Sleek Blush Collection Swatches

I was getting ready this morning and searching around for the latest Sleek blush that I bought because I wanted to use it, Can you believe that I wanted a change from Rockateur? I didn't think it was possible either! 

Anyway I was digging around my blush drawer for it and I noticed that I own a few more Sleek blushes than I thought. I then thought hey I don't think I've done a post on any of these, turns out the only one I have done a post of was Rose Gold, a very long time ago! So here's swatches of the Sleek blushes that I own, hopefully it will be useful to some of you who are after some of these.

Antique

Antique is the most recent Sleek blush purchase for me. It's a really strange shade, but so beautiful. I'd describe it as being a muddy pink brown shade. When I say muddy it isn't a bad thing here! When applied to the cheeks the pink in the blush comes out more, this shade is so flattering and has become one of my favourite blushes!

Coral

Coral is exactly that, a lovely bright coral shade. I don't find it orange toned at all and on me at least it comes off exactly the same on the cheeks as it does in the pan. I need to be careful with this though because it's so bright it's easy to over do it with this one. I haven't got much wear out of this yet as I bought it at the start of Autumn last year but I'm going to be breaking this out over Spring and Summer - I think it's the perfect shade for the warmer seasons!

Pomegranate

I am so in love with this blush! Perfect for Autumn and Winter, Pomegranate is a lovely berry shade with plenty of shimmer through it. It look scary in the pan but is just so gorgeous on the cheeks! If you're going to buy any Sleek blushes this is one of the ones that I would say is a must to have!

Rose Gold

Rose gold was the first Sleek blush I purchased. I can't say enough good things about this blush, and along with Pomegranate, I think everyone should own this shade above any of the others! It's just the most lovely pink/peach shimmery shade and apparently a NARS Orgasm dupe. Mine is a little old now and I definatley need to buy a new one because I love it so much!

Suede

I bought Suede because I had heard great things about it being great for contour on paler skin. It didn't work for me as its too orange, but with a light hand it's a pretty nice neutral blush. I use this shade the least but it's still lovely none the less.

Hopefully this will be helpful if you're looking to get a few Sleek blushes! They're such great blushes, great shades and they are among the most pigmented of blushes I've ever tried - especially great as they are under a tenner! 

What Sleek blushes do you have in your collection? What ones are your favourites?

FOTD #5: Under The Weather

I've been taking a break from wearing any make up the last week or two on account of my skin being awful and being ill and just not wanting to put any on - I think we all feel like this when we're ill! 

Today I got up, had a shower got dressed and decided that I was going to make an effort today, even if I wasn't going to leave the house, I thought putting something on my face may lift my spirits a little! Also I've bought a few things lately that I really want to try out and a few more products that haven't been getting enough love!

Eeek! Eyebags!

I saw Nivea's Express Hydration Primer on sale for a little over €4 instead of near €8 so I picked it up! I usually skip primer but my skin is like an oil producing machine lately so I used this before my foundation. I used my Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge to stipple on my foundation, (Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum) I applied my two favourite concealers Maybelline The Eraser for under eye area (though it's helping very little on my really pronounced eye bags these days!) and Collection's lasting Perfection for redness/blemishes in the same way with the RT sponge. I dusted a little of MAC's MSF Natural all over my face with a large powder brush and finished off with Sleek's Blush in Antiqued.

I then moved onto my eyes. I primed my lids with Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer potion, then taking My Naked Basics palette (which I posted about here!) I applied the shade Faint on the outer half of my lid and into my crease, and blended the edges with Naked 2. I then dusted W.O.S from my crease to my brow bone and then placed Venus in my inner corner and on the inner half of my eyelid to brighten things and make me look more awake. I then lined my lower lash line with Faint and then applied L'ancome's Hypnose Doll Eyes mascara, I also used Rimmel's Scandaleyes eyeliner pencil in Nude on my waterline to make my eyes look less red - it works a treat!

Sorry for the not great photos guys, I can't find my camera and took these on my phone. The new design/layout of my blog makes the photos massive so the bad quality is super obvious! It also makes my large eye bags at the moment very obvious - so unflattering! Ha ha!

