Scene Anime

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days, I have been such a busy bee! I had an acting job in Dorset this morning, and spent all yesterday rehearsing. I drove down with the acting team last night to stay in a hotel in preparation for the job today! It was very fun, I really enjoy acting and it is a little hobby of mine when I’m not at uni!
Anyway, on Tuesday night I went to a football match with my Dad and Sister, and I used my sleek storm palette to do my make-up for the evening, as a few of you said it would be good to see how I use the palette. This is a kind of smoky brown shimmery eye which I do the most often with these eye shadows. I will be doing more colourful looks with them soon!




These are the products I used -

• So I primed my eyes with UDPP and applyed #2 all over my eyelid as a base colour.
• I then blended #1 and #3 on my lid, up to the crease.
• Then I blended #4 in the crease of my eye, and blended it up a tad higher so you can see the colour when your eye is open, and I added #5 into the outer corner, just to open the eye up more!
• After I had blended all the eyeshadows together with my holy grail brush (The Body Shops blender brush), I lined my eyes with The Body Shops black liquid liner, and Gosh’s black velvet kohl liner.
• I used The Body Shops new mascara ‘Big and Curvy’ on my lashes (Review to come!) and finished with a slick of MAC’s Ever Hip lipstick!

The key to this look is building up the colours from light to dark, and blending, blending, blending! This eye shadow brush I just could not live without, it is a staple brush I use whenever I do my make-up and the only one (apart from a blusher brush) that I carry with me constantly.
Do you like this look? So sorry for my tried looking eyes, I think I have slight insomnia and can’t always sleep too well – that and the fact that I watched Paranormal activities a few weeks ago and haven’t been able to sleep with the light off since! Haha! Was this helpful to you? If you do something similar do show me! You can email it to me via my email address in the sidebar of this page!

This is my favourite eye shadow palette that I own, and I own a few!  I first came across this gorgeous bunch of colours, when in work one day I served a woman who had the most beautiful brown, gold smoky eyes, that I’ve ever seen before.  I was stunned by how amazing her blue eyes looked with all the shimmering gold tones, so obviously I asked her what she was wearing, and she said it was a really cheap brand in Superdrug called something like Sleek.  Straight after work I went out and picked this palette up and its been my favourite since.
I will give you some swatches of the palette, not that you probably haven't seen millions of them before!




As you can probably tell from the images, # 1, 2, 4 & 7 are my all time favourite.  All together they create a stunning shimmery brown eye.  I much prefer shimmery eye shadows to matt, not sure why, I think they just are more stunning.  2 is the perfect base colour and brow bone highlighter.  I would ADORE for Sleek to make a few of these colours in their own compacts so I could carry the ones I’m wearing around individually, instead of carrying the whole palette as I’m scared I’ll drop it and it’ll brake! 
#12 is the blackest black eye shadow I have ever come across, seriously, you need the tiniest amount to get so much black.  #10 is the one that I find drops onto my cheeks the most when applying, its the most fall-out-y, but it is a very nice dark blue shade. I haven't used #5 & #6 much as I don’t think pinks suit me, but after swatching them I’m reminded to start wearing them more as they are super shimmery and attractive.  I also like #8 & #9 to add some colour into my black smoky eyes.
One reason I love these eye shadows, is that they are SO pigmented, you only need the tiniest amount to get the most gorgeous colours.  One of my pet peeves are shadows which look gorgeous, but are only achievable with lashings and coats of the product, well, this product serves me well in the pigmentation department.  I do think that Sleek should name each eye colour individually as well, just to make it easier when talking about each colour!
For £4.99, I assure you that this is one of the most best priced, good quality eye shadows sets you could ever get your hands on!
I also have the Original palette, which I will pop swatches up off within the next few weeks!  Who else adores Sleek?  Would any one like to see any looks which I create with this palette? XX
X

This week Sleek have released a new lipstick range consisting of 20 lippies and I’m very excited to show you four of them today.  I’ll admit I have a few too many lipsticks, but I NEED these in my collection – they’re definitely up there on a par with the famous Barry M lippies!

