Sunday, June 3, 2012

E.L.F. Swatchathon Vol. 2: E.L.F. Studio powder blushes


Up next in my "swatch ALL the E.L.F. stuff" project are their Studio blushes. 

L to R: Gotta Glow; Giddy Gold; Peachy Keen; Candid Coral; Tickled Pink; Fuchsia Fusion; Pink Passion

Gotta Glow. Ok, maybe this is a blush on Casper the Friendly ghost, but to anyone with any melanin whatsoever, it'll serve much better as a gorgeous, glowing highlight.

Giddy Gold--a warm orange-leaning shade with a golden shimmer. Doubles as a gorgeous eyeshadow!

Peachy Keen--light peach with shimmer.

Candid Coral--I tend to think of corals as slightly more orange--but maybe that's just my warped color sense. This, to me, is like 1 shade deeper than Peachy Keen with a touch less brown to it.

Tickled Pink--warm peachy pink with shimmer.

Fuchsia Fusion
Cool  light purple "orchid" shade with big gold shimmer particles. VERY large shimmer for a blush. That's too much glitter on the cheeks even for me, the glitter whore. However, like Giddy Gold, I repurposed this as a beautiful, fun eyeshadow. 

Pink Passion
Cool, bright pink--the only matte Studio blush shade I own and possibly the only matte Studio blush out there. (E.L.F. loves tha shimma.) Another blush that I also like to use as an eyeshadow. 

L to R:  Pink Passion; Fuchsia Fusion; Tickled Pink; Candid Coral; Peachy Keen; Giddy Gold; Gotta Glow


All the Studio blushes have the following in common:

1. SUPER pigmentation. You need a very light touch with each and every one of these. I use a stippling brush and just barely touch it to my skin in circular motions. 

2. Fall-out city! Yep, they suffer from chronic Fall-outitis. You barely have to even look at them and they make a powder mess. But hey, what do you want from a $3.00 blush??

3. Awesome Nars rip-off packaging and NO STUPID BRUSH. Yea I love the wanna-be Nars cases and I LOVE that they don't come with any kind of crappy throw-away applicator that just serves to take up room that could be better taken up with more product. You get a nice generous rectangle of blush. The packaging is surprisingly sturdy for a cheapie product.

4. Works best over some kind of liquid/cream anchor. Don't apply this blush onto bare skin and expect it to be there an hour later. Since these are so powdery, they really need something to stick to. I like to apply them right after I put on liquid foundation (after that I set the whole she-bang with the E.L.F. HD powder, which you will be hearing more about in another post). 

5. Not for the faint-of-heart. As mentioned above, these blushes are very pigmented. They also (with the exception of Pink Passion) have quite the generous helping of shimmer. If you apply them very lightly and blend them out, you CAN achieve a very subtle look but they are best reserved for the use of redonk, color-happy Glamazons like myself. HOWEVER, even if you aren't into strong cheek colors, you might want to consider buying these and using them as eyeshadows. But then again, I'm only saying that because I love super shimmery eye looks and I LOVE the glow these blushes give to lids--especially Fuchsia Fusion. Giddy Gold also looks gorgeous as an eye shade--particularly if you have green or blue eyes that pop against rusty/orangey shades.

So, over all, I do LOVE my Studio blushes, even though they can be a little bit of a pain to deal with. At $3.00 a pop, I sure ain't complainin! Most blushes in that price range are super-hard and pretty much invisible on the skin. E.L.F. knows how to do budget blush right!





1 comment:

Drop me a line any time! I love hearing from my peeps....but please refrain from spamming my posts with links to your blog. I am ALWAYS happy to add your blog to my blogroll if you just send the link and a request to be added to glamonthecheap@yahoo.com. Thanks! :)