So I’ve been shopping around and trying to find some new staples for my make-up collection. Even though I don’t wear make-up often, when I do I want to be able to have everything I need at once. So when I spoke to the people over at Eyes Lips Face (ELF,) about my problem they suggested I try a handful of their products. The reason I like ELF is because their stuff is so cheap and affordable, so I got a couple of bits to try.
The first was their Mineral Lipstick in Beautiful Berry.
I’m really, really not a lipstick person, they just don’t suit me unless they’re on the sheer pinkish-bronze side. Pinks and reds just make me look more pale than I actually am. Regardless, this lipstick is actually pretty nice. For a ‘drugstore brand’ ELF does create a decent quality with their products.
The lipstick goes on very easily and doesn’t leave any stickiness. The colour fades after a few hours but it’s easily buildable and it really isn’t a problem to just swipe it over your lips once more to top it up.
It seems like ELF are trying to go for the simplistic MAC packaging, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s a shame they don’t have their own iconic style for their brand. As lipstick doesn’t really suit me in this shade I’ll probably pass it on to my Mum or a friend who will get more use from it than I do. However, ELF do offer some lipsticks that are in shades that would suit me, and basing my view on my experience with this one I’ll probably pick up Runway Pink and maybe Nicely Nude, they’re only £3.50 each.
Secondly I tried their studio blush, in Pink Passion.
While the colour in the palette looks like a shocking neon, it’s not. It’s actually a fairly sheer but buildable pink, you can see on my hand that I’ve built up quite a few layers;
However it’s also pretty easy to blend out, so I wouldn’t worry too much about looking like the puppet from Saw, because it is in fact a sheer pink. The picture on the website is – I assume – trying to imply that it’s shimmery. It isn’t. There might be a tiny, tiny bit of shimmer but not enough for me to justify the photoshop effects they’ve put on the site :P
It lasts a while too, especially if you use a primer (which you should,) and a make-up setting spray (which you also should,) and for £3.50 also, you can’t really lose. Blush isn’t really my thing, I find that when I use it I get spots, so I have only one blush that I like, it’s from BareMinerals, so I have to be careful what I put on my skin. Sadly I don’t think I’ll get much use from the ELF blusher, because it feels a little thick and powdery for my skin, but if you have normal or non-oily/spot-prone skin then it would be a perfect substitute that you could throw in your bag and not worry about damaging or losing one of your more expensive blushes.
