ELF Shiner Eraser Blotting Sheets

One of the most important weapons in my anti oil arsenal is blotting paper. I don’t like applying more powder on top of the oil. It inevitably ends up feeling heavy and cakey so before I top up the powder I like to get rid of any oil that has appeared first. I’ve used a lot of brands so it was only a matter of time before I gave these little bargains a try. At only £1.50 for 50 sheets these are exceptional value for money. 

Each sheet is extremely thin and quite flimsy so a little care is required. You simply press it to any oily areas and it soaks everything up leaving you shine free. The sheet itself goes transparent where the oil soaks in which is both disgusting and morbidly fascinating (a bit like pore strips... no one will admit it but we all count the black heads). What I like about these is that they don’t have any powdery residue which gets left behind on your skin. It just takes away the oil and leaves nothing behind. 

The little cardboard pack is handy and very portable. I have a pack in every handbag I own! They do the job just as well as more expensive versions and I plan on ordering a few more packs when I next put an ELF order in. Love them! X

*I bought these myself*

October Favourites

Happy Halloween everyone! I love October. It’s all snugly jumpers, deep colours and spicy scents. Here’s what I’ve been making dents in throughout the month:

Mememe Boxed Blush in Rouge – a gorgeous reddish pink with subtle gold shimmer. This is the kind of shade that suits me best and I love blushes with a touch of red in them for getting a ‘just in from the cold’ flush. And it’s less than a tenner, score!

Sleek Storm Palette – This is my favourite of all the Sleek palettes. I have a ridiculous amount of eyeshadow and yet I keep coming back to this when I’m rushing to get ready for work. 

Clinique Super balanced Foundation – My skin doesn’t know what’s happening right now. It’s still oily thanks to my two weeks in the sun but the dry patches associated with the colder weather are starting to appear. This foundation works for all areas. This is the lightest shade (Alabaster) and whilst it’s a perfect match for me in the summer it will probably be a touch dark in the winter so I wanted to get as much use out of it while I still can. 

ELF Studio Cream Eyeliner in Golden Olive – less harsh than black, prettier than brown and office friendly. I’ve already made a fair sized dent in this. 

Benefit Browzings – I find this holds my unruly brows in place far better than even my beloved clear mascara so whenever I have time to use this in the morning I do. Also as I recently dyed my hair darker and redder I’ve been doing a stronger brow and loving it.

No7 Moisture Drench Lipstick in Pink Crush – I actually got this free in one of their gift with purchase sets. I love the formula which is completely none drying and the sheer deep pink shade is a wearable introduction to a slightly berry lip. I’ve been wearing it under...

 Lippie on the bottom, gloss on the top ^

Revlon Super Lustrous Lip Gloss in Frankly Flirty – I think this has been discontinued unfortunately. I got it at an outlet shop ages ago and haven’t seen it anywhere else. It’s a gorgeous berry shade. In the tube it has micro fine silver glitter but it doesn’t really look shimmery on the lips at all. If you see it snap it up! (Or if it’s not discontinued let me know ;-) 

If you’ve done a monthly favourites post please leave a link in the comments. I love reading them x

*I bought all the above products myself*

ELF Studio Cream Eyeliners (Yes... plural... I shopped)

Having long been a fan of the black liner I decided to pick up a few more. Three of these, Gunmetal (silvery grey), Metallic Olive (a golden... erm... olive) and Purple and brand new shades. Coffee (a deep brown) is not new but I picked it up instead of the other new shade (Copper) because I’m unhappy with my Urban Decay brown gel liner. These come in heavy duty plastic jars and the barginous sum of £3.50 gets you 4.7g of product. Pretty no?

I love the black on for its deep pigmentation and impeccable wear. I had high hopes for these. I was interested to see that these now come with brushes but as with most free brushes they aren’t all that great. The brush itself is fine but the handle is too short to be of any use. I have these swatched alongside the original black one so you can compare them all. 

The three new shades are shimmery but not overly so. I like them but they fall ever so slightly short of the black shade. Metallic Olive is the most pigmented. It goes perfectly with a neutral brown eye. I’ve actually been using this in place of Coffee which can go on slightly patchy. Coffee, Purple and Gunmetal are gorgeous but need a couple of swipes to get up to full pigmentation. Gunmetal has seen some use as a softer alternative to black with a grey smokey eye and I’m sure I’ll be using it under solver glitter liner in a few months time! 

