e.l.f. Mini Haul

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I ran over to my friendly local K-Mart and picked up several e.l.f. products. This is a mini haul due to the fact that I only bought seven items this time around. All of the products were $1 USD, so a whopping $7 total.

There’s not much at this K-Mart that I don’t already own. Can anyone explain why this K-Mart does not carry blush? Does an All Over Color Stick really count as face colour in K-Mart’s eyes?

I also picked up a couple of other personal care products, like emery boards and a pair of tweezers, since they were on sale. Due to the fact that those types of products are generally the same and not manufactured by e.l.f., I’ll omit them from this review.

Forgive me. This post is image heavy.

The Breakdown

  • Clarifying Pressed Powder in Tone 1
  • All Over Cover Stick in Fair
  • All Over Colour Stick in Persimmon
  • Duo Eye Shadow Cream in Butter Pecan
  • Plumping Lip Glaze in Mauve Berry
  • Super Glossy Lip Shine in Goddess
  • Therapeutic Conditioning Lip Balm in Strawberry

e.l.f. Mini Haul #1

Clarifying Pressed Powder

Update: This product is now called the e.l.f. Essential Flawless Face Powder and retails for $2 USD.

For a dollar, I figured it was silly not to give this product a try. However, after using Everyday Minerals products for the past six months, this pressed powder doesn’t stand a chance. Easily the worst e.l.f. packaging I’ve experienced so far. Cheap, cheap, cheap. The pictures don’t do it justice.

e.l.f. Clarifying Pressed Powder in Tone 1

Hypothetically, one would expect the compacts from the Clarifying Pressed Powder and Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder to be similar. But they’re not. The Bronzing Powder compact is fairly decent by e.l.f. standards. The powder appears to have slightly less product than the bronzer and the lid for the powder is absolutely atrocious. Very flimsy. I won’t be surprise if something snaps off fairly soon.

e.l.f. Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder compact in Sunkissed
and e.l.f. Clarifying Pressed Powder in Tone 1

As for performance, I think the Clarifying Pressed Powder holds up surprisingly well, given the price. I did a spot test on my face and it is almost a perfect match. I didn’t have a lot of hopes in this area, seeing how it’s taken until this year to get an accurate match with my fair, yellow undertones skin. The e.l.f. website states that Tone 1 is aimed at fair individuals with blue undertones, but it seemed very yellow to me. I wanted to give Tone 1 a shot before trying any of the three new light shades. No need to go online and order more shades if this one works best. I think I will still need to two of the new light shades to determine if this is the correct tone for me.

It’s listed on the website as having a Sugar Orange scent (whatever that is), but thankfully I can’t smell much–I’ve sniffed it to double check.

e.l.f. Clarifying Pressed Powder puffs

I truly believe it’s the powder’s puff that brings the overall quality down. It’s small to fit in the compact, and it has the e.l.f. logo imprinted on the top. Not very impressive. Furthermore, every cent that is spent on something other than product is detrimental to the concept of a $1 line. I think most people would prefer to have more pressed powder than a logo emblazoned powder puff.

All Over Cover Stick

I sorta kinda wanted to try the All Over Cover Stick after reading favorable reviews on the Internets and also because I do not currently own any cream concealer. Every single one of my concealers are powder. I have not owned a cream concealer for two or three years, because I couldn’t swing it fiscally. I’ve been hoping to try one of the two other dollar concealers e.l.f. sells, but this was the best I could find. I didn’t want to try this product first since I wasn’t a fan of the All Over Color Sticks, but beggars can’t be choosers.

e.l.f. All Over Cover Stick in Fair

I used this product under my eyes, the area I use concealer most, and around my nose. I think the shade Fair works well for my skin tone, but I don’t like how thick and cakey it looks on the skin. Despite being a cream product, I feel it exaggerated the (slight!) wrinkles under my eyes. This is probably due to the heavy nature of the All Over Cover Stick. I get better results from using Everyday Minerals powder concealers. While a dry product, I can better control how much I apply.

Unlike the Clarifying Pressed Powder, I can definitely smell the orange flavor. I’m not going to say it’s bad, but I will say it’s a little strange.

