Sleek Makeup Carribean Collection Aruba Blush: Swatch and FOTD

One of the key trends this summer has been that of orange and coral face colours. Of course, Sleek Makeup has come out with just the thing to indulge your craving for an on-trend cheek colour without breaking the bank! The Aruba Blush, part of Sleek Makeup's Carribean Collection, is the perfect shade of trendy summery orange going on right now. Just look at all that pigment!



I don't know about you, but I was a bit surprised when I first opened this. I mean, Aruba is perhaps as neon as a blush probably can get! This is easily the loudest, brightest, boldest blush colour I've seen - it would seriously put even the famed NARS shades to shame! Come to think of it, Aruba does kind of remind me of NARS Taj Mahal, although I'm not sure if they are dupes or not. But for a fraction of the exorbitant NARS price, Sleek Makeup's Aruba Blush is definitely in the same colour category, being also a bright orange-based blush.



I know I've said this before, but I love the design on the Sleek Carribean Collection. Just look at the cute little illustrations of a boat and a palm tree. Feels like summer, doesn't it? Other than the cute design, the packaging is pretty much the same as the other Sleek Makeup blushes, consisting of a sturdy plastic case and a small mirror in the lid.



As you can see from the photo above, the colour in the pan looks really scary - I thought it would be too dark or bright or just too neon for me! So I gingerly swatched it:



There, not so bad, right? The blush can be intense, but once blended out it can leave a sheer wash of colour. I'm thinking for warm-toned girls, this colour would look really pretty on. On cooler-toned girls, the orange hue can look a little weird, since the shade clearly leans warm, but if blended out, can still be wearable. After all, orange is one of the hot shades this summer.

Finally, I worked up the courage to actually try it out on my face:



There, it wasn't half as bad as I thought! When sheered out, it can definitely be used on paler girls as well. I think good application and blending is key - you definitely want to use only a little bit at a time, and blend it well. Given how little I used, I think this blush is going to last me forever, making it really great value for money.

If you're looking for a trendsetting colour, and want something cheap, or just want a more affordable version of NARS Taj Mahal, this is definitely worth checking out. If good-quality pigmented blushes are your thing (and they're definitely mine), the entire Sleek Makeup range of blushes in general would definitely be your cup of tea too.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Sleek Curacao Multicolour Sunset/Bird of Paradise Eye Look

The more I play around with my awesome new Sleek Curacao Palette, the more I think its bright shades are starting to grow on me. Although I didn't think I would reach for this palette, I'm starting to really love the wide variety of looks and effects its rainbow of brights can produce. Just look at today's eye look! Is that hot or what? I've actually done a previous sunset inspired eye look, but I think this look just blows it out of the water!



Jamilla Camel actually commented that this look reminded her of the Bird of Paradise plant, and you know what - I think she's right! So here's a photo of the Bird of Paradise plant, just so you know what I mean. Don't you think it sort of looks like the plant, with the same mix of colours? I've even gone back to change the blog post title, just because I love the comparison so much!

Image from thaifoodandtravel.com

Surprisingly, I didn't actually have to use 99 shades to get such a vibrant effect, which is really impressive. I did use four colours from the Sleek Makeup Curacao Palette, though. The colour names used are Tequila Sunset, the shimmery rust orange, Martini, the pale light beige, Green Martini, the deep shimmery olive geen, and Singapore Sling, the bright hot pink!



I know the colours don't look all that blended in the phoot, but I promise they look better in real life! Singapore Sling was used on the inner corner of my eyelid, while Tequila Sunset was used on the lid (mostly in the middle). Green Martini was used in the contour area, and Martini was used as a highlight. The shot below shows my closed eye, so that you can get a better sense of colour placement.



For this look, I actually didn't have much problem blending the eyeshadows. I was actually a little surprised by how blendable they were. I was half-expecting to end up with all these big blocks of colour on my eyes given that I was cramming so many colours onto my puny little eye space, but the end result turned out better than I expected!



Don't you love how vibrant the colours look? This is definitely one of my favourite looks using the Curacao Palette, and perhaps the look that demonstrates just how awesome the palette is. I am totally thrilled with this look, and I don't think I can say much more about it - it's just so absolutely, steaming, flaming hot! With all the connotations of sunset and greenery (hey, there is some olive green in the eye look after all), I feel that this eye look really brings out that feeling of a summer sizzle!

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Aqua and Purple Eye look with Sleek Curacao Palette!

