Sleek MakeUp Face Form Contouring & Blush Palette 'Light' Review

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

Recently I was up in the Dundrum Shopping Centre having a little browse around and one of the places I stopped into was Boots. The Boots up in Dundrum stocks Sleek MakeUp so I was really excited about going in and having a look at the range. I usually buy my Sleek products online as there isn't a counter near me but I prefer to be able to swatch the products in a store before I buy. That way I can get a better idea of what products might work for me and what ones may not. 

There are always offers on in Boots and the day I ventured in there was a 2 for €14 sticker across all of the Sleek MakeUp range. Depending on what you picked up you could save yourself a good few euro. To give you an idea I could have picked up their 7 piece brush (€16.99) and this contour kit (€13.49) for €14 giving me a saving of....€16.48 pretty decent huh! 

In the end though I picked up the Sleek MakeUp iDivine Storm Eyeshadow palette along with the Face Form Kit, as one of my subscribers over on my YouTube channel wanted to see some more eye makeup looks using the Sleek range. 

If you have been a follower of my blog or YouTube channel for any length of time it probably comes as no surprise that I picked up a face product from the brand. My all time favourite contour kit is Sleek's Face Contour Kit in the shade 'Light'. I reviewed that a few years ago so if you missed that post you can read it here. I'm also a massive fan of their blushes, I've reviewed the ones I own here, so it only seemed fitting to pick up a product that combined my two loves.

The Sleek MakeUp Face Form Contouring & Blush Palette comes in four shades:

• Fair
• Light
• Medium
• Dark

Being that I pretty much already owned the light face form kit, I had intended on picking up the kit in the medium or dark shade. Unfortunately Boots didn't stock the dark shade in the Dundrum store and I changed my mind once I laid eyes on the medium kit. Not because I didn't like that particular kit, that wasn't the case at all it was more so to do with the products included in the kit.

What I mean by that is, in the 'fair' and 'light' kits there is a contour shade, a highlighter, and blush included. While in the 'medium' and 'dark' kits there is a contour shade, a highlighter, and a bronzer included. 

I knew I wouldn't get the full use out of the 'medium' kit because the only time I would wear a bronzer like the one in the kit is when I'm tanned and that is only on special occasions. I pondered for a few minutes over the 'fair' kit but decided in the end to go for 'light' shade. 

The contour and highlight shade are the same products that are in face contour kit 'light' and I'm almost certain the blush in this kit is sold as an individual blush called 'Rose Gold'. I own both of those products which is why I said I pretty much own this face form kit already but despite that I still bought it. I figured it was just handy to have all three products in one palette, perfect for on the go! Plus I would probably have been repurchasing my face contour kit in the next little while anyway so now I don't have to.

The contour shade in this palette is one of the only contour colours that I enjoy wearing on my skin. If you have pale skin it can be hard to find a contouring shade that isn't too warm toned, I find a lot of contour shades can appear quite grubby on paler skin tones. This product is a cool brown and works like a charm. If I want very sculpted cheeks which is usually the case, I take my Sigma Small Contour F05 and apply the product whereas if I wanted to just add a bit of colour to the face I would use it on a larger, less dense brush such as the Sigma Large Angled Contour F40. I've a full video on my favourite face brushes and their uses if you're curious! You can find that here.

The highlight shade is also very flattering on the skin, when the light hits the points where you have applied the product it gives off such a gorgeous glow. It isn't overly glittery it just gives a nice subtle sheen to the skin.

The blush in the palette will suit all skin tones but I think the blush will be the deciding factor for people of whether to buy or not. The blush is a pink/rose shade and has golden shimmery flecks running throughout. If you are not a fan of shimmery blushes then this may be a little off putting. If this is the case I would suggest to only apply the contour shade and the blush, the blush has enough shimmer in it to double up nicely as a highlighter on the cheeks too if you sweep it from the apples of your cheeks back towards your hairline. The blush is very pigmented so pick up a little product, tap off the excess and begin to apply to the cheeks. Keep adding product little by little until you are pleased with the level of intensity.

As you can see from the swatches below each of the three products in the palette are highly pigmented. They are also smooth in texture making them very easy to work with. 

I lightly applied the trio to my skin to give you an idea of how the products perform. I have the contour shade in the hollows of my cheeks, the blusher just off the apples of my cheeks and the highlighter along the tops of my cheekbones. 

Definitely one to pick up if you are in the market for an affordable contour kit, you really can't go wrong with this one!

