Swatch and Review: Sleek Makeup i-Divine Bad Girl Palette

This was the first Sleek makeup purchase I made and I LOVE it. I've had this palette for awhile and while I don't use it as much as I would like to but it is still a favorite. I paid $11.99 for this palette and it was worth every penny. Some of the colours can be a little chalky but the good far outweighs the bad.

If you aren't familiar with Sleek Makeup, they are a UK brand that sells high-street, high-quality, affordable makeup. Their eyeshadow palettes are pressed mineral shadows, which makes them a soft, somewhat flaky texture (easy to blend). There are 12 shadows and a mirror in each sleek black plastic palette.

Top Row L to R: Innocence, Gullible, Blade, Gun Metal, Underground, Noir
Bottom Row L to R: Intoxicated, Envy, Obnoxious, Abyss, Twilight, Rebel

Top row swatched L to R: Innocence, Gullible Blade, Gun Metal, Underground and Noir

Bottom Row L to R: Intoxicated, Envy, Obnoxious, Abyss, Twilight and Rebel

Here's a quick colour breakdown:

Innocence- a silvery white with a pearl finish
Gullible-a pale nude with a pearl finish
Blade-a medium cool-toned silver gray with a pearl finish
Gun Metal-a dark gray with a pearl finish
Underground-a black satin finish
Noir-a matte black
Intoxicated-dark green with a pearl finish
Envy-a black-green that falls somewhere between a pearl and satin finish
Obnoxious-a blue-purple with a satin finish
Abyss-a deep navy with a purple shimmer in a satin/matte finish
Twilight-a deep cool-toned purple with a pearl finish
Rebel-a warm deep purple in a matte finish

For $12 bucks if you love the deeper jewel colours this is definitely a palette to consider. Some of the colours are a tad chalky like I said earlier and they were Underground, Envy and Twlight, but overall this is an awesome palette to have.

My favorite colours from this palette include Obnoxious, Abyss, Rebel and Blade.

*I'm working on my February Favorites and they will be up sometime this week so check back soon*

Flaring & Blogging

Flaring is such a pain in the ass...and the back, shoulders, stomach, etc but it is something anyone with a chronic illness has to deal with. I've had a rough few days and while it hasn't been a full blown flare it has been bad enough to slow me down and it had forced me to take it easy to try and avoid a full blown flare. 

I've been working on getting some posts written so that when I am flaring I don't have to worry about writing and posting and having Lipsticks & Spoons go dormant. I do have a post scheduled to go up tomorrow morning and will hopefully have posts up Wednesday and Friday as well. I am hoping to have my February Favorites up for Wednesday so check back soon if you want to see what I've been loving and hating in the past month.

I'll give you a hint 

Until next time, gentle hugs!

Hit or Hate

I bought this Marc Anthony Deep Repair Body Lotion two days ago while out at Walmart. It retails for $7.97 for 16.9 fl.oz. I had gone to look for a different body lotion, which they did not have but while I was browsing I decided to try this one. 

I have extremely dry and itchy skin and am always slathering on body lotions and butters. I feel like I can blame the weather, allergies and fibromyalgia for this but in any case it's not going to completely go away anytime soon SO, I'm forced to find some relief anyway I can.

Anyway, back to this lotion. So far I love it. It absorbs pretty quickly and I have noticed a difference in my itchiness and dry skin since I started using it.

As far as I'm concerned this is a hit! 

Nails of the Week

Lately I have been all about nail polish strips. They are easier to apply than actual nail polish an I find they last a lot longer on my nails than actual nail polish. 

If you aren't familiar with nail polish strips or how to apply them I'll give you a quick rundown. Nail polish strips are basically nail polish. Once you open a package, they will dry out. Each box comes with 2 foil packages of strips with 8 each in a variety of sizes, a nail file and a cuticle stick. Once you get the hang of applying them and depending on the size of your nails you may be able to only use 1 package for all 10 nails. Each strip is long enough that you can generally get 2 nails done out of 1 strip. 

Apply the nail polish strips:

Basically to get started you want clean and dry nails so that the nail polish will adhere to your nails. You may also want to give your nails a quick swipe with some nail polish just to make sure there is nothing on your nails.

Choose a nail strip that will fit you nail, peel off the clear plastic cover and then peel the strip off the backing paper and break off the silver tab at the end of the strip.

Gently apply the nail strip to your nail and smooth the strip over your nail. Once the strip is in place, either use the nail file to remove the rest of the strip or you can use a nail to separate the remainder then go in with the nail file to ensure all excess is removed. For some reason I HATE using the file to remove the excess but I'm weird and that may just be me!

Repeat on the remainder of your nails and then you just have to give it a little bit of time and the nail polish strips will dry and you are all done!

It is a relatively easy way to do your nails without having to use liquid nail polish. Sometimes I just do not have the patience or energy to deal with actual nail polish and this is a good way to get fun nails without having to do too much work.

Finished nails using Sally Hansen Salon Effects

Sally Hansen Salon Effects in 235 Check, Please!

The ones I love most are the Sally Hamsen Salon Effects ones and I'm lucky enough to be able to find these at Dollarama for $2. They normally retail for about $8.97 at Walmart and while I love them I don't often feel the need to buy them at full price. That's not to say I won't in the future but right now nope!

Have you used nail polish strips before? Did you find them worth the cost?

