17 Single Eye Shadow Swatches; Statuesque and Mardi Gras

I’m a huge fan of the 17 eye shadow formula. They are so smooth and pigmented. You would never in a million years guess that they cost only £3.89. Here I have to gorgeous neutrals. In the pot picture Mardi Gras (a bronzy almost but not quite taupe shade) is on the left but just to confuse matter it’s the other way round in the swatch. The other shade ( Statuesque) is a pinky red bronze. 

Both have an almost metallic finish. They glide on and blend very well. I’ve never had problems with fading or creasing but I do always use a base. The packaging is nothing special. It’s just a black plastic pot with a screw off lid. I do like the clear window so you can see the colour you’re looking for. 

With the trios you sometimes find some variation in the quality. I haven’t come across a terrible one but some are definitely better than others. I only own three of these single shadows but all three are really very lovely. 17 seems to have moved away from the tween image and has become a respectable budget brand with some really high quality products. Hats off to them, I’d happily buy more of these. 

*I bought these myself*

Sleek Sparkle Palette

Ok Sleek, you know I’m your number one fan. I’ve collected every i-Divine palette ever released so it was a fair bet that I was going to pick up this one but seriously, give me a chance to make a dent in the other new ones first! We are undergoing a little eyeshadow overload here! Anyhoo on Wednesday 24^th November Sleek released their holiday eye palette ‘Sparkle’. ‘Tis the season to be glittery and this fits the bill nicely.

The box is lovely though kind of wasted on me (I don’t keep boxes, I recycle them straight away). 

Once again Sleek have stuck to the black packaging which I do like. Ooh and they have names. I do like that they give the shadows names now however I wish they printed them on the back of the palette like everyone else does. I always chuck the little plastic insert. Clockwise from the top left we have Cranberry (sparkly pinkish red), Dream Maker (sparkly dark grey blue), Galactic (sparkly navy blue), Twinkle (even darker sparkly blue), Starlight (sparkly dark grey), Noir (Sleeks signature matte black), Illusion (sparkly inky purple), Festive (sparkly deep purple), Mistletoe (sparkly deep green), Glitz & Glamour (sparkly black), Gold Ribbon (shimmery yellow gold, more yellow than gold) and Tinsel (shimmery silver). 

The texture of the glittery shadows is firmer than shimmery ones. They are prone to fall out and staining. If you over blend them all the glitter will come away. You can solve both problems by using a sticky base though. Tinsel and Gold ribbon are so smooth that they almost feel like cream shadows. 

I feel a little let down by this palette. I wanted a more true red, and more vibrant green, a true gold. These shadows are nice but I was expecting something amazing. I think maybe I was a little grumpy at the get go because there have been so many releases lately. I don’t want to become jaded about these palettes in the same way we have become about MAC releases. We want quality over quantity  folks! X (oh this is £5.99 by the way from Superdrug or the Sleek website, it's ltd edition too so move fast if you want one!) 

*I bought this myself*

A couple of MAC staples: Satin Taupe and Club

There are some MAC shadows that are constantly popping up in peoples favourites lists or ‘staple’ shades. These two certainly fall into that category. I know you’ve seen these a thousand times but I have them now and I’m swatching them so there :p

 

Satin Taupe is what it says on the tin. It leans quite brown though on the taupe spectrum (though I have heard some people say it pulls purplish on them, I personally don’t see that). It’s shimmery but not overly frosty, I like to use it in my crease with Bourois Brun Nylon on the lid. 

Club is a deep reddish brown which flashes blue/green. It’s a subdued version of Blue Brown pigment. I like them both but for different things. If you’re after a really strong duo chrome effect go for the pigment, if you want something a bit more subtle go for Club. 

