Today i'm going to be posting all the Eyes Lips Face (ELF) stuff I got for Christmas - if you're not familiar with the company, then here's a quick summary:
ELF is a new makeup brand, launched in New York in 2004, and it is known for having good quality makeup for a super cheap price!! It was originally only available in the US but in late November 2007 it became available in the UK via the website, www.eyeslipsface.co.uk. YAY!
Most of the items are priced at £1.50 - £3.50 (the studio range is mostly priced at £3.50), and if you look at the reviews on the front page you'll see that postage is usually super quick, with many people getting it the next day after ordering!!
The first thing I got was the Super Glossy Lip Shine SPF 15, in Goddess, which is a gorgeous peachy bronzey colour with a bit of pink in there too aha but you can't see it in the pic. It's a little sheer on the lips but over a lip colour it'll look great. It's quite sticky, but that means it'll probably stay for longer so it's not such a bad thing. Also the SPF 15 is definitely an added bonus. This was £1.50
The next thing I got was the Lip Definer & Shaper from the Studio range. This was £3.50, and the description was 'Enhance your lips by creating a fuller more defined lip easily! One side highlights lips to create a beautiful youthful glow, while the other side defines lips for a perfect pouty look.' One side was 'natural' to fill in your lips and the other was a nude skin colour to 'shape' your lips. This was veryy shimmery haha, I like the nude colour as a highlighter, it's very pretty and could be used in the corner of your eyes to open them up a bit more too. Overall it created a nice effect, but i'd say it would only suit frosty lip colours.
Next is the Mineral Lipstick I got from ELF. I got the colour Natural Nymph, which is a pretty light nude shade. On it's own, this didn't show up very well on my lips because my lips are a bit dark. It'd probably suit people with lighter skin tones, I know mine looks really light in photos but it's medium beige. I applied foundation to my lips with a sponge to blot out the natural colour and provide a similar coloured base and then put it on and it showed up much better. It does look a little bit like concealer lips haha but in real life it does look a little bit more pink (:
This is the nail polish I got from elf. It's in the colour 'Champagne' and tbh it was what I was most disappointed in - it is NOT like the swatch on the website at all! On the left is the nail polish, and on the right is the picture shown for it on the website. It's actually like a dark pink, not a bronzey beige colour at all, and I really don't like it lol ;/ It was only £1.50 though so at least it wasn't a big loss. Looking at a few other pics/swatches of the nail polishes on beauty blogs, it looks as if the nail polish colour previews on the website aren't very accurate for a lot of them, so be warned if you ever decide to order one haha.
Next I got a Mineral Blush in shade Coral, which was £3.50. Haven't used this yet but it's a pretty colour, and mineral makeup is usually very good (: I have swatched this colour with the other blushes & bronzer so keep reading to find that lol.
This is the Blush And Bronzer Compact from the Studio range. It has some pretty good reviews so I decided to get it (: This is very pretty, the blush is quite shimmery and not as pigmented as some of the other stuff I got but it can be built up and it's probably a bit easier to work with than super pigmented stuff, when you can easily put too much on and ruin your look! The bronzer is nice as well, it's really good for contouring because it's quite subtle and can be built up. This would suit most skin tones, maybe not super light ones but with a steady hand you can apply the right amount of colour. Again swatches are below.
This is the Natural Radiance Blusher in Glow, which was £1.50 and I LOVE THIS! Probably my fave item that I got, and i'm definitely going to buy some of the other colours. It's super pigmented and it really is such a gorgeous colour! Swatch belowww ;D
Tadaa! Here are the swatches I did :) Sorry for the rubbish quality I REALLY need a new camera, this one is an impressively bad 5.1MP one that refuses to do anything mildly close-up grr ;@
Anyway first two are the blush & bronzer from the Blush And Bronzer Compact, the third one is the Mineral Blush in Coral (because it's mineral it's very light so didn't show up too well) and the last one is Natural Radiance Blusher in Glow. I only did one swipe of Glow and like, 3 of the other ones so hopefully this shows you how pigmented it is, I love it!
Only a few more items to go guys ;D
Sorry for the looong post.
This is 'Complexion Perfection' from the Studio range, and the description on the website is:
'Create a balanced and radiant complexion that is beautiful and healthy. The lightweight formula evens out the skin tone and absorbs excess oil. The sheer formula brightens, mattes and neutralizes the skin.'
'Blend the powder over the entire face to brighten and even out the skin tone as well as neutralize any redness'
This product has received pretty mixed reviews - some people say it doesn't do anything at all and it's just wishful thinking, but others claim they do see some difference in their skin tone. The yellow is to brighten the skin, e.g. under eye circles, the green is to neutralise redness, the blue is to neutralise any orange, and I have no idea what the pink is for haha, any ideas?
I tried out the first three colours nevertheless, and i'm not sure about the green and blue atm, I don't really have a lot of redness or orangeness (lol) so it's difficult for me to see a major difference, but I have to say I did see an improvement in my under eye circles with the yellow, when I had like 6 hours sleep the other day. It really did balance out some of the purple/blue tones under my eyes and because it has a bit of shimmer the light reflecting particles helped to make the skin look brighter too.
I probably wouldn't repurchase this just for the yellow section, but I will probably use this sometimes so it's not a complete waste.
The last thing I got was a blush brush from the Studio range. I'd heard the elf brushes were reallyyy good and I was not disappointed! It's very soft and feels really professional, and the angled shape makes it easier to apply bronzer when contouring.
:O But that's not all!
Lastly I want to show you the awesome FREE GIFT I got because I ordered over £25 of stuff! (I think the total of everything you've seen above was like £26-£27, which is pretty good for all of that!
It's a free 27 piece mini makeup set! RRP £15
Pretty good for a free gift, eh?
On the left is eyeshadows, on the right is lip colours, in the middle (from L to R) is a blush and bronzer, a mini black eyeliner, an eyebrow powder, a double ended eyeshadow brush and a mini blush brush.
It's soo cute i've only tried out a few of the eyeshadows but I love them already :)
Anyway that's all for now, sorry again for looong post!
♥
