Sleek MakeUP Caribbean Collection: CURACAO i-Divine Palette, ARUBA Blush & BONAIRE Pout Polish - THOUGHTS and SWATCHES...

Sleek MakeUP Caribbean Collection: CURACAO i-Divine Palette, ARUBA Blush & BONAIRE Pout Polish  

THOUGHTS and SWATCHES... 

Inspired by dynamic colours reminiscent of the Caribbean, SleekMakeUP has launched a Limited Edition CARIBBEAN COLLECTION that combines 2 key Spring/Summer 2011 trends: 1970’s beauty and bold brights to catapult you into that holiday feeling.

 Curacao i-Divine Palette

Embrace the exotic colours of paradise with the 12 shades of the CURAÇAO I -DIVINE eyeshadow palette, a mix of bold corals, ocean blue hues, and tangerine brights. From deep sea blue’s to zesty oranges and vivid coral’s, create endless striking looks using contrasting shades or make an entrance with an effortless sweep of colour. 

Price: $10.50
Size: 12 x 1.1g/0.03 oz.  


 
Bonaire Pout Polish

Get luscious lips with Bonaire pout polish, the tangerine tinted gloss is enriched with jojoba, avocado, and sweet almond oil as well as SPF15, so you can simmer away in summer’s rays whilst your pout remains perfectly protected. 

Price: $7.80 (as posted on the website)
Size: 10g/0.34 oz.

Aruba Blush

Also in the collection is SleekMakeUP’s ARUBA BLUSH. Be brave and brighten your look with a cheeky hint of coral and turn into a bird of paradise with Caribbean inspired colours! Aruba blush provides the ultimate colour of paradise, sweep on lightly for a tropical wash of coral or layer to build an intense holiday hue.  

Price: $6.50
                            Size: 8g/0.27 oz.

The Caribbean Collection launched on the July 6th and is available for a limited time only.

Availability: www.SleekMakeUP.com

Standard International Delivery within 10 to 15 working days
$13.50

International destinations are considered as all other countries not listed as European.  Please note we do not ship to the African continent.

 

***************

My Five Ps

Price 
The entire Sleek MakeUP Caribbean Collection is now available on the Sleek MakeUP website for us international beauty lovers with a flat international shipping rate of $13.50.

The Curacao i-Divine Eyeshadow Palette retails for $10.50 for 12 eyeshadows at 1.1g/0.03oz each. This means you get a grand total of 13.2g/0.36oz. of product for $10.50. Compare these to M∙A∙C Eyeshadows which are $14.50 for 1.5g of product. Yes, for less than the cost of one MAC Eyeshadow you can get 12 comparable (sometimes superior) eyeshadows! Even with shipping these amount to roughly $2 per eyeshadow. Quite a steal.     

The Bonaire Pout Polish retails for $6.00 but is listed as $7.80 on the website. I received confirmation from Sleek MakeUP that the Bonaire Pout Polish should be $6.00 but I will use both prices for comparison. This price has me a bit shaky since this is really just a tinted lip balm. $6 is quite a chunk to spend on a simple balm when Chapstick and Blistex come in under $3...even EOS which is the new craze is still only $3.29. Honestly not worth it to us here in the US unless you want the complete collection for novelty. You can for sure get a cheaper lip balm locally.

The Aruba Blush rounds out the collection and retails at $6.50 for 8g/0.27 oz. This is a great price for a blush even at a drugstore level. A NYX Powder Blush is $6 for 0.18 oz while a Wet 'n' Wild Color Icon  Powder Blush is roughly $3 for 0.14 oz. So you will get 1-1/2 to 2 times the amount of product in a Sleek MakeUP Blush for relatively the same price per oz of NYX and Wet 'n' Wild Blushes. Come on...can you smell a bargain here?

Now of course we have to factor in the shipping because these products are not available in the US (as yet...rumors are they are coming to the US very soon) and you will need to pay for international shipping. Honestly I don't think the shipping is outlandish either since they are coming from the UK afterall. Now obviously the more products you purchase the better the deal will be since the $13.50 shipping cost covers the entire purchase. Plus you can combine your order with friends to break up the shipping costs.