It's amazing how much more human making an effort when you're not well can make you feel! Not a complicated FOTD by any means, if you've seen any of my previous FOTD's you'll know I favour easy no fuss make up, though my choice in shadows is still on the neutral side of things I'm finding myself picking out the darker shades in palettes over the lighter ones these days - which is a massive change for me!

What kind of look do you go for when you're feeling under the weather?

Sleek Vintage Romance Palette

I'll get to talking about Sleek's Vintage Romance Palette in a moment, but first! If you're a regular reader of my blog, you may have noticed that I've changed things up in the blog design department!

 I've hated the look of my blog for ages and I was going to get one custom designed but I came across a pre made one that I really liked. I still need to tweak a few things to get it just the way I want it to be, but it now has the nice clean, simple look that I have wanted my blog to have for the longest time and is just perfect really! I may change my mind again but for now I can say I'm so happy that everything finally looks more put together!

I know that I'm a little late to the party posting about Sleek's Vintage Romance Palette now, seeing as it was released in the middle to the end of last summer. I've had this palette since September and I'm now really only getting into using it.

I love Sleek's eyeshadow palettes, and have been a fan of them for a good few years now. You get 12 very pigmented shadows that are buttery smooth in texture and really easy to work with, not bad for around the €10 mark.  Also the palettes themselves are sturdy enough to travel with and they also contain a decent sized mirror.

Top Row, L-R: Pretty in Paris, Meet in Madrid, court in Cannes*, Lust in LA*, Romance in Rome, Propose in Prague.

Bottom Row, L-R: A vow in Venice*, Marry in Monte Carlo*, Honeymoon in Hollywood, Bliss in Barcelona, Forever in Florence, Love in London

I love how Sleek have started naming the shadows in their palettes now, it makes it so much easier to write about them! The shadows are all mostly shimmery with one totally matte shade (Propose in Prague) the other matte shades have small flecks of glitter running through them. It would have been nice to have a few more completely matte shades but I knew buying this that Sleek palettes are almost always mainly full of shimmery shades, that's ok though because I love shimmer shades it would just be nice to have one or two more lighter matte shades for blending purposes.

As you can see every shade is highly pigmented, these are swatched on bare skin with no primer so they're even better on the lids with a good primer! I've marked my favourite shades with an *asterisk above, but all in all each shade is really lovely in its own right. It's a really lovely palette and all the shades work well together.

I think I have somewhat of an addiction to Sleek's eyeshadow palettes! I wish they were available in shops here in Ireland, the only place I can get them is online and though there's tons of reviews on blogs I still never know if I'll like the palette or not until I get it into my hands so it'd be great to see it before you buy rather than buying blind, so to speak! Regardless of this, I've never been disappointed with any of Sleek's palettes and really recommend them to anyone, especially if you don't have a ton of palettes already and are looking to expand what you have for a reasonable price, these are an excellent option!

I think after the Storm palette, the Vintage Romance palette is my favourite Sleek palette! What's your favourite palette from Sleek?

What's In My Make Up Bag #2

It's been a while since I wrote a "What's in my make up bag?" post - so I thought I'd get myself to the laptop and knock up a quick post for you all on what I'm currently using everyday.

If you want to see what was in my first Make up bag post you can do that here.

 From looking at that last post, the contents of my day to day make up bag have changed completely since my last post, except for one item I believe.

Make up bag contents - alot more in here than I originally thought!



Face/Base Products

Left - Right: Real Techniques Complexion Sponge, Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in fair for blemishes and redness (HATE that the writing on the tube rubs off!) Maybelline The Eraser Concealer in Light for under eye area, Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum foundation in 51 Vanille clair.

L-R: Benefit Rockateur blush, which I reviewed here. Sleek blush in Antiqued, MAC Soft and Gentle - click here for swatches, MAC Mineralise Skinfinish Natural in Light, for days where my skin is good, Maybelline Superstay 24hr powder in Ivory for when I need more coverage and when my skin is extra oily which is pretty much all the time now - stupid winter!

