I was one of the first beauty-bloggers to start talking about Sleek (probably) but I have, perhaps, neglected to mention that they do make more than just the iDivine palettes I love so much. Jen made me laugh yesterday when she said that she'd 'always wondered whether or not Sleek made other products', so I decided this review was overdue.
Yes, Sleek do make other things, and in fact, they just finished making a new one. I've listened to them rave on and on about their new Pout Polish tinted lip conditioners with SPF15 so finally gave in and picked one up.
I've never tried a tinted lip conditioner before, so unfortunately I can't compare this to the MAC counter-part, although I've used lip balms, Vaseline and MAC Prep + Prime for the lips.
Sleek Pout Polish - Pink Cadillac Review
What's all This, Then?
Sleek MakeUP is proud to announce the newest member to its lip range; welcome the “POUT POLISH,” a tinted lip conditioner that provides a sheer gloss finish.
As well as looking good, your lips will feel good as POUT POLISH contains SP15 to protect your lips from harmful rays. Highly conditioning POUT POLISH contains shea butter, almond jojoba and avocado oil to deeply nourish your lips so you can pucker up with confidence.
As if this wasn’t enough reason to make POUT POLISH your latest handbag essential this small pot of goodness has added flavour, so if you have a sneaky lick of your lips you will be met with a subtle hint of vanilla.
Sleek's new line of Pout Polishes consists of four colours; Pink Cadillac, Electro Peach, Chocolate Kiss and Perfect Plum. I picked up Pink Cadillac, which is quite a bright hot-Barbie-pink, although darker than my preferred bubblegum blue-pinks.
Covers are for Judging.
I really love the packaging. They come in these wide little plastic jars, with nice matte black lids. I love matte surfaces, since they feel really smooth and tactile, and you get a decent amount - 10g - in this slim little pot. It's pocket-friendly, since it's wide and flat instead of deep, so it'll slide neatly into tiny purses or combat jeans' pockets alike.
Like any tin or pot lip balm you have to apply it with your fingers, which means sticking your finger into the product - not the most hygienic method, but honestly even if it came in a squeezey tube I'd want to use my fingers anyway, so I could really rub it into my lips.
My only small complaint is that although they're subtly flavoured with vanilla, I'm not keen on the taste. It's not very noticeable after a few minutes, and it's not unpleasant, I just don't particularly like vanilla.
The product itself is pretty pigmented, I was surprised by the colour payoff because I expected something to be more sheer. It's not comparable to say, an Illamasqua Intense Gloss, for instance, but you can tell it's definitely on your lips and it adds a little colour with minimal fussing. It won't cover your natural lip colour, but rather tint it, and it had better colour pay-off than the ludicrously popular Lancome Juicy Jubes (which are utterly pointless), for example.
Here's a swatch of Pink Cadillac, and a picture of it on my lips, so you can see what I mean.
Pink Cadillac on my ghostly-pale hand.
And on my not-so-pale lips.
Like any tin or pot lip balm you have to apply it with your fingers, which means sticking your finger into the product - not the most hygienic method, but honestly even if it came in a squeezey tube I'd want to use my fingers anyway, so I could really rub it into my lips.
My only small complaint is that although they're subtly flavoured with vanilla, I'm not keen on the taste. It's not very noticeable after a few minutes, and it's not unpleasant, I just don't particularly like vanilla.
The Ronseal Factor.
The product itself is pretty pigmented, I was surprised by the colour payoff because I expected something to be more sheer. It's not comparable to say, an Illamasqua Intense Gloss, for instance, but you can tell it's definitely on your lips and it adds a little colour with minimal fussing. It won't cover your natural lip colour, but rather tint it, and it had better colour pay-off than the ludicrously popular Lancome Juicy Jubes (which are utterly pointless), for example.
Here's a swatch of Pink Cadillac, and a picture of it on my lips, so you can see what I mean.
Pink Cadillac on my ghostly-pale hand.
And on my not-so-pale lips.
