Gem and Jo's Palette Reviews

Welcome, welcome peoples. Today we're talking about the eye shadow palettes that we are always talking about, we just cannot get enough of them! 

Sleek I-Divine palettes are amazing, they are super affordable, great quality and brilliantly pigmented. Today we're taking an in-depth look at the Storm palette which you can get from Boots stores and online at SleekMakeup.com for just €9.99

As you probably know, I-Divine come with 12 shades, some shimmery, some matte. Sleek also do quads though if you're not into having so many shades. But personally these palettes are our favourites. 

The Storm palette comes with a range of beige and blue shades with a couple of pinks and a black shade thrown in to ensure you can create a really huge range of different looks. In the palette you get one of those little sponge applicators and this is probably the only time the two of us differ in opinion. The applicator is one of the better quality ones, with a soft sponge texture. Gem prefers to use the applicator to pat the shimmer shades on and Jo prefers to use a brush to smudge them. Usually we recommend people to throw out the sponge applicators, we find them pretty useless, but with Sleek palettes try the applicator out with the shimmer shades before you decide to chuck it. Try a patting technique and try a blending technique, you gotta give everything a go once! 

If we could, we would use every shade in the Storm palette every day. They're all so pretty! However that is not very practical and the result would probably look a little cray cray. 

Nevertheless we shall share with you our favourite looks created with just this palette. First you want to start with a base colour, a light cream colour is perfect. Then to define the eye you can use Calm Before The Storm or Eye Of The Storm, depending on how dark you want the look. Blend your choice of brown into the crease and last 2/3 of your lid and under your bottom lashes a little, to give your eyes depth. Now comes the tricky part, deciding what shade to use, you can go for a soft pink or neutral look or you can add drama with the blues and greens.
Gem loves to use the pinks and would add Perfect Storm to the lid and then use Snow Storm in the inner corner for a brightening effect.
Jo likes to go for a little drama and uses Blackout by blending it into the last 3rd of the lid and then uses Thunderstorm on the lid and Snow Storm in the inner corner.

Have you used this palette? What look would you create?

Until next time, 

Gem and Jo's Valentine's Eyes.

This week is an important one for most girls, all the planning, stressing and preparation for one of the most romantic days of the year: Valentine's Day. Now as we are currently lonely, desperate single people, we decided to bestow our knowledge (albeit limited knowledge we may add) of the looks you can create without the need for a fantastic makeup artist. Today we're talking eye shadow, specifically Sleek I-Divine palettes.
If you haven't heard of Sleek, you need to Google it right now, like right now! Their palettes are amazing, incredible pigmentation and a great range of colours, plus they are only €9.99!! For 12 shades per palette!! We've picked out 2 palettes which we feel are the best suited for this occasion, one a flirty, cutesy look which is perfect for younger girls and the other a dramatic, sultry look for someone looking to seduce their man, woman, mineral or vegetable.

Oh So Special

The Oh So Special palette by Sleek is the perfect tool for creating a soft, girly and flirty look, which is perfect for Valentines. The shades you get can create a really pretty look which is guaranteed to reel that someone special in! 

The palette comes with some really cutesy shadows, some of which are their infamous shimmer shades! Plus you get some nice darker colours which can be used to create an intense, more sultry look. Personally Organza and Wrapped Up are some of my favourites and together they can be used for a quick 2 shadow look. 

For this Valentines, if your looking to be more flirty than sexy, the Oh So Special palette is perfect, using Bow as a base colour (it's such a nice neutral shade for most skin tones) you can carefully blend Wrapped Up into the crease, the last 2/3 of your eyelid and a little underneath the lower lash line. You need to be careful with the darker shades as they are super pigmented and can come out waayy too dark! A little goes a long way in this case. Once your sufficiently blended, pat Pamper onto the center and inner lid and cover over it with Organza for a little glitz! Use Bow again to highlight the inner corner and voila! A pretty, girly look that's perfect for fluttering your lashes! 

Top Tip: Add a set of flirty, but not over the top lashes to make this look really pop!

Vintage Romance

For a valentines night you can't really go wrong with the Vintage Romance palette from Sleek cosmetics. Even the name conjures up images of love hearts, strawberries and the awkward moment when you are trying to make small talk with your date as you guys are waiting for your meal (We've all been there).  

