Hello everyone!! It’s been a really long gap from my last post and I have no excuses other than the age-old one: “I was SO busy!” ;) So, to restart blogging, I thought of kicking off with something which deserves a place in every girl’s vanity-make up junkie or not!

We get to see many eye shadow review marathon everywhere on the Internet and I am myself guilty of indulging in many eye-shadows in the past which seemed to be “MUST HAVE” for me then, but ultimately lay unused in my drawer! Finally, I have reached an “age” where it makes sense to own minimum number of eye shadow palettes which contains the colors I would actually wear, instead of running gaga over every recent launches ;) I have zeroed in two such beautiful palettes which contain every possible shade which would suit Indian skin tones BEAUTIFULLY! Here is the review of the first one!

Sleek I-Divine Au Naturel palette!

Price: $11-$12 (Around Rs.1000)

Ingredients:

Packaging: The palette comes in a regular black cardboard box and the palette itself is of plastic, fits in the palm and contains a huge mirror inside. The lid click locks and is travel friendly. Overall, the palette is not heavy and you can easily carry it in your purse!

Shades: The following are the 12 shades in the palette:

1. Nougat: A pale pinkish white on the pan which turns a matte off-white on the lid.

2. Nubuck: A pale matte grey.

3. Cappuccino: A matte grey with yellow tones

4. Honeycomb: A matte yellowish-beige (My favorite shade for highlighting browbone!)

5. Toast: A matte peach

6. Taupe: A soft shimmery champagne

7. Conker: A vibrant maroonish-copper

8. Moss: An antique gold which is not too shiny (LOVE!)

9. Bark: A perfect brownish-grey for blending crease lines

10. Mineral Earth: A GORGEOUS dark bronze-gold.

11. Regal: A soft reddish brown

12. Noir: A MATTE BLACK!!! (The most pigmented black eye shadow I have ever seen!)

Pigmentation: I have seen many reviews on this palette earlier which claimed that the top row shades are completely useless. I beg to differ here! The shades in the top row work beautifully as highlighters or as a wash of color over the lids when you don’t want prominent eye shadow. I personally prefer such ‘no-makeup’ looks where I use shades like Cappuccino or Toast and finish off with a thin black eyeliner flick and mascara! As for the bottom row, all the shades are gorgeous and perfect for night time! Noir is the most pigmented and intense matte black eye-shadow I have ever used and Bark and regal are my saviors for blending and creating soft smoky looks. In a nutshell, all the 12 shades are beautifully pigmented and each has a use of its own. We just need to run our imagination wild! ;) The swathes given below are all single swipes on bare hand without any primer underneath. They would naturally become even more intense with a primer or foundation beneath.

Texture: SOFT!!! They blend like a dream and are not chalky at all. Also, there is no fall-out while application.

Staying power: This generally differs from person to person as eye lids may be dry, oily or normal. On my normal-dry lids, they stay on till I remove them with a cleanser

Why I recommend this?

This is one palette which would create a range of looks for your eyes. Each shade can be used in combination with the other and thus none will be waste. The colors are very wearable and the perfect combination of such shades will prevent you from stacking endless number of palettes.

Rating: 5/5

Pros:

1. Cost effective: 12 good quality eye-shadows for below Rs.1100 is really a deal today when the prices of cosmetics are soaring each day

2. Color selection: The palette contains shades which would suit a range of complexion and can create day looks to nigh looks with ease

3. Effective packaging: The travel friendly, light palette which encases a good quality mirror is worth the buy

4. Quality: Pigmentation, staying power and texture are all awesome!

Cons:

1. Availability might be an issue. I ordered mine from a friend who owns a page in Facebook called “Bring me Beauty” which takes orders of all makeup stuff from overseas.

2. I would have preferred another matte warm brown (I know am greedy! ;) )

Enjoy the pics! Hope this review was helpful. Wait for the next palette which is going to be reviewed on the blog. Both these palettes would complete all eye-shadow needs of a girl’s vanity! ;)

With love,

Aparajita