sleek Archives - Super Gorgeous

Holiday Beauty Hits

Seeing as I’ve just got back from ‘Beefa, I thought it was pretty fitting that I did a holiday hits post – my most favourite things to use while I was away. I could make a list as long as my arm, but I’ve tried my best to cap it at a top 10!

one – Urban Decay Naked Palette (£32 from Beauty Bay)
This was fabulous – every colour I could have needed for my holiday. Creep was used for the nights I wanted to go totally smoky, but mostly Half Baked was given a good run for it’s money. I tended to mix it with NARS Orgasm Illuminator to foil it and make it ultra metallic a la…

two – Dove Indulgent Nourishment Body Lotion (£5.10 from Boots but currently on offer at £3.40)
After hearing the Dove skin expert at The Only Way is Blogging saying that any moisturiser is good for post-sunned-skin, I decided to use this rather than a general after sun. It has 24 hour moisturisation technology and really left my skin feeling soft and gorgeous, even if I do say so myself! (please note, this was a press sample)

three – ES A155 Lashes (£8.25 for 10 pairs from KKcentreHk)
These were a Godsend – despite them being reusable, when we were getting in at ridiculous hours of the morning from a night out, more often than not I ripped the lashes off my face and left them in random places never to be found again, so having a big stash of inexpensive yet effective lashes on hand was ideal! Check out my review of these lashes here. (please note, this was a press sample)

four – EOS Summer Fruits Lip Balm (approx £5 from eBay or available widely in USA)
I loved the look of these ever since first seeing a picture – I just had to have one. I love the quirky shape of it and all my friends adored it too. Perfect for having on hand and giving a bit of moisture to your lips while sunbathing.

five – Sleek Paint Pot in Peach Perfection (£4.30 from Sleek)
This was perfect for adding a slight sheen of colour to your lips poolside – it just gave the impression you had gone to the effort of doing something, without doing anything too much! Check out my review of this here.

six – Compact Mirror (mine is Benefit, but not sure if they’re still in production)
I’d say this is an absolute essential – for checking if any mascara has run, bits in your teeth, all your lotion is rubbed in etc etc

seven – Dove Intensive Repair Regenerating Mask (£3.99 from Superdrug)
This is a hair mask which is designed to be left in for 3-5 minutes then washed out, however this was my rescue hair product in a different way! My hair is very thick, and I have lots of it – so trying to do anything with it after washing it was a complete nightmare. The only way I managed to regain any control was by slathering my hair in this, so I could actually tie it up (normally on the top of my head) and leaving it in until the next time I washed my hair. When I came back to England and gave it it’s first wash, it was in such good condition – something I certainly wasn’t expecting after it being in the sun for so long.

eight – Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation in Shade 08 (£25 from Illamasqua)
I really don’t have good skin. Not the kind of skin I would want to go baring, with no make up on. I needed to find something that covered up the bad bits without me looking too cakey. I bought this, and Garnier’s BB cream hoping one of them would be the solution to my problem. Unfortunately the Garnier was just too sheer for me, but the Skin Base Foundation was perfect. My friend commented on my make up one day asking how it stayed looking so perfect (score!) however I know it wasn’t exactly perfect – it does get shiny after a while of wearing, particularly in the heat, and as expected, needs reapplying after getting wet. I am wearing it in all of the photos in this post and loving that because there’s no SPF in it I don’t look like a ghost in them! I think if I could find a way of making it last a little longer without getting shiny, it would definitely be my holy grail foundation.

nine – Exposed Skincare Acne Treatment Serum ($19.95 from Exposed Skincare)
I am currently following the Exposed Skincare plan – I have used it for over 30 days now, so expect a full review of that soon. Although I still got spots, the Acne Treatment Serum helped to dry them out a lot faster than usual, so they were there for a lot less time than they would normally be. The last thing anyone wants on holiday is for their skin to get worse, so this was handy when I had a breakout.

ten – L’Oreal Lash Architect Waterproof Mascara (£7.99 from Amazon or in store at Boots)
I’m not saying this is the best waterproof mascara I’ve ever used – but it did the job; the mascara stayed put all day without any smudges or panda eyes. It seperated my lashes nicely, made them look full but not too ott, and basically, just made it look like my eyelashes actually existed!