Eye shadow

Sleek Vintage Romance Palette

Lately I've been using Benefit's Rockateur on my lids, a light sweep of it looks so pretty don't over do it though or you can look like you've been punched in the face! 

I always like to have a palette in my make up bag though, and at the moment it's Sleek's Vintage Romance Palette - so pretty and has shades perfect for Christmas! So it's in here so that I'll use it more over the festive season!

Eyeliner/Brows/Mascara/Lips

L-R: Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes Mascara, this mascara is now holy grail status for me guys! No7 High Shine gloss in Smile, great for looking pulled together quickly! Catrice brow gel, Rimmel Scandaleyes pencil in Nude for my waterline, I'm looking tired lately and this really brightens my eyes up. Stila smudgestick in Damsel, again holy grail peeps, seriously amazing! MAC fling brow pencil, really into filling in my brows lately and this is so easy to use it's fool proof! Lastly, there's my trusty Urban Decay Primer Potion.

Brushes

I have really only been using these 4 brushes lately, mainly because using the Real Techniques sponge has drastically cut down the amount of brushes I have to use daily. So L-R: Sigma F30 for powder, Sigma F40 for blush, Real Techniques setting brush for highlighting, Sigma E25 for eyeshadow application and blending - best eye brush in the world, really recommend it!

So I really am using a lot more products than I thought I was using, and I really do use everything every day - bar the palette! 

I was thinking of making these posts a more regular feature, let me know what you think! 

What's in your make up bag right now?

Affordable Neutral Palette Picks

I am without doubt, a neutral shadow lover. I own more neutral shadows than anything else, I cant get enough of them.

I have a good mix of higher end palettes along with high street palettes. (or what some would call drugstore) 

I use and love them all, I love some more than I love others. Surprisingly some of the cheaper options are favoured over the more expensive options. 
That's why i'm writing this post.
 There are so many neutral palettes being released, and the ones we're drawn towards are the pretty expensive higher end ones like Urban Decay's Naked Palettes, which are great, I own all of the Naked palettes, I adore them, but there are some pretty great cheaper highstreet/drugstore alternatives that are pretty great too.


Firstly, I wasn't sure if I was going to include them because people include them in the higher end side of things but Inglot has some awesome shadows. 

Inglot Freedom System Shadows L-R: 152,153,154

L-R:152, 153, 154,

Their freedom system is great you can buy an palette from them and pick out your eyeshadows from a huge selection of shades. 
If you're to buy the empty palette from them, it can get a bit more expensive, but if you own a z-palette or any magnetized palette already you dont have to buy the palette from them, meaning you can just pick up the eyeshadow pans alone and they're pretty cheap this way, I picked up 3 shadows a while back and I cant remember exactly but it came in at just over €15 for the 3 of them, which isn't terrible if you want a few great quality shadows that you can pick yourself without breaking the bank. 
These 3 Inglot shadows are some of the best shadows I own pigment and texture wise and I don't know why I don't use them, but writing this post and having to do swatches for them has made me realise how amazing they are again and now I have every intention of filling up the rest of my Z-palette with Inglot shadows, oops!

I've choosen 3 other good picks from cheaper brands, 2 palettes and one trio. 
The first palette is Sleek's Au Naturel Palette.

i've done a post on this in the past here, so I wont go into too much detail but for swatches you should look at that post. 
The Au Naturel palette is really versatile, great quality and you get 12 really nice shades in there from browns, to some more greener and purple shades, all for under €10. So if you want a full palette but don't want to splash out on the higher end palettes this could be the way to go.

Next is another palette, Catrice's Absolute Nude Palette, which has 6 shadows for between €5 and €6. 

I've actually found myself picking this up a lot lately, the shades themselves are lovely, though the shadows are a little drier than the Sleek palette for example they're still easy to work with and you can get a few different looks out of it, ranging from very natural to smokey.
 There's less of a variety of colours in here though and it pretty much is shades of brown, so if you want a little more than just brown shades to play with i'd still go for the sleek palette for those few different shades. 
This however isnt something that should be ignored because of the price point as it's a really lovely little palette, which is included in a giveaway im doing, which you can enter here if you'd like to.

