I recently ordered a few products from Sleek Makeup, a UK makeup company. I'd been hearing and reading a fair bit about their very well-priced eyeshadow palettes, highly pigmented blushes and BB cream online and the cost made it very accessible, despite the exchange rate and shipping. More on all of that later though...
This post takes a look at one of the two eyeshadow palettes I ordered, the Ultra Mattes V2 Darks Palette. It costs $9.99 US and contains 12 matte eyeshadows.
Here's what Sleek has to say about this palette:
Sleek MakeUP's legendary i-Divine palettes are 12 shades of super-pigmented, long lasting mineral based eyeshadow, designed to suit all. Each i-Divine contains pearlescent shades, which contain mica particles that highlight and illuminate giving an overall radiant effect.
Ultra Matte Darks are creamy and super blend-able. Due to the intense colour, a little goes a long way. The browns, blues and purples ideal for contouring and creating intense eyes. the light creams and whites are also perfect for highlighting inner corners or your brow bone.
12 x 1.1g/12x 0.03 oz
Here are some photos of the packaging.
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| Back of the box |
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| Shown in my hand to show size. |
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| Back of the palette |
The i-Divine palettes have a large mirror on the lid (not pictured) and a clear plastic sheet with the names of each eyeshadow on it. This strikes me as odd since you can't order these eyeshadow colours individually so why would you need to know a name. Still, it's nice to put a name to something. I wish it weren't on a plastic sheet that falls out of the palette each time I open it though.
The palette also comes with a double-ended applicator. This I just toss. The texture of these eyeshadows works so much better with brushes.
The Ultra Mattes V2 Darks Palette is mix of bright colours (green, blue, purple) and more neutral shades (white, cream, grey). It's a good mix and you could come up with a lot of different looks just using this palette. And they're all matte, which is really rare to find in a palette, especially one so inexpensive.
Let's look a little closer at the shadows. I opted to photograph and swatch them in fours, from left to right. (Swatches on my inner arm. I am MAC NW15 skintone for reference.)
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| Clockwise from top left: Orbit, Ink, Maple, Thunder |
Here are the first four shades swatched on my inner forearm.
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| L-R: Orbit, Thunder, Ink, Maple |
Thunder is a medium grey with a bit of a powdery texture. It's one of my favourite colours in the palette.
Ink is a deep sapphire blue that swatches much better than you'd expect looking at the pan. It's a little dusty to apply but has good pigmentation.
Maple is an orangey-red with good pigmentation and a creamier consistency. The colour reminds me of autumn leaves. This might make a bold but OK blush colour too - hmmmmm?
The middle four shades:
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| Clockwise from top left: Highness, Noir, Paper Bag, Flesh |
Here they are swatched:
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| L-R: Highness, Flesh, Noir, Paper Bag |
Flesh is a warm fleshtone shade with good pigmentation. This is one of a few neutral shades in the palette and would make a good base colour for the lids.
Noir is a green-black, which is interesting since the name suggests black or blue-black. I like this colour a lot, though the pigmentation is a bit lacking due to the powdery texture. *There is a Noir shade in the i-Divine Au Naturel palette and I suspect they're the same shade but they look slightly different. The one in the Au Naturel palette is creamier and darker than this one.
Paper Bag is a very wearable medium red-brown. It's on the creamy size, texture-wise and blended out it's more red.
Here are the last four shades in the palette:
And here they are swatched:
Dune is a light yellowy-peach flesh tone and the least pigmented of the palette. It's dry in texture which gives it the lack of pigment.
Villain is a burgundy with a good amount of pink to it. The texture is good, so the pigmentation is decent. This is a great shade
Pillow Talk is chalk white. The pigmentation is good and I used this to do my Halloween makeup this year (I did 60s makeup). A stark white matte eyeshadow like this isn't easy to find.
Fern is a bright forest green that's a bit on the chalky side so the pigmentation lacks a bit. Still, I love this shade. So vibrant!
Just like with the Sleek i-Divine Au Naturel palette, this palette was a mixed bag in terms of texture and pigmentation but all shades, I feel are workable and wearable. Because these are all matte, the bolder and brighter shades may be more intimidating to wear, but I'm very curious to see how these colours work their way into my makeup looks.
Cost-wise, and in terms of quality, this is an excellent option.
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 in shipping 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!
I was also happy that none of the products I'd ordered were damaged when they arrived.
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| Clockwise from top left: Dune, Pillow Talk, Fern, Villain |
And here they are swatched:
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| L-R: Dune, Villain, Pillow Talk, Fern |
Dune is a light yellowy-peach flesh tone and the least pigmented of the palette. It's dry in texture which gives it the lack of pigment.
Villain is a burgundy with a good amount of pink to it. The texture is good, so the pigmentation is decent. This is a great shade
Pillow Talk is chalk white. The pigmentation is good and I used this to do my Halloween makeup this year (I did 60s makeup). A stark white matte eyeshadow like this isn't easy to find.
Fern is a bright forest green that's a bit on the chalky side so the pigmentation lacks a bit. Still, I love this shade. So vibrant!
Just like with the Sleek i-Divine Au Naturel palette, this palette was a mixed bag in terms of texture and pigmentation but all shades, I feel are workable and wearable. Because these are all matte, the bolder and brighter shades may be more intimidating to wear, but I'm very curious to see how these colours work their way into my makeup looks.
Cost-wise, and in terms of quality, this is an excellent option.
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 in shipping 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!
I was also happy that none of the products I'd ordered were damaged when they arrived.
The other Sleek products reviewed on Beauty Squared:
C.
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