Me Lip Gloss - £4.99
So I bought these lip glosses (although I think they are more like a liquid lipstick) as part of a set from Boots at Christmas, hence the smaller size. The set came with the shades; Birthday Suit, Velvet Slipper, Rioja Red and Old Hollywood. The formula of these liquid lipsticks are a liquidy mousse, not as mousse-like as the NYX matte lip creams but they feel similar when applying. These do dry down completely matte and they do not transfer when dry. They don’t last all day on my lips but by wearing a lip liner underneath, it does extend their wear time. They feel comfortable on the lips and don’t feel too dry, and they make your lips look super smooth - they don’t go into creases on your lips or flake off. They are highly pigmented, so don’t look patchy even with one layer, although they can be layered. These liquid lipsticks don’t really have a scent which I find is quite rare for liquid lipsticks. These are great products in my opinion and one of my favourite liquid lipstick formulas.

iDivine Eyeshadow Palette - £8.99
In terms of pigmentation, blendablity and quality, these palettes are great. They come in nice matte black, sturdy packaging with a mirror and you get 12 shades which are usually matte and shimmer. I have 4 of the Sleek palettes, including Vintage Romance, Enchanted Forest, All Night Long and Gleaming In Gold. When you look at these palettes next to each other, Enchanted Forest and Vintage Romance have very similar colours and All Night Long and Gleaming In Gold have very similar colours - but maybe that's my fault for purchasing similar palettes! I really like the quality of these palettes and I love the packaging, however, the one downside of these palettes for me is that I can’t usually make a full eye look out of one palette - I usually have to mix and match the palettes or use single eyeshadows alongside these to get a full look. They tend to have a lot of shimmer shades and not many matte shades - for example, they might have a matte crease shade and shimmer shade but they don’t have a deeper matte shade to darken the look.

Blusher (Rose Gold) - £4.99
These blushers are in small, sleek packaging (which also has a mirror) and come in a wide range of shades. I think £4.99 is good value for a blusher and like most blushers, I only use a small amount so they last me forever! The shade Rose Gold has got a large amount of shimmer in it which I don’t mind and it is a nice pinky / peach shade. The product is not powdery or dry and it's a very creamy formula. It blends nicely over my foundation / powder and lasts all day. It's not overly pigmented, which is what you want from a blusher to stop you from looking like a clown with one swipe! This is one of the better Sleek products that I’ve tried in my opinion.

Eau La La Eye / Lip Liner (Noir & Raisin) - £4.99
When I saw these products, I was very intrigued as to how a product can be a lip liner and an eye liner but I swatched them in the Boots store and they were soft, creamy and pigmented so I had high hopes! I bought a black and a purple shade, as I was buying them predominantly for use as an eyeliner and I was looking for a good purple eyeliner. As an eyeliner, I’m not a fan of these at all. Both the black and the purple shade don’t work in the waterline - there is no colour pay off and I like a really black, intense eyeliner. As a lipliner, these are much better - although I haven’t tried the black liner as a lip liner - but it could be useful for Halloween! They are very pigmented on the lips and feel relatively creamy to apply. They aren’t completely smudge proof, but they are transfer proof. I think the darker colours would definitely be useful for wearing underneath darker lipsticks that aren’t overly pigmented or can go patchy, as a sort of base colour.

Overall, I’m not a massive fan of Sleek make up - it’s good quality, but there is nothing amazing or outstanding about the brand as a whole. They don’t seem to stir up much media attention and some of their products can’t compete with more popular brands. I do love their packaging, their prices are fair and some of their products are great - like the highlighter palette, blushers and the quality of their eyeshadows, but for me, they aren’t the best.

Let me know if you’ve tried any of these products and what your thoughts are in the comments below.

Sarah (aka. Pale Princess) x