Monday, March 30, 2009

ELF Mineral Booster

I decided to try this for the small price tag. Over my L'Oreal Bare Minerale, I don't see much of a difference. I do use it over my nose as an extra layer of powder to soak up extra oil. I think I prefer a compact as it's easier to store in my make up box, but the actual product performs just fine. Mineral make up is just a little more fussy to work with sometimes. It's nice that it doesn't contain talc.

ELF Shine Eraser

All blotting papers are the same to me - with the exception that some are powdered and some are not. This is a fabulous deal for those that use blotting papers at $1 for 50 sheets. Sometimes I feel wasteful using blotters, but these are so thin that I don't feel bad.

ELF Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder: Luminance -

I am light skinned, so I got the lightest bronzer shade. The ELF website is notorious for bad color quality. This shade is not a bronzer. It's a super pale slightly shimmery powder. I didn't even swatch it and saved it for a highlighter for a pale friend.

ELF Eye Shadow Brush (regular line)

I had to try some of these with the raves they get.

I am quite impressed with this brush. I have several that I use in my arsenal of brushes - I use them on the weekends when I go for bright colors, and so can use them without mixing different vivid hues. I will pick up a bunch of these for gifts since they multitask pretty well. Their shape miakes them great for highlighter, allover, lid application, and blending. The only thing I can't do with this brush is line. Not the best brush for shadow in the world, but I'd give it a solid 8.5/10.

ELF Studio Duo Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder

I decided to try this out after the online raves.

I don't like it. The powders are milled too soft, so I pick up way too much with a swipe of my brush. It's very shimmery, too much for everyday professional use. Since so much powder is dispersed with each swipe, the pigmentation is too heavy for me on both the blush and the bronzer. Also, the bronzer isn't the right shade for me - it's too dark and looks dirty. The blush is too dark as well, even with the faintest of swipes. Maybe this would work for someone with dark skin? I'm fairly light in coloration. $3 wasted. But the mirror is nice to have inside, and the packaging is nice.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

ELF Liquid Eyeliner Coffee -

The tip on this is really hard - I tried it on my hand and decided I was not going to try it on my eye. Waste of money, sigh!

ELF Brightening Eye Color: Drama & Luxe 0/-

Drama got great reviews. For a good reason. Great pigmentation. But - it caused my eyes slight burning sometimes. It also has a different texture for each color. It migrated quite a bunch as well, and the white was too chalky for use. A lot of powder comes off when you swipe a brush over these quads. I put Drama in my travel kit for now - but I think I'll replace it with something higher quality.

Luxe has the ame issue of different texture per color. Pigmentation is decent. However, there is a strange metallic red shade that I didn't know what to do with here, and the highlight color, again, was too chalky. Not worth the $1. I cleaned out this palette for pigment pressing.

ELF Wet Gloss Lash & Brow Clear Mascara -

I wanted brow gel and figured price didn't matter. I was wrong.

The texture of both ends was... too gel-like. It didn't spread or pick up easily with the wand. Brow gel should have a mascara like consistency, and the one that I got was harder than typical jello. I hated it. A Waste of $1.

ELF Super Glossy Lip Shine SPF 15: Angel & Pink Kiss -

Pink Kiss didn't give a lot of color, which was fine with me. I wanted to try this out because of the SPF factor. Not a lot of moisture. I wear gloss as a protective coat for my lips that tend to dry out, and this did not last long or moisturize. The smell is very candy-like and childish, and I got really tired of it after not too long. The slanted applicator was nice. I gave away Angel without even swatching because of the scent.