Quick Review: Sleek's Curacao Palette from the Caribbean Collection

I won this palette from a giveaway from the fabulous Robyn. Unfortunately the asshole postal service here decimated my package and this palette was one of two things that made it all the way from England. (When i called to complain they actually said that they would look for my items. Yes, good luck finding a tube of lipstick somewhere in between here and England.)

Sleek Curacao palette

Sleek Curacao palette

Sleek Curacao palette

Sleek Curacao palette

I love the colors in this palette. I have one other Sleek palette, Paraguaya, and that one is mostly oranges and pinks, so it was nice to have one with some variety. There is also a good mix of mattes and shimmers, although a few of the mattes are a little sheer and one is downright terrible (you'll see).

Top row

All of these applies pretty well. The light blue matte applied the best, but the other two mattes weren't bad.  As I noticed with my first Sleek palette the textures are really soft (almost to their detriment sometimes) and pretty pigmented.

Bottom row

The shimmers all applied beautifully, as did the bright blue matte. The purple was hard and sheer, while the black was well... look at it. Not so good. But I don't care because the rest of the palette is amazing. Thank you so much fabulous, wonderful, gorgeous Robyn for sending it to me!


Available:

• Those of us in the US can buy Sleek directly from their website. This palette retails for $10.50

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

FOTD: Jaded

I've been so lazy lately with my makeup and it makes me sad! I guess when it comes to waking up early to do more intricate eye looks so sleeping later, sleep always wins. Which makes for me being a boring blogger. The red and black eye from the other day was probably the most interesting thing you will ever see me do. For example, I have worn Estee Lauder's Precious Jade creme shadow about 4 out of the last 5 times I have worn makeup. the other time I wore a Benefit creme shadow, so not much improvement there. I love creme shadows because I can just slap them on and it takes me roughly 15 seconds. Seconds count when I'm trying to sleep as late as possible!

So here is one of my looks I did with Precious Jade.

Eyes:

•  Estee Lauder Double Wear Shadowcreme in Precious Jade on lids and below lower lash line
• Benefit Creaseless Creme eyeshadow in Platinum to highlight
• Wet n Wild Color Icon eyeshadow in Envy in crease
• Urban Decay Baked eyeliner on upper lash line
• Urban Decay Bourbon eyeliner on waterline
• A mix of CoverGirl Lashblast mascara and Wet n Wild MegaLash Clinical Mascara on lashes
• Physician's Formula Canyon Classic quad matte eyeshadow in brows (darkest shade)

Face:

• Physician's Formula CircleRx concealer in Fair Light under eyes
• Maybelline SuperStay concealer in Ivory also under eyes
• Physician's Formula Healthy Wear SPF 50 Powder Foundation in Translucent Light

Cheeks

• Estee Lauder Peach Nuance blush

Lips

• Sleek Pout Polish Tinted Lip Conditioner in Sugar May

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

FOTD: Sleekly Tarte and Buxom

I know I sound like a broken record continuously complaining about how busy I am.  I'm getting kinda tired of it myself.  Well, if I wasn't so damned busy I wouldn't have to complain, haha!  It feels like when I'm not working on school, I'm sleeping.  Luckily I still have a bit of time to put on makeup (most days) so I've been taking pictures of it.  Yesterday I got up early enough to fix my hair so you get more than just a picture of my eyeball.  I'm still not ready to show my un-straightened hair; it's a wavy poofy mess.
Sorry if I look tired, it's because I am!

I'm wearing colors from Buxom's Stay-There eyeshadow palette on my eyes, Sleek's Pan Tao blush on my cheeks (VERY light application), and Tarte's PureOptic lipgloss in Pink Grapefruit on my lips.  The black liner is Wet n Wild's gel eyeliner and the mascara is Tarte's Lights, Camera, Lashes mascara.  Oh, and I don't wear foundation.  I use concealer under my eyes because of dark circles, but I never wear foundation.  The most I wear is some SPF 50 powder from Physician's Formula, but I'm not wearing it in this picture.  I just have on some translucent setting powder so my face doesn't get shiny.  I'm lucky that I've never had problems with acne or anything. Which is good because I'm incredibly lazy when it comes to skincare.  I need to start being more consistent!