Chat soon :)

Eimear x

Seventeen Define & Conquer Contour Kit 'Fair'

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

Around this time last year Seventeen released their 'Define & Conquer Contour Kit'. I remember scrolling down Twitter and I spotted blogger after blogger talking about this product. Initially I wasn't pushed, I thought it looked nice but I was happy with the contour kit I was using at that time. Later on that day I was on Twitter and I saw yet another post about the contour kit but this time, I was sold. What sold me was this picture that Dee and Sinead from Viva Adonis shared.

In the picture you can see the Seventeen Contour Kit on the left sat next to a Nars product, I'm assuming it was a contour and highlighting kit too. The reason I don't know is because I'm not familiar with Nars products and that's purely because of their price point. Nars isn't a budget brand by any means so when I saw this side by side picture and the resemblance was striking....well I needed to go out and buy the budget alternative didn't I?

When I got to Boots I headed straight for the Seventeen stand, eyes peeled. This kit comes in two shades, fair and medium. I wanted to pick this up for everyday wear so I was looking out for the shade 'fair', which at first was nowhere to be seen. The row on display containing the fair kits was completely out of stock, much to my disappointment. 

After standing there aimlessly for a couple of minutes trying to figure out how not to make this a wasted journey....out of the corner of my eye, I spotted one. Some sneaky little person had hidden the last kit among the shimmer bricks on the stand. Delighted with myself off I skipped to the till, kit in hand. Success!

The packaging ticks all the boxes for me. Its black and white, instant love for me. The casing isn't too big and bulky so its ideal for traveling. It also contains a large mirror, again making it perfect for on the go!

I have been using the Sleek MakeUP Contour Kit in the shade 'Light' for a few years now. I absolutely adore that kit and use it religiously, I have a review up already if your interested which you can catch here. I couldn't wait to see how the Seventeen kit would perform next to the Sleek one as that costs less than a tenner also. Boy oh boy, I love a good budget buy.

If you are new to the world of contouring and highlighting this Seventeen kit is a good place to start. First of all its affordable, its priced at just €8.49 in Boots. The kit also comes with a handy step by step guide to shaping and sculpting the face again, making it good for beginners. Finally, the shades in the kit are matte so if contouring and highlighting doesn't work out for you, the products can be used for other purposes. For instance, if you didn't want to use the contour shade to define areas of the face you could use it to define the crease of the eye or as an eyeshadow all over the lid. The highlight shade in the kit could also be used to set foundation in place. Either way I think it's worth spending the money on, you'll get use out of the palette one way or another for sure!

The texture of the powders isn't bad, they are not really chalky or too powdery which is great. Another thing I noticed is that when you dip your brush into either of the two powders you don't get a lot of excess powder lying in the pan.

The above picture is from a tutorial that I posted on my YouTube channel almost exactly a year ago and in it I'm wearing the Seventeen contour and highlighter. I haven't worn the two shades together since. The reason being, personally I find the contour shade in the palette to be too warm toned for my colouring. 

If you want to see the product in action just click on the play button below! I start using the kit around 3.57, if you don't want to skip through the rest of the tutorial :)

On the other hand, I adore the highlight shade in the kit. I use it every single day as a face powder to set my foundation in place and I also use it beneath my contour to further define my cheekbones. If I have a little tan on I like to use the highlight shade to set the concealer underneath my eyes and that also highlights and brightens that area. 

I used the highlight shade for these purposes in one of my more recent video's so if you would like to see it in action you can skip to 4.23!

Hopefully between the two video's you'll get a good feel for how the product performs. Even though I don't enjoy the contour powder in the palette for its intended purpose, I do like to use it as an eyeshadow so it doesn't go to waste. I've repurchased this palette a couple of times now solely for the highlight shade, I just couldn't be without it!

Have you tried the contour kit?

If so, let me know what you thought of it!

Chat soon :)

Eimear x

Sleek MakeUP Face Contour Kit 'Light' Review

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

Long time know chat!

Finally my exams are out of the way so I can focus all my attention on blogging and filming makeup tutorials...yaaaay!

Today I have for you all a review of the Sleek Contour Kit in the shade 'Light'.

As most of you all know by now I could pass as a Twilight extra, so I need a contour shade that isn't too dark against my ghostly skin.

(Highlighter: Pressed Powder 19. Bronzer: Pressed Powder 21)

I have used the exact same bronzer and highlighter combination since around October 2011, which is quite evident based on the picture above!

Once I find a product I like and that works for me, I use it religiously. I'm not too open to change but I'm getting better at putting new products to the test.

A couple of months ago I decided to venture outside the comfort zone and step away from my beloved Inglot highlighter and bronzer duo and try the much hyped up Sleek Contour Kit. 

Once I removed the packaging and revealed the palette I noticed the design was almost identical to that of the eyeshadow palettes. I adore the packaging.

