After a long day of dancing- you go to the store for food and behold new *things* on the shelves- you honestly can’t help yourself. It’s karma! I went ahead and I snagged three e.l.f products to give a shot- 2 are completely new to me and I enjoy giving e.l.f a good shake since it gets some grief for being a budget drug store brand.
The “natural glow face palette” was a tough choice for me- I had the “illuminate” palette in hand – and I was thinking I really didn’t need another highlighter palette- and that something more natural that I could take with me on casual weekends might be useful- so here are. Something “natural” (which- for those of you who know me- know… natural isn’t something I ‘do’ much)
This is the palette up close and the fluffy powder brush I specifically grabbed for applying bronzer. I’m insanely pleased with how fluffy and light the brush is. I don’t really love white brushes- they show how much makeup they hold on a regular basis- but that’s neither here nor there- if it works- it works. The packaging on this is REALLY nice for a 7.99 price point. the outside is crisp and sharp- but prone to fingerprints- it’s almost like chrome- but not quite. The mirror inside is lovely. The whole palette is definitely plastic- but has a great weight that totally by passes the “cheap drug store brand” feel that you can get with these drugstore products. All in all I was really impressed when I popped it out of the box!
I swatched the colors a little bit quickly tonight for fun: the bronzer is bottom right- and the highlighter (that looks like another bronzer) is top left. The blushes are corners top right and bottom left. I’m pleased they do not have heavy glitter/sparkle in them. Budget brands typically try to “up” the product’s intensity with glitter and honestly it makes it crappy. I did some quick sampling- the bronzer is a little dirty looking on my bare skin- I wasn’t crazy about it- but the top right blush is very natural on me and I really liked it. The highlighter is a little bit like a light duty cross between Becca Moonstone and Opal. I swatched it really quickly and was a little underwhelmed by the swatch- it’s very soft on the skin- and gives a very natural and soft glow on the actual face so I’m not completely giving up hope. I’m going to play with brush application and see if I can work something useful out of it. it’s the weakest product in the pan if I’m honest- which is disappointing- because- I love me some glow.
On to the brushes: The e.l.f powder brush is what originally grabbed my eye and I’m really excited about because I wanted to try a new bronzer brush. It’s extremely soft and fluffy but disappointingly has a slight chemical smell. More notable than most other brushes- the handle is not completely round, it has sort of a triangular shape- which is a big plus in my book because brushes rolling off the counter is a real struggle.
It’s almost as big as the Real Techniques brush- but slightly smaller than the Morphe one- but really I wouldn’t compare them even though they *are* both powder brushes- the morphe is longer, denser and a slightly more tulip shape. Also- the Wet N Wild brush IS a powder brush- but as you can see- this particular line of the WnW brush is barely a powder brush at all.
Shown here are all my long handled powder brushes:
For size comparison- that’s a quarter.
This is mostly to try to show you the shape- the elf brush has a distinctly more flattened shape than the Real Techniques which to me feels like a true powder brush. The Morphe has a slight taper to it as you can see in the picture above.
As you can see on the far right here- the WNW is much more dense- and far less round and poofy (that’s a technical term). I’m looking forward to using this brush for bronzer- I use the real techniques one the most for pressed powder- the WNW I usually dabble in specific blush application for performance, opposed to a diffused look for lighter/day wear in which case I’ll use a duo fiber or fan brush for blush. I sort of bounce around on bronzer brushes- so I’m looking for a more dedicated brush for that application.
And finally I picked up make up wipes. I’ve used these before- Honestly these are wonderful at 2.99 they do a bomb ass job of taking off makeup. Shown below is ONE wipe- and half my face has been taken off- and this is very heavy performance make up. I use the rest of the wipe to get the rest of my face. I went to a second wipe for my chest/arms and detail clean up- but really for the price point- these are hard to beat.
I’m going to update this post for you all with actual photos in good light with the new palette and hopefully some comments on the brush and the “natural” palette for work tomorrow!
Quick update from the am. This is on top of the cover girl foundation (I think it says something about glow, so a soft satin finish). It’s really pretty but very subtle. The highlighter is build able but definitely not for you if you like ‘blinding’ highlights. It’s nice. Good for work for sure!
Let me know if you found this useful at all for you all and I’ll keep doing some write ups as I purchase new products! (Also- check the new kaleidoscope empire scarf from DWebb ! definitely grab one if you don’t have one!)
Till next time!
Jo
BrickHouseDesigns 