Thursday, November 4, 2010

Beauty bargains - My top ten E.L.F. cosmetics part 1

For those of you who don't know about E.L.F. cosmetics, they offer some great inexpensive beauty products. Inexpensive but not cheap, important difference. I hadn’t even heard of this cosmetics company until this past spring (shock, gasp), but now I kind of feel like I’ve discovered something great.  
Most of their products range in price from $1 to $3, but don't be fooIed by that. I think a lot of people would discard the idea of buying such inexpensive make-up, assuming it couldn't be any good or it must be full of toxic cheap materials.  


All E.L.F. products are hypoallergenic and non-comodegenic; as well they do NOT test on animals or use any animal derived ingredients. Unlike some higher end brands, E.L.F. actually lists their product ingredients right on their website. They have also had several mentions in magazines including 'O', People, Seventeen, Redbook, Marie Claire & Allure, where some of their products have won Allure beauty awards.  


Their philosophy:

We at e.l.f. believe that innovative technology, quality ingredients and superb delivery systems should not be limited to prestige retailers. Every woman should have the opportunity to participate in innovation, without sacrificing her budget. We hope you agree and invite you to experience e.l.f.’s revolutionary, value-priced cosmetics and the proven results they offer.

This company is primarily sold online at eyeslipsface.com.  In Canada you can also find some of their products at Zellers & occasionally Homesense, but it is a very limited selection.  In the States I understand that Target carries some E.L.F. products, as well as the occasional dollar store.  


Since finding E.L.F., I’ve recommended it to many others and have already placed a few orders.  In fact I may be developing a problem. Anyway, I've seen a few of these best of blogs and videos & really enjoy them.  I've decided to share my top 10 E.L.F. picks, based on what I've tried so far. It was hard to narrow down my favorites to only 10, really hard, but I think I've finally decided on my list.  Given the amount of information, I’m going to break this up into two blog posts. 

So in no particular order, here are my first five favorite E.L.F. products (all pictures are taken from their website but are products I own):

1)    Studio Powder Brush $3.00

The hype on this brush is well deserved and all true.  It is a must have E.L.F. brush.  I use it primarily to buff and blend my liquid and powder foundations, but it is certainly not limited to that.  This brush is soft with a great density and I have had no issues with shedding.  Often sells out on their site, must must have.

2)    Essentials Brightening Eye Color $1.00
     I don’t hear as much hype about these eye quads as I think they deserve.  I have the quads in ethereal and brownstone.  The colors on the website are not particularly true to the actual product.  Website says they give your eyes an awakened brightness, which is very true.  Multi-functional, I use them on their own as well as under/over other shadows.   Packaging is a bit flimsy & the shadow size is fairly small...but hey it's $1.
 Try them!

3)    Essentials Super Glossy Lip Shine SPF 15 $1.00
     Beautiful little lip glosses. Excellent color payoff, these are surprisingly quite opaque.  My favorite colors so far are Candlelight & Pink Kiss.  Website pictures give a pretty accurate depiction of the true colors.  Not too sticky, smell like candy & the SPF is a bonus.  Beautiful on their own or over lipstick.  Gotta get at least one! 

4)    Mineral Booster powder $5 small .18 oz or $8 large .63 oz
 This is another under rated product in my opinion.  I have both the sheer & tinted powders.  The tinted is a little dark on it’s own so I usually mix the two together for a natural healthy glow.  I use it as a finishing powder, sets my make-up beautifully and makes my face appear flawless…or less flawed anyway.  They suggest using a Kabuki brush to apply this but you can also use the Studio Powder Brush with great results.  Try the small first to see if it works as well for you.

5)    Essential Shine Eraser $1.00
These are amazing little…well, shine erasers.  Oil absorbing & mattifying, these work great.  They are a little larger than similar products I’ve tried and I feel like they not only blot any excess oil but that they do something great for my skin.  One of the bests.

Stay tuned for part two, coming soon!


11 comments:

  1. powder brush, mineral booster and shine eraser are in my top 10 from elf!! ;)

    xxx

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  2. Great minds think alike...hope you like the next 5!

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  3. Wow! I always learn something new from you! I will check out the elf site, and look forward to your next 5 picks.

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  4. And they don't contain animal products! I'm so glad you mentioned that. I've recently started asking more questions about what goes into what I wear and was trying to find some lipstick without lanolin. Harder than I thought.
    I think almost all products aren't tested on animals, but a lot of products have ingredients from animals. Do you know if that's true?

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  5. Zoe unfortunately I think you'd be surprised with the number of companies that test on animals. It's a complicated issue however with a number of differing opinions and theories.
    One of the resources I would recommend is http://www.navs.org. There you can click on 'who tests on animals' on the left side bar & research by company and/or product. The resulting information also indicates whether the product is vegan friendly or not. Hope that is helpful to you.

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  6. That makes me feel sick. Thanks for the resource- you are truly an expert and know your stuff. I've added the navs site to my favourites.

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  7. Thanks Zoe. I know it's a very sensitive subject but like I said it's worth doing some research. I'm glad the site is helpful to you.

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  8. Ive seen the oil erasers but never grabbed a pack because i wasnt sure how well itd actually work. Ive tried using bathroom seat tissue paper (clean ofcourse) but it did nothing for me. Or maybe PF Changs just has crappy tissue paper. hahahha. Darn you Tyra Banks! Im gonna give these little Shine erasers a try next time im in Target! :D
    thank you Tracy!

    xoxo Inna :)

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  9. i love elf super glossy lip shine also! :)

    ~new follower :)

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  10. Hi Katrina thanks for following! I think these are some of the best little glosses for the money. I bet if they had a higher brand name on them people would pay big bucks for these ;)

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