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).

Swatchy McSwatchalot--my entire E.L.F. stash Vol. 1: The cream eyeshadows

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I've been seeing more E.L.F. products popping up in Target and also heard reports of them popping up in some Dollar Tree stores. This has prompted me to pull out every last E.L.F. product I have and swatch it. First up in the swatchathon: E.L.F. Studio cream eyeshadows!

first row left to right: Teal Party; Eggplant; Bronzed

second row left to right: Smoke; Pewter; Natural Glow

Teal Party--beautiful muted teal with stunning golden shimmer

Eggplant--shimmering maroon

Bronzed--medium warm brown with bronze shimmer

Smoke--dark grey with gunmetal shimmer

Pewter--shimmering taupe

Natural Glow--shimmering pale gold with larger gold shimmer particles

Swatched on bare skin in natural light

first row left to right: Teal Party; Eggplant; Bronzed

second row: Smoke; Pewter; Natural Glow

First thing I should note is I did not purchase these at Target or Dollar Tree recently. I've had them for over a year now (ordered them online). I did notice Target was carrying these the last time I went, though.

Packaging: 

These shadows are housed in unnecessarily bulky square plastic jars. BUT I happened to notice during my latest trip to Target that the packaging has changed on the newest batches of this product. E.L.F. must have listened to customer outcry over the bulk and they greatly reduced the size of the jars (they're now about the same size as their cream liner jars are). The jars are very sturdy--no worries about breaking them if you drop one and they close tightly, forming a good seal. My year-old shadows are just as creamy and glide on just as nicely as they did the first day I got them.

Application:

I apply these with my fingers and, for the most part, they are nice and smooth and go on evenly. The only one I have a little trouble with is Natural Glow. Unlike the other shades I have, it has larger shimmer particles and the consistency is much more patchy. You can still get an even application but it takes much more effort. When I use these, I apply them over E.L.F. Essential eyeshadow primer.

Pigmentation:

Amazing!! Though I question some of the names (Pewter is no where near what I would consider pewter--but it's a gorgeous shimmering taupe and Eggplant makes me think of a much deeper purple than what E.L.F. offers but whatever), there is no question that these shadows are beautifully pigmented. For the most part, the base color and its accompanying shimmer are in the same tone family--except for Teal Party--such a gorgeous golden shimmer!! It makes me think of a mermaid's tail or something. It's definitely my favorite!

Wear:

I've always worn these over E.L.F.'s eyeshadow primer and I've always used them as a base for powder shadow looks and in that context they last all day no matter what the temperature with no creasing or fading at all. 

Pricing: $3 a pop! Can't beat that!

Overall:

I think these Studio Cream Shadows are some of the best products that E.L.F. makes. They were actually my first cream shadows ever and they paved the way for me to try many others--and lots of them much more expensive but, so far, the only ones that have come close to these shadows are the new Maybelline Color Tattoo shadows. 

I love using these shadows as a base--they give so much depth and dimension to any eye look. The only one I was slightly disappointed in was Natural Glow--the shimmer particles in that one were a little too large for my liking and it affects the shadow's consistency. I would without question repurchase the other shades, though, if they ever run out! Since you need so little product for each application, these things will most likely last forever!

Are you a fan of E.L.F. stuff? What about cream shadows?

Stuff that Rules: 'iLine' mineral wetliner from TKBTrading.com

A while ago, I was looking for a good foiling solution for my loose eyeshadows. Being the cheap ass that I am, I was unwilling to pay a zillion bucks for something like MAC's Mixing Medium. So I scoured my hoard of makeup site links and I found this:

I found it on TKBTrading.com, which is a site that sells everything people need to mix and package their own cosmetics. Although they call this "Mineral Wetliner" online and show a plain white bottle in the picture, when you order it, the above pictured bottle is what you get in the mail. You can get 1 bottle of .5 oz worth of solution for $8.00 or a set of 6 for $26.00. I opted for the set of 6 since it was a better deal.

As you can see, the bottle is sort of like an eyedropper bottle, which makes it very easy to work with--you just squeeze out a few drops for what you need and you're done--no mess. The liquid is clear on its own. You can use it to seal your eyeliner, foil loose shadows (which is turning loose shadows into a wet solution to use as a liner or to make the color pop more) and it also makes a great glitter adhesive. You can also use it to revive dried out cream/gel liners: just squeeze a few drops into your liner pot, use a mixing spatula or an orange stick to stir everything together and, voila!