Although it’s not really a beauty item the Liz Earle Tote Bag was kindly sent to me just in time for my holiday and is the perfect size for a towel, book (I kidded myself every day that I would get more than 2 pages read!) sun tan lotion, water and make up essentials. It has a magnetic fastening, a gorgeous nautical style, and is very robust. If you take advantage of the Liz Earle Suncare Offer before 31st August, you too can have one of these bags in a slightly smaller size. The set includes Mineral Suncream SPF20 to help reflect UVA and UVB rays, their Sun Shade Botanical Aftersun Gel to cool and rehydrate and two shimmering treats – basically everything you need to keep your skin looking amazing while you’re away!

So, that’s my top 10 folks. What do you think of it? Would you add anything in?

Sleek Oh So Special Palette

Sleek’s latest i-Divine eyeshadow palette offering is the Oh So Special palette, a gorgeous mix of 12 wearable shades that would suit any skin tone. A lot of their previous palettes have been a bit wild and whacky – but this palette has a lot more colours for every-day kind of looks.

My favourite colours are Gateau, Ribbon, Glitz and Celebrate – although I’m not very good with wearing pinky shades on my eyes, I think they are really pretty colours. Here are some photos of my eyes over a few days that I used this palette…

Overall, I think it’s a great palette for £6.49, but I do struggle with the chalky texture of the shadows which leads to a lot of fall out. They are very highly pigmented, and for the price they’re worth it, but with other brands like MUA Pro bringing out cheaper palettes without the chalky issue, it will make me step back and think if I really want the palette before purchasing. That said, this is definitely one of my favourite Sleek palettes, and if you want to buy one and one only, let this be it!

Please note, this is a scheduled post – I am on holiday and will reply to any comments once I’m back x

Sleek Pout Polish: Peach Perfection & Monte Carlo

I won a Sleek competition a while ago, and part of the prize was a Pout Polish in ‘Monte Carlo’ – a limited edition hot pinky purple which is part of the Mediterranean Collection. This was the first Pout Polish I’d owned and I really liked it, so much so that this weekend I bought another, ‘Peach Perfection’, which is a gorgeous peachy nude.

The Pout Polishes are £4.30 for 10g and are comparable to MAC’s Tinted Lip Conditioners which are £11 for 15g. They have SPF15, so I shall definitely be using them during the day on holiday – as well as making your lips look gorgeous, they are really good for your lips as they contain Almond Oil, Shea Butter, Avocado Extract and Vitamins A, C and E.

Monte Carlo tastes a little like marshmallows, and in fact I’d say the colour is quite similar to Lancome’s Marshmallow Juicy Tube. A small amount can be put on for a wash of colour, or it can be built up for a bit more impact. Be careful it doesn’t end up on your teeth though!

Peach Perfection tastes just like sugar and I am totally in love with the colour. It’s gentle yet effective and doesn’t ‘white out’ the lips like a lot of nudes do. I can see myself using this a lot (excuse the funny camera angle!)

I think these are a fab addition to anyone’s make up collection, and I’m keen to check out more of the range. The only downside to them is that I notice a strange taste after a while of wearing them, but it’s bearable.

Sleek Pout Polishes are available from the Sleek website.

300 Followers ‘Best of British’ International Giveaway!

During the last few days I hit the 300 followers mark – so to celebrate I am having a giveaway. Thank you all so much that take the time to read, follow and comment on my blog. I love writing it but it’s so nice to know there are other people out there reading my babble and looking at my photos and I hope it helps some others out there too!

You could win (going clockwise round the pic):

Barry M Nail Paint in 239 Cyan Blue
Sleek True Colour Intense Pigments Lipstick in 833 Fuschia
Rimmel Lasting Finish Nail Polish in 270 Hot Shot
MUA Eyeshadow shade 10
MUA Eyeshadow shade 8
MUA Eyeshadow shade 11
Collection 2000 Lock N Hold Lipgloss in Body Pop 1
Barry M Limited Edition Lipgloss (nameless but nude)

This giveaway is open to my followers based all over the world! To enter all you need to do is leave a comment to this post asking to be entered. I will pick a winner at random on 1sr June. There are a handful of requirements needed to enter

You must be a follower of my blog
Leaving a comment will give you one entry, if you comment twice this doesn’t count as two entries
You may get another entry by tweeting about my giveaway and posting the link to it here
If you link to my giveaway on your blog sidebar and come and leave a comment telling me about it, you will gain three extra entries

If you are not a follower your entry will not count!
Good luck, and thank you!

