Neutral Blushes

Comparisons & Swatches

Throughout the year, I have purchased many blushes. After getting Tarte's Exposed, I looked at my blush collection and noticed that I have two other "neutral" blushes, so I decided to compare them to see the difference. The blushes that I will be comparing is Tarte's Exposed, Sleek's Suede, and MAC Cosmetics Darkly My Dear.

Exposed, Suede, Darkly My Dear

From the swatches, you can tell that they would all make nice everyday neutral blushes, but they are definitely not the same.

Tarte's Exposed is a pink-nude
Sleek's Suede is a peach-nude
MAC Cosmetics Darkly My Dear is a plum-nude.

They all have a matte finish, and are very pigmented. I think my favorite from the comparisons is Darkly My Dear, but it was a Limited Edition blush that came out two Holiday seasons ago for the Venomous Villains collection. The other two, Tarte Exposed and Sleek Suede are in their permanent line with Tarte retailing for $25 and Sleek retailing for $5.99.

Now, being the blush hoarder that I am, I'm interested in trying NARS Douceur, which is also a neutral blush that is described as a soft pink-brown.

What do you think of these blushes? Are there any other neutral blushes that you would recommend me?

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Sleek Suede Blush

Swatches & Review
Sleek's Suede Blush was part of their Nude collection about a year ago. Since the collection, they have made Suede part of their permanent blush line. With that said, Suede is supposed to be a neutral blush and I have been looking for a nice neutral blush for the winter season.

In the pan, it looks like a pink-ish tan, which is a nice shade for neutral.

The swatches show it more tan than the pan does, and it leans kind of peach-ish. The blush itself is very smooth and not powdery. Since it is more of a neutral shade, I used a few swipes when I used it for it to show up a bit more. When I received this, I was surprised how small it is, but I think that it would actually last a while.

Compared to an Altoids tin box.

Overall, I think this is a nice blush for the winter. I have been curious to try "nude" blushes (I have to try Tarte's Exposed!) and this was a nice one to start with. It is definitely affordable & Sleek now offers cheaper shipping (depending on weight) than the flat-rate $10 it was before. This blush contains 0.27oz of product and retails for $5.99. What do you think about sleek blushes? What is your favorite blush for the cooler weather?

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Sleek MakeUP i-Divine Sunset Palette

Swatches & Review
I decided to make another order on Sleek two weeks ago when they were having a 20% off deal because they revamped their site & now has lower shipping rates! When I first placed my order back in March, their shipping was a flat $10, but now, it varies by weight. Unlike last time, I actually received all my items, which is definitely good. When I placed my order, I ordered their i-Divine palette in Sunset since I did not own any.

Sleek's Sunset palette consists of a lot of red, coppery, orange shades, which reminds me of the sunset. This palette did not come with names for the shades so I just swatched them according to the top row and bottom row.

The top row has more vibrant shades than the bottom row. I love the orange so much! It is super bright and sticks out the most from the rest of them. All, but the black was pigmented. These were swatched without primer, so the black may show up more if I used primer under it?

The bottom row is more on the neutral side than bold, but they are still amazing! I also swatched these without a primer.
Overall, I am impressed with this palette. For $10 USD, the eyeshadows are really smooth and buttery. From swatching them, only the black color was rough compared to the other shades. Some of these have fall out since they are so smooth, but tapping your brush will help with the fall out. The only thing I wish there were are more matte shades. The only matte shade in the palette is black, while the rest are shimmery-metallic. Other than that, I definitely want to try more of their palettes. What palettes do you recommend? Have you tried Sleek i-Divines?

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Sleek; Flame Blush Palette

Swatches & Review

This is the Flame palette from Sleek's Blush by 3 palette line. Given the name, this palette contains blushes that are red. Furnace is a bronzed red. I feel that this was one of the less pigmented color in the set, but it is actually not that bad because if it was really pigmented, you can easily put too much on your cheeks when so if you want it to look more intense, you can always layer it. Furnace also has a bit of a shimmer to it, but it's not that noticeable once it is blended out. Bon Fire is a deep, bold matte red. It is like a WOW kind of bright red. I actually really like this color. This is the most pigmented blush out of the three and if you don't apply this color with a light hand, it can easily make you look like you have clown cheeks. Molten is a lighter red with subtle shimmer to it. When it is blended out, it looks like a light red, almost pink. It looks bright in the pan, but it does not look to intense on the cheeks.

