Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Dark Flair

Sleek i-Divine Eyeshadow Palette in Arabian Nights was a complete impulse buy. I was freshly showered, in bed and casually browsing social media on my iPad before planning to nod off, when I saw a 30% off coupon at Luxola. Having never heard of the site before, I followed the link, looked through the brands they stocked, and the rest is history. I was debating between Arabian Nights and Garden of Eden and for a moment had both in my cart, but in the end, online swatches of Arabian Nights edged out Garden of Eden, which had about 3 too many green shades for my liking.







Top row: Scheherazade's Tale, Gold Souk, Aladdin's Lamp, Sultan's Garden, Hocus Pocus, Simbad's Seas
Bottom row: Genie, Black Magic, Stallion, Sorcerer, Valley of Diamonds, 1001 Nights


Scheherazade's Tale is a pink/peach shimmery highlight. Gold Souk is chunky foil gold. Aladdin's Lamp is a taupey dark bronze with a pewter undertone. Sultan's Garden is a patchy moss green with goldish emerald sparkles. Hocus Pocus is a vibrant, gleaming, jewel-tone emerald. Simbad's Seas is a concentrated, jewel-tone ultramarine/sapphire blue.


Genie is a cool-tone, dark bronze with purplish sparkles. Black Magic is a dark greenish gunmetal. Stallion is a deep matte aubergine. Sorcerer is a metallic dark moss green. Valley of Diamonds is a dark royal purple with a sprinkling of copper glitter. 1001 Nights is a blackish hunter green.

The quality of Arabian Nights is on par with previous Sleek eyeshadow palettes I've reviewed, including Storm, Bad Girl and Oh So Special, which is to say there's always 2-3 relatively underwhelming shades and 1-2 standouts. In Arabian Nights, Sultan's Garden is quite sheer and Gold Souk was surprisingly difficult to pick up pigment-wise, despite both being shimmery shades that Sleek generally excel at. The only matte shadow in the palette, Stallion, was slightly dry and chalky, but had good colour payoff. Hocus Pocus and Simbad's Seas, two intense, eye-catching shades that wouldn't look out of place in the Tom Ford Emerald Lust quad, are the stars of the palette. It's debatable how much wear I'd get out of them though, considering I rarely stray from the safety zone of my beloved neutrals.

The main selling point of these i-Divine Eyeshadow Palettes is how affordable they are (generally under $20 at full price) and the sheer variety of interesting, original shades on offer that would otherwise be difficult to track down in comparable palettes or as single eyeshadows. Even if I might not reach for them with any regularity, as an eyeshadow enthusiast, I like having the option there should I ever be in a more creative or experimental mood, or simply want to play around with colours and looks. The shade selection of Arabian Nights might not be the most daytime appropriate or office friendly, but it's precisely the dramatic and exotic character of the palette that drew me in. (Being limited edition never hurts either.) Having said that, given how close in appearance dark shades are when applied on the lid, and the fact I've basically never touched my Bad Girl palette which also consists mostly of intense, deep shades, it's debatable whether Arabian Nights really adds all that much to my existing options.

17 comments:

  1. Loving the swatches, your mention of hunter green makes me want to add a shade like that into my collection!

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  2. I think that although these are quite "out there" colours they could be incorporated into your look in more subtle ways! I've been contemplating picking up some Zoeva brushes from Luxola and was wondering how the shipping time was for you?

    nueyork.blogspot.com

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    1. So, so good. Like, 3-4 days or something ridiculous given it shipped from Singapore to Sydney and it wasn't express or anything. Super happy with the shipping.

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  3. Sleek palettes are great, aren't they? I own 2 palettes from Sleek, the iDivine storm and Vintage Romance. Though I must say that I don't really reach for them often mainly because there are only 3-4 shades I really like from each palette. Good that they are affordable ^^
    Dark Flair is a good combination of shades. Genie and Aladin's Lamp are my favorite shades on this palette!

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  4. I love the dark jewel tones and probably wouldn't have resisted either. The only way you'll know whether it was really worth it is to spend time playing with it. One of these days I'll just go mad on Sleek.

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  5. I've been skiping their palettes but I agree, the affordable price is the main selling point
    this one actually looks good :3
    Take care*

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  6. Oooh I love the colours in this palette! x

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  7. I wish Sleek were readily available in the US - looks like a great palette! Even though some of them are colorful, I think it'd be easy to put them into a wearable eye look.

    becky ♡ star violet

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  8. I would get that palette for Simbad's Seas alone!

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  9. Beautiful colours. I prefer natural shades so I think Scheherezde's Tale is my favourite :)

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  10. Oooh Aladdin's Lamp & Stallion are beautiful shades!! I must hunt this one down!

    xo Romzs from runbarbierun.com

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  11. The colours are so gorgeous! I like the mix of 'safe neutrals' thrown in there to balance the more daring shades x

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  12. Awww you haven't used your bad girl palette that much? SEND IT OVER! I love your swatches, holy cow, Hocus Pocus and Sinbad's sea are my favorite shades! I just want those two! I almost ordered the garden of eden and I wanted it for the greens/brown but I realized how many neutrals I had and how the one muted lime green really threw me off!

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  13. I love Sleek's eyeshadow palettes - they're often in deals here in the UK so I've managed to get quite a mini collection of them! This new one looks gorgeous and agree that they're handy to have for all sorts of make-up looks x

    Evelyn @ We Were Raised By Wolves

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  14. I own the oh so special palette from sleek and I never use it, i really should more of an effort to rotate the use of my palettes! Love all the shade names in this palette, such a beautiful mix of jewel tones too! These seem like great colors for autumn and winter!

    Chloé⎪ à la foliee

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