I didn't bother to exfoliate my lips or prep them in any way at all when I applied this, I just smeared some on straight out of the pot in about ten seconds. I was really, really surprised by the result. Normally my lips don't look that full without scrubbing at them with an exfoliator, conditioning, rinse and repeat. Instead of having to scrub off my dry skin, the Pout Polish actually made it, and the rest of my lips, soft and smooth.
Whereas every other conditioner I've used on my lips has pretty much just made the dry skin slippery, it actually did make my whole mouth feel soft. The effect remained after I'd licked most of it off, and now I begin every lipstick application with this, since it's the best priming product I've found for my lips. I can use a gloss directly over it, with nice effects, without worrying about it gunking up or conjealing on my lips, if I want more pigmentation. I can also apply it, leave it and then blot it off and apply lipstick, gloss etc over the top to use it just as a conditioner - this works particularly well with NYX Lipsticks, since they're thinner than expensive ones and tend to show up all my lips' imperfections.
Also, it contains SPF15! Although I don't really see the necessity of SPF in lip products (perhaps because I don't live somewhere hot), I'm certainly happy to have it.
Although the rest of the colours don't really appeal to me, I think I'll get them anyway, because I'm so impressed with the product, if nothing else I'd have a wider variety of bases to use under other lip products. I really hope a colourless version of this will be available, one day, so I can use it as a base without blotting the colour away, since it condenses my lip colour application into seconds instead of the long routine it used to be.
The shade selection isn't huge, but as it's a new product I hope they have plans to expand it if it's a success. It's readily available in Superdrug stores which stock Sleek (yes, unfortunately we still have to deal with utterly inept Superdrug staff) but not available on Superdrug's website yet and Sleek's online store is still under construction. Considering how much I hate the service I get at Superdrug, I think it says a lot about how great Sleek is that I'm willing to shop there for it.
Whereas every other conditioner I've used on my lips has pretty much just made the dry skin slippery, it actually did make my whole mouth feel soft. The effect remained after I'd licked most of it off, and now I begin every lipstick application with this, since it's the best priming product I've found for my lips. I can use a gloss directly over it, with nice effects, without worrying about it gunking up or conjealing on my lips, if I want more pigmentation. I can also apply it, leave it and then blot it off and apply lipstick, gloss etc over the top to use it just as a conditioner - this works particularly well with NYX Lipsticks, since they're thinner than expensive ones and tend to show up all my lips' imperfections.
Also, it contains SPF15! Although I don't really see the necessity of SPF in lip products (perhaps because I don't live somewhere hot), I'm certainly happy to have it.
A Bird in the Hand...
Although the rest of the colours don't really appeal to me, I think I'll get them anyway, because I'm so impressed with the product, if nothing else I'd have a wider variety of bases to use under other lip products. I really hope a colourless version of this will be available, one day, so I can use it as a base without blotting the colour away, since it condenses my lip colour application into seconds instead of the long routine it used to be.
The shade selection isn't huge, but as it's a new product I hope they have plans to expand it if it's a success. It's readily available in Superdrug stores which stock Sleek (yes, unfortunately we still have to deal with utterly inept Superdrug staff) but not available on Superdrug's website yet and Sleek's online store is still under construction. Considering how much I hate the service I get at Superdrug, I think it says a lot about how great Sleek is that I'm willing to shop there for it.
The Skippable-to Bit.
N.B. If you are confused by the "Ronseal" factor, it refers to a brand of woodcare products which used the strapline "Does exactly what it says on the tin", hence, this product does what it claims.Overall, I love it. Sleek have kept up their great quality and value with this new product, and it deserves all the hype it's getting, considering just how well it moisturises and softens my lips - far, far better than my £10 MAC Prep + Prime stick. The pigmentation is fair given that it's a sheer gloss finish, the packaging is lovely and the price is great, since it makes it an affordable possibility to own all the shades. After trying this, I'm definitely keen to try the rest of Sleek's lip products.
Numerical values sum it up beautifully, don't they?
Price: £3.91
Where?: Superdrug stores.
Look & Feel: 4/5 - Love the packaging, but not keen on the vanilla taste.
Quality: 5/5 - Pigmented enough, moisturising, softening, and added SPF15.
Value: 5/5
Sleek, ditch the flavouring, make more shades, and I'd buy shares in it.
