BRAND SPOTLIGHT: ELF COSMETICS

SWATCHES L-R: Blush and Bronzer Duoin St Lucia, All Over Colour Stick in Spotlight, Pigment Eyeshadow, Matte Lip Colour in Tea Rose, Blush in Gotta Glow, Eyebrow Kit in Ash (just the wax), Mineral Moisturising Lip Tint in Pink, Eyebrow Lift and Filler (Lift first, then the filler), Cream Eyeliner in Coffee.

I have been inspired to do this post after seeing Shaaanxo's one brand tutorial videos, and although I don't make videos on youtube I thought I could maybe tweak the idea slightly and do a post containing all the products I own from a certain brand and do a mini review on each of the products. Today, I'm going to be doing it on ELF Cosmetics, which I enjoy and, in my opinion, have built up quite a collection of their products considering they are only available online.

BASE PRODUCTS

The BLUSH AND BRONZER DUO in ST LUCIA is one of my favourite blush-bronzer duo type thing, though I'm not a huge fan of the bronzer (a little bit too dark and shimmery for me) the blush is gorgeous - a peachy pink with gold reflecks running through it. This duo is supposed to be a dupe of the NARS ORGASM AND LAGUNA BLUSH BRONZER DUO though I don't own it so I can't comment on whether it is dupe worthy enough, but after using the bronzer I don't think I'll be rushing out to get the NARS LAGUNA BRONZER.

The next two products are highlighters which I often forget about as I only ever really use my MAC MSF in LIGHTSCAPADE. In saying that, the ALL OVER COLOUR STICK in SPOTLIGHT and the BLUSH in GOTTA GLOW are beautiful but I do find them a little difficult to work with. The stick is a little too creamy for me and my oily skin and the blush is a little too glittery for everyday use.

EYE PRODUCTS

The EYEBROW KIT in ASH used to be a holy grail product for me, and it probably still would be now if MAC OMEGA EYESHADOW hadn't turned up, which the powder side is basically a dupe for although it is a little lighter and possibly not as pigment (this is why I and only swathed the gel side as the powder is barely visible on the skin). The gel side is nice when run through the brows and also helps to tame them a little but the shade is perhaps on the warm side for me. Next up is the EYEBROW LIFT AND FILLER which I was very disappointed by, you may be able to see on the swatch just how waxy the pencil end was! It is impossible to work with. And the chunky style of it made it difficult to be precise and also extremely difficult to sharpen!

For eyeshadow I have the EYESHADOW PIGMENT in COFFEE although a tad messy it is a beautiful colour when packed on to the lid. It has actual glitter in there which I was a little sceptical about at first but they don't pose much difficulty when applying the product. I often wet my brush with MAC FIX+ then dip it into the product to get maximum intensity! For liner, the ELF CREAM EYELINER was my first gel/cream eyeliner which I loved a lot when I first bought it as I was really into a good cat eye then! Since then, as I have put down the gel eyeliner and picked up the eyeshadows, this cream eyeliner has really dried out and really tug on my skin when searching. It is most probably due to the long time I've had it or (I have a lot of trouble with the lids of these and can never seem to close them) not putting the lid on properly. 

LIP PRODUCTS

I've said it before on my blog that I'm not a huge lip product person but I do venture into the lip product world occasionally. From ELF I have the MATTE LIP COLOUR in TEA ROSE which is a mauve pink shade - almost purple! Although it's quite a muted down purple I still don't wear it as often as I'd like to. On the other had I have the MINERAL MOISTURISING LIP TINT in PINK which is quite a sheer peachy pink that you can just whack on and go.

BRUSHES

Everyone always raves about ELF brushes and I am exactly the same. An old favourite of mine is the POWDER BRUSH, a dense, flat top brush perfect for powder, foundation, bronzer - everything! A more recent purchase is the  SMALL STIPPLING BRUSH which is, again, very multipurpose and can be used for a variety of different things. I also own the LIP BRUSH which I occasionally use for lipstick but also concealer, an occasionally with the PIGMENT EYESHADOW. 

So that concludes my Brand Spotlight post! I have some real stand out products from ELF but I also have some 'meh' products too. What are you fave ELF products? 

Olivia x