Ok, I’m sure it’s been talked to death but I’m new the make up world after a long time out.
elf? Opinions?
Since my “re-birth” to make-up I’ve used and loved MAC and Urban Decay and of course I love MUG. I am on a budget, just like many of us I’m sure, and wanted some thoughts on elf cosmetics.
Thanks all! 
It’s really a hit or miss brand. Any specific products you are interested in? I love their eyeshadow quads and eyeshadow primer, but hate their gel liner and mascara. Brushes are pretty swell too. 
I’m building a collection I guess is the way to put it. I think what I really want are blushes, like a palette. I was browsing some make up sites and came across elf and didn’t really know much about the brand. I don’t mind spending money on very good products. I don’t want to waste money on cheap stuff either.
elf studio blush – fairly sheer but buildable – a bit powdery same for the eye shadows.Not a huge color selection but most are dupes for higher end colors.
The matte lip crayons are nice. I like Natural.
I love blush and the lip crayons, and the brushes are good stuff to.
But I have bought the elf BB cream and… I’m not so sure if it’s good thing. Maybe it’s my skin, because its so sensitive, but it left me the face like cardboard :S
The brushes in the Studio line are pretty good (I like the flat-top Powder Brush). I also like the contour blush/bronzer duo. The lipsticks in the Mineral line are pretty good as well. Oh, and I like the nail polishes.
But yeah, like every other brand, it has excellent products, and it has some not-so-stellar ones. I can understand not wanting to waste money on something inexpensive, but at the same time, IMO, I’d rather waste money on something inexpensive than on something that costs ten times as much.
I personally like there primer more than some high end brands that dont do a thing for me. I also like there foundation in almond. I use it most days I think it is like $6 at target. The matte lip crayon is awesome. Mist and set spray is good. so is the high defination powder. (As a black woman i only use it under my eye, it leaves me highlighted, all over my face its too light) I have a few single loose shadows I like, also there beauty books are very pigimented. I also like there lashes, a lot.
Dont buy the liquid liner, they are very hit or miss. Some of them are awesome for a dollar and some are already dried out. The eye lash curler that is a dollar pinches your eye. I use to love there brushes but after a few washes the glue comes up and they fall apart. So im not as in love with the brushes as I once was.
The best way to buy is join the site the will email you lots of deals, buy one get one free, free shipping, and lots of other deals.
Signing up with their site definitely nets you some great deals, but man, the cookies they have on that site are so malicious and annoying. Even If I go to the site every day, I get an email saying “we missed you”. Every.TIME. It doesn’t seem like a huge deal, but I obviously go there a lot. So its annoying.
I like their gel liners, hate the brush that comes with it, so use your own. Its weird to me how even with a screw top, they dry out pretty quickly. I think I had mine for about a month, maybe 2 before it started to get dry like I had had it forever. It still gets the job done though.
Their bronzer is really really realllllly shimmery. I only use it to highlight with, because even their darkest shade of bronzer is really light on me (NW 43)
I LOVE the HD Setting powder. Even blended out, it still leaves a bit of a white cast. I just spray Fix+ (or whatever misting/setting spray you have) on after, and the white cast cast away.. It makes my makeup look flawless all day.
I can not live without the eyelid primer.
I use the 144 palate almost daily, I just ordered another palate that has blush, bronzer and about 50 eye shadows. Some of the shadows are a miss, too cakey or not pigmented well. But 20 meh shadows out of 144, is pretty impressive.
I despise the Mist&Set spray. It smells like raw mac&cheese mix.
The best thing about their products, is if you absolutely hate it, you wont feel bad about tossing it, because of how cheap it is.
I have an elf blending/crease brush which is pretty good. At times it seems scratchy, but using a bit of conditioner when washing makes it somewhat softer.
I’ve heard that their Studio Blushes are good. I’ve only tried a Natural Radiance one, and the colour was gorgeous, but it got really powdery very quickly, so I don’t use it any more.
Good quality make-up and accessories without the high-end price. I personally love their make-up brushes and eyeshadow palettes (not the duo cream shadow)
I’ve tried most of their products. The best advice I can give is stick to the Studio and Mineral line products. Not all the Essentials products are bad, but enough of them are for me to recommend generally staying away from them. The Essentials quads are nice, as are the pencil eyeliners (though not smudge proof they’re very gentle on the waterline and they are well pigmented).
I really like the bronzers, the blushes (the “gotta glow” is one of my fave highlighters at the moment), the brushes, the lip gloss (I’ve tried a few different types and like them all) and I just used one of the nail polishes today for the first time. I bought two others and if they are equally good, I’m going to buy every single color. The one I used today (coral) is as good, if not better, than any OPI shade I’ve ever used. Two coats and it’s perfection. Even one coat was almost enough. Crazy!
I’m excited to try the baked blushes, I bet they’re going to be very good.
I’m not a huge fan of the shimmer powder (pointless), the yellow corrective hd powder (too yellow for me), the translucent matifying powder or the make up remover cloths. The gel eyeliner is ok, but not fabulous. Not good for the waterline for sure.
I didn’t use any of the elf eyeshadows yet, but I like the liquid liners and they’re sharp pointed so you can easily make thin strokes!
i got a 100 eye palette its a hit and miss most colors that look bright aren’t but i use them to highlight
@robin
I did a post on my elf hits or misses, back when they were having some sale:
http://outinapout.blogspot.com/2011/03/elf-studio-50-off-my-picks.html
speaking of which, sign up for the email updates and if you can, wait to buy until they have a sale- they happen pretty often and go up to 40% off, so totally worth it to wait a few weeks (actually, right now they’re having a $10 off $25 order, so it’s a good time to test some things out!)
I haven’t tried their blushes, aside from the Gotta Glow, which is a white-gold highlighter (Nars Albatross dupe). I wasn’t a fan (too gold, to sparkly, I prefer something more subtle) but I will say as much as I hate to promote NYX, if you want good, inexpensive blushes to build a palette with, they’re a good choice. Even better is Sleek Makeup’s blushes- they’re incredible!
abbiexoxi 11 months, 1 week ago.