L-R Amped (matte), Stiletto (matte), Peach & Cream (sheen), Barely There (sheen).

Amped - a vibrant, purple based pink – very bright and daring but perfect for nights out!

Stiletto - a stunning, dark, blue based red.  On my pale skin this lipstick looks incredible, but also drains any colour from my face as its such a pigmented, dark red.  I feel like a vamp when I wear this and I love it – although wouldn’t wear it every day, only on special occasions.

Peaches & Cream – As soon as I saw this I knew I’d love it and I do.  Its a gorgeous light, peach orange and I suspect this will be popular.  It is quite bright and pigmented though so I’ve been wearing this lightly dabbed on the lips.

Barely There – My ABSOLUTE favourite.  I adore this lippie, the colour is beautiful and like a pink nude with a tint of peach – I hardly look like I’m wearing anything on my lips.  Very comparable to Barry M’s #150, but a bit more moisturizing!

What I think – The colours in this new range are beautiful, very pigmented, really unique and eye catching, although some of the formula’s are quite drying (like Barry M lippies).  Barely There is definitely the most moisturizing which is probably one of the reasons it is my favourite.  Amped and Peaches & Cream do apply quite patchy and can be quite drying but this isn’t a problem as long as you apply lots of lip balm before use and take your time applying them evenly (you can even apply a clear balm or gloss on top to keep them looking soft).  These retail on Sleek’s website and in Superdrug stores for only £3.99 a lipstick – such a good price for a good quality, pigmented lippie! 

What’s your favourite high street lipstick?  Will you be trying any of the True Colour lipsticks?

xxx

This is a sneak peak post on the new Mediterranean Limited Edition range coming out from Sleek in the next few months!

 

First up – the eyeshadow palette!  When I first saw this I truly admired the beautiful colours but was unsure of how I would wear them, but after swatching them I’ve completely fallen in love with the shades and have realised they are completely wearable.  My favourite four are Midnight Garden (dark matt navy blue), Sunset (sparkly warm orange/red/brown), Lotus Flower (shimmery lilac) and Humming Bird (shimmery baby blue/teal).  A brown smokey look is achievable with this palette, as is a smokey blue look.  I can imagine using the others shadows to add a touch of colour under the bottom lashes (stunning for summer, might do a tutorial!). 

Next up is the blusher and pout polish, both bright pinks (purple/blue based).  Below I have shown a little FOTD wearing both of them – even though they look ridiculously bright you can definitely make them wearable for everyday use with just a touch of colour, like I have (please note the blusher is very pigmented though – so you literally need only a dot on your brush!).  The lip balm is actually quite sheer which I like as I can wear it over other lipsticks.  Also love the fact that the blush has a mirror in the compact!

Price list - Monaco iDivine palette - £6.49, Monte Carlo Pout Polish - £4.29 and Santorini Blush - £4.29 and it should be released pretty soon I think (sorry I don’t know the exact date – I’ll try and find out!). 

How would you wear the eye shadows in the palette?  Will you be picking anything up from the collection?

XXXX

Last Friday I was lucky enough to attend the Sleek Makeup ‘Destination S’ event in Shoreditch.  I absolutely adore Sleek and their products and so I was very excited to see what they had in store for us!   We were greeted with a bag and a cheque book, full of pages that we could tear out to enter competitions and collect prizes.  I loved the interactive side of this event, it was great to get hands on with new products!  We had our lip ‘prints’ read by a fortune telling man (apparently I’m the Chinese element of wood - energetic, outgoing, don’t like people being late etc – all so true!), we had our skin matched up to one of Sleek’s 30 new foundation shades, we had to create and mix our own ideal lipstick colour, had to try our hand at guessing ten Caribbean maps AND we had a Zumba lesson and competition!

