Oh So Girly

Since purchasing Sleek i-Divine eyeshadow palettes in Storm and Bad Girl early last year, it's always been at the back of my mind to pick up some more. I was extremely tempted by Au Naturel (being a neutral fiend) and intrigued by the limited edition Me, Myself & Eye, but ultimately decided that if I were to limit myself to just one more, it had to be Oh So Special. I wasn't keen on ordering online from either the Sleek website or a local stockist, so when I found myself in Superdrug while holidaying in London, I pounced on the opportunity to buy Oh So Special without needing to pay for shipping or wait for it to be delivered.

l-r: Bow, Organza, Ribbon, Gift Basket, Glitz, Celebrate (top row)

Pamper, Gateau, The Mail, Boxed, Wrapped Up, Noir (bottom row)

l-r: Bow, Organza, Ribbon, Gift Basket, Glitz, Celebrate

l-r: Pamper, Gateau, The Mail, Boxed, Wrapped Up, Noir

What initially attracted me to Oh So Special were the feminine and aesthetically pleasing shades. I mean, just look at those two bright and playful matte pinks. Or that glimmering duochrome pale lavender-pink which flashes gold. Or the warm, coppery bronze of Gift Basket, which was basically my primary motivation for buying the palette. I remember stumbling across this eye look using the Oh So Special palette and adoring everything about it, notwithstanding the fact my eye shape/colour/everything bore no resemblance to the model, so the possibility of successfully recreating it was slim to none.

Like Storm, some of the mattes in Oh So Special aren't anything to write home about. Bow was chalky, dry, very difficult to get any colour payoff. Almost like a translucent face powder, though I found using a brush picked up more pigment than when I attempted to swatch it with my finger. The Mail fared a little bit better, but the dark brown Boxed was also largely uninspiring. The swatch says it all, and that's with several swipes. Wrapped Up and Noir were passable, though I can't see myself getting much use out of them. Surprisingly, the two matte pinks, the coral-leaning Ribbon and milky peachy pink Pamper, were very impressive in texture and pigmentation. I'm not sure when I'd ever wear them or how I'd incorporate them in a look, but at least the option's always there. I've read those two could even double as blushes, which could be especially convenient if travelling and requiring just one palette for both eyes and cheeks.

Consistent with my experience of Sleek eyeshadows, it's the shimmery shades that really stand out. They're seriously vibrant and almost spongy to touch, somewhat reminiscent of the texture of the powder-cream L'Oréal Infallible eyeshadows. Organza, Gift Basket and Gateau are stunning, though Gift Basket is possibly a touch too warm for my skin tone (it almost looks orangey/reddish on my lids). Glitz and Celebrate are equally metallic and rich in colour payoff, but being more nighttime, dramatic colours, they're not the most unique. The slate grey Glitz is very similar to Gunmetal from the Urban Decay Naked palette and Slate from the LORAC PRO Palette (but lighter, more blue than cloudy grey), while the eggplant/reddish burgundy Celebrate brings to mind L'Oréal Infallible eyeshadow in Burning Black (which is darker, with more of a black base) and Prestige Bacchus (more purple, not as brown).

It's not hard to see why the i-Divine eyeshadow palettes are popular. For £7.99 (or about $13.40), you get twelve shades, a mix of matte and shimmer, light and dark, versatile/safe/neutral and punchy/unique/daring to experiment with. Some of the mattes could've been smoother and more pigmented (particularly Boxed), but on a whole, the colour selection and quality of the shimmery shades easily rival much pricier counterparts.