So, a little while ago I did an E.L.F. Haul with a buy $20 and get $20 worth of free makeup. Today I will be reviewing the products I got and the gift products I received.
Note!!: Some of you may have realized some pictures I didn't take by myself. The reason is my camera does not display the proper pigmentation of the product which can be misleading to viewers. In order to give the most accurate colors, I have used other people's pictures. I am not saying these pictures are mine in any way, I just think they display the product color the best! Thank you!
( I will show my pictures, but I will point out the bad camera side effects, sorry!)
Review on E.L.F. Haul:
Small stippling brush
EDIT: I initially liked this small stippling brush, but because it was not dense enough, I got tired of trying to even out and smooth out my BB creams. If I push the bristles together with my fingers, it works better. It was larger than I thought it was, even though it says it is small, it is the same size as my regular sized stippling brushes. I wish the brush was a little more dense or basically has more bristles, but for the price, it's not bad. It doesn't shed and the brush is nice and soft on my skin. This would be good for traveling and if it broke or I lost it, I wouldn't care. =P
Spoolie for lashes and eyebrows
I like this spoolie, it's great for brushes my eyebrows in place when I need to trim them. I don't want to use this for mascara because that involves a lot of washing and wearing the bristles out, decreasing its lifespan =P. But I like to brush my eyebrows in place when grooming and after using eyebrow powder, combing through my brows with this, smooths out the color, giving a more natural look.
Mascara wands
These wands are kind of large but they don't irritate my eyes or pull out my eyelashes. They are great for traveling and letting other people borrow mascara or letting me borrow other people's mascara XD. Also very handy travel thing for grooming my brows or putting brow wax or gel onto my brows.
2 nail buffers
These nail buffers work as well as any other drugstore nail buffer. I can reuse it a few times and then it's done. Pretty standard temporary buffer and good when I'm doing my nails.
Matte eyeshadow in nude
So, I had good hopes for this eyeshadow but I was sadly mistaken. =( Usually E.L.F.'s mineral eyeshadows are very popular but this one was a miss. It was powdery, and not pigmented at all, even with an eyeshadow primer. Also, kind of hard to apply evenly and produces a lot of fall out.
Here are a couple of swatches:
So I know these picture are really hard to see. But that's how bad the eyeshadow is. On the left side of my hand is the eyeshadow with eyeshadow primer and on the right side of my hand is the eyeshadow without primer.
As you can see from the images, with or without primer does not make much of a difference at all. I used my finger to grab as much pigment as possible and many times applied it to both areas of the hands and I get this....In conclusion, this eyeshadow sucks, don't get it. =P No pigmentation, powdery, and lots of fall out. I'll probably throw this away.
Baked eyeshadow in burnt plum
This picture is a more correct color of the eyeshadow.
For some reason, everytime I take a picture, it looks kind of brown..-___-.
Despite its looks, the actual color of this eyeshadow is not as purple as you might think. It is more of a shimmery maroon color, also quite pretty so I like it. =)
Here are a couple of swatches with and without eyeshadow primer:
So, yeah, again sorry it looks kind of brownish. (If it doesn't, then yay!) On the left side of my hand is eyeshadow with the primer and on the right side of my hand is the eyeshadow without the primer.
As you can see, this eyeshadow is quite shimmery and produces a warm maroon color. With or without the primer looks fine to me. Without the primer the shade is just less vibrant which is fine for a more everyday look. This eyeshadow doesn't produce much fallout and is easy to blend and work with. I would definitely like to use this eyeshadow everyday or for a more warm fall look. I like this eyeshadow and it would be a great combo with colors such as black, gold, grays, etc. I can use it for everyday or for a smokey look.
Essential bronzer in glow
This picture above is a more correct color of the bronzer.
So this bronzer is a tiny bit shimmery. I tried to find bronzers as matt as possible, but almost everything E.L.F. has is shimmery. The shimmer doesn't really show up that much as long as I keep it to a minimal level so it's okay. This is a light bronzer, but it is much more pigmented than the Baked bronzer St. Lucia. This would be good as an everyday bronzer around the face for me, if I used it everyday. My face is paler than the rest of my body so this would help overcome the contrast a little without being too strong. It is still quite light for a bronzer though, so in order to have more of an effect, your skin should be on the lighter side.
I think this bronzer overall is okay. It was cheap and what not. It starts off light but can be buildable and blendable. It does have a scent to it, which I don't like. A perfume makeup scent, but it is not terribly strong.
It does have a yellow undertone, even though it looks tan on the pan. If I apply too much, it is not going to look good and might give me a weird dark yellow cast. Perhaps I will try looking for a more browner toned one.
Baked bronzer st. lucia
So the actual color of the bronzer is like a mix between the two images above. It is not as yellow as my picture but not as pink as the one above it. But it is definitely on the lighter side.
This bronzer is very sheer and I could use this all over my face to give a warmer glow/appearance. It is slightly shimmery which is a bummer, and the shimmer isn't strong but if I use this all over my face, then it gives me a more glow look, which isn't a bad look haha.
So it is not very pigmented and good for a more overall warmth, which is good if you're looking for that. It would be good to use after I use BB creams since BB creams are so light that if I only wore it, I would look too pale and this can give warmth back to my face!
Review on E.L.F. Gift Bag:
Pretty much within the first use I could tell the pros and cons of each product. If I didn't like it, I didn't use it after the first try. For others that have potential, I tried them out for at least a week.
