Review | ELF Brightening Eye Color

Hey Guys! So, today I have a review of the ELF Brightening Eye Color (eyeshadow quads).

 

                                             

Shade - Drama

 

Shade - Brownstone

 

Shade - Day 2 Night

 

 

Shade - Luxe

 

Shade - Ethereal

Price - £1.50 e

Shades - 14

Places To Buy - ELF UK, ELF USA

 

 

Packaging: The packaging on these eyeshadow quads are extremely standard as far as drugstore palettes are concerned - Plastic. They are made of plastic, the bottom half is a white plastic whereas the top lid part of the palette is clear. The fact the lid is clear is extremely handy so you don't have to memorise names of you quads or open every single one until you find the one you are looking for - the clear plastic allows you to be able to see the colours that are in there, which is perfect if you have a large collection of these shadows. The writing on the front is a silver colour, however don't expect it to stay written on there as it does rub off - I assume it is just sprayed on there. The palettes do feel very cheaply made and packaged but for £1.50/$1, what more can you expect? I don't mind the slightly cheap feel of the compact as the shadows inside are, in my opinion, fantastic. There is a tiny mirror at the bottom of the inside of the compact where the shadows are, when you buy the palette brand new, a sponge tip comes supplied in there. However, I do believe the mirror is massively useless. It is far too small to be able to see what you are doing and gets really messy from the shadows anyway. The triangular shape of the shadows can cause a few problems as you may not be able to get your brush in the single shade and may get a few other shades on the brush, something to think about when buying these - you may need to invest in a smaller/slimmer shadow brush if you don't already possess one as if not you may find yourself being stuck/using your fingers to apply the shades.

 

Texture: In my personal experience, the texture of these shadows vary from quad to quad. Day 2 Night for example, the shades are very pigmented, buttery smooth, and glide on the lid without looking chalky, crumbling or flaking off your lid. However, if we take Ethereal, this is the opposite end of the scale. These shadows are not as greatly pigmented, they are not buttery smooth, still smooth though. They can flake off my lids and appear crumbly if I don't use a very good and tacky base - I particularly like the ELF Glitter Primer for this as it is very sticky and has no colour so it doesn't change the shade of the shadows. Taking Ethereal as an exception, the texture of the majority of these quads are very smooth, pigmented and glide on the lid without any problems. The finishes range from matte, satin, shimmer and glitter - something you may want to look out for when purchasing your quad as well. The texture of the glitter shades can sometimes be quite chunky based on some previous reviews I have read, however this is not the case for all of them, something you may want to read up on. In my personal experience with these shadows, the only quad I have been ever so slightly disappointed with is the quad in Ethereal, however I still like it and this it would be great for beginners as the shades are very neutral and the fact they are not massively pigmented, means they will be much more forgiving if you mess up slightly during application.

 

When do I apply these?: With eyeshadows it honestly doesn't even matter, however there are a few tips I will give you about when to apply certain shadow types/shades. 1. If you are working with very dark/shadows that tend to have a lot of fall out - make sure you do the eyeshadow step first. This is because it will prevent you from spoiling the rest of your face makeup from fall out/smudges of dark shades, and you will find its easier to work with as you can be quite messy and clean it up after you're done, as you wont run the risk of ruining the rest of you makeup. 2.If you are working with light/neutral shades with not a lot of fallout - Your options are wide open. The timing of application doesn't really matter as you will have very slight chances of ruining your makeup that you have already applied. I personally like to apply my shadows after my base makeup (foundation, concealer, powder). This is because I can then work my blush/bronzer/lips around the way I have done my eye makeup. However, you could also do it vice versa - making your eyes match everything else.

 

I've applied too much!: Don't fret! With eyeshadows the way to tone down a look that went a little heavier than expected is simply to take a fluffy brush and keep blending the shades out. This will diffuse the colour and the more you blend - the lighter and sheerer the shades the appear. Keep blending until you are finally happy with the outcome - blending is important on any shadow look anyway but is also a great fix if you have gone too heavy on a look, not just too harsh.

 

Would I recommend these?: Yes! I would recommend these shadows. However, I don't think that all the shades will please everybody and the shade range may not be the widest for some people - the shades do range from neutral, colourful and dark though so, there should be at least one quad that caters to your needs. For £1.50/$1 I honestly don't think you can go wrong, and if you do get a dud palette, it's not a massive loss like it would be if you ended up not liking a Tom Ford quad for example.

 

Hope This Helps!

xoxoxo

Review | ELF HD Powder (Studio)

 

Here is my review on the ELF HD Powder! Enjoy!

 

 

This is the original product, not the corrective yellow or shimmer one.

 

Price - £6.00

Shades - 3

Pigmentation - Clear/Transparent Formula

Places To Buy - ELF Online

 

Packaging - The packaging on this product is very nice. It has a very heavy duty black tub, which contains a sifter so not too much product is dispersed onto the puff/your brush. Some people may not like the packaging as they might think it is quite bulky, it is something that you need to have the right size storage to hold this product. I like the packaging because I think it looks very appealing and professional on your counter/in your make up storage. It is quite bulky but I really don't mind that as I have big enough storage to hold it in and big enough makeup bags if I want to take it on my travels. The fact that it comes with a puff is also very convenient, it means that if you bring this and you forget your powder brush, depending on the fact that you don't throw your powder puff away, then it won't matter because you can just use that instead.

 

Texture - The texture of this product is extremely silky, smooth and easily blendable. Because the product sys HD, it means that it is less likely to give you the white cast on your face, while still mattifying it. At first, you might think it won't blend because the product is straight up white, however when buffed in or just feathered over your face/skin, you get no white on your face, it becomes completely transparent. It also makes your skin feel extremely smooth. Because it is a translucent powder, you are not going to get any extra coverage out of it, so it does mean that it feels more light weight on your face. When I apply this, it feels like I have nothing on my face. I put this on top of a foundation that was awful for taking photos and lasted on my skin for about 2-3 hours, just to see how well it worked. AMAZING! The foundation looked sooo much better when taking pictures and recording, and it made the length of wear of my foundaton from 2-3 hours, to 5-6 hours, so I think that is a huge plus.

 

When Do I Apply This? You apply this after you have finished your face make-up. (Foundation concealer and any other cream product e.g. blush). The reason being is that it will set your make-up, prolonging the wear of it all and will also make it not as shiny. You could apply this as a last step as a finishing powder, but I just use this as a regular face powder, I think that gives me the best effect. I use the Clinique Powder Brush to apply this, I use it sparingly over the face, but concentrate it a bit more in the areas I have put concealer, so it lasts longer.

 

I've Applied Too Much! -  Don't worry! Take a finishing/moisturising spray and spray your face a couple times. This will prevent anything looking cakey if you have applied too much, and will remove some of the excess product, giving your skin a nice healthy glow at the same time. Fixing sprays are really nice and I have to use them quite a lot if I go a bit happy on the powder! They really do help and that's a solution i've been doing for ages now.

 

Would I Reccomend This Product? - Of course! I think it's great value for the money, helps my make up last all day by actually setting it, stops the terrible white cast/flash back you can get from cameras so, I think it's amazing! Again, the packaging might not be for everyone, but it certainly is for me!

 

Hope This Helps!

xox