My last pick is a trio from 17. It's the In The Nude Trio.

It has the basics for a neutral eye with a light lid/highlight shade, a midtone and a deeper shade, so again you have what you need for a really basic look or you could do a light smokey eye with this. 
I actually fell in love with this trio after seeing Sineadycady from The Make Up Chair using it a lot in her videos. 
The colours are nice and easy to work with and it's nice to have all you need for one eye look in something smaller than a palette sometimes. 17's trios are around the €7 mark and there are a few more to choose from, including one similar to this but just more shimmery.

So there you have it, if you're looking for some good neutral shadows but are unsure of spending a lot of money, why not try these out first, you never know you may end up loving one of these more than one of the more expensive palettes. 

Do you know anymore cheaper alternatives for neutral palettes? Leave a comment and let us know! 

Wish List #1

Just like every other beauty obsessed blogger I always have a list as long as my arm of new products that I want to buy. It seems that when I eventually do mark something off my wish list two other things that I'm lusting after take it's place!

1. Too Faced Boudoir Eyes Palette

I've wanted this since the moment I clapped eyes on it! It's part of Too Faced's Spring collection this year which was pretty nice actually but for me this is the stand out product in the collection. It's a fairly neutral palette which is great as I'm a neutrals girl, but it's more purple based neutrals as opposed to browns so it'll shake my make up a little without being too crazy for me. 

2. The Balm Nude Tude Palette

Like I just said - I love neutrals! Still on the fence as to weather or not this palette is different enough to the ones I have to warrant getting it, I think I might hold off on this one for now seeing as I have Urban Decay's Naked, Naked 2 and Naked Basics palettes already.

3.OPI Couture De Minnie Collection

This collection is so cute! I didn't get any of the shades in the previous Minnie mouse OPI collection except the glitter shade, but I really love every colour in the collection this time around.

4. Sleek Blush By 3 in Sweet Cheeks

I'm hoping that Cloud 10 beauty get hold of Sleek's newest Blush by 3, I think it's limited edition, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can get my mitts on it at some stage.

5.Mac Matte Lipstick in Please Me

I love Mac lipsticks. I only own two which are Plumful and Angel. I really want to expand my collection and this is going to be the next one I pick up for certain.

6.Sigma Dry'n'Shape

Since we moved into our new place, Ive hated washing brushes because I have to leave them out to dry and Ive amassed a huge collection of brushes so the place just looks messy and takes up nearly our whole dining table so this will save space when I'm drying brushes and will also help get them back to their original shape.

I did have pictures for this post but for some reason blogger wont let me put them in my post, I'm not sure if its blogger or my laptop acting up, so sorry for the lack of photos! 

I'm sure by the time this post has gone up ill think of lots of other things that I want to add to the list! If any of you have anything on my wish list let me know your thoughts on it, id love to hear them!

Favourites Of 2012!

Can't believe that we've come to the end of 2012 already. It just seems like no time at all since it started. 

This is been a good and bad year for me in equal measure, but I'm looking forward to 2013 and seeing what will happen for me! One of the things I'm looking forward to is blogging more regularly. Blogging has become something I love, and I really want to put more time into it and get more out of it. 

Before I start posting my favourites of the year, I just want to take the time to thank you all for your support here on blogger, and for taking the time out of your lives to read a post, comment on a post and for following my little blog. It feels really great every time I read one of your lovely comments or see that I have a new follower, it makes me feel like the time I spend putting these posts together is worthwhile. So thanks again, and I hope to hear from my existing followers and some new ones in 2013! : )

Onto my favourites of 2012!


I'm not going to take individual photos of everything, because then this post would never end and I want to keep it short.If I have posted about any of these already I'll link the post, and also there are a few posts on a few of my favourites coming in the new year!

2012 Favourites

L'oreal Lumi Magique Foundation is my favourite foundation this year, and I really need to do a full post on it. Have been very impressed by this foundation. Gives a flawless appearance without being heavy and unnatural looking.

