Monday, May 2, 2011

I'm Partial to Peach and Crazy for Coral With Sleek Makeup's Avoir La Peche Collection (PIC HEAVY!)

You know how sometimes things just seem to work out?  I was talking here about being overwhelmed with hospital bills and being I really was unsure how I was going to pay for them.  Because of the bills I probably wasn't going to be able to take any classes for several semesters either.  So I was feeling pretty bummed and stressed out.  But then I got an email from my University saying that I was given full financial aid AND given a scholarship.  So much relief!  My bf and I have a little bit of money in our savings that I can use to start paying my hospital bills, and while it won't come close to covering them all, it is enough to cover then while I get back on my feet.  I am still on a low buy, but instead of just buying random things that catch my eye I am going to plan what I buy and try to branch out and make small orders with companies I have never tried before.

Which brings me to good part of this post.  I actually placed this order with Sleek Makeup (a UK drugstore makeup brand) before I found out how much money I owed, but it was the start of my mission to branch out. I first saw swatches of Sleek's Avoir La Peche collection on Jess's blog and Robyn's blog and instantly fell in love with it.  The prices in USD aren't bad either- the palette is $10, the blush is $6, and the lip conditioner is $6.50.

The bad part is international shipping, which is $13.50.  Over a third of what I paid went to shipping.  Sleek isn't overcharging for shipping at all, and it is actually a pretty reasonable and standard as far as international shipping goes, but it is a concern if you only want to place a small order.  Sleek states that their international delivery time is between 10 and 15 days and I got my order well within that time.  My complaint is that after I got my receipt emailed to me I never heard back to get a tracking number or anything.  I tweeted them asking if international orders got tracking numbers and they immediately replied telling me that yes they did, and to email them my order number to get it.  I never did email them because my package arrived the next day, but they really should have sent the tracking number to begin with.

Everything was packaged professionally and safely as you can see here.  Everything arrived intact with no damage.



I love the packaging!  My only complaint is that the flowers aren't embossed on the lid of the actual palette, just on the box.

Sleek Pan Tao Blush
Sleek Pan Tao blush
It looks scarily orange right?  I never would have bought it unless I had seen pictures of people wearing it.

Sleek Pan Tao blush
Even the swatches look scary.  I wasn't too impressed with the blush when I swatched it.  It looked a bit powdery and patchy but I didn't have that issue at all when I wore it.

Sleek Pan Tao blush
See, not so scary right?  I put this on way more heavily than I actually wear blush so you could see the color better.  I barely noticed that all blushes pull pink on me, even the most coral of blushes.  Even this one looks slightly pink.  I guess I need a bright orange blush to make my cheeks look coral.  But I really love this blush.  It has moved into my top 5 powder blushes.


Sleek Sugar May Tinted Lip Conditioner
Sleek Sugar May Tinted Lip Conditioner
Sleek lip conditioner compared to MAC's
Sleek's lip conditioner is similar in size to MAC's but Mac's holds 0.5 oz and Sleek's has 0.35 oz.

Sleek Sugar May Tinted Lip Conditioner
The texture is different than MAC's.  It is more slippery and glossy.  I think MAC's is slightly more moisturizing.  The one thing that bothers me about this lip conditioner is the smell.  It smells like vanilla frosting made with imitation vanilla.  It just smells very fake to me, but it isn't so bad that it would stop me from wearing it.  The lip conditioner is on the sheer side, but still deposits a nice amount of color on the lips.  It's perfect for those interested in the orange lips trend but want something more reserved than a bright orange lippie.

Sleek Sugar May Tinted Lip Conditioner

Sleek Paraguaya palette
Sleek Paraguaya palette
I was so excited for this palette to come because I have been craving pinks, peaches, corals, and oranges lately.  For some reason the pattern pressed into eyeshadows bothers me.  I think it looks really cheap and it reminds me of waffles.  Random Question Time- Are you one of those people that have to have syrup in every crevice of their waffle?  I am and it bothers me to have empty waffle crevices!

Sleek Paraguaya palette swatches in the sun
Sleek Paraguaya palette swatches- top row
Sleek Paraguaya palette swatches- bottom row
There are 8 matte shades in this palette and 4 shimmers.  I really like the texture of mattes.  I don't have hardly any experience using them, but I found that they blended together well and weren't too powdery.  The two orange shimmers I really liked as well. The shimmers have a weird texture... they almost seem flaky? Or chunky? I don't know; it's odd.  They still look nice when used but it makes them more difficult to work with and prone to fallout when applying.