Are they worth the hype? I think so. I get a lot of use out of both of them. Satin Taupe is a basic neutral and Club is an interesting twist on the theme. I’m done now, an original post will pop up soon I promise... x

*I bought these. Please someone stop me buying eyeshadows?*

NYX Swatches: Single eyeshadows and Strawberry Milk Jumbo Eye Pencils

You may have spotted these shadows in my MAC Franken Palette. I actually picked these up in the UK at the same outlet shop I got my Angel blush in. From memory they cost about £4 which is more than they do in the US but I suppose I didn’t have to pay shipping. Here we have White Frost (er it’s white and frosty shock horror, Flamingo (shimmery peach which makes quite a nice blush actually) and Tropical (dirty pinkish beige).

All three are soft, pigmented and very easy to work with. These are swatched without a base. I use all my shadows with a primer and I’ve never suffered any fading or creasing. The quality of NYX shadows always impresses me. I need more I tell you! (Left to right White Frost, Flamingo, Tropical)

Just for kicks I’ll throw in a swatch of Strawberry Milk. I can’t for the life of me remember what this cost. The Jumbo Eye pencils make fantastic bases. I personally love using this under Barry M Pink/ Gold dazzle dust. It grabs the loose eyeshadow and sticks it to your lid like glue. The shimmery pink really intensifies any pink shadows you use over it and the creamy formula doesn’t tug on my lid. Love it! Just use a primer under them and a thin layer to prevent creasing.

*I bought all the above products with my own pennies*

MAC A Tartan Tale Smoky Thrillseekers Pigment Set

Two quick things before I begin. Firstly speaking as a Scot the Tartan Tale collection was a disappointment. It was all a bit tourist shop tacky to me. Nonetheless the holiday pigment sets represent such good value for money I picked one up anyway. Secondly hats off to MAC’s customer service girls! I ordered this online and was quite upset when it arrived in the post with red glitter everywhere and shards of glass everywhere too. One of the pigments was destroyed during transit and pretty much destroyed everything else too. I rang customer services and they could not have been more helpful or apologetic. Within a week my replacement set was here. My point is that s**t happens and parcels will sometimes get ruined in the post. It’s how customer services deal with this that makes the difference between a disappointed customer and a really pleased customer. So thanks MAC!

Anyway in these sets you get four mini pigments and a mini reflects/ glitter. It costs £27.50 for 5 vials. They are smaller than normal pigments but I believe gram for gram you get a bit more for your money and It’s almost unheard of for someone to finish a full sized jar. In this set you have Jigs & Jive, Naked, Blue Brown, Dark Soul and Reflects Blackened Red Glitter. I know Blue Brown is permanent and I’m sure Naked is too. Jigs and Jives is definitely exclusive to the set though. Here they are swatched on bare skin. From top to bottom is Blue Brown, Naked, Reflects Blackened Red, Jigs and Jives and Dark Soul. 

Look at the gorgeousness of Blue Brown. It’s a warm red brown in some lights and a greenish teal in others. Like Club on performance enhancing drugs. Dark Soul is a lovely charcoal with silver flecks, Jigs and Jives is a lovely neutral taupe and naked is a pale cream highlight shade. I’ve been playing with them for a few days now and they go on smoothly and don’t fade or crease on me. Would I pay £15 for a full sized pigment? Maybe not. But if any of next year’s sets appeal to me colour wise I’ll definitely snap them up x

*I bought this myself*

Sleek Good Girl EOTD

A lot of people are nervous about pink eyeshadow. It can accentuate any redness in your eyes and like every other colour it won’t suit everyone. Personally I like it. I think it contrasts well with my dark eyes and hair. Here is a quick EOTD that I threw on before popping out to the shops last Saturday.

Clock wise from top left: Lychee, Meringue, Candy Floss, Lollipop, Pink Punch, Cupcake, Morello, Rasberry Coulis, Papaya, Peach Melba, Pink Grapefruit, Strawberry Sorbet

Wow... you can really see what a tiny lid space I have here. I’m quite grateful for my hooded eyes to be honest as I find it means I can wear mad colours without it looking too much. It can be difficult to avoid over applying though as I just don’t look good when I apply colour above my crease. Any way this is:

Lychee inner corner highlight

Meringue inner half of lid

Pink Grapefruit outer half of lid

Morello tiny amount on in outer corner

ELF Cream eyeliner in Black

Benefit Bad Gal liner water line (this is rubbish by the way...)

