ELF 'Haul' Full Review

I mentioned in my October haul post that I will review the elf products that I purchased in detail, which I am going to do here. I finally succumbed to one of their offers which was getting a Halloween goody bag worth £10 when you spend £15. I desperately needed a replacement for my stipple brush (see below as to why!) and have been after the flat-top powder brush for ages, so I thought I might as well. 

The flat-top Studio powder Brush is densly packed and, like the stipple brush, is gorgeously soft. So soft. I just want to put it on my face and stroke it, because it is that soft. However, unfortunately, I was a tiny bit let down by this. Mainly because I was so hyped for it, expecting it to be out of this world, and it does look like it should be but, awkward confession, I don't know what to use it for. 

Yes. 

What I mean is that you're supposed to use it for powder (powder brush... genius) but it's good for both wet and dry products according to the elf website. Usually I would jump straight away to apply foundation with this but rather unfortunately, I've stopped using foundation altogether since about a month ago. I have also been opting for a non-full coverage look seeing as I got told by a few people (mainly family) that the cakey look is going a bit far, and I was upset looking in the mirror and seeing the full face of makeup. And in all honesty, I found my foundation goes everywhere and interferes with things such as putting clothes on (my poor black jumped will never live down the white powdery stains on the collar) and... others ;). And seeing as this brush is very dense, I don't apply powder with it because it would give a too full coverage! (Which is why I use my Stipple Brush to apply my face powder).

What about blush?
Again, because it picks up so much product I find that I get too much pigmented blush on my cheeks and this brush doesn't do blending very well. Hopefully when I do decide to wear foundation, this will come in handy... I say hope because I am totally in love with my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush and will be very, very reluctant to change it. 

On the left is my new Stipple Brush and on the right is the horror that is my filthy, overused old one. Do excuse the dirty colour, but it's going in the bin so there was no need to wash it (that what I tell myself). I was surprised, not to say pleasantly, when I saw the shorter handle of the new brush. I panicked for a split second thinking they sent me their new Small Stipple Brush but as you can see the fibre head is the same size. I have missed that luxurious beautiful soft feel of the stipple brush on my face seeing as my old one died when it was attacked by a hair dryer (see my Makeup Tools DON'Ts post for details) and has just become scratchy and coarse and just generally unpleasant. I decided I like the new handle because it makes the brush travel friendly! All in all, a beautiful brush that I would recommend to any one. I use this daily to apply my face powder because it gives me the exact right amount of coverage and avoid a cake face!

The Minty Gloss in New York is just... how do I even describe this. It's a diamond in the rough for me. If you know me, you know I hate lipgloss. Why? It's sticky. The feeling of sticky is compared in my mind to the feeling of being stabbed with a fork. It's that bad. I discovered the minty gloss some time ago when I was sent a Minty Gloss in Chicago in a goody bag. Since then, I've been hooked. It is the ONLY gloss that I will willingly put on my lips and wear out. It feels wonderful, not even a hint of stickiness and let me tell you, the smell and taste of this is something out of this world. I never believed in glosses that are supposed to freshen up your breath - I believe in this. It is a pleasant minty fragrance and it tastes sweet but not sickly and is just all around a pleasure to wear. The colour New York is surprisingly pigmented and transforms any colour into a slightly different hue, which I love. I want to buy all of them. Seriously. One little annoyance as you can see was the damaged packaging, but hey ho. I would highly recommend this to those who hate sticky glosses, and everyone else really.

   

I don't know where to start with the Eyebrow Stencil Kit because I have no idea what possessed me to buy it. I had to fill my cart up with another £1 to go over the £15 mark so I was browsing for something that cost £1.50. I want to hit myself - why didn't I buy the brightening eye colour??? They're brilliant! This was a waste of money for me. I didn't read the product description, and thought there were waxing stencils. They're not. They're supposedly to be used for an accurate filling of the brows. Well, I think thats a joke because the stencils all have mega fat ends and will making you look like this: 

  

...which is pretty much what I looked like when I applied these. An absolute waste of £1.50 (not a disaster) for me. I heard some people like these, good for you, you can have mine!

These three are what I received in my Halloween goody bag. My first reaction was literally: "Ah it's erm.... purple.". Yes. Everything is purple.

I was initially very scared of the Lip Balm SPF 15 in Plum because when I have purple on my lips (or any dark colour for that matter) I look like I have hypothermia. However, this is a lovely little product which I have grown to love. Maybe not necessarily in this colour, though putting the Minty Gloss in New York over it gives some very nice results. This balm comes in a very slim tube, and I would say it's probably the most professional looking and feeling elf product for me. It is surprisingly pigmented and I could easily get very dark purple lips if I wanted to. This excited me because that meant that the other balms were the same and because I loved the texture and the smell (it was minty again!) I had discovered a new favourite product. It feels lovely on the lips, I'd go as far as saying it's moisturising. Would recommend! 

Again, I was very wary of the Studio Single Eyeshadow in Raspberry Truffle because, well, purple eyelids are t.r.o.u.b.l.e. I made it work for me, a very light dollop of this without any other colour gave some colour to the lids and didn't make me look like a zombie, which was a plus. I found this eyeshadow difficult to blend, it simple refused to budge and it is very pigmented, so be very careful. All in all, I like this but I doubt I would go out of my way to repurchase it. 

A very disappointing product, which was kind of expected, is the Nail Polish in Party Purple. I am very much against elf nail polishes until convinced otherwise. I have 3 (this is the third) and I am disappointed with all of them. They chip horribly, the colour pay off is baaaad, the bottles are made badly (the lid on Party Purple won't twist to lock!) and I think there are just better polishes for a sslightly higher price out there. I personally think nail polishes are not elf's strongest point and I wouldn't buy them myself, though they will always put them in goody bags and that will always be how I get them. I wouldn't recommend this, or any other elf nail polish, to people unless they have a beast of a top coat and don't care about chips (the nail-related kind). 

So this is the end of my Godzilla of a review, I hope some of this has been helpful. There are no swatches which is stupid of me, but I might update with those letter (she says, dazed). 

:) x