I wanted to show you this pictures because I found it really weird.  The shadows are really squishy/ soft in the pan. Putting my finger in the pan to get a swatch caused the ugly waffle pattern to smoosh down.  The pattern isn't worn away, it's squished away.  This didn't really affect the wear of the shadows, but you just need to be careful or you'll end up with way too much powder on your brush.

Here are two looks I did with the palette


Sleek Paraguaya palette matte look

This is Sandstone to highlight, Blush on the inner half of the lid, and Cameo on the outer half. I used Persimmon wide in the cease, with smaller amount of Tangelo in crease as well.  I wanted a shimmery lower lash line so I used Parfait. Lastly Bittersweet was used to line the upper lash line and the waterline.

Sleek Paraguaya palette shimmery look

This is Parfait inner corner and to highlight, Persian Orange on inner third of the lid, and peach gold on the outer two thirds. Cameo is in the crease with Parfait on top to make it shimmery and a small amount of Stone in crease as well and on the waterline. The lower lashes are lined with Persian Orange topped with Bellini.

So would I recommend Sleek's makeup?  Yes, I think the colors are really nice and unique, especially compared to what we can get at out drugstores here.  Can you imagine Revlon or something coming out with a palette like this?  I don't think so!  The prices are really inexpensive and even with international shipping, it is definitely worth it.  Sleek's customer service seems to be a bit sporadic (although I had no problem trying to reach them), but they are a fairly young company who and are growing exponentially, so some growing pains are to be expected.  There have been complaints from people about how certain things have been handled by the company in the past, but I can't comment on them because this order has been my only experience with them and it has been very positive.

Available:

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

9 comments:

  1. Love the products you purchased, especially the eye palette - I really like the looks you created with it!!! Corals are so gorgeous with blue and green eyes! :)

    What an incredible thing regarding your studies/medical bills! I've been there and remember how stressful and hard it was... SO glad it's working out for you!!! <3

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  2. First of all I'm so glad about your situtation, you must be relieved. There's struggling and then there's totally screwed :S Second of all, I love the looks! I really need to dig this palette out and actually use it.

    And yea, I am not a fan of empty crevices.

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  3. That is one heck of a palette! Congrats on your aid/scholarship!

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  4. The packaging is gorgeous. I agree on the whole wishing it would match- then I'd use the makeup just to look at the pretty compact all the time. ;) Congrats on the great news!!

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  5. @Ruthie- Thank you! I was suprised at how flattering the colors were with my eye color. I wasn't expecting that at all. And I'm glad that it's working out too. For some reason it seems like it usually does!

    @Robyn- I'm super relieved! Sometimes you don't realize how stressed you were until that weight is lifted. It feels like you can breathe again. Thanks for the compliment, I'm aspiring to be as good as you some day!

    @Vijaya- Thank you so much! :)

    @GenkiOriana- I *almost* wanted to save the box the palette came in and I never save outer packaging. And thank you, I'm so relieved!

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  6. I think I am in love with that blush... o3o also the matte look is gorgeous! I'm not very into shimmer looks in general but the matte look is awesome :)

    ~Beatrice @ Cosmeticconvulsion.blogspot.com

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  7. beautiful looks! and u did a great job with the swatches! The blush looks soo good on u. That is such good news to hear about you money situation and think that is an excellent idea to buy small items from diff makeup companys, I have yet to touch my palette, since Inglot came into my life..but I will soon ;)

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  8. LMAO..."empty waffles crevices"...ha! #1, that palette is AWESOME! I want it!! #2 I am a fan of any lip product that comes in a jar (even though it is not the easiest application wise) so that lip balm is super cute to me! #3 Yay for the good news re: school! Things have a funny way of working out sometimes :)

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  9. @Beatrice- I love the blush too! I'm glad the orange didn't scare me away.

    @Jess- Thanks to you for convincing me to buy this! And I still really want to try Inglot but I'm afraid to start a new obsession I can't afford!

    @shimmer- Its such a relief when things start coming together! I was pleasantly surprised with all of this, especially seeing as they're a drugstore brand. I wish our drugstores carried colors like this!

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Thank you so much for your comments! I appreciate them all and read every one!

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