Simple, sleek and sturdy!

The palette is compact and it comes with a decent size mirror making it ideal for travel.

As I mentioned above, I picked up the kit in the shade 'Light'. Sleek MakeUP also offer this product in the shades 'Medium' and 'Dark'.

The kit includes a matte brown contour shade and a pearlescent highlighter shade.

The first thing I noticed with the kit was that the contour shade is larger than the highlighter shade, opposed to a 50/50 split.

I was happy to see this as although I use both on a daily basis, I find I use up my contour shade quicker as you might have noticed in the picture of the Inglot palette above.

I am extremely impressed with this kit!

The contour shade is perfect for us paler ladies, it isn't orange and doesn't give a mucky appearance to the skin which I find to often be the case with bronzers.

Using my Sigma F05 Small Contour Brush I sweep the contour shade along the hollows of my cheeks, from time to time followed by the jawline and temples.

I then use my Blank Canvas Cosmetics F15 Small Contour/Highlighter Brush to highlight the areas of my face where the light would naturally hit. I prefer to use this brush as it tapered allowing me to glide the product over the high points of my face with ease. I generally tend to highlight down the centre of my nose, the tops of my cheeks and above my cupids bow. I have found that the highlight shade also acts as a gorgeous brow bone highlight!

I have found that the contour kit enhances my features giving definition and structure to my face with ease!

I absolutely adore this product and would recommend it to anyone who struggles to find a contour shade for pale skin. Its an absolute gem!

I picked mine up from Cloud10Beauty.com for only €9.95, another bargain buy for Eimear! :)

Here's to the next year and a half together ♥

Have you tried the contour kit?

What are your thoughts? :)

Eimear x

NYX Eyebrow Kit with Stencil For Brunettes

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

Let me start by saying a Happy New Year to you all. 

I wish you all the best and hope its going to be a wonderful year for you.

 I know I have high hopes for this year, its going to be a good'n!

...major positivity buzz going on here :)

I have had a wonderful start to this year already as I am NYX Cosmetics Vlogger of the Month for the month of January :)

This month I will have 4 blog reviews on NYX products alone, along with a step by step tutorial including each of these products. 

Todays blog review is on the NYX Eyebrow Kit with Stencil.

I choose the kit for brunettes.

This kit comes in two other shade ranges.

 A kit for Blondes and a kit suited for Everyone.

Included in all of these kits are 4 eyebrow powders, 3 stencils and 2 brushes.

The kit is very well thought out its small, compact and convenient. 

It is going to be a life saver for anyone who does makeup on the go as it is perfect for traveling.

I like the fact that there are 4 different shades in the kit.

I have been using the second shade on the bottom row to fill in my eyebrows.

This is a light brown brow powder I use this followed by the second brow powder on the top row which is a slightly darker shade of brown. 

I usually use this shade to fill in the arch of my brow, using various shades of powder helps give the brows a more natural appearance.

The white in the kit works nice as a highlight underneath the arch of the brow.

As mentioned above there are 3 eyebrow stencils coming in different sizes.

These were not too much of a benefit to me as I have a shape to my brows and when I fill mine in I am literally filling in what hairs are there. 

I don't really fill in outside the shape of my natural brows.

I have used the first portion of the stencil to give the bottom of my brow the definition it needs, after using this as a guide I then fill in my brows.

These stencils will be beneficial to anyone who is unable/unsure as to how to go about defining their brows.

 As it is a stencil you are guaranteed that the end results will be picture perfect brows!

There is a mini angled brush and a comb included in the kit.

The comb is self explanatory, I firstly start by plucking any stray hairs followed by combing the brows into place.

I then load up the angled brush with some powder, using small strokes I then apply the powder shaping my brows.

I've used combs by a few different brands and to be honest I find them to be all the same quality wise...a comb is a comb haha!

The angled brush however I was surprised by the quality. 

Its a rather decent brush, its relatively dense and applies the powder to the brows with ease. 

If I am using this palette on a daily basis at home I would opt for a different angled brush purely because I prefer using a long handled brush but have no problem using the smaller brush for on the go.

There are instructions on the inside of the kit and also on the back of the kit.

Again making it a perfect kit for beginners.

This kit retails at £13.50.

This is a little more than I would spent on my brows seeing as I just use an eyeshadow and sometimes a brow pencil to give my hairs the extra definition.

However I can justify spending on this product due to the fact that the kit comes with a range of shadows, the brushes etc. 

The kit is a nice idea and I'd highly recommend it to absolutely anyone from beginners to advanced makeup artists. 

Have you ever tried eyebrow stencils? Let me know! :)

Eimear x