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

FOTD: Pink-Orange Eyes, Coral Cheeks, and Straight Hair

Whew, another long day and I'm wiped out.  Sooo... that means another short post. Sorry! :(  Here is a quick  eye look I wore to school last week.  Someone ALWAYS has to comment whenever I wear bright or bold eyeshadow.  Colors like this normal to me, but there is always someone who says (usually a catty girl wearing thin veil of courtesy), "Wow, your eyeshadow is really... bright."  No shit lady, I may not be the best at it, but I really did not apply it in the dark.  I do know what color I'm wearing.

The time I wore this, a girl in my chemistry lab walked by and did a double take.  "Um, why are you wearing orange eyeshadow?!" I just stared at her in shock for a few seconds, not knowing what to say. My lab partner (a guy; he's really cool) said, "Uh, maybe because she wants to?" I just smiled at her at her and said, "Well duh, you couldn't think of that yourself? You had to ask me?"  At this point my lab partner was sniggering at her and I guess she didn't expect him to take up for me so she spun around really quick and went back to her table.  I just told me lab partner, "What a dumb bitch", we laughed for a minute and moved on.  She still glares at me whenever she sees me.  I just smile at her.

I don't understand why people feel the need to boost themselves by tearing other people down.  Or trying at least.  I'm far enough out of middle school to where the mean things girls say doesn't bother me.  I obviously wear or do something because I like it, not because you do.  How hard is that to comprehend?!  When people are catty like that, I just laugh at them.  They are plainly insecure and trying to boost their self image by ruining yours, so laughing at them is probably the worst thing you can do.

On that note, here I am in my orange eyeshadow.

I'm wearing some mattes from Sleek's Paraguaya palette on my eyes, and Tarte's Amazonian Clay blush in Glisten on my cheeks.  I'm not wearing anything on my lips because I forgot. Boo.  I ended up wearing MAC Evolution Revolution lipglass and wish I had gotten a picture of the whole look together.

I've decided to post pictures of myself more often.  I'm tired of being insecure because I'm overweight.  I'm not so afraid of being judged because I'm fat, but because I'm weak.  Being overweight shows that I'm weak and THAT is what bothers me for other people to know. I'm ashamed that I'm not happy with my current body (mostly for health reasons), but I lack the willpower to change it.  I know plenty of people who are overweight and perfectly content with themselves.  But that isn't me, and I try my best to hide my discomfort with myself because my weakness scares me.  I also think I just try to ignore it, which keeps me being fat, because I would be reminded of my failings. So, I try not to think about it (even though it doesn't really work, haha). Does that make sense?

Woah, this post was longer and more personal and introspective than I originally planned.  Eh, it was cathartic to type about, even if no one reads it!


But to those who did, thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

EOTD: Sunrise Over Mars (Orange and Coral)

Here is another quick post.  Sorry about this!  Once I get back home I'll be able to devote more time to blogging again.  Well, until I start my summer classes in a week and a half! Yikes! I forgot about my classes.  I had to drop out of the Spring semester for medical reasons so I really need to take classes this summer to help me get back on track.

ANYWAY, here is an EOTD I did a few weeks ago and barely am getting around to posting.  Oh, and a bonus L(ip)OTD too!

As you may know, I am obsessed (OBSESSED!) with Persephone Minerals' Mars Crystal Power eye shadow.  It feels like I wear it every other time I do my makeup.  This one is just a simple look, but I really like it.

This is Persephone Minerals' Mars Crystal Power on the lid and urban Decay Jones in the crease and a little below the lower lash line.  I used a felt tip eye liner from Physician's Formula on my upper lash line.  Oh, and a random shimmery shadow to highlight.

This is what my eye shadow looked like after 8 hours.  My mascara smudged a little, but the eye shadow itself looks exactly the same.  Gotta love a good eye shadow primer!

Here is what I wore on my lips with this look:

MAC Ever Hip lipstick under Sleek Sugar May Tinted Lip Conditioner

This is one of new favorite lip combos!


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

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:

• Sleek products are available on their website and they ship pretty much everywhere (except Africa).

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

Mail Call! From Across the Pond!

Woohoo!  Look what came in the mail yesterday!  My order of the Avoir La Peche collection from Sleek Makeup (a UK drugstore makeup brand).  International shipping is a bit high, $13.50, so I'll have to try everything and let you know if it's worth it.

Isn't the packaging gorgeous?  And I'm not even packaging crazy!  The collection includes a 12 pan eye shadow palette, a matte orangey- peach blush, and an orangey-peach lip conditioner.  I should have swatches and a review of everything up in a few days.  So excited!