Staying power is good, they get through a work day no problem, but not quite as invincible as the black. I do like them a lot though. You just can’t buy better liners for this price. Cream/ Gel eyeliners at drugstore prices aren’t as common in the UK as in the US and you certainly don’t get this colour range for this price anywhere else. I’d give ELF an A- on these (more pigmentation please!) and I’m already eyeing up the Ivory, Midnight and Copper colours x

*I bought these*

ELF Clear Wet Gloss Lash & Brow Mascara

I’ve been using the MUA Clear Mascara to set my brows for a while now. For £1 it does the job but you know me, I’m a bit of a makeup slut and will try anything once. The ELF version costs a tiny fraction more at £1.50 which is neither here nor there. This is double ended with separate spoolies for the lash and brow sides. As far as I can tell the wands and formula are the same on each end and I should clarify that I only ever use clear mascara on my brows, not my lashes.

This is a totally different finish to the MUA offering. It has a much firmer hold which I like although it does retain a slightly glossy finish which I don’t. It isn’t noticeable enough to bother me day to day but I can tell it’s there. If I accidentally rub my brows during the day it doesn’t go all white and flaky like some clear mascaras can which is always a bonus!

I love that you get two small section of product as I always end up throwing out my MUA mascara long before the product is used up as the wand deposits traces of brow pencil and foundation in the tube making it go all icky. I actually get to finish this product up before tossing it. This and the firmer hold make it just that little bit better for me than the MUA version. In fact I have already bought a back up!

*Bought by me*

Elf Luscious Liquid Lipsticks

During one of their many 50% off sales I was throwing things in the basket with wild abandon and somehow two of these end up in there. I have the shades Strawberry (orangey red with gold shimmer) and Pink Lemonade (raspberry pink with slightly more subtle gold shimmer). This first thing you will notice is the ridiculous packaging. That’s a whole lotta plastic for 1.5g of product.

You twist the bottom and the product oozes out of the slightly scratchy fuzzy applicator. As a general rule I dislike oozing. I find it concerning. You twist and twist and nothing appears so you twist some more and you end up with a cap full of oozing lip gloss. Yum.

Pink Lemonade on top, Strawberry on bottom. 

The product itself is alright though. It certainly isn’t high coverage enough to be liquid lipstick, the coverage is more medium to sheer. It has a nice fresh menthol scent though and no discernable taste. They are quite sticky. Now this doesn’t bother me as it means it lasts longer but if you dislike sticky gloss then stay away.

I will use these as I think the shades are very pretty but I won’t be buying any more. It’s the oozing. Sorry but I just can’t stand it...

*Bought by me* 

ELF Complete Coverage Concealer

I have this in the shade light and find that the shade range caters adequately for my skins wild swings between faux tanned and Morticia Adams. This costs £3.50 from the ELF UK website and you get 5.3g of product in total. The packaging looks good with a handy mirror. I will say that the brush that comes with it isn’t any good for concealer for me but I have actually kept a hold of it. It’s handy for inner corner highlights!

The first and third shades (from left) are pink toned. The second and fourth are more yellow. I tend to mix them as my skin is more neutral. The texture of these is slightly oily so whilst they blend easily it is absolutely necessary to set them or they tend to slip right off. For this reason I don’t use this under my eyes as I find it is prone to creasing.

Now if you’re going to call something Complete Coverage I think it’s pretty reasonable to expect complete coverage from it. Unfortunately this is where the product falls down a little. The coverage is medium at best. Not so poor that it’s not worth using but it certainly doesn’t magically make my blemishes disappear. In fact in texture and coverage it’s pretty similar to the No7 trio I tried recently only this is cheaper and you get an extra shade. I wouldn’t bother buying either of them again.

It’s handy to have the shade range in one convenient palette but the product isn’t wonderful. I’m eyeing up the Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage when I’ve used up a few of my current concealers x

*Bought by me* 

ELF Studio Shimmer Palette

Generally I like powder highlighters as they are just so easy to work with. Also they last longer. It’s not like they are just going to dry out like cream highlighters will are they? However the £3.50 price tag (I paid £1.50 in a sale) of this ELF cream offering means I’m not going to shed too many tears if it dries out on me before I finish the product. Plus you get four shades in one compact! 

As will all of the Studio line the packaging is good looking and functional with a mirror and tiny brush included. Now the brush is as much use as a chocolate frying pan (mmm) for highlighting cheeks etc but it’s actually pretty good for inner corners so I have held onto it. You get 5.6g in total and given that a little goes a long way this should last a good long while.

From left to right we have an ivory, a peach with gold pearl, a bronze shade and finally a pink shade. Although it’s nice to be able to match your highlight to whatever you’re wearing that day to be honest there isn’t much of a difference between them once they are fully blended out.

