Review: Sleek Face Form in Light

I've been wanting to try one of Sleek's contouring kits for an absolute age. I'm lucky to have fairly pronounced cheek bones but my chubby face kind of obscures them! I always thought that a bit of help from contouring would do me a world of good and this particular product was recommended to me by a whole host of knowledgeable beauty bloggers. Luckily I had a 25% off voucher so I popped in an order a few weeks ago. See what else I bought here.

The packaging is very typical of Sleek. They're cute little black palettes with a matte coating and shiny logo. They also come in their own box which is always a nice touch and gives a product more of a "high end" feel. It closes very securely and I'd be happy to travel with it if it was well packed but definitely wouldn't want to risk dropping it; the product is so soft I'm almost certain it would shatter. As with all Sleek Palettes, this contains a large mirror which is always handy. Face Form comes in 4 different shades, Fair, Light, Medium and Dark. I plumped for Light which seems to be a good match for most pale skinned girls. Light contains a matte brown contouring powder, a champagne coloured shimmer highlighter and the famed Rose Gold shimmer blush (a supposed dupe for NARS Orgasm.)

Every powder is extremely soft and blendable and feels lovely to work with. I swatched heavily above to show the colours and the contouring powder looks a little chalky but I assure you it isn't. The pigmentation is fantastic so you really need to go slow and build up when applying; the great news is that it'll last forever.

I am new to contouring so I'll admit that my application is far from perfect (also I apologise for the wonky eye liner, whoops) but I was really happy with how the products looked on my face! The colours are very rich but look so natural and pretty when applied with a light hand. I think this is such a versatile palette and could easily be used all year round for a variety of purposes. The shimmer isn't too heavy at all and I love how multi-faceted Rose Gold is. The base is a warm coral-pink which works beautifully with the gold shimmer. I think this is a shade that could work for all skin tones - just build it up for darker skin. Wear time is really good but I do have dry skin and it seems like hardly anything disappears on me.

Final Verdict: Fantastic product for a very reasonable price. Very versatile and well pigmented. Another hit from Sleek.

£10 from Sleek or large Superdrug stores.

Have you tried this product? Have you tried contouring? What products do you use for it?

Lauren

Review: Illamasqua Illuminator in Slay

Another Illamasqua review from my lovely sales haul! I've been thinking about trying a highlighter for a while because whenever I've seen them on other people I've just been utterly amazed at how beautiful and sculpted their cheeks are! Despite having chubby cheeks I do often get complimented on the shape of my cheek bones and have quite a deep hollow, so contouring products are really something that I should be investing in. Which led me to pick up Slay (now discontinued.)

The 7ml product comes in a clear plastic tube that resembles lip gloss packaging. It's clean, sleek and simple and very much what I've come to expect from Illamasqua. I really like the applicator too, it's a small, slim brush that doesn't pick up too much excess product. It feels very comfortable to hold, is easy to control and feels soft and pleasant against the skin. It's a nice size for carrying around and is secure and sturdy enough for travelling. Also deserving of a quick mention is the fantastic name. It's very kind of "avenging angel" and I imagine that if angels wore cosmetics they would be wearing Slay.

Swatched - Blended

This product gives the most beautiful, creamy iridescence. Illamasqua describe it as silver white with a shimmer finish which I have to agree with. It looks gorgeous on my pale skin but I think darker tones may have some difficulty blending this out without it appearing too pale. I usually always try to provide photos of products on my face but the effect of this was extremely difficult to photograph and I believe that the swatch on my hand is a much better indicator of the shade and quality, sorry! The only negative I have of this product is that it does dry quite quickly so you have to be fast with the blending.

Sadly this product has been discontinued but there is a similar product here in a golden shade which would look beautiful on darker skinned ladies or with a tan! It retails at £13.50 but I picked Slay up in the sale for just £5 so it's well worth keeping a look out for the sales! I'm certainly thinking about it for the Summer.

What did you think to this product? Have you tried anything similar that you'd recommend?

Lauren