Price: £3.91
Where?: Superdrug stores.
Look & Feel: 4/5 - Love the packaging, but not keen on the vanilla taste.
Quality: 5/5 - Pigmented enough, moisturising, softening, and added SPF15.
Value: 5/5
Overall: 4.5/5
Sleek, ditch the flavouring, make more shades, and I'd buy shares in it.
EOTDs created using these palettes:
27 comments:
I want I want I want!! Okay when are they going to start selling or shipping here. I mean come on.
16 September 2009 00:20Okay enough of my rant. The lippies look like the MAC lip tints or whatever they are called. I love vanilla and I want Pink Cadillac. Simply gorgeous.
I want to try one of MAC's equivalent tinted lip conditioners so that I can properly compare. I don't feel like paying out so much for one, though :S
16 September 2009 00:26OMG WANT.
16 September 2009 01:06(Wow, that was eloquent.)
Rofl, Jaimi! I was going to e-mail you about it, actually.
16 September 2009 01:08*Disappears to do so.*
I'm with Jamie.
16 September 2009 01:20Wants.
I can always send you one with your GOSH stuff, they're a permanent line, so they should be around for a while.
16 September 2009 01:24They're 2 for £6.99 too, but I forgot to post that.
Ehn! Gimme!
16 September 2009 01:56I was lucky enough to win a contest and I got to try out the original Sleek palette (which I love to death!). I wish it was easier to get Sleek out in the US...I can't even find it on Ebay :o( I'm a sad panda!
Great review on this, btw. I keep seeing this on a lot of UK blogs and I just figured they all got them for free and so they wrote "yeah I like them" ;/ uh...not helpful? I wish I could get my paws on these!
Thank you! I always worry my posts are too long, but I have a lot to say. There are plenty of bloggers who struggle with a paragraph, I suppose, if people want to read short things.
16 September 2009 02:04Your poor, sad, deprived panda paws!
Come October Sleek are opening over 100 new counters in Superdrug stores around the UK, but about their online store they just say "launching soon" and I don't know if they'll be offering US shipping when it is up.
I'd love to be able to offer to forward Sleek stuff to people en masse, but it didn't work out so well last time...
Your lips look drop dead sexy in that lippy.
16 September 2009 02:15Why thenk you ;3
16 September 2009 02:17I'm not blessed with the poutiest plumpest lips, and normally I'd just leave the house without lipstick since exfoliating etc is a pain. This stuff is a liiifeesaaaver. Or, at least, a lipsaver.
I've been using Sleek since I was about 14 and I'm 28 now so all the attention it gets now cos of its makeover amuses my friends and I greatly.
16 September 2009 02:54They will be shipping to the states when the online store goes live but when they will who knows cos they're been hyping it up all year! The LE palettes won't be on the site though, only the perm ones.
I'm in no rush to get these though and will stick to the MAC tendertones I have at the moment.
I'm almost glad these are hard to get in the US, otherwise I'd probably be getting them all right now! I think the plum will look great on- it looks like a raisiny, red-plum, perfect for the Snow White look.
16 September 2009 03:43Sleek is doing a blogger event in New York soon, so I imagine they're either getting ready to launch in the states or go live w/ the online shop. In the meantime, I was able to find the iDivine Acid palette on Ebay, but I had to go to Ebay.co.uk, not the US site.
Never realised they were such an old company, Vex. Irrespective of their makeover though, their products are great, I think they deserve every success :]
16 September 2009 03:45I feel that way about a lot of US-only stuff, Jessica. I didn't know about the event, that sounds pretty exciting.
16 September 2009 03:47Although I partly want to keep Sleek to myself, mostly I'm looking forward to them finally being more available to everyone, particularly as I go on about them and most of my readerbase is American.
They should do Target like Boots did with their line. They could do Sephora but since they aren't an expensive line it probably isn't worth it to them. Or even one of our drug stores - CVS, Walgreens or Rite-Aid, just please NOT Walmart - ugggg I hate them.
16 September 2009 03:54I'm massively envious. *sigh*. I did a look using my acid palette. It was rad for me and I really liked it. :O)
I want it too! It looks gorgeous on you Ana!
