Friday, July 1, 2011

Affordable Beauty: My First e.l.f Haul


I've read so much about e.l.f. cosmetics from beauty bloggers and decided to give them a try. e.l.f. stands for eyes lips face. They are an American brand which strive to deliver good quality makeup at very low prices.


Products bought:

Conditioning Lip Balm in Blissful Berry and Romantic Rouge (£3.50 each)
Mineral Lipstick in Pouty Petal (£3.50)
Mineral Blush in Joy (£3.50)
Studio Blush in Tickled Pink (£3.50)
Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Raspberry (£1.50)


The first thing I noticed about the Conditioning Lip Balm is that the packaging is pretty huge! I'm not too impressed with how chunky they are, and it's quite difficult to access the balm if you have long nails.


The balms look bigger in real life than they do in these pics (4 x 4 x 3cm in dimension).



These balms have nice, thick consistency and have good pigmentation (more of a lipstick than a balm). In addition, they contain SPF15 to protect against the sun. The finish is creamy rather than overly shiny. Romantic Rouge is a sheer, rosy red. Blissful Berry is a warm, berry rose.


L-R: Romantic Rouge, Blissful Berry


Lip swatches of Romantic Rouge...


...and Blissful Berry


I love both shades, but my favourite of the two is Romantic rouge for providing sheer rosy red lips.


I tried a couple of items from their mineral makeup range. Their Mineral Lipstick in Pouty Petal is a light cool pink.


I absolutely adore this Mineral Blush in Joy. The texture is smooth and soft, and the shade is a gorgeous pale lilac pink. It gave my cheeks a very healthy looking glow.


Swatches of the Mineral Lipstick in Pouty Petal (L) and Mineral Blush in Joy (R)


Lip swatch of Pouty Petal


Pouty Petal turned out fairly pale on my lips. It's a pretty shade, but I find this would be better suited to those with fairer complexions than I. I would prefer a more pigmented lipstick, and this shade required a few coats of application to get the colour to show up on my lips.



Next up is e.l.f's Studio Blush in Tickled Pink, a pretty muted pink shade.



Here is a swatch of it on the far left, in comparison to Pouty Petal and Joy.



As pretty as the blush was, it didn't do much for my complexion and I much preferred the Mineral Blush in Joy.



On to the cheapest of the lot, the Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Raspberry that only costs £1.50


These glosses have the same twist application as Stila Lip Glazes. The packaging of the e.l.f. glosses were of lesser quality in comparison to the Lip Glazes. I'm not complaining though as they only cost £1.50. (even cheaper if you are in the U.S.).


Raspberry is a pretty reddish-pink:


The formula is thicker than the average gloss and it has a nice, creamy finish and my lips look plumper with it on. It has a sweet, minty scent. Like a lot of glosses they tend not to last very long. All in all, a good buy and I already have my eye on other shades in the range -namely Strawberry and Cherry Tart.

20 comments:

  1. wow, great haul.
    you chose really great products for your first time. ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  2. i have yet to try any elf products,but it sounds like its good and also affordable for the pocket. been seeing alot of beauty bloggers raving bout em. :)I gotta agree with you on the romantic rouge giving you a better lip color.

    ReplyDelete
  3. great haul pen! they're all look fab on you! :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've heard so much about Elf as well!! Thank you for the reviews~

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've already got the liquid lipstick in strawberry and I love it! I really want Bark too :) xxx

    ReplyDelete
  6. I looove elf! Haha I have tickled pink, its great for that natural look :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love elf, and I love the items you picked out!! :D

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow that's a fabulous haul! I'd been looking forward to a review on ELF Lip Balm, so glad you featured them. They look really nice on you :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. have fun with all your goodies!

    ReplyDelete
  10. all the lippie looks good on you!
    its much cheaper if you buy from the US, why not do a swap?:D

    ReplyDelete
  11. great haul!! I realy want to try the mineral blush in joy! It looks like such a subtle hint of color~ ^^ I have the lip conditioning in peaceful pink!

    ReplyDelete
  12. i think some elf products are great while some are a bit chalky for my liking. :/ but i do like their gel eyeliner! :) the glosses look amazing on you dear.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I think its hit and miss with elf. I really liked their hd powder but i hated the blush (the one thats meant to be a nars orgasm dupe) I also like the lipsticks and glosses. The balms look too big! they would be much better in stick form

    Thanks for the swatches :D
    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  14. The mineral blush in "Joy" is my FAVORITE blush of all times! I LOVE IT SO MUCH <3 The lippie looks gorgeous on you btw! : D elf is amazing, usually, but it's very hit'n miss >_<"

    ReplyDelete
  15. wow great collection..soo pretty...i always wnted to try it out...seen great reviews...i really want to try the blusher and the lipglossy looks pretty..
    Mi_Mi
    x
    mi-miworld.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  16. I heard so much about ELF products. I might check their pretty makeups too!By the way, thanks for sharing.I tagged you on a blog award,check it out:) http://aimee0610my.blogspot.com/2011/07/butterfly-blog-award.html

    Hope te hear from you! Thanks:)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Yay for your first E.L.F. haul! I have Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Raspberry too:D

    Happy Sunday!:D

    ***** Marie *****
    allthingsmarie.com

    ReplyDelete
  18. all the lipsticks look great on you. Rosy tones compliments you so much! i was also tempted the other day when they sent me an email that everything was 50% off. Alas, I resisted ^^

    ReplyDelete
  19. Its funny how we have them over here but I never tried their cosmetics, I only own their brushes!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I see you finally indulged in some ELF goodies. I haven't tried the Stila wanna-be lipglosses yet...but they are available at my local Target. I should pick them up.

    ReplyDelete