E.L.F brand tryout

So looking at makeup tutorials online, I noticed a lot of people seem to be using Elf products, in both the UK and US (click here for website). I saw some using the Elf primer on the eyes and thought I'd give it a go and see how it matches up to my Urban Decay primer potion (UDPP).

Browsing on the site, I couldn't help but gasp at the prices; the mineral makeup (from eyeshadows to lipsticks) started from £3, whilst the non-mineral makeup started from £1.50!! I bagged quite a bit as I wanted to try the brand and seeing as many people seem to already use the products.. which must mean they can't be bad!

I bought the mineral and non-mineral eyeshadow primer, eyeshadow duo "olive" in cream shadow and powder shadow, 3 lipglosses, 1 lipstick & 1 lipliner, and accessories- 9 piece brush set and eyelash curlers:

Elf haul!

Not much eh! *blush*
First I checked out the eyeshadows:

I'm not usually a fan of cream eyeshadows. For some reason I think they have more chance of creasing, although Elf packaging says it's "crease-free" so maybe I'll learn to love them. I tried both the olive duos on my hand and I noticed the cream shadows were a little tricky to spread evenly, even though it was on my hand. However, the cream shadows had better vibrant colour than the powder one, a more golden tone:

I decided to try mixing the two shadows (cream & powder), and it actually looked better than any of the one duos alone as you can see above. It gave a much more vibrant, pigmented colour, something I'm used to with Urban Decay, and more expensive brands. So I'd personally recommend buying the powder and cream shadow and using it together if you're wanting to buy from Elf.. and for £1.50 each it's practically robbery!

I tried the primers on my hand next, both the non-mineral (normal) primer and the mineral.

They had the same peachy/nude skin tone as the Urban Decay Primer Potion (UDPP), but when I applied the powder duo eyeshadow on top, you could still see the peachy/ashy undertone of the primer :(
It did however make the green shadow stand out a bit more than when on its own, giving it a more pastel/minty green colour, and the brown an ashy brown colour.

I thought I'd try the same powder shadow over the UDPP, and the results were:

As you can see, the UDPP brought out the golden tone of the shadow, giving it a similar effect as the cream shadow, or both cream and powder mixed. Unfortunately, I have to say nothing beats UDPP, but its worth giving a try, and maybe I'll try the Elf primer using less product, as this could have made the eyeshadow look ashy.

I was pleased with the brush set; for £15 you can barely get 1 brush at MAC let alone 9! When I used the angled blush brush the hairs didn't come out as cheaper brand brushes tend to do, so I'll be seeing how that goes as I use them ;)

The lipglosses reminded me of Stila lip glazes, the clear tube and brush tip applicator, and I think the colours Elf offer are pretty great (barring a slight stickiness!)

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I put my collection in colour order above, from left to right are the colours:
Honey, Maple Sugar (lipstick), Berry Cherry & Joy.

I'll be using the lipglosses in the looks to come, so keep a lookout!

Next I'll be attempting a Jessica Alba look.. where she's actually wearing visible makeup!

<3