I'm so excited about this eye look, because I think for possibly the first time ever in my life, I'm wearing aqua eye shadow! I'm normally a colour-shy, neutrals-only kind of girl, but thanks to Sleek Makeup's Curacao Palette, I now have a whole rainbow of brights to play around with!



The photo below shows the shades that I used for this eye look. I decided to use Blue Hawaiian, that awesome blue-green aqua shade I was raving about when I swatched the Curacao Palette, and I paired it up with my favourite colour ever - purple! Purple Haze is the shade name.



The photo below shows the closed eye so you can get a better sense of colour placement. Blue Hawaiian, the light (but bright!) aqua shade was placed on the lid, and Purple Haze was used in the contour area and the outer corner of the eye. Martini, the light beige in the palette, was used as a highlight colour.



I love how the colours blended so nicely. I especially love that although I used just two colours for the lid and contour area, the look somehow looks more complex than that - it kinda looks like I used more than two colours, doesn't it?



I'm not normally a brights kind of girl, but I definitely appreciate having such beautiful shades to play around with! I love how this looks cool yet intense at the same time - something about the combination of light, floaty aqua with a deep smokey purple, and is still summery while having some oomph. I definitely can't wait to try out more looks with this palette, and see what other combinations I can come up with!

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Sleek - Storm Palette

This Storm Palette is definetely for me a night palette, most shades are so shimmery but gorgeous.

All the shades are so pigmented even without primer, I took pictures with and without primer and the difference is almost not visible.  

I love this palette, and I am so happy that I finally got it.

===

Esta paleta da Sleek, a Storm para mim vai ser uma paleta que vou usar mais para criar looks para a noite ou mais dramaticos, a maioria das sombras tem bastante shimmer, mas são lindas.

Todas as sombras desta paleta são bastante pigmentadas mesmo sem o primer, eu tirei fotos com e sem primer e a diferenca não é quase nenhuma.

Adoro esta paleta, e finalmente decidi compra-la, não me desiludiu.

Picture with Flash

Picture in Natural Ligh

Natural light without primer

Natural Light with primer

Picture at Natural Light without primer

Picture at Natural Light with primer

Picture at Natural Light without primer

Picture at Natural Ligh with primer

Picture at Natural Ligh without primer

Picture at Natural Light with primer

Sleek Makeup Curacao Palette Swatches

The hottest, brightest, boldest palette of summer is here! And it's mine! All mine! Sleek Makeup's Curacao is officially the loudest, brashest set of colour you can wear on your eyes. Just look at all that brightly coloured goodness!



The Curacao Palette is part of the Carribean Collection, out for this Summer. It's supposed to be full of bright, happy, confident colours - like a Carribean holiday! I've never been to the Carribean, but hey, now I can pretend that I'm on a holiday just by looking at the tropical-looking box!



Box aside, I'm so glad to see that Sleek Makeup has nammed all the colours in the palette - previously their palettes didn't have colour names, so I think this is pretty cool. Coming from Singapore, I especially love that there's a hot magenta pink colour called Singapre Sling - I know it's named after the cocktail, and not the country, but hey, it's still cool, right?



1st Row, L-R: Tequila Sunrise (warm russet orange, shimmer), Martini (shimmery light neutral beige), Blue Hawaiian (a pale but bright blue-green aqua), Bloody Mary (matte primary red), Screwdriver (bright matte crayon yellow), Green Iguana (shimmery deep forest green)

2nd Row, L-R: Apres Midori (shimmmery yellow grass green), Blue Lagoon (matte light aqua blue), Purple Haze (deep matte grape), Green Martini (shimmery deep olive green), Singapore Sling (shimmery hot pink), Espresso Martini (matte black)

My favourite shades out of the palette are Blue Hawaiian - it reminds me of China Glaze's For Audrey, but in eyeshadow form! I think if I ever did my China Glaze For Audrey manicure again, I can totally wear Blue Hawaiian to go with it! I also love Green Martini, because it's the perfect deep shimmery olive green with a great deal of complexity.

And here's a shot of the colours without the plastic sheet over it. Aren't the colours gorgeous?



And of course, what kind of blogger would I be if I didn't offer you swatches, so here you go! Swatches of the Curacao Palette!



As you can see, the palette has pretty good pigmentation and texture, much like the other Sleek Makeup palettes. However, I did feel like the shimmer shades were softer and a bit more pigmented than the matters, like other Sleek palettes I've tried. If you've liked the previous palettes produced by Sleek Makeup, you'll definitely love the Curacao Palette as well, as the formula hasn't changed - this is pretty much the same thing, but with a zing and a zest in the bright shades!

