ELF Haul!

It’s been a really long time since I bought anything from ELF, unless you count a couple brushes that I bought in Seattle over the summer… Which I should. But I don’t. Anyways, the last time they had “free shipping,” which is actually $8 shipping for Canadians, my friend and I decided to split that cost and order some stuff we’d been wanting to try out for a while now. Almost everything I got was from the more expensive Studio and Mineral lines, though the most expensive thing was $6, so still awesome. Anyway, here’s a quick look before we get into the individual products.

Liquid Liner in Stardust:

Although I do like ELF’s studio liquid liner pen, I only recently bought the Wet’n’Wild liquid liner, which I’ve been loving, so I didn’t see a need to get a new black liner. I did, however, want to get a glitter liner. Little did I know I’d find A couple more Annabelle glitter liner at Shoppers on sale for $1 each a couple days later, so I bought a green and a bronze… though it looks like I never showed those in a haul. Strange. Anyways, not the point.

I really wanted to get a glitter liner to add some fun sparkle to regular liquid liner. As a kid I loved glitter, then I had a phase where I was afraid of it, and now I like glitter again. Who doesn’t want sparkly eyes? I haven’t used this one over my W’n’W liner, just my old ELF liner, which went oddly streaky underneath; hopefully that was an effect of the black liner, and not of this glitter. It doesn’t come across well in the swatch above, but I love the clear holo of this glitter!

Studio Small Angled Brush:

I got this for a couple reasons: it was $3, Studio brushes are fantastic, and I wanted it for cleaning up my manicures. Now I have it, though, I’m worried about putting it into polish remover. Instead, I’m thinking of using it for its intended purpose: eyeliner. We shall see. This brush is great, though. It’s very soft, and fairly firm. Another good studio line brush.

Essential Eyelid Primer:

I wanted to try out the primer from the essential line because I’ve tried the Mineral line primer from ELF, and I like it, but I’m not exceptionally impressed. Also, a lot of bloggers/vloggers use this primer, so I wanted to give it a chance. For a dollar, who can complain?  I haven’t got a chance to give it a try yet, though, since I want to use up the Mineral primer first. I might change my mind eventually.

Daily Brush Cleaner:

I’m lazy, and rarely get around to washing my brushes, which is why I bought this. It’s basically a brush sanitizer, that you spray on, wipe off excess product onto a clean cloth, and let the brush dry. Nothing special, and the effect could probably be achieved with an alcohol/water mix, but I’m giving it a try.

Mineral Lipstick in Rich Raspberry:

Of course I got another lipstick! These feel really nice and soft on the lips, and don’t end up drying. Also, the colour is very nice. However, it also doesn’t last long and wears off very easily. For a three dollar lipstick, though, I’m still pretty happy, since it’s a nice colour somewhere between bright and neutral on me, and it’s not that hard to reapply lipstick when it comes off anyways.

Studio Blush in Candid Coral:

I think I picked this colour because it looked pretty on the screen and reminded me of Benefit Coralista, which I love. Little did I realise that this is practically a dupe for that colour! It isn’t nearly as pigmented as the Benefit blush, and it doesn’t have the fantastic scent (which I’m sure some people would actually be happy with, but I love the smell of Coralista!). Overall, though, for a three dollar product (apparently, I’m going to keep emphasizing the cheapness of these products), I’m content.

I would have liked to get another colour, but I guess I can be happy to have a cheap version of Coralista to use when I know my makeup won’t be on long, or when I don’t need it to look as wonderful. This colour does give a nice glow with a nice bit of shimmer and colour. If you have Coralista, I wouldn’t recommend this particular shade, however. On the other hand, if you are lusting after Coralista, and can’t afford it, try this!

Studio Kabuki Face Brush:

I don’t think I needed a kabuki brush, since I have perfectly good fluffy powder brushes, but I did want it. And besides, who honestly needs any of the makeup they buy? I’m pleased again with the quality of this brush, like the rest of the Studio line. My only issue is that this brush somehow manages to dot a bit of the powder it picks up onto my shirt when I do my makeup. Whether the brush is too bendy, not quite dense enough, or it’s actually my own fault, I can’t really tell you. Still, I like this brush.

Studio Warm Bronzer Quad:

(Swatch: top four are the colours individually, and the bottom shade is all four shades swirled together. The first, bronzy colour seems to be the most dominant shade.)

I bought this in hopes that it wouldn’t be shimmery, and I could use it for contouring. To my sadness, it is fairly shimmery. However, after using it to contour a few times, I’m pretty happy with it. It’s pretty pigmented, particularly the two darker shades, and I only need a very little bit on my brush to make a subtle, pretty contour. Also, the two lighter shades can be used as a pretty highlight. Another not-amazing, but good product.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with this haul. I haven’t had much opportunity yet to try the products a lot, so we’ll see if any of them end up in my favourites in the future.

Thanks for reading!