All Over Color Stick

Aw, man. I bought a duplicate. I had bought two Essential All Over Color Sticks a few months ago. I remembered that one was Pink Lemonade, and I could have sworn that this K-Mart had a different colour than the one next to my old apartment. I thought I had Lilac Petal and needed Persimmon, but it was reversed. To top it off, while photographing the products, I accidentally opened the package even though I had planned to swap the new one for something else. I rarely use the All Over Color Sticks and don’t need a second Persimmon.

e.l.f All Over Color Stick in Golden Peach, Persimmon, and Pink Lemonade

I suppose I should proceed with the review. The All Over Color Sticks are like super wide, yet shallow lipsticks. e.l.f. claims you can use this product anywhere on you’re face, but I find it to be too large to comfortably apply anywhere except the cheeks and possibly the forehead/chin areas. I’ve applied this product to my lips and that always feels strange at best and horribly inaccurate at worst. There’s also the Sugar Orange scent, but I’ve never noticed anything until now.

I have never bothered to apply it to my eyes. Pink Lemonade is too vibrant a pink for the vast majority of people to use on their eyes. To that extent, I find Persimmon far too light to use as a lipstick. And if it’s too light for me…

e.l.f. All Over Color Stick Swatches: Golden Peach, Persimmon, and Pink Lemonade

After checking the website, I will mention that the large pop up images on rollover are very true to life. That’s a first for e.l.f.

Duo Eye Shadow Cream

Update: This product has been discontinued and is no longer available for purchase.

It is official. I do not like this product. I do not understand why people like cream shadows. They’re oily and smudgy. Ugh.

I admit that I think the colours are pretty and liked the swatches I did on my arm. Unfortunately, that’s it. I find the cream shadows difficult to apply either with fingers (oh, so messy) or brush (oh, so much cleanup). I also found the shadows creased after a short time of wear. On the other hand, this product is surprisingly long lasting. After swatching, I scrubbed my arm with facial cleanser and a wash cloth, but to no avail. The shadows refused to come off completely.

e.l.f. Duo Eye Shadow Creams in Mocha Swirl and Butter Pecan

I first tried e.l.f.’s Duo Eye Shadow Cream in Mocha Swirl a few months ago. I always wanted to try cream shadows and liked the colors. And I think it was all K-Mart had at the time. The two colours were nice, but the texture wasn’t.

Initially, I didn’t think Butter Pecan was the right colour for me. It seemed too orange and gold. Some of the swatches I saw online, however, made me rethink that it wasn’t as dark as I believed. I passed up Butter Pecan at an earlier visit to K-Mart, because 1). it looked just as I suspected and 2). I didn’t much care for the product after my experiences with Mocha Swirl. For some reason this time around I decided to try because it was only $1 (I swear this thinking gets me into so trouble).

I got it home, tried it, and immediately realized that it was too dark and orange for me and my fair, yellow skin. It looks exactly like the example image on the website. Of the two I own, I definitely prefer Mocha Swirl.

e.l.f. Duo Eye Shadow Cream swatches in Butter Pecan and Mocha Swirl

On my second attempt at applying the Butter Pecan shades, I used my new e.l.f. Essential Eyeliner Brush as an eyeshadow brush. It worked well, definitely more pleasant than my fingers, but I still had difficulty applying the shadow well.

My experience is most likely a probably a result of my inherent bias against cream shadows as a whole. I really want to try the powder versions.

After all of this, do my negative experiences stop me from wanting to try some of the other shades? Heck no. Bring ’em on.

Plumping Lip Glaze

Update: This product has been discontinued and is no longer available for purchase.

This is possibly the biggest rip off in the main e.l.f. line.

There are two sides to this lip product: on one end you have a colour “glaze” and on the other you have a plumping gloss. Both ends have a sponge applicator. Given how little product is present in the tube, I can only guess that the container is more expensive to produce than the regular lip tubes–which already do not contain much product.

e.l.f. Plumping Lip Glaze in Mauve Berry

This product sort of mimics other plumping lip products on the market. You first use the clear gloss side that has some sort of mint or camphor flavor (I can’t tell exactly which) that makes you’re lips tingle and, in theory, stimulates your lips. You then apply the colour glaze.

