Beauty and the budget - My E.L.F. Haul

My cheeky E.L.F haul

I think it's pretty safe to say that if you have stumbled across this blog, you and I probably have something in common. A number of things in fact, one of which might well be the temptation to buy new things when your bank account isn't in the healthiest of states. Now I'm not saying we are all irresponsible spenders, but sometimes it's good to look at brands that give us the best bang for our buck to take off the pressure. Lovely new products without the guilt? Yes. Please.

So that's exactly what lead me to Eyes Lips Face, or as it's more commonly known, e.l.f. In 2004, e.l.f. was founded by Joseph Shamah and Scott Vincent Borba who felt that an inexpensive, yet high quality cosmetics brand would fill a gap in the market. The brand started out with just a few items but has grown to a cosmetics line with more than 300 products. Needless to say, it has certainly been a resounding success in the beauty industry.

I think it's fair to say that quite often, seeing cosmetics at incredibly low prices immediately makes you think of unknown market stall makeup, those dodgy purchases we make on the spur of the moment and regret later. We expect it to be sub par and something that you would never end up actually using. So after spending a rather acceptable £25 on a whole bunch of products from e.l.f. I was interested to see just what quality I would be getting!

Liquid eyeliner in silver

Long-lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow

From left to right - Festivity, Celebration, Confetti and silver eyeliner above

First up to test were the "Long-lasting Lustrous Eyeshadows". They are shimmery, cream eyeshadows that come in a variety of colours. They have a really nice mousse like consistency and are wonderfully lightweight. What's even better, is that the colour pay off is also great. Although it takes a couple of applications to get a strong colour, if anything that is actually their charm because you can either go for a sheer wash of colour or build up to a more intense look. 

Confetti is a pearly white colour which would be great as a highlighter and celebration is a wonderfully bright silver that would be great for a strong evening look. The only colour I was a little disappointed with was Festivity. While in the pot it looks like a gorgeous, deep plum shade, once applied to the skin it is actually a fairly dull brown. I'm sure it will still get some use but it just wasn't quite what I expected. After a day's use, the eyeshadows did smudge a little but had lasted fairly well.

I was also pleasantly surprised with the silver liquid eyeliner. It has a fine applicator which makes it easy to create a nice line and a formula that is loaded with pigment. Sadly I did find that after a few hours of use, this had pretty much all but disappeared but it was lovely while it lasted.

e.l.f. Studio Pigment Eyeshadow

e.l.f Smudge Pot

From left to right - Pigments: Passionate Purple, Tropical Teal, Breezy Blue. Smudge Pots: Hit the Town, Ocean Bound

Next up were the pigment eyeshadows and smudge pots. I have to say I was really impressed with both. The pigment eyeshadows are soft, incredibly pigmented and last really well. Admittedly I paired them up with my Urban Decay Primer Potion (holy grail right there) which rarely fails me but hey, if it works, it works. There is a great selection of colours and the ones that I chose really showed a nice variety. While they might not have the multi-tonal colour combinations that you see in brands such as Mac, at £3 a piece they really do deliver. There was a little bit of fallout but again, using a primer did help limit it.

The smudge pots are also a welcome surprise. They are cream eyeshadows that come in a range of strong colours, with a good mix of both neutrals and brights. What I particularly like is that they can be used as both an eyeshadow or eyeliner which makes them really great value for money. Since they set well, they are also handy to use as a base for pigments. If they are blended out with a fluffy brush they do lose their pop a little but it's easy to pack in the colour and keep them bright so they truly are multi-use.

e.l.f. Eye Refresh - the perfect pick-me-up

This little wonder was something that I really wasn't expecting to love. Truth is I picked it up on a whim and didn't really expect much from it but it has become something that now, I am never without. The cooling sensation of the Eye Refresh rollerball is two-fold, firstly from the mechanism of the metal ball which gently massages the delicate skin around the eye area but also because of the formula. Infused with key ingredients including Pomegranate, Green Tea, Cucumber and Grape it really hydrates and nourishes.

Whether it's a lack of sleep or a bit of a crying session (lets be honest, it happens to all of us) that has caused the puffy eyes, Eye Refresh takes care of it within about 10 minutes of use. Previously I was using Benefit's Puff Off but I have to admit I haven't had any where near the results that I get from Eye Refresh, which considering the price difference, was quite a surprise. Definitely a product that I will be keeping on hand in the future!

HD Blush from left to right - Showstopper and Encore

I'm not quite sure what I expected when I chose these as I haven't really used cream based blushers much before. I've always preferred powders as I feel they give a more natural touch of colour and I must admit I'm still under the same impression. I was incredibly impressed with the strength of colour from these blushes as the little blobs of colour in the picture above were enough to make that whole swatch. It does however make it quite difficult to create a natural look. I really loved the colours though so was determined to find a way to use them. 

After a bit of experimenting I did find that if you put a tiny amount of the product on your hand first and then use a brush and an extremely light touch, after a decent amount of blending you can use them. This does waste some product but given how little you need to use, it would still last for a long ol' time. Alternatively, mixing them with a little lip balm results in a rather lovely tinted lip balm that can be built up as much as needed. Showstopper was particularly good to use this way considering how popular a berry lip is these days.

e.l.f. Moisturising Lipstick

From top to bottom  - Rosy-go-round and Cheeky

 Last on my list of items to try were two moisturising lipsticks. These have such a lovely formula, they glide on to the lips and add a subtle tint. While they aren't particularly long lasting and do require top ups throughout the day, they are still really nice to use. Rosy-go-round is a blue-toned, bright pink while Cheeky is a rose gold colour which are both spot on for summer. They wouldn't stop me from buying Mac lipstick but when you want a splash of colour without having to worry about your lips being in tip top condition, these are great to have on hand.

 

All in all, I am really happy with the selection of products I have purchased. I'm happy to say that yes, with a price point for most of their products at less than £5, they are indeed cheap. But for the quality that you are getting, they are certainly not sub par.You might need to accept that you have to work a little harder with some of these products to get them to work for you, but the results are pretty much always worth it.

Sadly since I bought this haul, e.l.f announced that they are now in the process of changing their current UK supplier which means that their products aren't currently available here. However a quick check of their website states that they are hoping to be back up and running by the end of summer 2015 so hopefully it won't be too long a wait! 

In the meantime, the co-founder of Distribeauty UK who was the previous supplier of e.l.f. cosmetics and the people behind Makeup Revolution have teamed up to launch a new brand called Freedom Makeup. Again, this is a low cost cosmetics line with good quality products but this time is aimed at professionals in the makeup business and is certainly worth a look!

Have you tried e.l.f. or the brand new Freedom makeup line? If you have, what did you think and what were your favourite products? Would love to hear what you all think! Also, don't forget that if you would like to hear more from me, you can sign up to get my posts sent directly to your email so you never miss a review!