Furnace, Bon Fire, Molten

Overall, I like the Flame palette, but not as much as I liked the Pumpkin blush by 3. I am still annoyed at the fact that Sleek is still not responding to my e-mail or twitter messages to them. I don't mean to sound annoying, but it has been over a month and I still have not gotten a response from them about my missing palette! Anyway, the color I liked the most from this palette is Bon Fire. I have never tried any red blushes so I took a leap and ordered this to just try it out. When I first tried Bon Fire, I applied too much and I ended up looking like a doll! It was quite hilarious. I also like that Bon Fire can be used as a nice red eyeshadow. I mean, you can use all the colors as an eyeshadow as well, but Bon Fire looks the best on the eyes and it has not stained so that's is always a plus! What do you think about this palette? Like it? Love it? Let me know! :)

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Sleek; Pumpkin Blush Palette

Swatches & Review

This is the Pumpkin Blush palette from Sleek's Blush by 3 line. It was limited edition for spring sold at Superdrug stores in the UK, but from what I know now, it will remain as a permanent item on SleekMakeUP's website. I have never owned anything from Sleek MakeUP prior to purchasing these blushes so I was pretty excited. As stated in my previous post, I have purchased three blush by 3 palettes. Unfortunately, I have no received my blush palette in LACE and no one is getting back to me from Sleek.
The Pumpkin palette consists of a red, a pink, and a orange color blush. Lantern is a red blush with gold shimmer to it. The shimmer is subtle on the cheeks and it does not look like it is filled with chunky amounts of glitter when applied. Squash is a matte pink blush. The pink is bright, but not a hot pink bright. When it is applied with a lighthand, it can look pretty neutral on the cheeks. P Pie is a matte orange. This color took me by surprise because I thought that this color would be the color I would use the least. However, I have been using P Pie all week! When applied with a lighthand, the color gives my cheeks a sunkissed glow and it seems very flattering on my skintone. Although it looks super bright in the pan, it is not very intense on the skin (unless you want it to be intense, then don't apply it with a lighthand).

Lantern, Squash, P Pie

Overall, I really like these blushes. They are really pigmented and they blend out easily. I was really impressed with how pigmented these are and they definitely live up to my expectations considering a lot of people rave about these. I purchased these online from their website and they are $15.99 each. Shipping was $10 for me to have it shipped to California, which is pretty pricey, but the shipping price stays the same regardless of how much you order (I ordered three and shipping stayed the same), so I guess if you want to order, you should make a group order or consider ordering a lot. Each blush contains about .23oz, making it a total of 0.68oz, which is definitely a good deal considering a NARS blush alone is 0.16oz for $28. The only downside is their customer service. Since I was missing a blush, I e-mailed them and I am still waiting for a response (it has been about a week and a half), but I was okay with it considering that it was a bank holiday(?) for them last weekend. However, I have tried to ask them via twitter and they have not responded to it as well, while the retweet other people positive feedback for them?... Other than their customer service, I highly recommend this palette. Oh, and watch out when opening the palette because if you place your hand on the back while opening it, it WILL pinch and it WILL hurt a lot. I have learned my lesson and I now open the palette with something else below it. What do you think? Own it? Love it?

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Sleek; Blush by 3

Remember when I blogged a post about Sleek's Blush by 3 becoming available online and I purchased some? Well, they have arrived! I was actually surprised it came a week after it was shipped out because I have heard stories from how some people in the United States would not get theirs until about a month after because of customs. So the shipping to me was incredibly fast! It arrived on Monday, but it was at my boyfriend's house, so I did not have to chance to get it until today. I was super excited, but when I opened it, I found that there was only two palettes in there, instead of the three that I have ordered. My invoice was also in there and it has three palettes listed on it so I have contacted them, and I am currently waiting for their response.
Anyway, these were a lot smaller than I thought. I compared it to my NARS Danmari Blush palette so you can see the size difference. Although they are small, they seem to pack a lot of product at around 0.23oz per blush, which is not bad at all! The two palettes I have pictured are Flame and Pumpkin. I used my phone to take these since I do not currently have a camera on me, so I will also provide swatches later. Although one of the palettes were missing and I was charged for it, I was still super excited to get them! They are my first Sleek makeup products and I'm excited to try them!
What do you guys think of these? Own them? Planning on getting them? Let me know! :)

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Sleek; Blush by 3

Okay, I so heard about Sleek coming out with new blush palettes that are limited edition so I have been waiting a bit over a month for them to make it online so I can purchase it, since I am in the US. A few sellers have been already selling them on eBay for about $25 per palette. However, I have been checking the Sleek site almost daily because I love blush palettes and I have never tried Sleek before and I am happy to say, Sleek's Blush by 3 is out on their website now! They are $15.99 for each palette. There are supposed to be 5 different palettes, but as of now, they are only showing as 4 in Lace, Flame, Pumpkin and Sugar. I went and ordered the three I have been eying on so I will blog it once I receive it! & I assume they are having an overwhelming amount of orders considering they just recently had a weekend sale where shipping is half off. The only downside is shipping, which is $10, but if you order more than 1 palette like I did, it makes each palette come out to about $20, which is still cheaper than buying one on eBay and paying additional postage for it, so if you have been wanting Sleek's blush palette, I think you should get it, now! :D

Image from Sleekmakeup

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