I could’ve been living under a rock or so but to me, it seems like E.L.F. cosmetics made a comeback the past two or three years. I somehow missed all of it but recently I keep seeing more and more people I follow trying their products out. I’ve even noticed some good reviews. E.L.F. cosmetics has many more new and improved products now also for people with dark skin tones like me. All of this made me curious and I wanted to try their products again.
THE FIRST TIME I ORDERED E.L.F. COSMETICS
I’ve tried E.L.F. cosmetics before. This was one of the first makeup brands I could afford when I first started to use make-up. I didn’t have a lot of money back then and E.L.F. cosmetics had a range of products priced for just one euro. This was an amazing opportunity for me to experiment and try out different products for an affordable price.
MY FIRST E.L.F. COSMETICS EXPERIENCE
I ordered the products online via the official E.L.F. cosmetics website www.elfcosmetics.com. I noticed that there was not a lot to choose from that matched my dark skin tone (this is not the case anymore). After placing my order I was so happy when the products arrived. I had minimal to no experience to compare the quality of the products but a lot of the products I bought didn’t work on my dark skin tone. Some of the products were lacking pigmentation and were not visible on my face. I looked ashy sometimes but some of the products did work on my sister’s skin tone also because she has a lighter skin tone than me. The products also had a lack of longevity. I remember that some of the products would get in my creases and even separate on my face on a sweaty day.
There is one experience that kept me away from using the E.L.F. cosmetics products again and that’s this beautiful brown lipstick I bought that was the perfect skin-toned nude for me. I really loved it and after using it for a week or two I noticed my lips turned purplish black. I already have very dark lips but they turned fully black in an unhealthy way, I didn’t like this. My lips looked like I’ve been smoking for years and I don’t even smoke. It must’ve been some sort of allergic reaction or so but I hated it and I threw some of the products away, I also gave a few to my sister. My overall experience wasn’t great and I figured out that’s what you get for one euro. You get what you pay for.
BUT…
I’ve been watching these videos on Youtube and I’m hyped. After all of these years, I’m ready to give E.L.F. cosmetics another ‘fair’ try.
Before ordering I went on their website to read a little more about the brand and what they stand for. And boy oh boy may I add that I was totally surprised, in a positive way!
E.L.F. stands for Eyes, Lips, Face. It’s vegan and cruelty-free. The products are free from phthalates, parabens, nonylphenol ethoxylates, triclosan, triclocarban, and hydroquinone. Their skincare products are also free from sulfates.
They named a list of ingredients even I can’t read. This is important to me because usually cheap products contain cheap ‘filler’ ingredients that cause our skin to break out. Now I’m not saying that luxury brands have good ingredients because some of them don’t. But I did not see this coming from E.L.F. cosmetics and their efforts to pay attention to their ingredients is a huge plus for me.
I made a list of products I wanted to try out, no lip products included because I’m afraid, the trauma is still there. At first, I wanted to order everything on the official E.L.F. cosmetics website, but Douglas (a beauty store) had a 25% off everything on their website, so I ordered everything over there.
WHAT I ORDERED
I was happy when I finally received my order. I’ve ordered a primer, foundation, concealer, eyebrow pencil, eye shadow, blush, the duo clear mascara & eyebrow pencil, and a brush.
SWATCHES OF THE E.L.F. COSMETICS PRODUCTS
The swatches are amazing! I am so happy because I could already tell by the swatches that I choose the right products. May I add that all of these products were blind buys…? Yep, I watched a few of my favorite YouTubers and I share the same match with some of them when it comes to foundations and other make-up products. I am happy because look at these swatches and I even found my foundation match! All for an affordable price.
THE LOOK
I went for a simple one eyeshadow look. I’m not a make-up artist and I don’t have a lot of make-up knowledge. But I know what I like and I know how to make the products work for me or at least I try my best to make the products work for me.
I like a more natural, simple, subtle, and easy look. That’s why I’ve used one eyeshadow (the burgundy reddish color) on my eyelid to achieve this look out of the bite-size eyeshadow, called Carnaval Candy. In my waterline, I used a blue eyeliner in de color deep blue and I smudged the eyeliner down with the metallic blue eyeshadow from the same palette.
Coco was the foundation that matched my skin tone. My lip color was a combination of all NYX products, like the brown lip liner, the cream matte lipstick called Capetown, and the gloss named Madeleine.
MY EXPERIENCE
I’ve had the make-up on for at least 5 to 6 hours in my house and it still looked good. I was surprised by the pigmentation, the longevity (indoors, I stayed in the house), and the look. I am in love and I can’t wait to try the other pallet and all of the colors.
It would’ve been great if I was able to achieve a full look using only E.L.F. cosmetics. The reason I was unable to do that is because some of the products were sold out on both the E.L.F. cosmetics website and the Douglas website. I then decided to get other drugstore products to stay in the affordable range to create this look.
MY OPINION
Overall my opinion has changed when it comes to my second try of E.L.F. cosmetics. A huge plus to me is that the products are cruelty-free and vegan. Secondly, I love the effort they put into selecting the ingredients of the products. I also like the range of products for different skin tones. The pigmentation and longevity of the make-up are on point. You get all of this for an affordable price.
One thing that caught my attention is that the products are made in China. I was surprised because normally that would put me off, but that explains the affordability of the E.L.F. cosmetics products. Should this be a reason to question what they stand for? I don’t know, you be the judge of that.
I am satisfied with the products I’ve bought and tried out and I can’t wait to create some more looks. Don’t let the cheap prices put you off from trying their products out. If you’ve had some bad experiences with their products in the past, give them a second chance like I did. You’ll be surprised to definitely get more than what you pay for. I would recommend E.L.F. cosmetics to everyone.
To me the look I created was successful but what do you think?
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