32 Piece Palette Cool Eyeshadow
I thought this was nice because I don't have a lot of colorful eyeshadows and I personally don't think they're a good investment because my everyday makeup is not glamorous or colorful, so I would not use it to its full potential. But having this means I don't have to buy them if I need them! It comes with a double-sided applicator and a mirror at the top.
The bad thing about this eyeshadow palette is that the colors are extremely sheer and not pigmented at all. Almost ridiculous because eyeshadow on the skin alone shows basically no color at all. If you use a good eyeshadow primer like Too Faced or Urban Decay, then the color will be more pigmented to a more acceptable level.
So here are a few swatches of the colors with and without eyeshadow primer:
The left side of my hand has eyeshadow primer and the right has no primer, just eyeshadow on skin.
For both sides, eyeshadow was applied with a brush twice for each color.
As you can see, alone the eyeshadow is not pigmented at all, which is kind of dissapointing but I don't expect much from cheap free stuff. I can still use this eyeshadow, I just need eyeshadow primer when using it.
Another thing, it is rather powdery, so it tends to create fallout onto the cheek when applying the eyeshadow. So, this means I either have to do my eyes first (before concealer and/or foundation) or I have to be really careful after I apply concealer and/or foundation and lightly dust off the fallout.
Overall, nice impression but results are poor. Works acceptably with a good eyeshadow primer but fallout is a bit annoying.
Hypershine Lipgloss in Blossom 9012
This lipgloss is actually not super shiny, it has a good amount of shine but not overly shiny (which I think is a good thing). It smells like maple sugar! But it tastes like soap haha. It does give me a cute pink classic color. However, it feels sticky and heavy and I didn't like the texture. I don't like lipglosses in general and I don't buy them, so I wouldn't buy this.
All Over Color Stick in Golden Peach 3105
Oh man, this cream stick is super super shimmery O_O. Like, wayyy too much for the face and lips. Seriously, I put it on my lips and they turned into a metal gold color. It is so reflective that in the light, the peach color disappears and all I see is gold shimmer! It is also kind of thick and hard to blend out. So it wouldn't work well as a highlight for the cheekbones and nose unless you apply a very sheer layer and really work it out and blend it a lot.
But, the good thing (I guess) is that it is pretty hard to wash off. There were water beads forming on my hand swatch when I tried to wash it off, it was very water resistant. I had to use eye makeup remover to remove it. If I had to use this, I would use this on my eyes. It works as a shimmer base or a highlight for the eyelids, or in the inner corner of the eyes because it is very water and sweat resistant. On my eyelids alone, it is shimmery with gold flecks and does crease at the end of the day, but it's okay. It is good as a gold shimmer for the inner corners of my eyes and it doesn't fade or get into my tear ducts.
As you can see in the picture above, there is a peachy gold color on my hand.
However, in full light, the peachy gold color becomes a very reflective gold color, which is very shiny.
Lotion Wipes: Vanilla & Coconut
These wipes have a sweet coconut scent. I used them on my hands and my skin was not irritated or bothered in any way. I would not use these on my face though. Rule of thumb, don't use anything on the face unless it says it can/supposed to be. Anyway, While drying, it does feel a bit sticky, but that goes away. I would say it is lightly moisturizing, so it's a good quick way to moisturize your hands or body on the go, but it's not intensely moisturizing. So, people who need more moisturization, I'd say get something else. I think these are handy, they can be put in a bag or backpack and be used after washing hands when your hands get dry. I don't like scented lotions. So if there was an unscented or very lightly scented one, I would buy these for traveling or when I'm out on long days.
Cream Eyeliner in Ivory
So, this cream eyeliner is a shimmery/pearly white color.....I don't know why they gave me a cream eyeliner...yeah, there isn't much you can do with this. I could use this for the inner corners of my eyes or on my brow bone. As an eyeliner alone, it would probably melt and smudge off very easily on me because I have very oily eyelids and (from experience) cream eyeliners don't dry at all on me, and I look like a panda in less than an hour. I can try to use this as an eyeshadow base. But it is a very strong opaque white, not to mention shimmery and it creases when you go past the double lid, so I'm not betting on that.
I guess I could use an eyeshadow primer and then this cream white eyeliner as a base, but it would be pretty slippery...so yeah, not a very useful product for me. I'll use this only for the inner corners of my eyes alone, or as a base for shimmer eyeshadow either in the inner corners of my eyes or on my upper or lower lashline for a very shimmery effect. However even though it is pretty creamy, it is a bit chunky and difficult to blend because it dries so fast, but it works.
So, from the swatches you can see that it is white and shimmery. It is not highly pigmented and it's not very thick or hard. Because it is on the sheer side, you won't be able to make a strong opaque line.
Black Glitter Nail Polish
This is black nail polish with rainbow glitter inside. I don't know why they gave me black nail polish..like...seriously? It's summer and you give me black nail polish. Like the only thing I would do with this is either give it away or use it for nail art, like nail designs. But I don't do nail art....so I have no idea what to do with this. I ended up giving it away.
So, pretty long post haha. I won't be doing another review post in a while since I have 3 exams this week and then I'm leaving for Hawaii right after!
I hope this post was useful for anyone looking at E.L.F. products. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to write in the comment box below. =)
Thank you for reading and I hope you had a great 3 day weekend (for those of you who live in the US)! If you didn't have a 3 day weekend, it's cool, you probably have an even more awesome holiday that's longer and better than this one haha. See you later!
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