E.L.F. Swatch-a-thon Vol. 3: E.L.F. Mineral loose shadows

Next up on my E.L.F. product swatch-a-thon (you can catch Vol. 1 of the swatch-a-thon here and Vol. 2 here) are my E.L.F. mineral eyeshadows. 

I ordered all the black-cap shadows from the E.L.F.  website about a year ago. The white-cap shadows were all part of a $5.00 "smoky eye" trio I recently picked up from the much-expanded E.L.F. stock at Target. (As mentioned before, what prompted me to swatch all my E.L.F. stuff are both Target's recent expansion of E.L.F. stock and Dollar Tree's recent addition of E.L.F. products to its stores).

Angelic, shade.

Angelic is a off-white/cream sort of shade. It's a shimmer and the shimmer particles are rather large and flaky. This was one of the shadows from the "smoky eye" trio.

Seductive, shade

Seductive, sun. 

Seductive is a matte dark grey with some very sparse shimmer particles thrown in. It is also part of the smoky eye trio.

Smoldering, shade

Smoldering, sun

Smoldering is a shimmering light grey shade. I wouldn't quite call it silver because it lacks the luster of a true silver shadow. It is the third shade from the smoky eye trio.

Outdoorsy, shade

Outdoorsy, sun

Outdoorsy is a blackened green shade with forest green and bronzy shimmer particles.

Earthy, shade

Earthy, sun

Earthy is a golden sage shimmer.

Caffeinated, shade

Caffeinated, sun

Caffeinated is a medium brown shimmer with bronze flash. 

Elegant, shade

Elegant is a nude shimmer and is the best out of this whole lot.

Dreamy, shade

Dreamy, sun

Dreamy is a greyed-out teal shimmer and it's my second favorite out of the lot. 

sun

swatch order: Dreamy, Elegant, Caffeinated, Earthy, Outdoorsy, Smoldering, Seductive, Angelic

shade

Swatch order same as above. All swatches are over E.L.F. Essential eyeshadow primer

All in all, I'm afraid I'm not very impressed with these. They're not all that pigmented. The color they are in the jar is no where near the color you get when you swatch them--whether you "pat" the color on or sweep it on. Perhaps they'd be better foiled but, as loose shadows, they are really lacking for me. Outdoorsy looks very promising in the jar but, when swatched, it just turned black and most of the pretty green and bronzy shimmer vanished. And the same story can be told for pretty much all these shades. Whatever uniqueness they seemed to possess in the jar doesn't translate onto the skin. They just fall flat. Maybe I'm spoiled by all the gorgeous Indie loose shadows out there, but these shades just bore me. Elegant and Dreamy are the only ones that I don't regret buying. Elegant makes a nice inner corner/brow bone highlight and Dreamy looks very pretty when applied over a deeper teal base (I like to use it over Maybelline Color Tattoo in Tenacious Teal). It also looks pretty over a golden base. 

So, bottom line for me is I wish I'd skipped these. With all the Indie brands out there & their shimmering rainbows of loose shadow offerings, these E.L.F. shadows just don't stand a chance (it should be noted that I bought all but 3 of these shadows long before I had discovered the awesomeness of Indie makeup). Yea true they're only $3 a pop but there are lots of Indie brands that are also amazingly affordable who can give you so much more for your money. (Check my links page for a continually expanding list of Indie makeup brands. I add a link for every new brand that I try and love).