In the pictures below, I thought I would demonstrate how good it is at sealing liner and keeping it smudge proof.

The above is a swatch of ELF's cream liner in black on top of which I applied the iLine solution.

This is that same swatch after I rubbed it back and forth a zillion times with a damp finger. Pretty impressive, huh?

Below, I used the iLine to foil an NYX Pearl Mania loose shadow (Jade Green Pearl if I recall correctly)...

full sun

shade

flash

The solution really brings out the vibrancy of whatever shadow you mix it with and makes it like liquid metal.

The one thing you need to be aware of with this stuff: it dries pretty fast once mixed. If you are using it just to line with a loose shadow, I suggest squeezing a few drops into the dropper bottle's cap, dipping your liner brush into that, then into your chosen shadow and applying it that way. If you're foiling a larger amount of shadow, you can use the cap as a tiny mixing pot by squeezing some solution into it and then adding shadow (I find that mixing it in the bottle's cap, rather than something that is flat and more open, slows the drying process). I just rinse the cap out with hot water and dry it before I put it back on the bottle. 

To sum it up, I'd much rather pay $26.00 for six of these than pay the same price for only one tiny bottle of a high-end mixing medium. It works beautifully, has tons of uses, comes in smart, easy to use packaging...really, what's not to love?

Do you ever foil or line with loose shadows? What do you use?

My Sleek Acid palette came!

A while ago, I tweeted that The Hubz scored me a Sleek Acid palette on Ebay. Well, it finally got here and, despite being up to my eye-balls in dirty diapers and dishes and laundry (gross, I know), I HAD to make time to do some swatches!

Of course, my camera had a melt-down in the face of all the fluorescence, so the pics show the shadows only about half as neon as they are in person...

palette outdoors natural light no flash

palette indoors natural light no flash

See how the camera, coupled with my lack of photography skills just sucks all the awesome right out of these? The indoor shot shows how these shadows glow a little better but seriously, in person, these shadows GLOW, like you half expect them to be frickin radioactive & hot to the touch or something.

Swatch of the top row outdoors in the shade. Column 1 is no primer, column 2 is over NYX HD eyeshadow base.

Outdoors in the sun.

indoors.

The indoor shot gives you a better idea of how bright these are in real life--it's 1980s neon all over my arm. Now I'm not gonna lie. These shadows were a pain in the butt to work with. With the exception of the 2 blue shades, which are both shimmers, the other 4 (orange, yellow and white matte and pearly magenta) shades are pretty stiff and it took some work to build them up to the opacity you see on my arm. But, if neon shadows are anything like neon polishes (which are notoriously hard to work with), then I guess it could have been much worse. I do have to say I WAS able to get all  shades in this row to look pretty much the same as they do in the pan. Well, except for that white shade, which was pretty much useless but, honestly, I didn't want this palette for the white, so I don't really care if it is good or not. 

Swatches of 2nd row of shadows--can you guess which ones are over primer and which ones are not?

The second row of shadows had a lot of the same issues that the first row has: the stiffness and the heavy application required to get the color to look like it does in the pan. The hot pink shade in particular is insanely hard. I basically had to scrape and rake the brush over it to get any color out of it and although it is a vibrant neon pink in the pan, it looks deeper and less neon on the skin--which was a major disappointment for me. The purple, pink, and bright green are all matte while the army green has a slight pearlyness to it and the silver is a shimmer. All the shimmers in this palette are much easier to work with--but that is usually the case with most shadows as far as I've experienced, so I'm not going to take points off for that...

Over all, I'm glad to have this palette in my collection. I simply have never seen shadows this bright. The neon orange, yellow and green alone are worth owning this palette for--also the pearly magenta shade is really gorgeous and the shimmery blues are nice too. Really, the only true duds are the white and the hot pink shades but I have other whites and hot pinks in other palettes so I can deal with the ones in this palette sucking. Also, I haven't tried using these shadows for a look, so I can't form a full opinion on them just yet...

If you want this palette in the US, you'll have to get a friend overseas to hook you up or you can do like my husband did and snatch one off Ebay. So far as I know, though the Sleek cosmetics company DOES have a website and does have international shipping, they cannot ship this particular palette to the US because it contains some fluorescent pigments that are not approved by the FDA here (please feel free to correct me if I am wrong)...I don't know about you, but I kinda like the idea of having a little bit of contraband in my makeup stash. Now lets see if the FDA police come a'knockin on my door to snatch my Sleek away...