Mini Essence Haul

Is it still a haul even if it is only 3 items? I dunno...anyways I recently picked up 3 Essence lipsticks...I love Essence and I cannot think of even one item I have from that brand that I hate or even dislike. Not only are the products awesome they are super inexpensive too!

Essence Longlasting Lipstick in Porcelain Doll

Essence Longlasting Lipstick in Cool Nude

Essence Liquid Lipstick in Beauty Secret

Swatches Left to Right: Porcelain Doll, Cool Nude, Beauty Secret (flash)

Swatches Left to Right: Porcelain Doll, Cool Nude, Beauty Secret (no flash)

Overall I like the colours, however Porcelain Doll is very light on my skin tone so it is one that I add just a little bit of another colour to darken it up a bit. Cool Nude is definitely my favorite colour of these three. Beauty Secret is also nice and I like the colour but it is just a bit sticky. I blotted it a little bit to cut some of the stickiness.

Porcelain Doll and Cool Nude are $2.99 and Beauty Secret is $3.49 at Shoppers Drug Mart, which as far as I know is the only Canadian retailer for Essence. 

Have you tried any of the Essence line? Did you like it?

February Ipsy Haul

Since I got my February Ispy bag a few days ago I decided it was about time I got up a post about what I got in my Glam Bag. If you aren't familiar with Ipsy, I'll give you a quick rundown. Ipsy is a monthly beauty and makeup subscription service, were every month you get 5 deluxe and full-sized products. Additionally each month your products come in a new makeup bag! It is a really good way to try brands and products you normally wouldn't buy or even be able to easily get wherever you live.

Subscription costs: $10/month for US and Canada plus $4.95 shipping for Canada. Also, it's important to know that for fellow Canadians the monthly price "changes" depending on the exchange rate so you will generally be paying between $14-20/month.

My bag is just just one possible combination of items available this month and here it is!

February's Glam Bag

 Trust Fund Beauty in I'm Kind of a Big Deal

This is a full-size item in a gorgeous pink shade. It is the colour I'm wearing in the photo on the right. 

It is: Non-toxic

long-wearing and cruelty-free!

I've been wearing this polish for 2 days now and while I have had some chipping, it isn't anything too bad.

Next up is this lipstick pencil by Chella in Passionate Pink (on the left).  I have swatched this colour on my arm only so far and it is a really pretty colour, although I don't know that it is one I'd wear often. It doesn't set and will smear, so you will likely have to reapply often.

On the right is the Paula Dorf Baby Eyes Enhancer. Again I have only swatched on my arm but given that it can be worn on the waterline to brighten the eyes it is one I will get a lot of use out of I'm sure.

Both these are deluxe sample sizes.

Swatches of Paula Dorf Baby Eyes Enhancer and Passionate Pink by Chella. 

This is the Smashbox Primer Oil and I used it yesterday and I love it! Bummed that it is so expensive for a full-size but definitely something I would consider buying later seeing as how much I liked it. It absorbed almost instantly and a little goes a long way. I also loved how much easier it made my BB cream go on.

Last up is this crystal nail file by Margaret Dabbs London. I've seen some people complaining online about getting a nail file in their glam bags but I for one am happy about it. This one is a very fine grain file which I find works better for my nails. My nails are very prone to splitting and breaking easily and sometimes with traditional nail files I notice splitting a lot more after use. I've never noticed that after using a crystal file. I'm also impressed that it held up in shipping, since I know a lot of people had theirs broken in transit.

This is a full-sized item.

If you are subscribed to Ipsy, what did you get in your February Glam Bag? What was your favorite or least favorite item?

If you aren't subscribed to Ipsy and you are interested in subscribing you can sign up here.

Makeup of the Day

Today's makeup consisted of very few products but some of my favorite ones. I almost always make an effort to at least put on mascara before leaving the house but today I had a little bit more energy so I did a bit more.

Been trying the Sephora Instant Moisturizer for the past 2 weeks and so far I'm loving it...it's light but really does the trick. I haven't found any foundations that I truly like, but I have a few B.B. creams I love including this one by L'Oreal. My go-to concealer has been the Maybelline Master Conceal in 10 Fair. I've been using this one under the eyes and forehead for highlighting/brightening up more than concealing but it works and I love it. Super easy to blend out using a beauty sponge (I use the Real Techniques one).

Next up on is eyes. I got this eye primer in an Ipsy bag a month or 2 ago and haven't used it a lot so I can't say if I like it or not yet. Seems like it does a good job and I don't completely hate it so we'll see. I'll do an update at a late date. Next 2 products are both by Essence (hands down one of my favorite drugstore brands ever!) The eyeshadow is number 21 Keep Calm and Berry On...first time using it today but I like it. It's easy to blend and has good wear-time, which for less than $3.00 (Canadian) is pretty awesome. Next up is Essence Lash Princess False Lash Effect mascara and I cannot express just how much I LOVE this mascara. It is better than some of the higher end brands I've tried and I will without a doubt continue to buy this mascara. It is definitely a holy grail product for me!

Last up I used a little of this Pixi Beauty Bronzer in Summertime and just a dab of this ModelCo Highlighting trio in Champagne (the top colour). Both these products are ones that I got in previous Ipsy bags and while I love them both, I don't know that I would go out of my way to re-purchase when I run out.