 Revlon Photoready Perfecting Primer Haven't had this primer for too long maybe 2 weeks or so but its impressed me so much that it knocks every other primer I've tried out of the water!

 Mac Mineralised Skinfinish Natural Amazing non cakey, lightweight powder that still provides a bit of extra decent coverage. Probably my favourite powder in the world and will probably be the one I use for the rest of my life I love it so much!

 Urban Decay Vice Palette I got this for Christmas but was given it a few weeks early and it's just a great palette that I keep reaching for. Great variety of colours and great UD quality.I reviewed it recently here.

 Urban Decay Naked Palette I was given the original Naked Palette last year for Christmas by my boyfriend, and its the palette I reached most for this year. I don't have a post on this, but I got the Naked 2 this year for Christmas too, so I might do a comparison post between the two.

 Sigma Mr Bunny Essential Brush Kit This has been my favourite purchase this year by far! Sigma brushes are amazing quality, I had a few individual Sigma brushes and loved them so much that I took the plunge and decided to invest in a full kit. These brushes are the best performing brushes I've ever come across. I'll be posting a full review about the kit in the next few days.

Urban Decay Primer Potion This has been a great little product this year, it makes my eyeshadow last all day and stops it fading as fast, while making the colours stand out more. It really makes a difference to the look and staying power of your shadow.

 NYC Liquid Eyeliner I swear by this liquid liner. Its the only liner I can use that stays put and doesn't transfer from my lash line to my crease. It stays put without being hard to remove, and is also seriously cheap.

 Sleek Blush In Pomegranate A beautiful berry blush, its been my favourite autumn/winter blush. Looks scary in the pan but is really beautiful and flattering on the cheeks.

 Revlon Lip Butters in Peach Parfait and Sweet Tart I love love love Revlon's Lip butters, go here for review and swatches of the ones I have. My favourites are Peach Parfait and Sweet Tart. I really want to pick up a few more of these but every time I go to boots people have messed with them and opened them all so they're all smushed and unbuyable, so whoever is doing this make it your new year's resolution to stop it so I can buy the other shades that I want! Lol!

 Sleek Contour Kit in Light A handy little compact with a matte bronzer for contour and a peachy champagne highlighter. Works really well and also has a built in mirror. This for me along with Sleek's blushes is something I couldn't live without! 

Revlon Kissable Balm Stain in Honey Lovely neutral my lips butter better shade. These chubby stick like lip products from Revlon have really impressed me and I want more!

 17 Lipstick in Barely Blush Not sure what the line of lipsticks is called, but they're the ones in the shiny silver tube so if anyone knows let me know. But this dusty rose lipstick is beautiful. The texture is creamy and moisturising and really comfortable to wear. Really wish they'd put more colours out in this formula, if they did these 17 lipsticks would probably beat Revlon's Lip Butters as my favourite lip product this year!

Sleek Blush in Rose gold This is my all time favourite blush. Swatches are here  if you want to have a look at how beautiful this blush is. It's a dead ringer for NARS's orgasm blush for a fraction of the price.

 Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub Has been a life saver this winter! My lips have been so dry and flaky and this saves them every time! I use this to exfoliate my lips then stick a balm over it and I have nice soft lips again. It smells and tastes pretty good too!

 Maybelline 24 Hour Color Tattoo in Pink gold My favourite out of the Color Tattoos that I own. A really lovely pink shade with golden shimmer, looks really pretty on its own or layered with shadow. Swatches are here.

So those are my favourites of 2012! There are a lot of other things that I love too, but I had to narrow it down because the list was getting pretty huge! 

I'll be back in the new year with more reviews, hauls and also a giveaway in the early new year to say thank you to all of you who have supported me and I can say that it's gonna be a good one! : )

I would also love to know what your favourite products have been this year, are any of them the same as mine? Also would like to hear any other favourites of the year like movies, songs anything at all! I know my favourite film this year is a three way tie between Snow white and the huntsman, Breaking Dawn part 2 and the Amazing Spiderman - I cant decide which I liked the most! 

Happy New Year everyone!