I know a beauty editor who swears that were make-up not free in her line of work, she’d exclusively buy Sleek. That’s one hell of an endorsement, but one I wouldn’t make myself – yes, the textures and colour pay off are extremely impressive at this price point, but I think they only get the colours and finishes right on occasion.
Sleek 24k Gold Glitter Me Lipgloss in l to r: Private Jet, Money Talks and Uptown Girl
This collection illustrates my point: the Glitter Me lip glosses come in decent colour options (bar the gold – gold should never, ever adorn a lip excepting fancy dress occasions), but are all too frosted to be worn anywhere but the most festive of events. I have similar misgivings about the Midas Touch palette; the pale ‘Rhinestone’ is the single colour that is wearable – the shimmery blue and lilac-y bronze would make you look like an ABBA throwback, and not in a good way.
Sleek 24k Gold Highlighting Palette in Midas Touch
My advice when eyeing this range would be to bypass the other stuff in the collection and just get the i-Lust Eyeshadow Palette instead; the four eyeshadows ranging from deep chocolate shot through with shimmer to a frosted pearlescent champagne with two rich, sumptuous golds in the middle, and two shimmering accent creams in a warm and cool bronze would have my money any day.
Sleek 24k Gold i-Lust The Gold Standard Palette
Though this is a palette I’d happily go to town with on a night out, I’d caution against using all – or more than two – of the colours concurrently during the day: gold requires the right setting to really shine. Line eyes in deep black or brown, smudge one of these golds into the liner and use the creams up to the socket line – no higher. During the evening a bit of liner won’t go amiss, either.
A final word of advice – never ignore the golden rule when it comes to gold make-up: wear a touch of bronze or warming blusher (Nars Orgasm works a treat). Without it, any pastiness of skin will be enhanced.
The new Sleek 24k Gold Collection launches here later this month.