The texture is very strange. They dry down almost immediately so you need to blend frantically before they set. I find fingers work best as brushes just don’t give you the heat you need to get them worked into the skin. No chunky shimmer here though thankfully! Once on they give almost a gloss to the skin rather than shimmer. It’s subtle and natural looking but can be built up if you want to.

Provided you are speedy with your blending I really do like these. They give a totally different finish to anything else that I own and that alone makes them worth the purchase x

*Bought by me*

ELF Blush & Bronzer Compact

I’m finally working my way through some more of the goodies I got in the ELF 50% off sale. This is normally £3.50 for 8g in total. The packaging is lovely with sturdy feeling black plastic and a huge mirror.

The blush is a peach shade with a gold pearl. It blends effortlessly and if a fabulous easy to wear every day shade. Shall we get the inevitable NARS Orgasm comparison out of the way? It’s not a dupe. Sorry but it just isn’t. Orgasm is much more reddy pink, deeper and more shimmery. Given a choice I actually prefer the ELF blush! I’ve swatched them here with NARS Orgasm at the bottom.

The bronzer is a funny one. It’s quite a warm shade but not orangey which I like. There is a gold sheen evident in the pan and the swatch but when you buff it into your skin it disappears leaving an almost-but-not-quite-matte finish. It’s really very flattering. I don’t have NARS Laguna to compare it too I’m afraid.

I’ve been getting a lot of use out of this little compact and definitely something in the ELF Studio line that I would recommend picking up! X

*Bought by me*

ELF Studio Lip Primer & Plumper

I’m generally a fan of ELF products, they represent fantastic value for the most part, but for me this is a pretty epic case of the fails. It’s a double ended lipstick type affair. One side is a clear plumper and the other is a concealer coloured primer. It costs £3.50 which isn’t a lot but the amount of product you get is pretty meagre (Primer 1.6g, Plumper 1.7g). 

The plumper side is the worst offender so we will get it out of the way. It has a very strong scent of cinnamon. So strong that I can still smell it a good 20 minutes after application. Now I never thought that I had overly sensitive lips but this thing BURNS. It’s actually quite sore although I’ve heard others say they didn’t feel it at all so I suppose it depends on your lips. Needless to say this end won’t be getting used at all even if it did plump my lips, which it doesn’t. Not even a little. 

The primer side holds a little more promise. You can see in the swatch below that it is extremely pale and flesh toned. It is so unforgiving on the lips. Any dry patches will be magnified and it has a tendency to settle into any lines. This means your lips have to be in tip top shape to use it and I find that smoothing it out with a clean finger gives a smoother finish. I have found a use for it. I use it to change the colour of certain lipsticks, for example Sleek Mystic turns into a slightly milky hot pink over this which is actually quite pretty. It’s supposed to help hold your colour on all day though and it certainly doesn’t do that. If anything my lipstick fades more quickly with this on. 

So I have a use to the primer which means it wasn’t a complete waste of money but I can’t help thinking that I could have achieved exactly the same thing with some concealer or foundation on the lips. I had been hoping for a dupe of the Urban Decay Lip Primer Potion which really does grab my lipstick and keep it in place. Unfortunately this doesn’t manage that at all. It’s not often I do a completely damning review but I really do loathe this x

*Bought by me*

Massive ELF Sale Haul

ELF Studio Translucent Matte Powder

I blot and powder frequently throughout the day because of my oily t-zone and of course this becomes even more of a problem in the summer. As a result I go through pressed powder like nothing else and I’m constantly on the lookout for the next best miracle powder that will keep me shine free for more than 5 minutes. 

This costs £3.50 from the ELF UK website. As usual the studio line packaging looks more expensive than it is in a sleek black case with good sized mirror. My one gripe is that half the compact is taken up by a sponge, which I don’t use, leaving space for just 3.4g of product. This is less than half what I would normally expect in a pressed powder so I don’t see it lasting very long but then again it is only £3.50.

It only comes in one shade, Translucent. This works fine on my skin whether I’m uber pale or fake tanned up although I have a hard time believing that it would go ashy on very dark skin. Do correct me if I’m wrong though. It tends to kick up a lot of powder when I go near it with my retractable kabuki. Whilst it isn’t the most finely milled powder in the world it does buff nicely into the skin leaving a matte but non cakey finish as long as you don’t use too much.

As for oil control it is one of the better pressed powders I currently have. I get a good 2 hours before I start looking shiny again which is pretty good going in this sweaty weather! For this reason I think it is a good buy and given the cheap price I would consider buying it again x

*Bought by me*