E.L.F. Neutral Eyeshadow Compact

So I used to have the Urban Decay Naked palette (the original) and it just sat around gathering dust.  I didn't use it.  I'm not sure exactly what the problem was, but I finally decided that someone else could put it to better use and I traded it on MakeUp Alley for MAC Matchmaster Foundation (probably my most successful MUA swap to date).

Anyway, the other day I saw two different blog posts on various blogs that I read about how the E.L.F. Neutral eyeshadow compact is a dupe for some of the UD Naked palette shades.  So I decided to plunk down the whopping $3 for it and check it out.  My reasoning was that the E.L.F. palette is all neutrals and omits dupes for the Urban Decay shades I either already own (hello, smog, why do I have three of you?) or never used anyway.

And now on to the swatches and comparisons:

• Glittery White - This shade isn't similar to something in the Naked palette.  It's a white shade with a lot of silver glitter.  The texture was very creamy and the color payoff is good.
• Not!Sidecar - this shade was awful.  It had tons of glitter and seemed to be more glitter than shadow.  it was chunky and uneven and awful.  Urban Decay's Midnight Cowboy is sort of the standard for horrid glitter, but this shade could certainly give Midnight Cowboy a run for its money.  And really, I don't remember Sidecar being that glittery.
• Matte Dark Brown - Excellent color payoff, creamy texture.  For me, this was the best shade in the palette.  I think this is probably darker than any of the matte brown shades in the UD Naked palette.

• Not!Virgin - Shimmery light pink with satin finish with shimmer, but not glitter.  Very creamy.  If memory serves, this is really close to UD's Virgin.
• Rosy Brown - satin finish with shimmer, but not glitter. very creamy.
• Dark gray brown - matte finish.  Not as creamy as the other matte, but very workable and again, darker than anything in the UD palette (I know Dark Horse looks dark in the pan, but on the skin it's really not).

So obviously, I no longer have the Naked palette to be able to do side by side comparisons but my overall impression is ... it's an E.L.F. palette.  Some of the shades are okay (the matte brown in the upper right hand corner is probably my favorite of the palette but at this point I probably have a dozen great matte brown shadows so this doesn't exactly justify purchasing the whole compact for one shade).

Overall, most of the shades are forgettable or really similar to something else I already have.  If you don't already have any affordable neutral palettes, it might be worth picking up.  I really don't think that if you have your heart set on the Urban Decay Naked palette that this is going to satisfy you, but at $3 vs. $50, you might be willing to live with it.

What do you guys think?  Anything that stands out enough to be worth picking up?

Overall: 5/10

Review: E.L.F. All Over Color Sticks

I did my bronzer series and much in the same vein, I'm going to start a new series on highlighters.  I have tons of different highlighters in all sorts of formulas, brands and price points.  I wanted to start off the series with a brand that's accessible to almost anyone.

E.L.F. All Over Color Sticks
$1
4g of product

I have the following colors:

• Pink Lemonade
• Persimmon
• Golden Peach

As you can see from the photos, they are well loved.  I'm kicking myself for not at least taking pictures of new products before using them over the last year.  

You get what you pay for, so as you can see there are some pretty big variations in packaging.  

Pink Lemonade is by far the most pigmented of the All Over Color sticks I have.  It is fairly iridescent, but it also has a good deal of pigmentation.  It definitely doesn't sheer out as much as the other colors and I use a very light hand with this one.  I don't know that I would ever use it as a straight up highlighter.  A shimmery cream blush, yes, but highlighter, no.

I didn't use a flash on this one and still it's so iridescent that it's hard to get a good feel for the color.  It's sort of a pinky purple beige.  It is incredibly reflective, but it does sheer out fairly well.  This is definitely a highlighter.  I don't think it has enough pigmentation to be a blush.

This is the color I tend to use the most.  It is very sheer, but had just enough color.  It's iridescent, but not overly so.  I use it interchangeably as either a highlighter or a blush.

I prefer the All Over Color Sticks for highlighting with E.L.F. products.  Their "official" highlighters, the Shimmering Facial Whips, do not impress me.  I only have 1, but it is incredibly sticky.  I have no idea why you would ever want to have a sticky face product, but I suspect the one dollar price tag has something to do with it.

I love the All Over Color sticks and at $1 each, they can't be beat.

Overall: 10/10

Review: E.L.F. 100 eyeshadow palette

I posted a first impressions on this last week, but I wanted to follow up with an actual review.

As with all things, E.L.F, the price is right.  $10 for 100 eyeshadows.  It's a great buy for someone who wants to experiment with colors or textures they don't usually wear.  As with all the other E.L.F. palettes I've purchased, it's a mixed bag.  Some of the pans are great quality, others are total duds.

The styling on this palette is different from any of the other E.L.F. palettes I've purchased.  First off, it's white.  Every other palette I have from E.L.F. came in black packaging.  And as you can see from the photos below, the pans themselves are a lot more stylized than usual with mottled pans.  Personally, I love that.  I think this palette is really visually stunning.

Also, as with a lot of palettes with dozens of pans, a lot of the colors are really, really similar.  Witness the swatches of the 3 gray shades on the far right of the palette.  Can you tell a difference?  I really can't.

I think this is a good buy if you're on a budget or you just want to experiment with colors.  I don't think it's something I'd use a whole lot, but at this price point, it's great for those rare bold colored looks.

Overall: 8/10

First Impressions: E.L.F. 100 palette

I went to Target tonight to pick up a couple more of the Up & Up crease brushes (which are SHOCKINGLY good and less than $2 each) and one of the Sonya Kashuk Beauty Blender dupes.

While I was looking around, they had their new E.L.F. display up and I picked up the new 100 palette eyeshadow for the lovely price of $10.  It's very springy.  It's white and the shadows are pressed to look like the colors are spilling from one pan to the next.  I haven't had a chance to swatch it yet, but it looks awfully pretty

I picked up a couple other E.L.F. items, an all over color stick in Persimmon and a shimmering facial whip in lilac petal.  I'll try and get them swatched and posted tomorrow.

Cheers,

indie

e.l.f. Studio Endless Eyes Pro Mini Eyeshadow Palette – Limited Edition

I have this eternal conundrum.  I love color, absolutely love it.  But it is really difficult to incorporate into my daily makeup routine.  I have a professional management job and while I absolutely covet just about everything from SugarPill (especially the Burning Heart Palette), I have some very serious questions about how much I could really use the products in my daily routine.

So before shelling out the money for SugarPill, I decided to experiment with something much more affordable just to see what I would use and what I wouldn't use.  I understand that the product quality between a discount store product and a high end product is very different, but when you're on a budget, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

I will say up front that I love e.l.f.  They are SO affordable that it really allows for a lot of flexibility in terms of trying out new products and colors.  Their quality is a bit hit or miss.  Some of their stuff I absolutely love as much as my far more expensive brands.  But there are also some disappointments - though, for $1, I can deal with quite a bit of disappointment.

When I was at Target a couple of weeks ago, I picked up the e.l.f. Endless Eyes Pro Palette for $5.  Let me say that again, $5.  The Palette has 32 colors and while I do wish they didn't skew so neutral brown/black, there is a good bit of color and for someone like yours truly who has some serious questions about incorporating color into the work environment, this was a great bargain.

The quality of the shadows isn't outstanding and it does seem to vary from color to color, but again, for $5, I'm really not going to complain too much.

I have played with the colors a little bit so far.  I used this palette and some other green eyeshadow singles by Jane cosmetics to play around with a green look for St. Patrick's Day.  

Overall, I am really happy with the value of this palette:  8/10.

(but I still covet SugarPill)