Hope you are all well and excited for Christmas. I bet a lot of you are excited for this festive season and all the gifts that you are planning to give get, hehe. Anyway  I promised you a review of The Gold Standard to give you an idea if I think this will make a great Christmas gift. So the answer is YES!

Here's why:

Packaging:









The packaging is......Sleek (Sorry I couldn't resist the pun). It comes in a black packaging with a gold outline with the name of the brand in Gold. The palette is slim and compact and fits perfectly in my handbag. It not only looks luxurious but feels luxurious. Another feature is that the package does not close magnetically and instead has a snap shut lid. I was loving this feature until I recently got a manicure done (my friends surprised me on my birthday). I've got to be honest-it was a struggle. As soon as you open the lid you get to see the shades with a protecting sheet with the shade names on it. I wish they had the names engraved next to the shades but I'm not complaining. The names are obviously inspired by fashion designers which is a lovely touch to the feel of the palette. The palette comes with a dual ended brush-one side with fine bristles and the other with a sponge tip applicator. I've used the brush to line my eyes using the cream eyeshadows and I think it's great to use to line under the eyes as well. I haven't found much use for the sponge tip applicator although it would come in handy to do a smoky eye look. 

Wear:




First of all it was so difficult to swatch the shades on my arm because I did not want to waste the product- did I mention the palette is limited edition? Each time I swatched the shades I just went WOW. I don't think I have been this excited to swatch a bunch of eye shadows. The shade Laurent is probably my favorite eyeshadow, ever. That's a big statement to make but the shade is just WOW. It is a beautiful dark and rich burgundy shade. It has a little bit of red to it as well which just makes the color really pop. I think this is the kind of shade that is universally flattering. The next shade Coco is a beautiful coppery bronze color. The shade is very subtle but adds a glow to my eyes. I love using this shade on my crease of my eye. The third shade is Margiela which is one of the two cream eye shadows in the palette. It is a metallic gold-bronze shade which is my favorite out of the two cream shadows. I love using it to highlight the inner corner of my eyes and I think it would be perfect as a liner as well. The next shade is Vera which is a gold shade which is very straight forward. I think Vera on the lid with a little bit of mascara and a classic red lip is a fantastic lazy girl eye makeup look. It's really easy and not that time consuming but still looks very elegant and festive.The next shade is of a cream formula and it is Louis. It is a silver shade with a pearl finish which again is perfect as a highlight. It has pink undertones which is really flattering on the lid as well.The final shade is Vivienne which is a beautiful champagne color. I love using this to highlight my brow bone.


I love the variety of the shades in the palette. Each of the shadows are different from the other so you wouldn't find similar colors in the same palette. I mean, not a single shadow is disappointing which is very rare for me to find in a palette. The eyeshadows have good pigmentation and are very easily to apply and blend. I do find them having better color payoff when applied from the tips of my fingers than a brush.They last about 5 hours on my lids (which is how long I tested them out for) without a primer. The problem with glittery and shimmer colors is fallout. I have experienced glittery under-eyes with every other shimmer eyeshadows I have used before. With this however I have not noticed glittery under-eyes. If there is fall out it is very minimum. YAY for the formulation by Sleek! I love it!

I'm not wearing any primer on my eyes. Lid-Laurent, Crease-Vera, Inner corner -Margiela, Lining underneath- Laurent and Margiela and the tiniest bit of Vivienne to highlight my brow bone.

Should you get it?:
YES, make sure you get two- one for yourself and one for the person you want to gift this to. For $11.49 this is an absolutely amazing product. Finally we can get our shimmer on this season with this one!

If you've already tried this out let me know what you think in a comment below or on my Facebook page. Happy shopping!


Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/MandySHeartBlog/
Sleek website: http://www.sleekmakeup.com/i-lust-the-gold-standard

Much love