Comparison: BYS & Sleek, pt 2

Part 1 is here.

So, in the interests of being fair and thorough, I went and bought one of the regualr BYS palettes even though the 'metallic' one was a giant disappointment. Here is the hopeful redemption.

On a side note, I am NOT going into Gloss ever again if I can help it. The girls that work there are really rude. The one who served me this morning? I smiled, attempted to make eye contact and just in essence be courteous. She did not smile at me or even make eye contact while she was ringing up the transaction. Sweetie, I don't care if you're having a shitty day, I work in retail. It's your JOB to engage with the customers, or they won't be coming back! I sure as hell ain't. That's happened to me before in that shop, with a different shop assistant. No thanks.

Anyway. This palette has 12 eyeshadows, compared to the 5 of the previous one. Obviously, this allows it to have more colour variety, though it still doesn't match up to what Sleek offers. Also the two on the left-hand side of the palette look pretty much the same (in indoor light, at night. I think they looked a bit more distinct in the shop.) It was $3.00, which is really odd, because it A) has more variety than the last palette, B) is bigger than the last palette, and C) I swear it was like $4.95 last time I was looking at it in the shop?!

Packaging: Sleek palettes look so much more professional. They feel so much sturdier.

You get 12 shadows in each palette, same as the BYS. You also get a mirror, and a little groove that could house a really thin brush, or the foam-tip applicators that I loathe and throw away.

BYS palettes have no mirror, they have a really flimsy-looking clear plastic top, and you get two foam tip applicators.

Alrighty, onto swatching! Here are some greens from the Safari palette, this time, compared to that of the BYS palette. Everything's swatched over Concrete Minerals Electric Eye Primer, with Sleek colours on the left and BYS colours on the right.

Greens (from Safari):

Dark blue (from Curious, vs. BYS):

I switched to Pixie Epoxy for the white comparison, because the BYS shadows were just so splotchy and sheer and eurgh, I wanted to make sure it wasn't just an incompatability with a certain type of primer. So, whites (found in most Sleek palettes):

Well now, that's better! Obviously it's an uneven comparison because the Sleek white is shimmery and the BYS one is matte, but the application and pigmentation was much nicer.

Peachy-orange colours from both, which actually look similarish in the pan, over Nyx Jumbo Pencil in Milk (TOP row) and over PE (bottom row):

So, the Sleek colour is a soft, golden orange, which is lovely but doesn't really stand out against my skin. The BYS colour, is, um... not something I'd pair with a Nyx Jumbo Pencil EVER again. Seriously, the camera made it actually show up and look kind of yellow. You could barely see it on my skin and it basically looked like rotten custard or something.

So in light of the favourable reaction to PE, I swatched just the greens and blues from the BYS palette again:

Yeah. Still chalky, streaky, sheer and blah. As you can see by the crumbling in the palette shots, it's not like I just swiped the brush once and declared these sheer. I tried to put lots of product on the brush! I patted, I tested different primers, hell, I even attempted to use the despised foam-tip applicators.

Smell
I had to mention this, because I think it's weird. The BYS palette smells. It's an 'ew, chemicals' sort of smell. Like playdough with too much sugar. It kind of grosses me out. Luckily, when I put my nose to the Sleek palette, all I can smell is the plastic of the actual palette - and that's putting my nose riiiiight up close to it. The shadows themselves don't smell. Yay!

Conclusion?
*BYS is cheaper, but you are absolutely getting what you pay for.
*Sleek colours have more pigment, they are smoother, softer and more lasting.
*BYS's formula, though it has similar ingredients, is totally chalky, streaky and sheer. The colours do NOT translate from pan to skin, at all.
*Packaging is not high on my list of deciding factors, especially not when it comes to aesthetics - that being said, Sleek's looks better and seems far more durable and practical.
*BYS smells. Literally.

Tl;dr? If you have Sleek, don't bother with BYS. If you've been considering BYS, just spend a bit of extra money and get FAR better quality.

P.S: I have been buying local magazines left right and center, and have made a big table on my laptop of submission guidelines, dates and themes (nerd alert!) I hope to at least get some feedback from one of them. Fingers crossed to be published before the end of the year! I may do a summary post about them for my Aussie readers, because some of them are pretty awesome.