Sleek my life

I recently, well recently meaning like a month ago, decided to try the Sleek products. I have been in research of an affordable bb cream and I’ve been following a lot of british beauty bloggers (oh, how lucky you are for the prices and availability in your country you’ll never know!) and someone mentioned the Sleek bb cream. They said that it is the closest thing a western company made to the original Asian bb creams. Being massively disappointed by the Garnier one, being runny and feeling just like a tinted moisturizer really, I decided to give it a go. I’ve never heard of the brand before, my country is not the perfect destination for beauty shopping, so I just visited their website and started browsing. I found a lot of stuff that I would love to try but the pricing was not cut to my budget. However, since I was paying the ridiculous 7.99€ shipping charge, which I'm happy to announce that they have reduced to 1.72€ for Europe, I couldn’t resist; however, I restricted myself only to an item I really needed. I’m running out of my MAC pressed powder so I was looking for a cheaper alternative. Placed the order and crossed my fingers! 

First things first, the elegantly packaged Be Beautiful Blemish Balm. It comes in a generous 50ml tube and I got it in the shade 'light'; as it turned out not that a wise decision. The shade is a little bit dark for my skin tone; I’ve tried blending it really well or applying it with the Cosmopolitan Blend Perfection Sponge, still not a perfect match. They also do a lighter shade (‘fair’), however, I’m guessing that since the one I’ve got is wearable the other one would be way too light. The best solution would be a mixture of the two but each costs 10.99€ so let’s do the math! In terms of texture I find it really good.

It’s got SPF 15, it’s not runny like the other bb creams I’ve tried, blends easily and is pigmented enough to provide medium to full coverage. However, it transfers everywhere, literally; on my hands, on my clothes, on the phone I use at work, EVERYWHERE! I guess this is the disadvantage of a more like a foundation product although it is water-based. 

I was also surprised to find that it does wonders for my pores, even if I wear it alone with no base. I’ve tried it both with a moisturizer and alone and I found that it moisturizes my skin enough on its own. It also gives the skin a nice glow which us with oily/combination skins do not usually like. It definitely needs a setting powder on top, but after that it lasts for a good 5-6 hours without blotting. 

As if I had guessed that I would need a powder to set that (!) I went for the superior cover pressed powder which retails at 7.99€ on their website. 

This is a really nice one. It provides full coverage and a matte finish. However, as you can see in the pictures, sleek has not been thoughtful enough of us pale ones and even their lightest shade ‘biscuit’ is way too dark for my skin. 

The only way I can use it is with an airbrush to just mattify my skin without getting too much pigmentation out of it. I also use it for contouring; during winter when I get ‘Snow White’ white it looks pretty good and subtle. Other than that it is useless to me and that’s a shame because I really liked the texture and was looking forward to using it with the bb cream.

Have you tried any of the Sleek products? Any suggestions for a powder for fairer skin tones?