Sleek iDivine Vintage Romance Eyeshadow Palette review, swatches, photos

The moment I heard that Sleek Makeup was releasing a limited edition iDivine eyeshadow palette called "Vintage Romance", I knew I would love it, just as I love all things vintage. The teasers I saw online served to strengthen my resolve to get it. As in all iDivine palettes, there are 12 eyeshadows in Vintage Romance as well. And, unlike some of the iDivine palettes, these eyeshadow shades have names - romantic names at that.

While Sleek initially released this palette in limited edition packaging, they have since added it to their regular eyeshadow palette inventory with the regular iDivine packaging. So apart from the external box, nothing has changed. The LE version has a brown external box with pretty flowers.

 The inner box is exactly the same black casing used for all Sleek iDivine palettes, with the Sleek logo and the matte finish - even the crummy sponge-tipped applicator.

The 12 eyeshadows in the Sleek Vintage Romance palette are named:

1. Pretty in Paris
2. Meet in Madrid
3. Court in Cannes
4. Lust in LA
5. Romance in Rome
6. Propose in Prague
7. A Vow in Venice
8. Marry in Monte Carlo
9. Honeymoon in Hollywood
10. Bliss in Barcelona
11. Forever in Florence
12. Love in London

I'm afraid I took photographs of the shadows themselves after I began playing with the colours, and since I've already tried out half a dozen combinations with these, the pans aren't very clean. Caveat alert.

Pretty in Paris and Meet in Madrid are good for the inner corners. A tad too sparkly - and silver and gold - for my liking, so I might skive off the inner corners altogether with this palette, although Meet in Madrid blends in very nicely.
Court in Cannes, Lust in LA and the only matte eyeshadow in this palette - Propose in Prague, a red-brown - are great for lid-wear. The other shades will suit the crease.
I love Romance in Rome. It is a deep denim blue, although it happens to be the least pigmented colour in this palette. But the swatches are coming up, so you can see for yourself.

A Vow in Venice, Marry in Monte Carlo and Honeymoon in Hollywood are similar-looking, I know. But they are different shades of berry (dusty, pinkish and wine-deep, respectively), and you can pull off Marry in Monte Carlo as a lid colour. Similarly, Court in Cannes and Lust in LA are different brown shimmers, with Court in Cannes coming off as more coppery.
Bliss in Barcelona is a stunning neither-purple-nor-violet shade. Forever in Florence and Love in London finish more matte as well, though they have the odd sparkle.

What I like about this palette is that it isn't too loud or in-your-face. At the same time it doesn't have neutral brown, beige and taupe shades.
Now for the swatches, with and without flash, and one in artificial light. Love in London and Forever in Florence are at the right extreme; and then we have the shades from the palette's top left corner towards the right, and the second row. Pardon my appalling photography skills. Photographing your left hand with a Canon 500D in your right hand leads to blurring if your hands aren't very steady.
Swatches with flash:

 Swatches without flash:

 Swatches in the sunlight:

I will be doing a few looks with these and experiment some more with the smoky eye look soon. I have to say this is my favourite Sleek eyeshadow palette so far! You can get this palette from Sleek's website (they ship worldwide), though without the LE packaging.
Sleek has now released the limited edition Celestial palette which has these fabulous icy winter-based eyeshadows. I'm on a shopping ban till December and won't budge till then. Do take a look at Celestial when you can on their website. There are some eye-catching shades in there!