Sleek – i-Divine Bad Girl Palette

Sleek Make Up have recently launched two new palettes – the Good Girl, and the Bad Girl. The Good Girl palette is various different shades of pink, and was made because of inspiration from a fan. I can’t really pull off the pinky-eyed look without looking like a character from Pinky and The Brain character unless it’s got shed-loads of brown in there too, so I decided to leave it and instead plumped for the Bad Girl palette. The Bad Girl is much more suited to me – with 12 shades perfect for creating smokey eyed looks and really impactful make up.

I am yet to actually try them on my eyes, but from swatching them there are a few which immediately jump out to me. Twilight is stunning, a really highly pigmented black toned purple. Abyss looks to me like the eyeshadow equivalent of OPI’s Ski Teal We Drop. Intoxicated is a gorgeous forest green shade. Underground seemed a little hard to work with, I needed a lot more of it to get any colour from it. Gunmetal is quite similar to Urban Decay’s Gunmetal – are they allowed to do that?! I really like that this time round they have decided to give the shadows names, some how it makes it feel like much more of a pricey product rather than it sitting among the likes of the 88 nameless shades in the cheap as chips 88 palette.

While I’m on the subject of cost – this palette will set you back a mere £5.99 – that works out at almost 50p per colour, can’t really go wrong can you!? Yes the shadows aren’t quite the same quality you’d expect from the likes of MAC but this is a fantastic way of playing with colour inexpensively. The shadow is a little chalky but it’s highly pigmented and teamed with a primer I bet they will look fantastic on the eyes. I was at a photoshoot for Marie Claire recently and the make up artist had a range of Sleek palettes in her kit – if they’re good enough for her, they’ll do me fine!

in case you can’t read the names – top row, L-R: Innocence, Gullible, Blade, Gun Metal, Underground & Noir. Bottom row L-R: Intoxicated, Envy, Obnoxious, Abyss, Twilight & Rebel.

Neutral with a Twist

I joined Twitter on Friday (come and follow me @Super_Gorgeous), where one of my fellow bloggers, Modesty Brown was involved in a conversation with a few other bloggers saying that they would all post a picture at 9pm on Saturday night of a neutral eye with a twist. Kenneth Soh mentioned purple and bronze, and with that, I was inspired! I hadn’t even realised it until I was getting ready to go out for the evening and deciding what make up to wear, it popped into my head.

I know I’ve not had all that good things to say about The Original Sleek palette, but I actually rather like it now. It’s a great way to try out colours you want to play around with before buying a high-end brand.

I should mention I did have a bit of MAC Sable still left on my eyes that I’d been wearing during the day.

First I swept the lid with the purple from The Original Sleek palette, then patted a bit of the gold to the middle third of my eyelid. I then used a light shimmery pink (shade 09) by Paul & Joe in the inner corner of my eye using a thin brush.

I used the same brush to take a small amount of the purple under the outer part of my lower lash line. I used a blending brush and dusted some of the dark brown Sleek colour into the crease of my eye, then adding some of the black, lightly went over the outer V.

I then lightly swept all over the colour with the pinky gold Sleek colour.

I applied Smoulder kohl liner by MAC to the upper lid, then using a wet eyeliner brush, some of the purple Sleek colour over the top. I finished off by lighty lining under my lower lash, and then applying MAC Zoomlash mascara in Lofty Brown.

Thank you for the inspiration guys, this is something I probably wouldn’t have tried if it wasn’t for your Tweets!

Sleek Make Up – Pinky Gold Shadow

After blogging about how much I liked the Sleek pinky gold shade the other day I thought I would try it as a shadow on its own…. although in the palette it looks like a pink with gold shimmer, on the eyes it looked more gold with a pale pink shimmer. It is highly pigmented but also very powdery – speckledy again like the gold was. Still very pretty I think, but I’d like to find a pale pink with gold shimmer now!

excuse the hair, I seem to have got a bit over excited!

