E.L.F. Cosmetics Haul review

So up until a couple of weeks ago- i'd never even heard of E.L.F (or Eyes Lips and Face) Cosmetics. It's a budget beauty brand that specialises in loads of different kinds of make-up at almost obscenely cheap price points. They were founded in New York in 2004 and have expanded their franchise to an abundant amount of products that now sells online internationally.

After seeing a product featured in a magazine I went online to their shop and probably added a little too much to my basket. But with 12 products for £35 (including a free lip gloss) it didn't do too much damage to the ol' bank balance.

I didn't expect all to match up to higher end brands but wanted to get a variation of cheap alternatives to some products I already own to take away on holiday and on nights out etc without the worry of loosing them, after having a few MAC casualties slip drunkenly from my bag whilst out recently.

I'm only going to go in depth with a few products, but whilst my bundle of goodies were a little bit 'hit and miss' there were a couple of really good products- especially for the price.

The E.L.F. shimmering facial whip is described as a 'multi-purpose' colourant to brighten the face. It's available in a variety of colours including pink lemonade, persimmon, lilac petal and golden peach - but I went for the plain 'spotlight' colour which is silvery in colour for the purpose of being a highlighter on my brow and cheek bones. It was only £1.50 and one of my favorite products. I have really naturally matte and dull skin so highlighters are imperative for me. I've been meaning to try benefit 'high beam' for a while but you can't go wrong with this as a cheap alternative at a staggering £18.50 less for a similar effect product. 

I definitely will be buying this in another couple of shades to experiment- as you can see from the swatch on my skin its coverage is quite thick so you don't need a lot of product. I dab it in to mix into my base foundation- which is (the sadly now discontinued) MAC mineralize satin finish which in itself is quite dewy and illuminating.

I really love my £1.50 'healthy glow' bronzer seen on the top of my hand in the image above. Although its' only one tone the 'sun-kissed' it's a lovely colour for pale people like me to put a bit of colour into my cheeks and help blend my foundation into my neck and shoulders. This works particularly well to create a 'sculpted' look alongside the facial whip- i'd imagine even moreso if you got the 'golden peach' tone more appropriate to more olive skin tones.

I got the Eyebrow lifter & filler pencil in 'medium'- it was similar to another more expensive product I'd owned before- the Soap and Glory 'arch de triumph' double ended eyebrow shaping pencil which retails at around £8 compared to the £3.75 E.L.F alternative. 

This goes on to the brow really smoothly- maybe even too much so. I found it difficult to define the thinner part of the brows because the pencil is just so thick and the colour is quite dark for me. The 'ivory' highlighter end is actually quite pink- and although doing the job of helping define my eye make-up it doesn't really suit my NC/yellow based skin tone. I think I prefer the Soap and Glory one overall but this isn't a bad cheap alternative and is multi purpose.

My favourite product from this order is by far the 'High Definition Powder'. I'd read good things about this on various blogs before deciding to buy. Because I have such dry/ matte skin i've generally been really reluctant to wear powder on top of my foundation in case it dries out my skin and shows imperfections more.  At just £6 it was my most expensive purchase from E.L.F.

The description, though, described the powder as creating a 'soft focus' effect to the skin to help keep the complexion radiant looking. I ordered it in the 'shimmer' colour as i'd previously tried a translucent shimmering face powder from MAC that I got for Christmas and i really haven't been a fan nor used it much because of the unrealistic 'silver' finish it gave my skin.

I really love this product and have been using the powder-puff applicator everywhere on my face except the cheek bones to help seal my foundation in longer without diminishing the 'satin finish' of my foundation.

It has a slight but not 'overwhelmingly oranging' pigment to it and I do believe it retains the skins radiancy. Here's a picture of me wearing it on top of my usual foundation alongside both the facial whip and eyebrow filler and lifter pencil. I also have the healthy glow bronzer on my cheeks alongside a cream blusher blended in for a natural look.

The E.L.F. waterproof eyeliner pen just doesn't work for me at all. The reviews on the product website are brilliant but I have found it to be very translucent and i've had to add an additional liquid eyeliner layer on top for it to actually look black. Also with being a pen- i find the nib to be quite sharp and uncomfortable to apply whereas previous eyeliner pens i have used have been a little more flexible. At just £1.50 its' not too much of a devastating financial loss.

I bought these two lip products as alternatives to more high-end products I already have. The SPF 15  lip balm (on the right) in nude smells so lovely. It kind of has a minty fragrance which gives it the tingly feeling of a plumper on the lips. At £3.75 it's more expensive than the typical E.L.F products but it feels worth it for how moisturising it feels and I imagine if you had a problem with chapped or sore lips, this would be a really worth-while investment. 

They come in a variety of different pigments which aren't as strongly coloured as a lipstick but does add a tint to the lips while looking after them too! I ordered it in nude and it appears more pink on the site and more brown in person but I really liked the colour (the top left tone on the swatch- the top right is my free shimmer gloss in 'fantasize').  I've found these two colours work well layered on top of each other for a natural but not dull shade.

The bottom swatch is of the E.L.F matte lip colour in 'rich red' which is a long thin stuck almost looking like an eyeliner or mascara tube in appearance. It's kind of like a soft balmy lip liner which never has to be sharpened because it's twistable so i imagine it will last quite long. I've found it to be good for precision colour on the go- no more lipstick teeth! However as you can see from the swatch it's a little more pink than I hoped from the preview image and packaging- a common issue with red lipsticks however if you layer it on heavy enough it does undeniabley look red- however top ups may be needed to avoid that awful fading to pink thing.

Overall then- I will be ordering from E.L.F again. I wouldn't use it for integral base products like eyeliners, foundations as i have quite sensitive and fussy skin but for things like lipsticks it is a great cost effective alternative to spending a lot if you have to buy a bulk of items and certainly good as a back up/ top up product to take out and about or abroad. They also seem to have frequent offers on with both free delivery and products if you spend a certain amount.

Do you have any recommendations for further E.L.F products to try?

Kelly-Leigh x