e.l.f is a brand that has been on my radar for years. Despite their popularity amongst bloggers - including cruelty-free bloggers - I only bought my first batch a month ago. I had been saving up money in the past few months because my old flatmate moved out and I wanted to ensure I'd be okay by myself. But I found a new flatmate and, well, something needed to happen to that money. So...to the e.l.f website it was!
Unfortunately quite a lot of products were out of stock (boo) so I bought about about £30 worth of products (even though I was willing to drop quite a bit more). But anyway, here is my quick review on what I did buy.
First off I was in need of a new primer anyway. Despite my love of high end primers I decided to give the Mineral Primer a chance, and I was impressed. It's certainly not as good as some of the high end primers I've tried but this one certainly takes the leads in my favourite drugstore primers (so if you have to stay high street, this is the one I would recommend). I'm also currently in the market for a full coverage foundation so picked up the HD Mattifying Cream Foundation. This was about medium coverage but it had a very good finished and the consistency was easy to blend. I'm still in the market for something thicker and this isn't as long lasting as I'd like. However I do reach for it when I'm filming a You-Tube video when I'm only concerned about how I look for the next twenty minutes.
Then I moved onto colour. I'm making more of an effort to expand my colour range so I forced myself to not order the first colour that 'spoke' to me but pick something that I didn't own already. Last Halloween I spent a lot of time trying to find random colours the night before which was just a pain. Since I'm also planning to get into cosplay this year I decided that I needed more colours to have on standby. I picked up one of their Mineral Lipsticks in Party Pink which is a very natural shade which has actually become my go-to daily shade (you do need to wear a primer with it though, my favourite is Too Faced). However I also purchased one of their regular lipsticks in Classy which is a very bold lavender-pink shade which just doesn't suite me. However it does fulfil my goal of having a wider range of colours just encase there is an occasion (or costume) where lavender lipstick is required (because other than the colour I do like it).
I also picked up an eyeshadow pallet in Party Purple, not with the intention of wearing it regularly but just having a purple eyeshadow on stand-by. However, this is gently pigmented and what you end up with is a gentle smokey purple eye which I have found myself wearing when I'm going out at night. If you want a vibrant purple look this isn't what you're looking for, but just a tint if purple? This product will be right up your street.
The final colourful product I purchased was the nail polish in Passion Pink. This colour is extremely different to what I already own (it's raspberry with a shimmer through it) and my eye regularly glances towards it when I'm deciding which colour to paint my nails. However you must wear a top coat with this as the staying power does leave a lot to be desired.
I also purchased the cream eyeliner in gunmetal. However this is the first cream eyeliner I've ever owned so I'm not sure how to review this. I used to wear cream and gel liners as opposed to liquid when I was still performing in dance shows as they stay on the lid a bit easier,but it belonged to the make-up artist and I never got the name of the product. It does however work quite well as a grey cream eyeshadow, so if like me you're finding it a bit weird applying this as eyeliner you can still get use out of it (maybe I just haven't found the correct brush yet?).
Have you ever tried anything from the e.l.f line? Which product if your favourite?