The 3 best cheapo eyeliners on the planet

So remember when I said I'd do a post about my favorite drugstore eyeliners? Well, after over a week, I'm finally getting around to it...cuz I'm on top of things like that.


Behold the awesomeness:

From left to right: E.L.F. cream eyeliner in black and my 2 favorite brushes for applying it (the slanted eyeliner brush by Ecotools and the small "smudge" brush by E.L.F.--which can do way more than just smudging); Jordana Fabu-liner in black and black Milani Liquif'eye (though I think they may have changed the name to Liquid Eye for 2012)...

Now when I say these are good CHEAPO eyeliners, I don't mean to imply that they are good FOR cheapo liners--they kick the butt of high-end $20-$30 liners, too. That being said, let me go through each liner one by one and tell you why it rules and why you need it.

Liner of Awesomeness # 1: In-Color Fabu-liner by Jordana

(click to enlarge)

We'll start with the In-Color Fabu-liner by Jordana (pictured, badly, above), which will set you back a whopping $2.99. OMG how I love this little liquid liner pen. It's like a friggin sharpie for your eyes. Check out the point on this baby...

And that point is perfect--just the right stiffness but with enough flexibility to allow you to go from a thin to thick line easily. This liner is PITCH black and it goes on so smooth with no tugging or skipping...and it doesn't smudge or "migrate" either. It's so unbelievable that this liner is so cheap yet so awesome. Honestly, I would have never thought to try it if not for Nouveau Cheap's rave reviews of it. Before I read that review, I just kind of assumed this liner would be crap because I equated the Jordana brand with poorly-made teeny bopper junk that 12 year olds waste their allowances on--Shame on me for being such a makeup snob!! 

You can find Jordana stuff at Walgreens (I've never seen Jordana products anywhere but Walgreens). It's natural habitat is an under-the-counter display that is--well--under the counter where the makeup section cash-register sits (has anyone ever actually seen anyone work that cash register? I know I haven't...is it there just for decoration or something??). If you don't have a Walgreens in your area, you can order these directly from the Jordana website. 

I reach for my Fabu-liner when I want just a very thin line at the base of my lashes to make said (painfully sparse) lashes look thicker. I've been known to do a quick cat-eye with this liner, too. It makes doing the little "flick" at the outer eye corners a cinch! 

Liner of Awesomeness #2: Milani Liquif'eye liner pencil in black

If you're more of a pencil-liner kind of girl (or guy), then you will LOVE Milani's Liquif'eye pencil! Once again PITCH black and so buttery smooth--it never tugs or skips and you need apply no pressure at all when using this. It just lays itself down all nice and cooperative-like where ever you want it. And don't think its creaminess means it will run or smudge because it doesn't! This is the only pencil liner that can withstand the frickin oil slick on my lids. Other pencils tend to melt away into a puddle of raccoony nastyness above and below my eyes. But not this baby! LOVE LOVE LOVE!! And it only costs about $7 (or, if you happen to be a Navy wife like me, you can get this at the NEX for only $4!)...

I usually reach for my Milani liner when I want a thicker, less precise, softer line. 

Liner of Awesomeness #3: E.L.F. Studio cream liner in black

Why I didn't shoot a pic of this with its cap on, I'll never know. But what I DO know is this is the final member of my cheapo liner holy trinity because: 1) it is (yes--again) PITCH black; 2) they ain't joking when they called this CREAM (seriously, it's so smooth and glides on SO easy); and 3) it doesn't run or smudge once its applied (honestly, I don't mean to repeat myself over and over again--those just happen to be the 3 crucial qualities every good liner must possess). 

Now, obviously, this kind of liner needs a brush, and the brushes I use are:

E.L.F. small smudge brush (top) and Ecotools angled liner brush (bottom).

Here's a close-up of the Ecotools brush. I forgot to snap a close-up of the E.L.F. brush but, rest assured, it is perfectly thin and precise. 

I use my E.L.F. cream liner with my Ecotools brush when I'm looking to do a sharply flicked vintage-looking cat eye. Beauty blogger/youtuber Nymphette has a killer tutorial for how to do this and that's the method I use. 

I get my E.L.F. cream liner at Target for $3. If you can't find it there, you can always order it directly from their site here.

Well, I DO  believe I have finally come to the end of this epic post. Of course, I realized I forgot to include swatches of the liners above, so here they are:

Top 2 lines--Jordana, Middle 2 lines--Milani, bottom 2 lines--E.L.F.

So there you have it. Cheap ass eyeliner that does a kick-ass job. Now hurry up & go getchoo some!