Hey guys, hope your all okay? And anyone from the UK...I hope the riots haven't affected you too much :-( Sad times for our country but hopefully things are starting to settle down now...
Anyways as I mentioned in my last post, I purchased quite a large amount of E.L.F. products the other week and since I've pretty much tested everything now I thought I'd share my thoughts with you on what I got and what I loved or hated. So below is everything I bought...please don't think I'm showing off or even that I'm made of money, I tend to purchase things more when there on sale or a promotion and at the time E.L.F. were offering 50% off there entire product range! How could I resist really when it's already so cheap?!
A lot of ELF products I've bought in the past are very hit and miss so..starting off with the brushes I have to say, overall I wasn't really impressed with what I picked up...
Brushes
- Studio Stipple Brush - this was a repurchase for me as I'd kinda ruined the one I had through being too vigorous trying to clean my Revlon Colorstay foundation off it :-\ I don't know why but its just not the same as the first one I bought?! The consistency of the bristles seems much finer and less dense than the one I already had therefore I don't think I'd get as full coverage using it to apply liquid foundation. When I tried to apply powder blusher with it, it was far too messy and not that much product ended up on the bristles.
- Total Face Brush - I found this brush to be okay, not as soft as I thought it might be but it's got a huge surface area which is great for applying a dusting of powder.
- Foundation Brush - Again I found this to be just okay, I bought this to apply primer with but I think my fingers do the job just as well. I've actually found its better for applying concealer but as I'm pretty much always in a rush I prefer to use my fingers to apply concealer.
- Blushing, Bronzing And Blending Brush - I was pretty disappointed with this to be honest, don't get me wrong it does the job but before I'd even taken this out of the plastic wallet I noticed it had already shed some bristles :-\ So yeah...it already felt very fine in terms of bristle consistency. God knows what I'd have left once I'd had to finally wash it!
- Blending Eye Brush - Not sure why but I was expecting this to be more fluffy like the Sigma E35, looking on the ELF website now I don't really know why I was expecting this! For the price however this is a good brush for blending any harsh lines in the eye crease.
- Eyeshadow Brush -Again, not sure why but I was expecting this to be more fluffy i.e. bristles a bit softer and longer in length so I was slightly disappointed at first. However I have found that it is a really good brush for applying and blending eyeshadow in the crease and the bristles feel nice and soft.
Waffle over on the brushes front!
Studio Blushes
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| Left to right: Pink Passion and Candid Coral. |
These are my first ELF blushes and I picked up the shades Pink Passion and Candid Coral. Below are swatches of both colours and for your reference I'm an NC25 in MAC so this may show up differently on paler or cooler skin tones.
Swatches left to right are Candid Coral and Pink Passion, sorry there not in the same order as the first picture!
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Swatches taken in natural daylight.
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| Swatches taken with flash. |
Personally, I love this colour and its not half as scary as the photo looks! Whilst the pigmentation is really good it's also very buildable, so really its up to you how bright or subtle you want this to look.
Firstly, sorry for how messy this looks already but I have been using this quite a bit over the past few days. I was expecting this to be a lot lighter in shade than it is but having used it now a few times I have really warmed to it. It's not as coral coloured as I'd wanted but on the other hand, I do really like the subtle rosy glow this adds to my cheeks.
Studio Matte Lip Colours
As soon as I saw these beauts, I was quite keen to get my hands on them and give them a try so I purchased the shades Natural and Coral.
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Top to bottom: Natural and Coral
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Now these actually appear a bit darker than what they do on the ELF website but I think that goes for a lot of their products if I'm honest! Despite this, I was pleasantly surprised at the pigmentation of these however they are quite creamy in texture rather than being completely matte.
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| Swatch of Natural taken in natural daylight. |
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| Swatch of Natural taken with flash. |
I tend to research nude lipsticks thoroughly before purchasing because they generally make me look dead or rather ill :\ After trying this, I'm kind of coming to the conclusion that until I get a tan I will never suit nude shades! Having said that, it has come in handy on days when my lips look pinker/darker than normal. I'd say it's very comparable in colour to the Gosh Darling lipstick but minus the sheen as it does give quite a matte finish.
Swatches of all lip colours, L-R: Coral, Natural, Nicely Nude and Natural Nymph.
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| Swatches taken in natural daylight. |
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| Swatches taken with flash. |
Nail Polish
Considering these cost only £1.50 normally, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed. The formula is really good and it only took me two coats to achieve a nice even finish. My favourite of the three shades I picked up has to be Mango Madness which is quite a bright orange toned coral.
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| L-R: Mango Madness, Smoky Brown and Mint Cream. |
Eyebrow Kit
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| Swatches taken with flash. |
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| Swatches taken in daylight. |
This is my first eyebrow kit and too be completely honest I have a sad feeling it will end up being slightly neglected :-( I have my eyebrows threaded so the shape is quite defined most of the time, I usually just have to pencil in any faint areas with my Rimmel eyebrow pencil so for me this just seems like a lot of effort. At some point I will try and incorporate this into a made up eye and show you the results...I just don't think its fair of me to review something I haven't really used yet.
...nearly there!
Face Products
- Eyelid Primer - Basically an okay product for me. It does the job I suppose in terms of keeping eyeshadow from creasing but I don't know if that's just because of this product or because I'm using a good eye cream that doubles up as a primer on its own.
- Studio Makeup Mist & Set - So glad I bought this!! This is my first make-up setting spray so I'm afraid I couldn't compare this to the infamous MAC Fix+ I was really impressed with how this set my make-up and made it seem like I had more of a natural glow than the reality of my face being caked in foundation. For £3.50 its definitely worth trying out if your a fixing spray virgin like me.
- Oil Blotting Sheets - So far I'm really disappointed with these!! To be blunt they don't blot oil, I don't know if I was oilier than normal but when I tried these out my face looked just as bad after despite the sheet seemingly being covered in oil. The Professional Shine Eraser sheets that are also by ELF work much better so I'm not sure how they've got these so wrong.
- High Definition Powder - This feels nice and lightweight over foundation, it works well at eliminating shine and creating a matte finish. I just wish it wasn't so messy! I really don't trust carrying this around in my bag as it seems to get everywhere so unfortunately I've only been using it to set make-up before going out anywhere.
- Mineral Infused Face Primer - I'd had doubts about purchasing this as I'd read a few things about it being an oily skinned girls worst nightmare but so far I've loved this! A little definitely goes a long way as it has quite a slippery texture which makes your skin feel super smooth, I've found that it mattifies shine rather well also. Probably not the best primer for keeping oil at bay all day but definitely worth a try for £6.00 or even cheaper if you manage to grab it during a promotion period.
So that completes a rather massive review post! I really hope this helps anyone considering purchasing anything I've reviewed.
What would you recommend from the ELF range?
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