E.L.F. Product Review

Hypershine Mini Cell Phone Lip Gloss Charms This is a great way to try a bunch of the colors in their lipglosses. I kept 2 and sent the rest to friends after seeing them and determining that they weren’t my shade.

Someone else I know bought one as a Christmas present for a 13 year old relative who was just getting into makeup and found it was one of the best possible presents she could have given.

Custom Pallet with: eyeshadow in dusk, eyeshadow in pink ice, blushes in shy, glow and bronzed. I bought a second incomplete pallet.

Elf Cosmetics Quality on all of the eyeshadows reviewed here is decent, not the best out there but good.

The pallet itself is fine – it’s much like other more expensive pallets. Very well made with a mirror in it and metal for the magnetic pans. The Cover Girl pans I have fit in there and I think the MAC pans would also fit but I don’t currently have one I could test.

Dusk eyeshadow pan – a purple/grey cooler shade. I thought, even looking at it in person in the pan, that it was going to be a neutral color but it just didn’t work on me at all.

Pink Ice eyeshadow pan – nice neutral highlighting color. should work on pretty much anyone. It’s really nothing to get excited about but I don’t get excited about powders or foundations much either. Definately worth adding to your collection for $1.

Glow blush – way too bright for me. It’s like a muted fushia with a touch of peach. Might even match a flamingo at the zoo. Very bold. Tried to use it as an eyeshadow and it still was too bright for my tastes. If you look good in bold colors, definately check this out.

Shy blush – a sort of baby pink color. Again cool – almost too cool and too light for me but can work as a eyeshadow highlight with colors that are better on me.

Bronzed blush/bronzer – I’m a bit on the fence about this one. It’s an OK color – not thrilled about it … and I’m not sure if it’s that the color may not be the best color for me … or if the color itself is just a bit weird. What I will say is that trying to use a little pan of blush when you typically apply blush with a big fluffy brush doesn’t work well.

I would not buy the blush pans again unless I just planned on using them as eyeshadow. If you use a large blush brush you probably will find them too small to be useful as well.

Eye shadow in Butternut

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this shadow quad. It’s a great everyday set. A couple of the colors are a bit warm but two are nuetral. My favorite out of the four is the top right – it’s a gold that isn’t too bold for daytime wear. The colors work very well together and are easy to use and blend.

Eye shadow in Luxe

This one isn’t quite as easy to use as the Butternut but it’s still a good color set to have. The magenta color – not very useful but it’s a color I wanted to have for those rare times I would want that color. The deep purple grey I really like as an eyeliner and could possibly be used to create a smokey eye – I’m mainly using it for this deep grey color. The two lighter colors are again a sort of generic highlight and blending colors.

Eye Shadow Brush x3 (2 for a friend)

I have a NYX brush that has the same shape and size as this one but the E.L.F. one is better. This is great for overall eyeshadow application and blending.

Eyeliner Brush

Great thin brush that I use wet to apply a thin line of eyeshadow as eyeliner. Very good quality … I’ve been very pleased with all of the E.L.F. makeup brushes that I have gotten. Better than the more expensive brushes that I’ve tried.

Lip Defining Brush (for a friend – she asked what she should use to apply a dark shade of L’oreal HIP lipgloss and I recommended this)

This did not come in – they marked it on the invoice as not available and credited my bank account. Oh well… I like the one that I have but after waiting 5 weeks for them to ship as they had mentioned was going to happen, I really expected the every single item to be included.

Bronzer in Sun Kissed

Not as brown as it looks on the screen, a little more redish like you would look if you had just spent the day out and were glowing … a little less day after tan which was what I was looking for. Still a very good bronzer/blush that I’m going to keep.

Super Glossy Lip Shine SPF 15 in Pink Kiss (I’m giving this scent, grape vanilla, a second chance in hopes that they’ve reformulated.)

The grape vanilla scent is MUCH better – I’m pretty sure they have reformulated this scent. This particular color is a very light pink … makes me think preppy teen but still a nice color. Not something I’m going to reach for regularly but still worth the purchase.

Moisture Care Lip color in Brownie Points (again, I’m giving this scent, vanilla mint, a second chance.)

I absolutely positively loved this color but as a lipgloss it just disappeared too quickly. It’s a nice neutral, your lips but better and a tiny hint darker nude. I was reaching for it regularly and then being disappointed when it wore off so quickly. The scent on this one is fine as well.

I ended up finding that I found a lipstick to replace it though – Avon in Totally Twig when blotted and a clear gloss added on top has more lasting power. I think MAC lipstick in Twig would also work but the local store did not have it for some reason and I don’t really want to spend the money to buy it online sight unseen (MAC’s online images are really inacurate.)

Smudge Eye Brush (for a friend – I wasn’t too happy with this when I got it in the set but she wanted to give it a try anyway. It’s just not my type of brush.)

Guest review – Diane: "…the smudge brush works great – blends better than other brushes that I have…"

Defining Eye Brush – I already have one and love it so much I want a second one.

Ended up sending the second one to another friend who wanted to get into eyeshadow more.

I’ll post again soon with how I use this brush wet to apply eyeshadow as eyeliner (I’ve also used the eyeliner brush wet and pick based on how thick a line I want – the eyeliner brush can achieve a thinner line.)