If you have been on my Twitter or Instagram, you should know that I’ve just received my Sleek Makeup palettes that I purchased from Luxola. I got my hands on it this weekend when I was in Bali, so I have yet to play with it. I wanted to swatch these palettes first before I do any tutorials with them. I’ve heard so much raves about these palettes on the blogsphere and youtube, that I was so excited when I get received them!
First of all, let me mention how great the Staff at Luxola are! I am affiliated with Luxola, but what I’m going to tell you guys is 100% based on my experience. You guys should know by now that I would never recommend anything that, in my personal and professional opinion, is below standard and expectations. Let me tell you what happened before we proceed to the swatches itself.
I bought (yes, bought! with my own money) several products from Luxola website. I’ve checked out and paid for all the items in my cart at end of March. I was told that my products would arrive between 5-8 business days. I was happy and excited to get the products before my trip to Japan. 8 days later, my shipment was nowhere to be found! I contacted Luxola, checked my tracking number and found out that my shipment was stuck at Indonesian customs! I tried calling Indonesian post to find out what’s going on, even went on their twitter asking questions but no answer.
I was devastated. I contacted Luxola regarding the issue and they tried to help me by contacting the courier service that they’ve used over in Singapore. Luxola Staff patiently replied to every single one of my emails promptly. I went to Japan, came back just to find out that customs isn’t releasing my shipment. No letters, no contact information, nothing to assist me to get the shipment out of customs! I almost gave up. That’s $100 worth of products that I’m not going to receive ever.
However, an email came through from Luxola. They messaged me saying that they will ship a new set of products (of whatever that I’ve bought) to my bff in Singapore. I was so thrilled when I read the message!
I was so happy! To be honest, I had the same issue with another online store at the same time, and they weren’t even as helpful or offered any assistance like Luxola. By this time, I was jumping up and down, and told my bff to keep the package for me till we meet again. Not even 2 days after, my package arrived at my bff’s and she was holding it for me! I mean, talking about fast and amazing services! So, thank you Luxola for the great service and assistance that you’ve offered.
Ok, let’s get on the swatches!
I bought 3 Sleek Makeup palettes –Sparkle 2, Snapshots and Ultra Mattes V1 Brights.
It comes in a black casing. Very light and small. The boxes above actually remind me of chocolate bars for some reason. Oh just to let you guys know, the reason why I bought these 3 palettes is because these 3 cannot be shipped to U.S.A or Canada (according to Sleek Makeup website). I wanted to buy them when I was in Canada, but since it cannot enter the country, I decided to buy them here.
Each palette costs IDR Rp. 157,000. From Sleek Makeup website it costs £7.99/palette.
The Sparkle 2 palette is a limited edition palette. My first impression when I opened the palette was “that’s a lot of sparkle”..well it is called the Sparkle palette. I didn’t expect the sparkle to be so huge! I’m a little afraid that the sparkle might be rough and hurt my eyelid. I’m also a bit skeptical on how much sparkles going to stay on the lid. I’ve worked with glitters and sparkles before, I find that I’ve to use some sort of “adhesive”, let it be cream or liquid to make it stick to the skin. I guess I just have to try it, right? 😉
The Sparkle 2 Palette comes with 12 shades. 4 of which are shimmery, while the other 8 has glitter/sparkles in them. The 4 shimmery eyeshadows are Chocolate Penny, Gold Ribbon, Truffle and Tinsel. The 8 glittery ones are Festive, Blue Spruce, Mulled Wine, Glitz & Glamour, Mistletoe, Twinkle, Illusion and Starry Night.
On the top part (L-R)
- Chocolate Penny – golden bronze.
- Blue Spruce – a turquoise with silver sparkles. Feels dry when touch, and surprisingly does not swatch very well considering how vivid the color is.
- Mulled Wine – crimson with gold glitter.
- Truffle – deep rich chocolate metallic color. Very buttery and has a lot of pigments.
- Mistletoe – forest green with silver glitter.
- Illusion – an eggplant purple eyeshadow with silver glitter.
On the bottom part (L-R)
- Festive – plum eyeshadow with silver glitter (the only one you can see with sparkles on the swatch below)
- Gold Ribbon – bright golden yellow with shimmer.
- Glitz & Glamour – grey with silver sparkles.
- Tinsel – silver shimmery eyeshadow.
- Twinkle – navy blue with silver sparkles.
- Starry Night – black with silver glitters.
The Snapshot palette is one that I really wanted to get. It has a combination of matte and shimmer eyeshadows. It has a whole loads of bright eyeshadows, and some neutral ones. I absolutely love and adore this palette.
In this palette there’s 5 matte eyeshadows and 7 shimmer eyeshadows. The 5 matte ones are Summer Breeze, Sand Walker, Washed Ashore, Purple Haze and Magenta Madness. The 7 shimmery ones are Martini, Kiwi Flower, Sunset, Lotus Folower, Green Iguana, Humming Bird and Tequila Sunrise.
During the swatching process, I found that Sand Walker does not show up on my arm because, it’s pretty much the same color as my skin. That shadow probably would work as a great base for my eyelid.
I also find that the shades on this palette turns out to be more on the medium shades range on my skintone. Nothing too dark for contour or crease color. Perhaps using a primer/base under the eyeshadows will make the shades brighter.
From the Top (L-R):
- Summer Breeze – matte cyan.
- Martini – shimmery vanilla.
- Kiwi Flower – shimmery chartreuse green.
- Lotus Flower – shimmery lavender.
- Humming Bird – shimmery deep turquoise blue.
- Tequila Sunrise – shimmery orange.
On the bottom (L-R):
- Sand Walker – matte beige nude shade.
- Washed Ashore – matte light orange.
- Sunset – shimmery copper.
- Green Iguana – green teal shimmer.
- Purple Haze – matte purple with cool undertone.
- Magenta Madness – fuschia pink matte shade.
The last palette is the Ultra Mattes V1 Brights, which is a very popular palette. I’ve heard raves about this palette on how great the colors were even though they are mattes. When I first opened the palette, my eyes immediately went to Dragon Fly shade. It’s soooo beautiful! It’s bright, it’s gorgeous and it’s so creamy when touched. The shades just seem to glide on the skin smoothly.
All the colors on this palette are matte. It does not feel chalky at all, instead it has a creamy, velvety texure to it. Most of the colors look pretty good without a primer when swatched. Even the lighter ones like pink, grey and white, though it might look light and chalky, you can still see the slight difference in hue on my arm.
On the top layer (L-R):
- Chill – aqua blue.
- Pout – hot pink.
- Sugarlite – purple with red undertone.
- Dragonfly – jungle green (yes, it is a color, I did not make this up).
- Pucker- another hot pink shade. I think this shade is very similar to Pout, but slightly lighter.
- Bammi – true yellow.
On the bottom layer (L-R):
- Cricket – grass green.
- Bolt – electric blue.
- Strike – orange (similar to that in Pantone’s).
- Floss – ballerina pink
- Crete – soft grey.
- Pow – vanilla.
All in all, I think all 3 palettes are pretty awesome. It’s a tad more expensive than the original price from Sleek, but I still think it’s a good price by Luxola. I’m one happy gal!
