ELF & MAC Highlighter Reviews

Hey lovlies!

How do you feel about highlighters? ...face highlighters that is :) Personally I love them. Find the right one and they picture beautifully, and give the perfect amount of "twinkle" to your face without making you look cullen-esque. My current 3 faves are ELF Blush in Glow, ELF Bronzer in Luminous and MAC in Star Dusk.

How do I use highlighters?
I apply them lightly with a fan brush over these areas:
- bridge of nose
- top of cheekbones
- above eyebrows (focusing on the center of forehead)

I was going to attempt to draw the area of which I apply but I found this pic on google images that perfectly describes it :)

I cant stress enough how you have to apply highlighters LIGHTLY. Better to do it lightly and build it up rather than packing it on and looking like a tranny...unless that is of course the look you are going for :P 

Anyhoo, on to my fave highlighters....

ELF Blush in Glow, $3

This is currently my fave highlighter. I've heard this is comparable to NARS Albatross but IMO, this is better because its not animal tested :). Glow is a creamy white color with gold glitter. The glitter isnt chunky, but its definitely noticeable which is why this is the most versatile highlighter of mine. I use this for Daytime and Nighttime Looks

 I purposely didnt clean the compact to show how messy these things get!

ELF Bronzer in Luminous, $1

Yes ladies, its only a buck! This highlighter is a light beige color with a very finely milled shimmer to it. All skin tones would look great with this. Since this highlighter has more of a sheen to it as opposed to a glittery finish, I would only use this during the day. This would be a great product to buy if you want to try highlighting your face for the first time.

Looks like the surface of the moon huh? hehe

MAC Loose Powder in Silver Dusk, $22

This is definitely a nighttime only highlighter, and the messiest of them all. Rarely do I use this powder on my face. I use this more of a body shimmer for dusting on my chest and shoulders. This glittery pink powder does come with a high price tag but judging on how much product you get, I see it well worth it.

Side by Side Comparison...

I didnt realize until after I started taking pics how difficult it was to try and capture the "essence" of a good face highlighter, so sorry if the color is difficult to see but Im sure you get the picture. As a general rule, the detail of face highlighters are best seen in person anyway

So to sum it all up, highlighters are great for capturing light and accentuating your facial features. Furthermore, if you're unsatisfied with your nose like I am, running it along the bridge of your nose will make your nose appear thinner. The only con I can think of with these is that they can and will get messy...but either than that, I cant live without em :)

What are your fave highlighters?

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ELF Mineral Eyeshadow Swatches (pic HEAVY!)

Hey!!! Guess who found the camera charger! *points thumbs at self* This girl!!! I have TONS of posts to do including a awesome post collaboration I did with Dee from MakeupThoughts on cruelty free cosmetics. She is an incredibly inspiring woman and I am so honored that she approached me about being a guest writer on her blog. Awesome blog btw, you should check it out. Im so jealous of her goodies from the Venomous Villains collection! I totally missed out on it, everything I wanted was sold out :(

Anyhoo I recently took advantage of the %50 mineral makeup sale for ELF and picked up some of their eyeshadows I've been wanting to try. I paid $1.50 for each of these but regularly they retail for $3.

The Colors

Caffeinated - A dark pure gold color. Its goes on surprisingly metallic

Wild - Not as shimmery as it looks but it is still generous on the shimmer. This is a matte plummy-taupe color with gold shimmer

Confident - Metallic taupe color. Color wise this is a dupe for MAC's Satin Taupe which I will do a comparison on another post but quality-wise it is not

Celebrity - A light golden beige, perfect for highlighting your brow bone and the inner corner of the eye

Pros

- Cheap! As mentioned before theses were only a $1.50 with the %50 discount, dont be discouraged if you missed the discount because ELF gives away deals like that every week!

- Very pigmented, a little goes a long way

- Brand does NOT animal test :)

Cons

- It gets all over the place!!!Very difficult and messy to work with

Neutral

- Very metallic and shimmery - this is a PRO for me but the matte lovers may not want to pick these up

Final Thoughts

The colors are amazing, I absolutely love them. As far as quality goes, these aren't finely milled like MAC's or Urban Decay's eye shadows but it isn't a bother to me. The main thing about these is they are soooo messy! I swear all you have to do is twist the cap off these bad boys and theres so much glitter and dust flying around its like you just released a genie or something! I like the colors enough to continually use them until don't but I do not like them enough to repurchase. They are good (and cheap) enough to give a shot though!

Swatches and Pictures

***All pics were taken unedited and the eye shadows were swatched with NO base.***

size comparison

Individual Eyeshadows, swatches with and without flash

Caffeinated

Wild

Confident

Celebrity

side by side comparisons

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Quickie Review: ELF Zit Zapper & Nail Polish in Smoky Brown

Hey loves,

Id thought I do a quick review on two items that Iv'e been loving this week: ELF's zit zapper and nail polish in Smoky Brown.