All of the shadows in this palette are super pigmented and blend really well. Plus they have really cute names which, lets face it, means more than we'd like to admit. I mean you can't not feel all romantic and gooey while sweeping Forever in Florence across your outer corner. 

For a sultry night time look sure to wow your date and emphasize your pretty peepers; sweep Meet in Madrid over the lid, blend Propose in Prague into the crease to warm up your look. Next place a small amount of Honeymoon in Hollywood into the outer two thirds of your crease and blend some of Bliss in Barcelona into the outer corner to darken up your look. Sweep on a subtle lip and you're good to go. 

What's your makeup plan for this weekend? Are you going flirty or sultry? 

Until next time,

Gem and Jo's November Wish Lists

We love shopping (pretty sure we could go pro!). So we've been doing a bit of window shopping lately and here's what we found that may just end up purchasing this month. 

Jo's Wish list: 

New Look: Black Ankle Strap Beaded Block Heels: €34.99

Buy them here

(These actually look amazing in person! Absolutely in love with these.) 

Sleek: Eau La La Liner in Raisin: €5.99

Buy it here

(this colour just looks amazing!)

Forever 21: Sleeveless Peplum Top:  €12.45

Buy it here

(Am in the Market for a white peplum top and this one looks good!)

Parfois: Silver Basics Earrings: €5.95

buy them here

Forever 21: Lace-Trimmed Open-Knit Sweater: €16.45

Buy it here

Gem's Wish list: 

New Look: Teen Lace Up Hook boots: £24.99

Buy em Here

Rimmel London Apocalips Lip Velvet in Meteoric Matte: €7.99

Buy it Here

Sleek I-Divine Storm Palette €9.99 

Buy it Here

Pandora Essence Balance Charm €39.00 

Buy it Here

(Hope it might help me with not falling over.)

New Look Blue Faded Authentic Skinny Jeans £22.99 

Buy em Here 

(These would look so cute in the tan boots!)

There you have it! Thanks for reading!

What's on your shopping list for the month?

Until next time, 

**All images seen in this post are stock photos from their respective websites.

Gem and Jo's Face of the Day

We are make up addicts and like to change up what we use all the time. We decided to show you guys what we wore on our faces today for a casual college look.

Gem's Makeup:

So for my casual mid-week look, I started off with my all time favourite foundation, Estée Lauder's Double Wear in the shade Shell (CO1) and I powdered using Makeup Rumours Pressed Powder in Nude. (This stuff is great and is only £1!!! Check it out Here). 

For my cheeks I used Front Cover's blush and applied it on the apples of my cheeks for a little healthy glow! 

For my eyes I used E.L.F. Cosmetics Eye Enhancing palette. I used 1 as an all over base colour. I used 2 in the crease of my eye and blended it out. I applied 3 on my lid and used 4 to highlight the inner corner of my eye as well as under the centre of my eye to make me seem more awake! (College is a killer) 

Wet n Wild's H2O Eyeliner in jet black and Estée Lauder's Sumptuous Extreme Volumizing mascara finished off my eyes and a swipe of Estée Lauder's Pure Color Lip Gloss in Praline Paradise finished off my laid back, natural look. 

Jo's Makeup: 

For today's look I started off with Rimmel London's lasting finish 25 hour foundation. I then powdered with  Makeup Rumours Pressed Powder in Satin (pressed powder is a must for me!). For blush I used Sleek's Blush by 3 in sugar, using number 5 from the palette, for a bit of colour and then used Benefit's high beam on the tops of my cheek bones for a highlight. 

For my eyes I used Catrice's eye shadow in the colour Bring Me Frosted Cake (Catrice have really cute names!) for an all over base and under brow highlight. Next I used Topshop's eye shadow in Harlow sunset, using number 1 on the center of my lids. I then used MUA bronze eye shadow (number 3) in my crease, and finally used the purple Topshop eye shadow (number 4) in the outer corner to add some dimension to my eyes. I finished off this eye look with a flick of Wet n Wild's Mega liner. I rounded off the look with  B. cosmetics sheer conditioning lipstick in Raspberry Jam. 

Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to check out our instagram, the link is at the top of this page. If you'd like any reviews of these products be sure to let us know in the comments. 

Until next time,