Over the next few days, I'll be producing a few eye looks with the Curacao Palette, so do keep a watch out for those - I'm pretty excited about the wide variety of looks this little baby can produce, and I can't wait to share them with you!

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Canmake Shimmer Jelly Eyes Cream Eyeshadow Swatches

Canmake, the Japanese drugstore cosmetics brand, typically produces ranges of products aimed squarely at the Asian market - with tons of shimmer, frost, and cutesy packaging, the brand does not deviate much from the typical formulas used to appeal to Asian consumers.

With Canmake's range of cream eyeshadows, the Shimmer Jelly Eyes Cream Eyeshadows, these are slightly different. The Shimmer Jelly Eyes, as the name suggests, are full of shimmer, but most colours don't have many visible specks of glitter, just frosty shimmer.

Image from http://bobodave.com

Here are swatches of the products. Look ma, almost no huge bits of glitter, just tiny ones! The frost is still there though, as is the somewhat weaker pigmentation I tend to find in Asian brands.



01 White Frosty is a sheer white frost
02 Sugar Milk Tea is a light tan brown, also frosty and sheer
03 Strawberry Parfaiit is a sheer, shimmery, pastel pink
04 Frozen Melon is blue-based pastel green. Doesn't look like the colour of a melon at all, but a very pretty aqua blue-green.
05 Caramel Chocolate was a rich, deep, chocolate brown. This is the least glittery of the lot.

My favourite out of the lot is 05 Caramel Chocolate, because it has the best pigmentation, and the least amount of grittery glitter. Most of the shades are sheer, and have tiny specks of glitter, especially the lighter colours. I really liked that the shadows started off with a fluid finish, but dried fast. After leaving them to set for 5 - 10 minutes, I found that the colours stayed on and did not remove easily. But if rubbed hard, these could be removed, so if you have a habit of rubbing your eyes, this isn't a great choice for you. However, if you don't rub your eyes, chances are this would last pretty decently on you.

Benefit Cha Cha Tint: Review, Swatch, FOTD

I can't tell you how excited I am to share this post with you - Benefit has done it again! The brand that is most famous for Benetint and Posietint has now come out with another kickass product - and this time it's none other than their new release, Cha Cha Tint!

Cha Cha Tint couldn't have arrived at a more opportune time - Benefit describes this as a "juicy mango" colour, but to me this is a coral with a hint of pink - perfect for summer!



Cha Cha Tint comes in a similar packaging to Benetint and Posietint. It comes in the same box with a feminine, cheeky vibe, and also comes in the same bottle with a brush that looks like a nail polish brush.



I've found that you do need to be careful with application for this, due to the packaging. There's always the risk of spillage, and the brush can be a little hard to work with. Still, the gorgeous stain is so worth it!



When I first saw the tint, I was scared of the neon coral colour of the tint. However, once it's blended, it actually sheers out to a very wearable coral, as you can see from the swatch below. I'm starting to think this might just be my favourite coral blush of the sesason!



Cha Cha Tint, like the rest of Benefit's tints, is meant to be used on the lips as well as the cheeks. So here's a swatch of Cha Cha Tint on my lips. I love how it looks - it really adds a gorgeous coral hue to my lips.



And because I love Cha Cha Tint so much, here's an FOTD featuring the tint! I'm wearing Cha Cha Tint on my lips and cheeks. As you can see, it really adds a very pretty coral tint to the lips, and despite the neon-ness of the colour in the bottle, it's actually very wearable.



Lasting power of the tint was excellent on the cheeks. At the end of the day, there was still colour left on my cheeks. However on the lips, the stain tended to fade when I ate or drank. However, as long as I didn't have to eat, the stain seemed to last.

I'm absolutely loving Cha Cha Tint right now, and if you're looking for a gorgeous coral tint, this is absolutely for you! Perhaps the only drawback to using such a tint is that your fingers get tinted coral as well, after you've blended it on your lips and cheeks!

Benefit Coralista v Bella Bamba: Comparison Swatches

Ever since I featured Bella Bamba on my blog, I've been meaning to swatch it next to Coralista, just to show the difference between the two. So finally, after much ado, here are comparison swatches!