(pic taken from eyeslipsface.com)

ELF Zit Zapper, $1

I love this! Ive been having tiny break outs for the past couple days so before I go to bed after Ive washed up Ive been applying a thin layer of this stuff. Now this isnt a miracle zapper but I will say that the very next morning after my first application my pimples were  visibly smaller and most of them not even noticeable!

At first I doubted this would work at all b/c of the price but I bought it anyway because it had tea tree oil in it. Why tea tree oil? Because I get attacked on a regular basis with cystic pimples and tea tree oil is just about the ONLY thing that helps.

Cystic pimples, for those who dont know, are the annoying pimples that lay under the skin. You cant pop em (you shouldnt anyway), and it seems they only get larger and more red as time goes by. I was starting to get one on the side of my nose last night so I used the zit zapper on it and when I woke up, the pimple was virtually gone! No swelling, no redness. I could feel a tiny eenie meenie bump (a bump that cannot be seen to the naked eye) but nothing underneath the skin

One thing to note is that is has somewhat of a strong medicated smell but rest assured the smell does not linger on the skin

Im already planning on buying backups, at $1 its worth a try to those who havent tried it already. I included the link to purchase above...if its written in pink, then its a link! :)

(pic taken from eyeslipsface.com)

ELF Nail Polish in Smoky Brown, $1 

This brand nail polish is one of my favorite brands, not only because its free of Toluene, Formaldehyde, and Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), but because its fast drying. Sometimes you can get bad batches of ELF's nail polish where the color appears cracked and/or unmixed but after a little bottle shaking the color will still apply nice and even...buy hey this is dollar nail polish so I guess you get what you pay for. Im no nail-polish connoisseur, the only thing I care about is that the color is nice and its fast drying so if you're really into polishes I would do some research on this brand. Again, at a dollar, its worth trying

Here's a pic I took for my twitter yesterday using this polish. My nails are a bit uneven due to fake nails I got awhile back (which I will NEVER do again!) so this polish is used over a strengthening base coat and NO top coat

 

If you want to buy any polish from ELF's website (or anything with for that matter) I will tell you that the colors in real life DO NOT match the colors on the website. I have a million polishes and other makeup from ELF so let me know what color you're interested but may be hesitant in buying and Ill be more than happy to do a review or send you a pic of them :)

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ELF Haul part 2

Here's part 2 of my ELF haul, you can find part 1 here. All eye shadows are swatched with no base

ELF Luscious Lip Color in Ruby Slipper, $1
For some reason, I'm always on the hunt for a vibrant red lipstick or lip gloss. I can't fathom why because I rarely even wear that color. Now that I'm adding this impulse buy to my plethora of unused red lippies I think I better start wearing them lol.





ELF Eyeshadow Quad in Nymph Dreams, $1
I got this for that pretty green color. I'm not a big fan of colors as light as that on me but I think it'll be fun playing around with it






ELF Eyeshadow Quad in Punk Funk, $1
All of the colors (especially the pink) are very intense in this quad. I thought they were going to be more dark and muted. Since I tend to stay away from loud eye colors I really don't see myself using this quad. Glad it was only a buck! Ill probably keep in for when I so other people's makeup.





ELF Eyeshadow Cream Duo in Eggplant, $1
I'm soooooo glad I got this! I was looking for a dark army green eyeshadow and just ordered some samples from coastal scents but I found exactly what I was looking for in this duo! The purple is a very pretty color as well. The picture doesn't really do these justice. I cant wait to put them on :)






ELF Waterproof Eyeliner, $1

I bought 3 of these but gave one to my sister. I cannot tell you how much I love these. I didnt swatch them because these are just ones I am keeping as back ups. When I was working I wore this everyday. Also, Ill be the first to admit, I put eyeliner on when I go to the gym. Im self conscious about not having makeup on and at the very least I have to have eyeliner. These really have staying power when I get all gross and sweaty. One thing to be aware of is when you order them online, some batches of these liners are bad batches and you can receive them stiff and dried out. This has happened to me once and ELF was very prompt on sending me a new one at no charge. Since its only $1, I didnt even have to return the dried out one. Thats a good thing about buying ELF online as opposed to target, if the product is faulty, theyll send you a good one right away, no questions asked.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed my mini haul! I want to say THANK YOU to all the new followers I have, and thank you to anyone else to checks my blog out. Also, I try and follow back anyone who follows me so if I am not following you yet please let me know and send me your blog url. Thanks again! *BIG HUGS*

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