Thursday 8 June 2017

Full Face: ELF Cosmetics


ELF cosmetics can be a bit of a pain to get a hold of in Ireland, but I managed to order mine through Iherb.com


Shipping is calculated by weight & mine ended up being around €5 so it didn't break the bank. 


It was a mixed bag of results- some great products that I will continue to use & some products that will go straight in the bin...


Moisturising Foundation Stick €5.43
I tried the colour "Natural". To try & gauge the correct shade for me I googled swatches of the shades & luckily "Natural" was a perfect match. I am delighted with this foundation & would definitely re-purchase. As it is in Stick form it is slightly more cakey than liquid formulas, but that is to be expected. I will use this mainly for travelling as it can be taken in carry on luggage without counting as a liquid.

The formula was perfect for my skin type, nice & creamy, without high-lighting any dry patches. To apply I swiped over my forehead, down my nose, across my cheeks & a dab on my chin (you can use more or less depending on the coverage you want) I then blended out with a buffing brush.


Bronzer Palette €5.43
I ordered the shade "Bronze Beauty" . Unfortunately one of the pans in my palette was smashed when it arrived, but I emailed Iherb & they gave me a full refund on the product. I emptied out the smashed pan & just used the other three (I wasn't going to go to the trouble of trying to re-press it as it was very similar to the other three shades anyway). I think the shade of this palette is slightly too dark & red-toned for my skin, but in terms of formula I really liked it. Will keep for when I have a darker tan.


Blending Brush €2.72
This Brush was actually smaller than I was expecting & I would describe it more as a contour brush due to the narrow shape of the bristles. Would'nt use it for setting powders etc, but seems to work ok with contour/bronzer etc.



Blush €2.72
I got the shade "Candid Coral" as I heard this was supposed to a dupe for Nars' "Orgasm"- my favourite all-time blush. It turned out that this wasn't really a dupe as the colour was much more peach toned than "Orgasm" but still really pretty. Will definitely keep using & think I will order more colours to try as well.



Eyeshadow Trio €2.72
I decided to try "Bronze Bonanza" as it seemed to be the most neutral choice. It's super cute & dinky. I used the lightest shade in the trio to highlight my cheekbones, browbone & inner corners of the eye. Then used the bronze shade in my crease & under my lash line. The let down in this little trio is the dark brown shade unfortunately. It was so hard to get any pigment on my brush- I really had to dig into it & then spend ages building the colour up on the outer corners of my eye.


Intense Ink Eyeliner €2.72
I thought I ordered the black colour, but it was the navy one that arrived. So not sure if it was their mistake or mine! Because this is a felt pen doing a winged liner is a bit tricky- the pen can tend to skip on the skin due to the nib being so rigid, also the nib is very long making more detailed work that bit harder. When I managed to get my wings as even as I could I was fairly happy with the result. Until I used a setting spray. This eyeliner is not one bit water resistant- I LIGHTLY sprayed my face after I had finished my makeup like I usually would, but the eyeliner smudged up the eyelid & even on to the brow bone. Even after I did a tidy up, 10 minutes later it had smudged again. Despite not being water resistant this eyeliner stained my lash line after I removed it. So I would give this pen a miss if there is any possibility you are going somewhere it might rain or you might sweat. Otherwise for the price it's ok, but it's not something I'll be using on a regular basis.


Lash Extending Mascara €2.72
I saved the worst for last... This mascara is terrible. There is no product in the tube! Even when swiping the wand on the back of my hand nothing came off, so this is going straight in the bin. Pretty happy with most of the other products & it was so cheap I'm not going to cry about it, but I won't be trying anymore mascaras from ELF. Had to use a mascara from a different brand to finish off this look.

All in all, this was a natural day time look for me. My favourite products which I tried from ELF was the foundation stick & the blusher. The worst was without a doubt the mascara! I will definitely be trying more products from the brand as the price point makes it easier to justify if a product doesn't perform very well.