Monday, July 14, 2014

Beauty Review: Sleek iDivine Eyeshadow Palettes

I have had these for a while and I have been meaning to review them since I got the first two that I tried out. I now have 8 Sleek iDivine palettes so I guess it's pretty obvious that I really like these and that I might have a bit of an idea on how to review them by now. The majority of my eyeshadows are Sleek iDivine Palettes now so I don't have a whole lot to compare them to, but lets see how we go...

DETAILS:
 I paid US$11.99 plus whatever postage is from UK to Australia when I purchased these from the Sleek Website. Obviously this is one of those sites that you buy a fair bit from at once if you want to make the postage worthwhile. These can also be purchased from Crush Cosmetics or Lipstick Republic which both sell this product at a dearer price, but have a different shipping price. I have heard things about shipping issues to the USA, but the site does allow you to choose US currency so if you live in the USA or somewhere else and aren't sure maybe check the FAQs.

PACKAGING:
As you can see in the first picture these palettes come in a black matte plastic packaging. I didn't clean the packaging for the picture because I want you to see how dirty it gets. this packaging is like a magnet for any loose powders in your make-up bag. These palettes are not overly huge, bigger than my phone and it would probably be a bit of a squeeze to fit in a clutch bag, but I don't feel like it's really huge and because it's so thin I can easily store all 8 of them vertically in my make-up organiser.

The lids clip shut so well that it can be difficult to open the palette at times. I don't know if this is a contributing factor to one of the lids having broken off or if I am just to rough with my make-up. Maybe they aren't built to be stored vertically? This has only happened to one lid so far though and it is the palette I have been absolutely flogging since I got it. For me I don't think this will be a major issue unless I want to go travelling and in that case I think a rubber band will hold the lid on just fine, or I could buy one of those z palettes and take the individual shadows out and take that, but the truth is I have another palette I would take travelling, because it has blush, lip colour and everything. Maybe sleek should think about using magnets or a different hinge or something so the palettes are a little stronger and easier to open...

I have the same issue with these that I have with the Limecrime lipsticks. They are all black, so I have to sift through them to find the one I want, which is annoying. These come in beautiful cardboard packets that are all in the bin by now. I think I would have preferred that they saved on the cardboard and printing costs and spent more on the plastic packaging. Some of the limited edition palettes have the palette names included on the front, but most of the palettes only have the name on the back. Shadow names are written on a clear slip of plastic that sits over the eyeshadows. This slip was always falling out and so I ended up binning most of them. There are no colour names written on the back of the palette or on the inside. I would have preferred that Sleek Cosmetics spent less on the clear slip and included colour names either directly under the colour or on the back of the palette. 

The packaging also includes a space for the brush and a double ended sponge-tip eyeshadow applicator. 

^Here are the first two palettes I purchased. The 'Showstoppers limited edition' is on the left and the 'Oh So Special' palette is on the right. I got these two around this time last year and the 'Oh So Special' palette is my absolute favourite. Realistically this palette has everything you need for a day to day basis. The caramel colour and the dark brown are great for wearing in the crease.

FALL-OUT?
Like most eyeshadows, you can get a little fall-out with this during application, usually just on the eyelashes. I don't have any issues with fall-out during the day though unless I use a dodgy primer or I have packed on too much of one of the shimmery shades (Happens to the best of us). Most of the time I can put this on in the morning and have it last ten hours or more without eyeshadow falling onto my eyelashes or under eye area.

PRIMER?
I wear a primer under this. I get oily eyelids so I kind of have to. I find that primer is also essential for preventing fall-out and to make the colour last. 

^The palette on the left is the 'Vintage Romance' palette and the palette on the right is called the 'Garden of Eden' palette. I like the shimmery shades in these palettes and the chocolate-y browns in the 'Garden of Eden' palette.

PIGMENTATION:
The sleek eyeshadows are more pigmented than Covergirl and Maybelline ones that I have tried. Most of the dark colours, shimmery colours and neon colours are really pigmented. Some of the pastels and lighter colours can be a little bit sheer though. I usually have no problem getting the pastel colours to look more pigmented by building the colour or by using a cream eyeshadow as a base. I actually like that the lighter colours are sheer because it's helpful for when I am blending. One of the colours (yes out of eight palettes there only seems to be one) looks different in the palette to what it looks on my skin. That colour is the dark shimmery plum colour from the 'Vintage Romance' palette. It looks a lot sheerer and more brown when swatched.