Other make up used:

Sheer Cover mineral foundation in Buff
MAC Select Cover-Up in NC20
Natural Collection SunTint Bronzing Powder in Golden Glow
MAC Stereo Rose MSF as blush
Benefit Stay Don’t Stray eye product primer
Sleek Pinky gold over lid
MAC Mulch eyeshadow in crease
Guerlain liquid eye-liner in Bleu Outremer on upper lid (but had used the brush for the NARS black liner yesterday so it’s come out darker than it would normally do)
MAC Smoulder kohl under lower lashes
Diorshow Maximiser Lash Plumper
Lancome Hypnose black mascara
MAC Viva Glam Gaga Lipstick
Revlon Peach Petal Lipgloss

I felt really uncomfortable all day wearing this, it was something about the eyes, it just didn’t feel like me – I’m not sure if I’d lined them funny, or hadn’t brought the colour up enough, my eyes just looked very pale and underdone in comparison to what I’d normally wear. As soon as I got in I scrubbed it all off.

Sleek i-Divine Palette – The Original 594 – Swatches

I have wondered about the Sleek palettes for a while and this week I decided to go for it. For £5.99 it would be rude not to! At the time of writing there are six different palettes in the range. I bought The Original 594, and also wanted Storm, but tried 3 different Superdrug stores and didn’t have any luck – it must be popular!

The palette is sleek, matte black, with the Sleek logo shiny across the top. It opens up as a compact with 12 different colours inside, a double ended sponge applicator, and a mirror on the inner lid.

It’s really hard to take swatch pics when they’re on your own arm but I did my best! Here is the top row of colours

The colours don’t have names but I will do my best to describe them. From L-R first of all there is a matte black which I guess I’d liken to Carbon by MAC. I mean, how many different shades of matte black can you get?! Then a really metallic purple. In fact all of these colours (other than the black) are really really metallic looking. The next along is a navy with a silvery teal shimmer to it. Fourth along is a really bright vibrant turquoise with golden tones. Then we have a teal, then more of an olivey green again with golden tones – really really pretty.

The second row colours are as follows

From L-R there is a light gold colour which annoyingly goes on quite speckled, it doesn’t look smooth when its on, in my opinion. The second along is my favourite of the palette, a gorgeous light pink and gold shade, so super feminine and completely worth the £5.99 on its own. The next is a metallic dark peach, then a real proper burnt orangey copper, a little of a dirtier copper then an olive green which is lighter and more olivey than the top.

All of the colours are highly pigmented but seem quite soft. As you can see in the second photo there is already a bit of fall out from the pans, and once I’d applied them once to do the swatches each pan looked really powdery, apart from the black. Maybe that’s something to do with the finish of them, which as I’ve said before, are really metallic.

Here is a look that I did using The Original palette

I used the 3rd of the bottom row (metallic peach) over the lid of my eye, then brushed the middle of my lid using the gold (first of the bottom row). I then used the dirty copper (fifth along on bottom row) in the crease of my eye then blended the harsh line at the edge out with the light pinky gold colour (second of the bottom row) as well as applying a thin line of that under the outer corners of my lower lashes.

Other make up used:

Sheer Cover mineral foundation in Buff
Sephora Concealer Palette
Benefit Stay Dont Stray eyeshadow primer
Benefit Hoola Bronzer
MAC Stereo Rose MSF as blush
MAC Smoulder kohl under lower lashes
MAC Earthline Technakohl liner on upper lid
Diorshow Maximizer lash serum
MAC Zoomlash mascara in Lofty Brown
MAC Hue lipstick
in the pic below I added MAC Call My Buff lipstick over the top as I felt Hue was a bit light on its own with this look

Hmmm, I’ve just noticed my eyebrows are completely non-symmetrical!

On the whole they are a nice, cheap range of shadows – if you have a limited budget, then go for it – they do the job, but in my opinion they certainly don’t come any where close to the quality you’d pay for a mid-range brand such as MAC. The shadows are powdery both on the skin and palette and I know Im going to get my bedroom carpet in a mess using these! They are very highly pigmented though, and seem to last. I will probably still search out the Storm palette, for interests sake but not entirely sure how often I will use these (other than that goldy pink, it’s to die for!)