16 September 2009 12:58I hope their online store will be ready soon. They've been talking about it for months now, it's about time it goes live!
Yo, An!
16 September 2009 16:49I've decided to follow your blog every day, and i've noticed that you stopped replying in the Aion comments page, so i'll post here, in lack of a better location...
I have been told by an undisclosed third party that you like to READ alot, and that you like SciFi, so i have some cool stuff for you to read from the Eve Online universe...
http://www.eveonline.com/background/potw/
That link has short stories called the Eve Chronicles, they persent events and characters from the fictional Eve online universe :)
There's a lot of reading to do, but you like reading so i figured you'd like this too...
There is also an Eve book, called Eve: The Empyrean Age
You can buy it here if you want:
http://store.eve-online.com/EVE-The-Empyrean-Age-novel-hardcover-P128.aspx
Also, please make your chat box again, i hate having to comment on random posts just to tell you about something cool that you might like and use for your blog...
I think CherryCulture or any other merchant that stocks NYX products would be a good outlet for Sleek, too, Tala. Sephora is definitely too high-end, I think Sleek have a younger market.
17 September 2009 00:53I wish they'd hurry up with the website, I think we'd all prefer it looked like shit and was actually live and functioning rather than waiting ages for whatever they've got in mind.
Thank you, Gio! I want to try it in Plum, now. Still, it will have to wait for a while.
17 September 2009 00:54Seeing how many people want this makes me think of doing it as a giveaway, but a single one seems too small so I'd need something else. Any ideas? Anything you've seen me review you really want?
Ed, you're talking to undisclosed third parties about me, now? Stalker-much?
17 September 2009 00:56All the EVE info is a bit overwhelming. I know you obviously want me to like it, but I'll try it when I get around to it (I'm using a WoW trial atm) and then I'll let you know. I prefer the setting of fantasy MMORPGs over sci-fi ones even though I like sci-fi TV, so we'll have to see what I make of it.
I'll re-introduce the shoutbox providing you promise to behave like an adult.
Heh, i was joking about the "undisclosed third party", An, i ain't THAT weird :)
17 September 2009 11:35The so called "undisclosed third party" is your profile page XD
And yes, i promise :)
Ok, so I just tried EVE for all of 5 minutes and absolutely hate it.
17 September 2009 22:28Did you not hear me say that the two things I look for in an MMO are 1) PvE content and 2) Nice character models? Eve doesn't even HAVE character models? I'm not spending hours staring at my ship's arse. No.
On top of that, I enter having no idea how to move, start doing the little tutorial and start getting shot at by some training drone, having absolutely no idea what to do about it, can't see whatever "health" I have and how it's being affected, how to move AWAY from the drone or attack it back.
No no no no no. Eve is not for me. Not one bit.
Ana these look very similar to the MAC TLC's, but of course with a much better price point ~ I want! Pink Cadillac actually looks almost exactly like the MAC Hello Kitty TLC in Popster, a fun fuchsia shade that I didn't love so much on me, but that looked fabulous on just about everyone else.
17 September 2009 22:35I'm currently toiling away at work (or at least I should be) and hoping to sneak out when the partners aren't looking!
And Edward proves himself to be a giant asshole, again.
18 September 2009 12:28<3
Quite right, Auranie.
18 September 2009 17:26I've been trying to track you down =[ e-mail me or something?
I just started playing Champions Online, I'm not sure if I like it yet, but the character customisation options are great.
It'd be great if you did a giveaway! Mmm let me think... The Gosh brushes maybe? I've been really curious to try them ever since you said they are better than MAC brushes.
18 September 2009 19:01Or what about some Barry M stuff? Have you tried their new blushes? I've heard good things about them even though the packaging isn't that great. Although I'm a bit scared to try them cos they seem to be very pigmented and I wouldn't wanna end up looking like a clown!
I'm not sure what else, I will have a think. But anything that's hard to get outside the UK would be good.
i love these too! such great pay off and well in budget! Great shades too, i would like to see some more nude colours come out or ones with a golden sheen or something.
19 December 2009 20:31Post a Comment