I’ll tell you first about a few new collections coming out and then more details about what we got up to!

^ Oh So Special palette < Nude palette and Pout Polish

So we got a sneak peak of a few new i-divine eyeshadow palettes that are set to make their debut this year, my favourite two being the Nude palette and the Oh So Special palette - both filled with wearable neutrals and browns that I could easily wear every day of the week – I can’t wait to get my mitts on these!  Along with the Nude palette, a nude blush and lip polish are also going to be released, both again super pretty and wearable, I suspect they’ll be very popular!

Another two LE ranges coming out is the Caribbean and Mediterranean collections, each with a palette, blush and lip polish.  Both of the ranges have stunningly bright colours which are beautiful and perfect for the summer and adding a bit of colour to you outfits.  I absolutely love the look of the orange blush and lip pout in the Caribbean range and the orange/coral will be playing a major colour role in my spring/summer makeup.  We were given the Mediterranean collection to play with so expect a full review of the range in the next few days.

^ Sleek Mediterranean range < Sleek Caribbean range

Another product that I absolutely can’t wait to launch is the Pout Paints – these are very very similar to the OCC Lip Tars but I suspect will be more affordable.  They are basically intense pigmented lip paints that you literally need a dab of to paint the lips – and the best bit is that you can mix them to create your very own signature shade.  One of the tasks in the event was to create your own shade with the ten pout paints available, and the best colour was to win a Marc Jacobs watch, and guess what… I WON!!!!  How incredible is that! 

So above is the area where we had to mix our own individual pout shades.  I chose to mix a pink, peach and white to create the perfect creamy peach shade which I will be sporting this summer and below is my creation and my swatches!

I must say, I’m pretty damned proud of my little concoction and its made me want to design my whole own lip colour range (that really would be my dream job – to make my own makeup line and create all colours and formulas myself!).  I got feedback on why my shade won, which was the colour is on trend, an instant ‘wow’ upon opening, stunning colour and good creative mix of colour palette.

The stunning little beauty I won was the Marc Jacobs ‘Mademoiselle Rivera’ watch and its absolutely beautiful – it has red diamante lips on the clock face (very apt for the competition!) and because its white it’ll virtually go with any outfit.  I’ve always wanted a designer watch and now I finally have one! AHHH SO HAPPY!!

I had an absolutely great day with some amazing company; Hannah – Baby Blonde, Sabrina – A Little Obsessed, Shirley – Meek N’ Mild, Fei – Peonies and Lillies, Zoe – The London Lipgloss, Fleur – Fleur De Force, Gemma – Gemsmaquillage, Zara – Mouldy Fruit and many more absolute babes! 

I’ve got lots of Sleek lipstick, blush and eyeshadow swatches coming up soon so keep an eye out!

Which collection are you eyeing up?  What's your favourite Sleek product?

XX

When this palette first starting making its debut on beauty blogs I knew I had to have it!  I rushed out to Superdrug to pick it up and I’m so glad I did. 

I think that if I could create my very own smokey palette, it probably would have been identical to this!!  The colours are all ones that I would use on myself on a night out, Sleek did very well here in my opinion.

Top Row – Innocence, Gullible, Blade, Gun Metal, Underground, Noir

Bottom row – Intoxicated, Envy, Obnoxious, Abyss, Twilight, Rebel

My favourites are Blade, Gun Metal, Intoxicated and Twilight, although all are beautiful and I can see myself using them all.  Certain colours in this palette really remind me of my Kat Von D palette (which you can view here) which is also one of my favourite eye shadows sets.  I’m also delighted that they bought this out as its very similar to the Graphite palette they released a while ago, which was limited edition and I didn’t manage to get it – they shades are very similar, so I’m happy!