These are considered drugstore makeup in the UK....our equivalent of say NYX or Wet 'n' Wild. The prices are comparable to our (cheaper) drugstore brands such as NYX and Wet 'n' Wild which is awesome if you ask me!

Purchasing 

The Sleek MakeUP Caribbean Collection is available in the UK at Superdrug Stores but for beauty lovers in the USA we are only able to order these palettes from the Sleek MakeUP website. However, there are plans to supply Sleek MakeUP in US stores very soon so be on the lookout for that! Remember that these are only available for a limited time so you may want to grab them while you can.

Packaging 

The Curacao i-Divine Eyeshadow Palette is a sleek (quite fitting) black palette filled with 12 eyeshadows and a full-sized mirror inside the lid. The eyeshadows are a bit smaller than a M∙A∙C Eyeshadow and are embossed with a waffle design. They also come with a double ended sponge applicator which is recommended for 'best results' - for me these are toss-outs!

The palette sports the sleek makeup logo on the front and a label on the back indicating the name of the palette, the ingredients and all that jazz. One thing that I love about Sleek MakeUP is the fact that they listen to feedback from bloggers and customers. The eyeshadows palettes previously did not come with individual names for the eyeshadows which of course can be a bit tedious in our beauty world of swatches and looks. The palettes now come with a clear plastic insert sheet that bears 12 names for the eyeshadows! Now it's easy to reference the colors without creating your own labeling scheme. Even though this is a huge improvement for sure, you may mix the inserts up if you own a few of these palettes plus you may lose the sheet accidentally (or on purpose) once you start using the product. I have written the palette name on each insert to keep from swapping them with others. Maybe Sleek MakeUP will step it up a notch and add a label with the names on the back on the palettes or even imprint the names on the inside. This sounds a bit costly though so who knows...

***If you are a drinker or bartender then you should be familiar with all these names...who at Sleek drinks guys? Spill the martini!***

 --------------

The Bonaire Pout Polish comes in a flat screw-top jar. The lid has a fun tropical print fitting with the Caribbean theme. The thing that bothers me the most about containers like this is the fact that you have to use your fingers or a lip brush to apply the product. This leads to contamination of the product inside and sticky fingers. I prefer a tube for lip balms since it's easy to reapply throughout the day as we normally do with balms. The jar is secure and rigid so it won't break in your purse and it great for travel. It's your preference if you like a jar or a tube of lip balm.

-------------- 

The Aruba Blush comes in a sleek rectangular snap-close case similar to the eyeshadow palette with a full-sized mirror inside the lid. The lid also has the same fun tropical print fitting with the Caribbean theme. I actually really like the packaging of these blushes because they are sleek and compact and sturdy. Nothing cheap or flimsy here. Only drawback, and this is just my personal preference again, is that you cannot tell the blush color by just looking at the package. I love the see-through lids of MAC and Illamasqua Blushes but I also love the sleeker slimmer packages of the NARS and Sleek MakeUP Blushes (which have no see-through lids). This is not such a major deal especially since these blushes have names which are easier to associate with a color. But when you have a big collection your mental inventory system will take all the help it can get.

Product & Performance

The Curacao i-Divine Eyeshadow Palette is a color lover's dream! It is filled with super bright vivid colors in both matte and shimmery textures. If you ever wanted a tropical palette of colors then this is the one - pink, yellow, greens, blues, red, orange, purple!

