My e.l.f. Experience, Part 2

If you haven’t read Part 1, you can find it here.

After raiding my local Dollar General for e.l.f. brushes and basic tools I scoped out the website to see what other goodies where available.

After perusing for what seemed like forever, I finally made up my mind and picked up these:

Mineral eyeshadows, in Seductive and Partier (black and gray respectively): I don’t have much experience with mineral eyeshadow but this does have great color pay off. Meaning, what you see in the sifter is what you get. It annoys me to no end to buy a gorgeous color of eyeshadow and have it go on transparent. Verdict: These mineral eyeshadows are a great value for the money and they have some yummy colors to choose from.

Powder Brush: I wondered if this brush would be much different than the Total Face Brush I picked up at Dollar General. I’m glad I got it because its a great brush. Very dense and super soft. It feels great on my face. The difference in this brush and the TFB (Total Face Brush) is this brush is flat where the TFB has a more rounded edge to it. The bristles on this brush are shorter too which allows a little more control during application than the TFB. Verdict: A must have powder brush!

Eyeshadow “C” Brush: They call this a “C” brush because the idea is to pat the shadow on in a C shape from the lash line up, then blend. This brush deposits color quite nicely. The bristles are short and dense allowing you to really pack the color on the lid. Verdict: A nice addition to your brush collection.

Contour Brush: This brush has very short bristles and its purpose is precision. This is not a brush for blending but is good for detailed application. I like this brush, but I do more blending than anything else so I don’t use it often. Verdict: A great brush if you like to define your crease or outer “V”.

Small Precision Brush: I bought this brush mainly out of curiosity and I’ve yet to use it. It seems like it would be great for applying shadow to the lash line (which I never do). According to the website you can use it wet or dry to apply concealer, lip color, or line eyes. I prefer my fingers for those applications. Verdict: Only useful if you need a brush to line your eyes with shadow.

Smudge Eye Sponge: This is another brush I bought out of curiosity but I actually use this and love it. Great for smudging eyeliner for that smokey look. Verdict: Fabulous tool!

All Over Color Sticks, in Pink Lemonade and Lilac Petal (dark and light pink respectively): These cute little sticks are supposed to be multipurpose products for eyes, lips and cheeks. I tried it on my lips and it was not creamy enough for me. I haven’t tried it on my eyes but I love it as a cheek color. I normally use the Pink Lemonade as a cream blush then set with a powder blush. I use the Lilac Petal as a highlight on my cheekbones and it really is pretty. Verdict: It doesn’t really serve more than one purpose for me, but I love these little sticks and will likely try other colors.

Nail polish, in Royal Purple and Dark Navy: I’m not a regular nail painter mainly because I usually don’t have time to mess with it. But I had really been wanting to try a navy polish this year and since they were $1 it was worth a try. This polish is not the best. I usually try to cheat and not use a base or top coat because I’m lazy but it was just not possible with this polish. The first time I painted them they chipped within minutes. I tried again a few days later and used a base coat, 2 coats of polish and a top coat and it lasted 4 days. Verdict: If you’re going to take the time to paint your nails, I suggest using a high quality polish that’s going to last. I wouldn’t buy this again.

Cuticle pen: I saw this and thought it would be something worth trying on my dry yucky cuticles. I’ve used it a few times and it seems to do the job. I think I pressed too hard the first time and now the applicator isn’t as long as it used to be. It sort of went up and got stuck but I blame that on user error since I had never used one of those things before. Verdict: Nice to keep in your purse or in your desk to apply as needed.

Over all I think e.l.f. is a great line of products and they offer just about any beauty tool you need. It’s definitely worth trying as I discovered more hits than misses.

Be sure to check out RetailMeNot if you want to order a few things. There are usually some great coupons out there for grabs. Right now they are having a clearance sale on their cases and elements. Use code EH75CE for 75% off!