Bella Bamba was released early this year, and Coralista was released quite a while back - possibly a year or more ago. Benefit seems to have cut down on the amount of product product they give in the blushes though. Coralista gives you 12g/0.42oz of product, Bella Bamba gives you 8g/0.28oz of product. That's like, cutting down the amount of stuff inside by a third!



Bella Bamba and Coralista look pretty different in the pan. Coralista is a lot more, well, coral with a side of pink, while Bella Bamba is pink but with just the slightest hint of warmth. Both of them have similar shimmer - small particles of shimmer that aren't too much or unwearable. I guess there isn't really a need to swatch them to show how different they are, but well, here are swatches anyway.



L - R: Coralista, Bella Bamba

Although Coralista looks like it would be brighter in the pan, Bella Bamba is actually the brighter, more pigmented colour on. It's a gorgeous warm pink that is beautiful, whereas Coralista is a bit more muted. I have and love both, and I think that both are pretty universally flattering on most skintones. If you had to choose just one, it probably boils down to whether you want a coral or a pink blush.

(Only Bella Bamba was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Dupe Search: Taupe Eyeshadow Comparison Swatches!

Woohoo! Don't you love it when I ransack my stash and do comparison swatches? What's more, these are swatches of taupes, glorious taupes! Now to be fair, these are just some of my taupes, definitely not all of them. It started when I reviewed the new Edward Bess eyeshadow single in Storm, and I thought - don't I already have these colours? So I looked through my stash, and dug out the colours that I thought would be most similar to Storm. So in other words, what you're looking at is just those of my taupe eyeshadows that I thought might have some semblance to Storm.



Here are the shades we're comparing today, in order:

1: NARS Belissima II (darker shade)
2: L'Orea HIP Electrified I (lighter shade)
3: MEMEME Beautifully You Eyeshadow Cafe 7
4: First Light Cosmetics Storm Grey
5: Bourjois Stretch Eyeshadow Brun Nylon 09
6: GOSH Glamorous Eyeshadow Grey Brown 7
7: Edward Bess Storm 07
8: Stila Cloud

Isn't it funny how many taupe eyeshadows that are numbered are given the number 7? And on another note, gosh, it's embarrassing how many taupe eyeshadows I've bought over the years of being a makeup fanatic. Anyway, here are swatches of all of them, in that order, with my thoughts on each of them below. By the way, the eyesahdow labelled L'Oreal Sassy is wrong. The duo is actually Electrified:



NARS Belissima II (darker shade) is the only true matte in the bunch, as the rest all have some sort of shimmer. This is a cool-toned grey-brown with hints of purple. Texture is decent, pigmentation is sheer but buildable.

L'Orea HIP Electrified I (lighter shade) is absolutely rockin'! Don't be fooled by the cheap plastic packaging or the drugstore brand - this is awesome taupe goodness. As you can see, it just stands out among my swatches. Its texture and pigmentation are also excellent, and it has a frosty finish that, depending on your preference, can be a good or a bad thing. I've actually reviewed the Electrified duo before and have even previously compared Electrified to a much more expensive Bobbi Brown Heather Mauve eyeshadow.

MEMEME Beautifully You Eyeshadow Cafe 7 is also another cheapy-but-goody. This is cheap, but good, and I really need to get around to reviewing this sometime. It's a brown-based taupe, and thus would be very wearable for warm-toned girls who find a lot of taupes pull purple or greyish on them. It also has slight shimmer, that for some reason isn't showing up in the photo.

First Light Cosmetics Storm Grey is another underrated gorgeous colour. Like Edward Bess's Storm and MEMEME's Cafe, it's a light brown-based taupe, only that it has more shimmer than either. Pigmentation and texture are also pretty good. An EOTD (Eye of the Day) with Storm Grey is available if you'd like to see more of this pretty little thing.

Bourjois Stretch Eyeshadow Brun Nylon 09 is not as similar to Edward Bess's Storm as I initially thought it would be. For one, it's less brown-beige-y and slightly more purple and grey on. They did look quite similar in the pan, however. Texture is good, and pigmentation is sheer but buildable. I've previously swatched Bourjois Brun Nylon before, and also once did an FOTD with it. My, that FOTD was just a year and a half ago, but I think I actually looked visibly younger then. And my photography skills back then sucked.

GOSH Glamorous Eyeshadow Grey Brown 7 is one of those I keep meaning to review, but never get around to it. No fault of the shadow, though. This one has the texture of baked eyeshadows (it comes in a round, hard dome), and pigmentation is sheer but buildable. It leans more grey than most of the other taupes featured here, and also has some sparkles in the eyeshadow.