FEEL:
These feel very velvety and don't irritate my sensitive skin at all. They feel very light on my skin and the more glittery shades don't feel scratchy like some glittery colours can feel. 

^On the left we have the 'Del Mar' palette and on the right we have the 'Celestial' palette. These palettes have a lot of brighter shades. The 'Del Mar' palette has a very sixties/seventies feel to me and the 'Celestial' palette has a lot of darker, more challenging shades 

BLENDING:
I find that some of the darker colours are so pigmented that they can be a bit tricky to blend. I find that having decent eyeshadow brushes is really important with these colours and I recommend only using a little bit of colour at a time. 

LASTING COLOUR?
These eyeshadows do last a really long time, especially when worn over a primer and cream eyeshadow. I have noticed though, that the colours can look a little more grey or brown depending on whether the colours are cool or warm toned. 

^On the left is the 'Lagoon' palette and on the right we have the 'i-Candy' palette. These both have a lot of fun colours and shimmers to play around with. 

MY FAVOURITE PALETTES:
While I can't deny that all of the i-Divine palettes I have purchased are beautiful, they aren't all practical. My favourite palette is the 'Oh So Special' palette. I also really like the 'Garden of Eden' eyeshadows because the middle-toned browns and purple-toned browns are stunning. My third favourite is the 'Del Mar' palette because even though the shadows are not the most "practical" colours they are very easy to wear.

VALUE FOR MONEY:
When you consider that most eye-shadow quads these days will set you back about $15, a sleek eyeshadow palette with 12 different colours for US$11.99 (plus shipping) is a great deal. I think the quality is fairly decent for the price and it beats other drugstore eyeshadows I have tried. I originally came across these when looking for an eyeshadow palette that wasn't going to cost me $30 (or more) for a decent number of shadows. While the packaging isn't great I think the qty of product and the quality of product is great. I think these shadows are great for anyone on a budget or for anyone who wants to play around with brighter/darker shadows, but doesn't want to pay a fortune for them.
^Some of the limited edition palettes have the palette names written on the front like this.

^ What the back looks like

^The annoying plastic sheet.

^I couldn't swatch all of the colours because that would take forever, so instead I just swatched my favourites. 

OVERALL, I really like these palettes. I guess that's kind of obvious because I have eight of them. I think that apart from the packaging, the quality is really good. I couldn't compare it to a high-end eyeshadow, because I don't own anything more expensive than this. I do have other eyeshadows though and I always prefer to use these.

I hope this was helpful. I didn't take any pictures of what these look like on, so if you would like to see some different eye looks or tutorials with any of these palettes let me know and I will see what I can do.

Your Favourite Blogger,
Natalie

3 comments:

Witchcrafted Life said...

Lovely review post, dear gal. They seem like really good value for money and I rather like how most of the colours strike me as being highly wearable. Sometimes it seems with palettes that you get one to three good, everyday sorts of hues and several that, at best, might be handy come Halloween or a wild New Year's party. ;)

Big hugs & many, many thanks for all of your fabulous recent blog comments!

♥ Jessica

Unknown said...

I've been seeing these palettes around quite a bit in the beauty world, but haven't decided to pick one or two up just yet. I always have a hard time deciding if I should get neutrals or bright colors. But I have a lot of neutral stuff, and the color I don't have the guts to wear out in public...so just like Jessica said, it would probably be the best for Halloween (in my case anyways).

Awesome review! Love that your should the swatches!

Lisa
www.turningpages94.blogspot.com

Natalie_vintage_girl said...

That is so true Jessica! This is how I found these palettes, because I was searching for something I could wear on an everyday basis. I also like that there are some more glittery shades to play around with.

Hi lisa, the great thing about these palettes is that there is such a huge range to choose from. If you like greens, then I think you would like the 'Garden of Eden' palette. The browns are slightly darker than "neutrals" too, so that can be fun. I also highly recommend either the 'Oh So special' palette (which has neutrals as well as some fun pink colours) or the 'Del Mar' palette which has a lot of toned down colour, perfect for starting out with colour. The 'storm' palette on the website looks really nice too.