What I think - I like the fact that Sleek are now coming to terms with the fact that the public want the eye shadows in their palettes named, so now we can easily identify them.  All shadows are beautifully pigmented and for £5.99 the quality again is fantastic.  Sleek is fast becoming one of my favourite makeup brands, if only they would start replying to my emails – (I’ve sent them about 5, none of which have been replied to yet!).  I’m glad to say this palette is also becoming permanent, so there's lots of time for you to go out and grab yours.  I’ll do some nice dramatic smokey eye looks with them when I have a break from Uni!

Have you got this palette yet? What are your favourite colours and would you like to see some looks created with this set?

XX

I’ve been lusting after this little baby for ages, but my local Superdrug was always out of stock of it, until one day two weeks ago.  I obviously snapped it up and couldn’t wait to try it out!

I was instantly impressed with this product and its become a staple in my make-up bag.  I’ve never used a brush to draw on my liquid liner – I’ve always only used the little nib that came with liquid liners in the past.  I find the brush allows me to create looks of different types of flicks on my eyes, different sizes of lines and generally it gives me more freedom to play around and create different looks.

I’ll show you two simple ones that I’ve been doing recently with this.

Top lip-lined -

Sexy flick! -

Its so so easy to create a lovely sleek flick with the brush that's included, and I just adore painting the gel liner on, instead of just drawing it on with a nib.

There are a few things that do bug me about this product though – 1) It doesn’t last all day – it tends to smudge and rub off into the crease of my eye, even when I apply UDPP and eye primer.  2) The brush included obviously isn’t going to last long, its gotten really stiff already, meaning I can’t get all the freedom I want from it all the time.  3) The gel formula is odd, I can’t explain it, but it isn’t smooth when its on the brush – its kind of clumpy, excess product gets on the brush if you know what I mean?

For £4.50, I really can’t complain though.  The outcome of the look massively outweighs all the cons and I still adore this little gem.  I’m really glad I bought this product as it has become a favourite in my makeup bag and I would definitely recommend it to all my friends. 

And, get this – since I have been wearing this, my Dad, on two occasions now has complimented me on my ‘eyelashes’. Hahahaahah! The first time he said ‘Your eyelashes look really long and pretty today Katie, extended on the outside’!

The second conversation went like this

Dad: You’ve done that thing with your eyelashes again, haven't you Katie? It looks really nice.

Me: You mean my eyeliner, Daddy?

Dad: No, your eyelashes…

Me: DADDY! That's my eyeliner – I’ve just been doing it differently *I then close my eyes to show that it is drawn onto my top lid'* SEE!

Dad: Ohhhhhhhhhhh! It looks really good!

 

Hahahahaha Bless him!!! See, even the men have noticed the difference!

Has anyone else used this product? What do you think? Is the consistency the same for you? I’m thinking of taking a look at the other shades available in this product, I want more!!

XXXX

Does anyone fancy more Sleek swatches?!  I DO!  I bought my sister this palette on her birthday as an extra gift as she was always stealing my Storm one.  She adores this palette, so I thought you may like to see the shades in this one!

 

And the swatches -

 

Beautiful colours aren't they? They are slightly more bright and daring than the Storm palette I have, but you can definitely just add flashes of colour to any eye look with these shades.  I much prefer the shimmers in this palette (#2,3,4,5,6,10,12).  The other shades (apart from #1 which is slightly matt), are quite glittery, they have fine pieces of glitter in them, rather than just shimmer (these are numbers #7,8,9,11).  They don’t sweep onto the skin as neatly and cleanly than the shimmers (you can see the glittery bits in the close-up swatches above), but are still beautiful to look at and wear.

Again, all the shadows are very pigmented, which saves you using loads.  All these swatches is using just one or two sweeps of shadow on my finger and then transferred onto my arm.  I thoroughly recommend these palettes.  I know its such a pain that they don’t sell them in the US, I’m sorry if I’m making you green eyed with envy! Maybe I will include one in my next giveaway!

I’d love to see some looks you may have created with this palette, anyone! If you have a link, then post it in a comment below!  XX