I've read so much about e.l.f. cosmetics from beauty bloggers and decided to give them a try. e.l.f. stands for eyes lips face. They are an American brand which strive to deliver good quality makeup at very low prices.
Products bought:
Conditioning Lip Balm in Blissful Berry and Romantic Rouge (£3.50 each)Mineral Lipstick in Pouty Petal (£3.50)Mineral Blush in Joy (£3.50)Studio Blush in Tickled Pink (£3.50)Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Raspberry (£1.50)
The first thing I noticed about the Conditioning Lip Balm is that the packaging is pretty huge! I'm not too impressed with how chunky they are, and it's quite difficult to access the balm if you have long nails.
The balms look bigger in real life than they do in these pics (4 x 4 x 3cm in dimension).
These balms have nice, thick consistency and have good pigmentation (more of a lipstick than a balm). In addition, they contain SPF15 to protect against the sun. The finish is creamy rather than overly shiny. Romantic Rouge is a sheer, rosy red. Blissful Berry is a warm, berry rose.
L-R: Romantic Rouge, Blissful Berry
Lip swatches of Romantic Rouge...
...and Blissful Berry
I love both shades, but my favorite of the two is Romantic rouge for providing sheer rosy red lips.
I tried a couple of items from their mineral makeup range. Their Mineral Lipstick in Pouty Petal is a light cool pink.
I absolutely adore this Mineral Blush in Joy. The texture is smooth and soft, and the shade is a gorgeous pale lilac pink. It gave my cheeks a very healthy looking glow.
Swatches of the Mineral Lipstick in Pouty Petal (L) and Mineral Blush in Joy (R)
Lip swatch of Pouty Petal
Pouty Petal turned out fairly pale on my lips. It's a pretty shade, but I find this would be better suited to those with fairer complexions than I. I would prefer a more pigmented lipstick, and this shade required a few coats of application to get the color to show up on my lips.
Next up is e.l.f's Studio Blush in Tickled Pink, a pretty muted pink shade.
Here is a swatch of it on the far left, in comparison to Pouty Petal and Joy.
As pretty as the blush was, it didn't do much for my complexion and I much preferred the Mineral Blush in Joy.
On to the cheapest of the lot, the Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Raspberry that only costs £1.50
These glosses have the same twist application as Stila Lip Glazes. The packaging of the e.l.f. glosses were of lesser quality in comparison to the Lip Glazes. I'm not complaining though as they only cost £1.50. (even cheaper if you are in the U.S.).
Raspberry is a pretty reddish-pink:
The formula is thicker than the average gloss and it has a nice, creamy finish and my lips look plumper with it on. It has a sweet, minty scent. Like a lot of glosses they tend not to last very long. All in all, a good buy and I already have my eye on other shades in the range -namely Strawberry and Cherry Tart.