The first time I tried the Plumping Lip Glaze I reversed the application order, because I was thinking it was an all day lip product. The wand for the clear plumping gloss is still a little pink from that fiasco. To this day, I almost never use the two glosses together. I either use clear gloss before I apply lipstick, or I wear the colour glaze alone.

e.l.f. Plumping Lip Glaze in Mauve Berry

I originally bought Fire Coral a few months ago and didn’t use it because I found the plumping gloss scent off-putting. A few weeks ago I started using the clear gloss side and liked the way it tingled. Unlike the Super Glossy Lip Shines and Candy Shop Lip Tins, the plumping gloss is light on the mouth. I liked it so much that I went through most of the clear gloss in a matter of weeks. The real reason I bought Mauve Berry was to get more of the clear gloss.

e.l.f. Plumping Lip Glaze in Mauve Berry and Fire Coral

Although…maybe Mauve Berry has a different mint flavor. It definitely falls more on the camphor side, as opposed to mint. Not nearly as pleasant as the Fire Coral plumping gloss. As I mentioned earlier, I hadn’t liked the clear gloss when I first tried it. This leaves me wondering if the camphor will dissipate over time with repeated use or if the Mauve Berry has a different flavor altogether.

A side view showing how little product is in the tube

Does it help plump lips? I highly doubt it. While I can’t prove it, I’m fairly certain that mint alone doesn’t enlarge lips.

Like all of the e.l.f. gloss products, this is a very sheer product. Fire Coral is a pretty shimmery peach/pink for the lips, a light colour that goes on about as dark as one would expect. Mauve Berry has some chunky glitter, but like most of the seemingly darker glosses, does not deliver in colour payoff. On the lips, it looks similar to Malt Shake from the Super Glossy Lip Shine line. Once again, the rollover images on the website are fairly accurate for this product–or at least how it appears in the tube.

e.l.f. Plumping Lip Glaze Swatches: Oasis, Plum Pout, Mauve Berry, and Fire Coral

The big, big problem with this product is how misleading the container is. The tube looks like it houses a lot of gloss, but turn it on its end and you will see how little product the tube holds. I should not have gone through as much lip gloss as I did. This really makes me wish e.l.f. would rethink their $1 line concept.

Super Glossy Lip Shine

I am such a sucker. After my (mostly) negative review on the Essential Super Glossy Lip Shines, I broke down and bought a replacement Goddess. If you haven’t read my review, you might want to in order to better understand my complaints.

e.l.f. Super Glossy Lip Shine in Goddess

Still, Goddess is a very pretty colour and I do like the Lip Shines in spite of myself, even if it did explode all over my travel makeup bag. This time I will be keeping it safely in my makeup drawer at home…although, that’s where I kept the first one that exploded. I’m not sure if any place is safe.

e.l.f. Super Glossy Lip Shine swatches

Here’s to hoping this Goddess stays intact.

Therapeutic Conditioning Lip Balm

Update: This product is now called the e.l.f. Essential Soothing Lip Balm and is still available for $1 USD.

Geh, I love this stuff! I am always telling my husband to stay away from mineral oil and then I go buy e.l.f. products.

This is my third purchase. I think all of them have been Strawberry Creme. The first one disappeared somewhere, so I bought a second. This latest lip balm will go into my purse as backup.

e.l.f. Therapeutic Lip Balm in Strawberry Creme

This stuff literally melts onto the skin. It must be designed for super dry lips like mine. A little goes a long way. I personally like the strawberry smell (oops, that’s right; I meant to try Vanilla this time). And I don’t have to worry about explosions or other mishaps from keeping it my jeans’ pocket.

One of my favorite e.l.f. products and one I actually use on a regular basis.

Images

Final Thoughts

Pros: Inexpensive
Cons: Not much product, flimsy packaging, cheap products

This mini haul was full of misses, but of course, I only paid $7 USD + local tax for the whole order.

I have this great hope that one day e.l.f. will drop the concept of $1 products and actually manufacture higher quality products.