Quick Look: Sleek Lip4 Palettes (Lip⁴, Really) in Ballet and Siren

Sleek has released the Lip4 (it's really Lip⁴, meaning Lip Cubed, but Lip4 seems easier to type, heh) Palettes, and because I've been busy in real life (which you know, I have, because I can't exactly survive solely on the light and heat emanating from my laptop), I've been kinda...sitting on these. No excuses, I know, but I hope some pretty Lip⁴ Palette photos and my first thoughts of them will be sufficient until I swatch these babies for you! I have Ballet and Siren here with me, and man, are these gorgeous looking!


Sleek Lip⁴ Palettes - L: Siren, R: Ballet

The first thing that made me ooh and aah was really the packaging. I'm not really one for lip palettes, to be brutally honest, because I can't stand getting out my lipbrush (I mean, I have one...I'm just too lazy to use it). But just look at the packaging, and how pretty the palettes look! Even the boxes are pretty!


I like that the boxes show printed colour swatches on the front.
Anyway, let's take a closer look at the two, and I'll give you my preliminary impression of each, until I get to use them, okay? First up, is the Sleek Ballet Lip⁴ Palette. This is a collection of pretty nudes, with mostly matte/satin finish shades. Only the top left shade is a glossy finish. Most of these also seem a little on the pale side. The colour that looks the nicest to me is the darkest nude, because it's the closest to my natural lip shade.


Sleek Lip⁴ Palette in Ballet is full of pretty nude pinks.
From what I can see, even the gloss shades in this palette are pretty opaque. The two shades on the left are a little bit more peach-leaning nudes, which are great for warmer skintones. The other two on the right are neutral to cooltoned shades. So yes, you do cover a base of both warm and cool shades with this one, as well as a range of depth of colours (a deep nude, to a pale, pale nude). Since there are more pale nude shades than deeper nude shades, I suspect this one would work better on lighter skintones, as there is less likelihood of the shades looking a tad corpse-y. Unless you love your nudes pale, of course, then this is for you.


Closer look at the pretty pinks in the Sleek Lip⁴ Palette in Ballet.
The Sleek Lip⁴ Palette in Siren, on the other hand, is just the opposite. This is all red-lipped drama, and very commanding, too. Right off the bat, all the shades in this palette are red. Like, red-red. Not sheer-play-nice-red-for-red-shy-girls red, or red-that's-offset-with-lots-of-brown-and-rose-so-it's-nice-and-wearable red. Well, there is a coral-red, and a pink-red, but generally, if you don't like reds, you probably aren't going to enjoy this palette much. But if you like your reds, and if every red lipstick is different to you (I know I'm like that!) then yes! this is up your alley.


Sleek Lip⁴ Palette in Siren: Gorgeous, fierce reds.
The two glossy shades are the ones at the top left and bottom right. These are the more red-red types of shades. To be honest, the top left one seems somewhat darker than the bottom right, but I'm not sure I see much difference. Maybe when I eventually get round to swatching these. The top right shade is the coral-red, and the bottom left is the pink-red. The swatches I've seen show them to be quite wearable, and not too bad, but how red they turn out seem to vary on different skintones - some swatches I've seen make me think, "Hey, these are pretty wearable and not-red-ish!", while others make me go, "Hmm, these are still pretty red, just a hint of pink/coral." So I guess it's a little personal.


Sleek Lip⁴ Palette in Siren: Reds with hints of pink and coral.
One of the things I'd love to update you guys on when I eventually use these is the texture of the lipsticks. In my experience as a makeup hoarding junkie, lip products in palettes tend to be a tad on the dry side. The only way to know for sure is just to try it out. Looking at these, it seems like the colours are going to be pretty pigmented, so I imagine there proably won't be too many surprises between how they are in the pan and how they are on my lips, but I want to test it out too. I also want to kinda mix the colours around and see what fun shades I can come up with. I'll be reporting back, and letting you know how it goes!

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)