I cannot for the life of me remember what pink I used under the lower lash line!

Before you say the pink made my eyes look bloodshot it really didn’t. They were that red before hand... morning after the night before and all that xx

Barry M Dazzle Dust Swatches

Sometimes I find myself thinking ‘I really should do a swap with someone in the US. They have so much cool stuff!’ Should I ever get round to such a swap I know I’d definitely be including some iconic UK drugstore products like a Sleek palette and of course one of the fantabulous dazzle dusts. I’ve raved about these before but for some reason never got round to swatching these three. These are all swatched on bare skin!

First we have pink/ gold (3). It’s a soft, pale pink which flashes gold. If I’m feeling a bit girly/ lazy I wear this on its own. It has enough dimension to look interesting all by itself. It’s sooooo pretty. 

Old Gold (24)  is a muted gold with a slight green tinge. It’s quite festive really but not quite as blatantly festive as this...

Khaki (14) green? Seems more like a true green to me. It’s gorgeous, metallic and makes a fantastic eyeliner. 

Like all dazzle dusts a sticky primer is needed to reduce fall out. Old Gold it a touch chunky but all three are insanely pigmented and last forever. Yes maybe it is a bit early to start thinking about festive makeup looks but the Christmas party invites have started appearing and I like to plan ahead :p 

*I bought these myself*

Naughty and Nice!

Ah Sleek. Any thought of a makeup no buy disappears as soon as one of your magic i-Divine palettes pops up. And like the cruel tempters you are you decided to release not one but two brand-spanking-new ones on the same day (yesterday actually). For those of you who don’t know Sleek is a UK drugstore brand who’s crowning glory (in an overall fantastic range) are the i-Divine eyeshadow palettes. They contain 12 shades each and cost £5.99 at the moment. Now don’t panic and think you need to run out and buy both of these right this second. Only the ‘Good Girl’ palette is limited edition. The ‘Bad Girl’ palette is apparently part of the permanent line now. Both come in rather snazzy cardboard packaging but the palette itself has been reverted to the black plastic we used to get before Bohemian and Circus. Personally I prefer the black, it’s easier to keep clean. Here they are:

Good Girl is, unsurprisingly, the gorgeous selection of pinks and corals. I always kicked myself for not getting the Coral Crepe paint pot by MAC. It would have made a great base for some of these shades. All of these have the trade mark Sleek high pigmentation and almost cream like texture. You have two brilliant highlight shades and a bunch of vibrant shades which for the first time in my knowledge have actual names! (Clock wise from top left: Lychee, Meringue, Candy Floss, Lollipop, Pink Punch, Cupcake, Morello, Rasberry Coulis, Papaya, Peach Melba, Pink Grapefruit, Strawberry Sorbet) The only thing missing in my opinion is a really deep crease shade though Morello is pretty dark. Pink isn’t everyone’s cup of tea though and there is an edgier alternative...

Bad Girl is somewhat reminiscent of the Storm palette (permanent) and the Graphite palette (ltd edition and highly sought after). It’s full of darker, moodier colours. Once again you cannot fault the pigmentation. All of these are swatched without a base. I would recommend you use one though. Not because they need extra staying power, they don’t, but because a couple of shades stained my arm whilst swatching! Not badly mind but they took a fair bit of effort to remove. Clockwise from the left we have: Innocence, Gullible, Blade, Gun Metal, Underground, Noir, Rebel, Twilight, Abyss, Obnoxious, Envy, Intoxicated. 

As usual the Sleek palettes represent phenomenal value for money and the i-Divine releases get me more excited than any MAC collection manages to. Yeah, I’m gushing. I really do love these that much! If you haven’t seen already I have done two round up posts of all the previous permanent and limited edition palettes so do check them out X

*I bought these myself*