Edward Bess Ultra Luminous Eyeshadow Storm 7 is a brown-based taupe. Honestly, compared to the rest of the taupes on my arm, it looks a little blah. But since it leans brown, it's less likely to pull purple or grey on warm-toned girls. Pigmentation was sheer, and not the best, but still buildable. Texture was also decent. I'm not going to say too much about this since I just reviewed it in the last post.

Stila Cloud is a taupe that pulls purple and grey, and has a frosty finish that makes it look silver, like how the L'Oreal Electrified taupe looks silver due to the frost finish. I actually should feature this sometime, I have had this eyeshadow since I first became a makeup junkie years ago and it's still with me...Brings back all the nostalgic times when Stila eyeshadows came in little paper pots, and when collecting Stila eyeshadows was the "in" thing of the day. Anyway, this one is cooler-toned that some of the other taupes, and is more purply-grey than some of the other more brown-based ones. It also has frosty shimmer, which some may like and some may not.

So here you go, eight of my lighter-coloured taupes! As a taupe junkie, I love all of these shades and I think they are all different enough to own all, although I'm sure not everyone would agree with me. They're almost like my babies! I hope this post was useful for some of you who wanted a comparison between some taupe eyeshadows.

Edward Bess Storm Eyeshadow: Taupe of the Day EOTD!

*Rings alarm bells* TAUPE ALERT, EVERYONE! TAUPE ALERT! And it's a brand spankin' shiny new taupe to boot! Edward Bess has just released two new shades to his Ultra Luminous Eyeshadow range (just so you know, I've swatched the Edward Bess eyeshadows before), and one of them is a taupe! *Starts hyperventilating* As a taupe lover through and through, you can't imagine how excited I was. I was positively, eagerly, holding my breath for this to come in the mail.

So here it is. Behold, everyone, the newest taupe to my already burgeoning taupe eyeshadow collection. Edward Bess Storm.



Although the colour name is Storm, Edward Bess's rendering of this colour isn't exactly stormy (lame pun, I know). In fact, it's positively tame. The colour is neutral, and light - in fact, it's exactly the kind of eyeshadow colour you could wear to any office.

The eyeshadow packaging puzzled me a bit. I hadn't realized that Edward Bess had changed the packaging for his Ultra Luminous Eyeshadows, but unlike the other previous eyeshadows I swatched, Storm didn't have the brand name imprinted on the eyeshadow surface. And the eyeshadow pan was round, not square. And the material of the casing seemed different. Still, the packaging retained the chic black exterior, and comes in an expensive-looking box, and a luxe looking velvet pouch.



The eyeshadow itself seemed surprisingly light in terms of pigmentation. Granted, this is a lighter colour, not so much a taupe like MAC's Satin Taupe, but more like Bourjois's Brun Nylon. In other words, a light, beige-ish kind of taupe. I found this lack of pigmentation a little bit disappointing, because previously when I swatched Edward Bess's Luminious Eyeshadow range, I found the colours to be very pigmented. Perhaps these shades are meant to be sheer for Spring/Summer. Here's a swatch of the eyeshadow.



Here's an EOTD (Eye of the Day) with Storm on. Here I used it on my lid. To contour the look a little more, I paired it with the darker shade in another eyeshadow duo I've featured before, the L'Oreal's Sassy HIP Duo. The L'Oreal HIP shade is just a little bit in the contour area.



As you can see, it's a lighter, browner, beige-ier kind of taupe, perfect for conservative offices. It also has a hint of shimmer, although I do think Storm has more shimmer than the shades I previously swatched in the rest of the Edward Bess eyeshadows. Still, this is manageable shimmer, not OTT, and quite pretty, too.



I quite like this shade, and for me this is something wearable that I could definitely see getting heavy usage in my stash. It's just that if you were expecting a deep, dark taupe, this isn't it. Come to think of it, I should swatch this with some of the other taupes in my eyeshadow collection, and see if there are any similar taupes out there.



So, would I recommend this? Well, if you are NC/NW25 and above, I'm not sure if this shadow, being a light shade, will show up on you. It would probably be used as a base, or an all-over lid shade in that case, so if you want it for that reason, great, but if not, it may disappoint you. Also, if you are looking for a shadow with strong pigmentation, this may not be for you. But if you want a simple, wearable taupe, then this could be worth checking out.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)