The shimmery shades are to die for! They are extremely rich in color and highly pigmented even without using a primer on the eyelids. The orange, Tequila Sunrise, is similar if not identical to the orange from the Sunset Palette. There are 3 divine greens here too - Apres Midori is a gorgeous sour apple green, Iguana is a sweet teal green and Green Martini is a shimmery moss green. Martini is a icy vanilla that may be too frosty for a brow highlight but perfect for the tearduct area. Singapore Sling is a beautiful rich vivid medium pink while Purple Haze is a deep buttery matte purple.  Blue Hawaiian was not as pigmented as I would like and was a bit hard  to pick up the color. Blue Lagoon while it had better color payoff was not the best in the bunch but what a beautiful color (I'll work for it). Bloody Mary and Screwdriver had me worried since these are the hardest hues to pull off in matte form but Sleek MakeUP made it work. Bloody Mary is a y red that can be built up for more intensity while Screwdriver is truly a vivid pigmented sun yellow. Of course to round out the palette is the necessary matte black shadow - Espresso Martini. The colors work fantastic together to create a bright look but of course you will need a matte highlight and blending shade to bring the look together well. But this palette is meant to be a fun bright palette rather than a staple. They blend well, stay put all day (use a primer of course). The mattes were the most tricky as most mattes tend to be but are not chalky or hard to use.

--------------

The Bonaire Pout Polish is a very sheer lip balm that gets more liquid-y as you apply to your lips. It has a very smooth, soft texture and definitely leaves your lips feeling silky for at least 3 hours. The color looks very vivid in the pot but is very light and will just a add a kiss of tint to your lips. It is not sticky in the slightest and gives the lips a decent level of moisture. It has a faint-to-medium strong cocoa butter scent (each Pout Polish seems to have a different scent intensity) but it isn't too overwhelming unless you have a strong sense of smell or just hate the fragrance itself. There is no significant taste to these (good or repulsive) which is a great thing for me. You also get a lot of product for the price so it will last a very long time....except for the issue with keeping it sanitary in its open jar. While it is a decent product I just don't think it does anything too superior to splurge for on its own. If you want to add to your cart for kicks then it's not a total waste of money because it is pretty decent.

-------------- 

Now I am in love with the Aruba Blush. This blush is cheap and sleek and packs a lot of color in a single sweep. It is a bright, I mean bright, matte orange tangerine blush. It is highly pigmented so a little goes a very long way. I found that the product was slightly powdery which means it is easier to blend out and lose the color. This is not a bad thing necessarily and works well for this particularly bright color. But it's something to note for more subtle shades. You may need a bit of layering to get a more vivid pop of color. The best thing I found is that this blush is a bright eyeshadow waiting to happen. It is perfect to wear on the eyes so don't be afraid to mix it up! The wear time is about 6-7 hours before it seems to fade a tiny bit and this is usually the case for drugstore/cheaper brands. I find wear time is best over liquid foundation or even a primer. If worn over powder it will fade a bit faster. I got a full day's wear (10 hours) out of this blush over my regular foundation and primer without noticeable fade.

Overall

This collection hits close to home for me of course since I am from the Caribbean and I think Sleek definitely got the color scheme right! The collection is a win for me and I hope you will check them out for sure!

The Curacao i-Divine Eyeshadow Palette is the perfect bright color palette if you have been searching! I am in love with the bright vivid colors in this palette and except for a couple of tedious blue mattes, the whole palette is filled with great eyeshadows. 

The Bonaire Pout Polish is decent but won't steal the show here. You can skip these if you already have a good lip balm. 

The Aruba Blush is great and perfect for deeper skin and lovers of orange blushes. It can also double as a perfect orange eyeshadow for a bright look. This one is a must-see for me so grab it

***************

PICTURES & SWATCHES

 

 Tequila Sunrise, Martini, Blue Hawaiian, Bloody Mary, Screwdriver, Green Iguana

Tequila Sunrise, Martini, Blue Hawaiian

 

Bloody Mary, Screwdriver, Green Iguana

 Apres Midori, Blue Lagoon, Purple Haze, Green Martini, Singapore Sling, Espresso Martini

Apres Midori, Blue Lagoon, Purple Haze

Green Martini, Singapore Sling, Espresso Martini

************************

Bonaire Pout Polish (3rd)

 Bonaire Pout Polish

 ************************

Aruba Blush

Aruba Blush 

* Products received from Sleek MakeUP for consideration : ) This doesn't affect my opinion just saves me some spending money and allows me to introduce more products to you guys!