Sleek Be Beautiful Blemish Balm Review, Swatches and Photos

Sleek Makeup is a UK beauty company, available in Superdrug in the UK and online. I had been hearing a lot about their products, namely their eyeshadow palettes, blushes and their BB cream, so I decided to place an order. I'll review each of the items I ordered individually. This post is for their BB cream, which they call Be Beautiful Blemish Balm.

Product Description (from the Sleek website):

Be Beautiful Blemish Balm combines unique properties of skincare with makeup, with this multi-tasking balm that can be used as a primer, tinted moisturizer or concealer. With added benefits of SPF 15 to protect you from harmful UV rays. Be Beautiful Blemish Balm is perfect for those who what light to medium coverage.

Contains red algae extract to combat anti-ageing, protein peptides that aid in skin repair, and Vitamin C to increase brightness to your overall complexion.

50 mL/1.76 fl oz

$11.49 USD

I'll refer to this product as a BB cream, just to save me some keystrokes.  Here are some photos of the packaging.

It's tough to order skintone-matching products without testing them first. But this was so inexpensive and I was ordering other products anyway, I thought I'd take the chance and chose Fair.

Packaging Photos: 

The BB cream comes in a black box, with a good amount of information on it.

The tube of BB cream is also black, that type of packaging that most of you probably have experienced before. It gets pretty grubby pretty quickly.

What I've heard sets this inexpensive BB cream apart from the other inexpensive BB creams is that it's got a good amount of pigment. I've heard that that's more in line with Asian BB creams though I've never tested or worn a BB cream from Asia so I can't compare them with any certainty.

But I can say that the Sleek BB cream does have more pigment to it than the other BB creams I've tried. 

Here are some swatch photos.

A dab of Sleek Be Beautiful Blemish Balm in Fair on the back of my hand.

Sleek Be Beautiful Blemish Balm spread out slightly on the back of my hand.

Sleek Be Beautiful Blemish Balm almost completely worked into the skin on the back of my hand.

You can see that that one small dab of product would cover a cheek and a little more. The pigmentation is very good - more than a tinted moisturizer and about equivalent to a light-medium coverage foundation.

The Fair has cool yellow undertones, which makes it good for counteracting redness in the skin. This detail is noted on the website and for each BB cream shade, so that's definitely helpful in selecting which one is best for you. I wish that there were photos of the BB creams on the website. Trying to determine which one works for you without trying them first is pretty difficult. What does Medium look like compared to Medium 01? And how dark is Dark? 

If you're looking to order one of these BB creams from Sleek, do some research. Check some beauty blog reviews of the ones you're looking at. It will help, trust me.

In the photo below I applied the BB cream to one half of my face (the right half below) and left the other side bare, apart from some Benefit Porefessional primer on my t-zone. You can see that the Fair is a good match for me, as well as the subtle change it has on my complexion. The right half of my face looks smoother, even-toned but natural. The BB cream has brightened my complexion, evened my skintone and reduced redness without making me look like I'm wearing a lot of product. 

Sleek Be Beautiful Blemish Balm Cream on right side only. Left side is bare.

Here's a close up of the right side of my face.

Sleek Be Beautiful Blemish Balm Cream close-up

I like that this BB cream does not go on with a lot of dewiness as the Garnier BB Cream I've been using does. It doesn't mattify my skin either, but gives it a natural, healthy glow.
And this is what a complete make-up look with the Sleek Be Beautiful Blemish Balm Cream looks like.

I've got concealer in areas that needed it, and loose powder on top as well as on my T-zone. 

I noticed the first time I wore the BB cream, when I washed my face at night, that my skin felt noticeably smoother and firmer. This did not change with subsequent wears and washes. 

Sleek says this BB cream can be worn as a primer, concealer or tinted moisturizer. In my experience I'd say this has light primer qualities, light-medium concealer qualities and medium-high tinted moisturizer qualities. I didn't notice that it kept my blush (the only visible product I wore on top) from fading any more or less than other products. It didn't keep the oily areas of my skin from getting shiny. As a concealer, it's good for areas that require light concealing and can be layered for areas in need of more concealing. And as a tinted moisturizer, it's best for skin that's not too oily and not too dry. Tint-wise, it's very good and for moisture, it's average. It left my combination (normal-oily) skin feeling hydrated all day but not excessively so. 

In summary, it is my opinion that this is a good BB cream. It applies and wears well and it makes my skin look and feel good. Since the cost to buy this is about the same as buying the Garnier BB cream I usually wear ($20 CDN), I may be ordering this again. 

One thing to note is that the SPF of 15 in the Sleek BB cream is not great. With the inclusion of vitamin C in it, it definitely needs SPF 15 MINIMUM, since vitamin C makes the skin more vulnerable to harmful UV rays. They've take away some of the skin's ability to protect itself from the sun with the vitamin C and put it back with the SPF 15. So that means this is basically a skin product with no SPF, in my opinion. A higher SPF (say SPF 30) would make this a very, very, very good BB cream. Why won't beauty brands LISTEN TO THIS already? Our skin needs more protection from the sun. Sort it out!

Grade: B 

A few things I've discovered about ordering Sleek products online: I looked into a few different ways to get my hands on Sleek products. You can order through the Sleek website directly, or find some products through Ebay. You can also order through Superdrug if you live in the UK. US residents, note that you cannot order eyeshadow from the Sleek website due to shipping regulations, but Canadian residents have no such issues. I ended up going through Sleek directly. Prices were in US$. Shipping was very reasonable. I paid $6.49 US for an order that came to just over $50 US. There was no duty once it arrived either. I was very happy with the cost! No added charges.

Another thing you should know was that it took about a week and a half for my order to arrive. From the UK. That's fantastic! I was shocked as I expected to have to wait for a month or more as I have ordering things from the UK in the past!

Your turn! Have you used Sleek products? Have you tried their Be Beautiful Blemish Balm? Let us know in the comments below!