WIN-ter Wonderland: e.l.f. Cosmetics Review and Giveaway!

I incorporated all of these items into a full face look so I could throughly test them out and show you what they look like when worn.

To create this purple smokey eye I used the Mineral Eyeshadow Primer, Essential Smudge Pot in Poppin Party, and Studio Baked Eyeshadow in Burnt Plum.

I started with a base of the Mineral Eyeshadow Primer all over my lid, brow bone, and crease. I've been using this stuff for about a year and I think it is comparable to the Urban Decay and Too Faced primers. The texture is really nice; it had a light and creamy texture that is easy to blend on the eye but try to avoid over blending it. It sets pretty quickly to a soft velvety texture. I like to blend it out over the lid, then the brow bone, then the crease. This prevents you from getting too much product in the crease which will then crease later in the day. A little goes a very long way and I always finish application by patting with my fingertip to avoid flaking. When applied correclty this will keep your eyeshadow in place all day. I do experience creasing about 6 hours in due to my oily skin but thats a norm for me and I've never met an eyeshadow primer that performs better. I prefer this mineral one to the other Eyelid Primer.

Once the primer was completely dry (a matter of seconds) I then began applying the Essential Smudge Pot in Poppin Party to my entire lid. This has a very emolient formula; I tried applying with both my finger and a brush (Sedona Lace EB 21) and found the brush worked better. You can use your finger but I found  the product tended to stick to my finger; I still got lots of pigment on my eye but it was missing the shimmer. Once I switched to the brush I got lots of pigment with lots of shimmer. This is a very dark cool-toned purple and a little goes a long way. I prefer a patting technique; if you sweep it on it tends to sheer out and takes on  a brown cast. This also works great along the lash line; I used it on my lower lash line in the center of the eye. I really love this and look forward to using this in the outter corner and along my upper lash line. Give it a minute or two to dry completely and it will stick around all day and night. I highly recommend using makeup remover on this stuff or you will just move it all over your face.

I then used the Baked Eyeshadow in Burnt Plum and Sedona Lace EB 11 brush in my crease. I really love this eyeshadow; between the color and the formula I will definitly be picking up more of these. Nice pigment, sophiticated shimmer, and the reddish plum color is divine. It's so rich looking! I was also impressed that this is not powdery and has zero fallout. I patted the color into my crease and once I had the color where I wanted it I lightly blended the edges. I used the Sedona Lace EB 21 and Lock & Seal to apply it to my lower lash line on the outter corner and then connected it to the color in the crease. 

To finish the look I wanted to lighten the inner corners of my eyes with a light shimmery color; I found I had  the Jumbo Eyeshadow Stick in Little Miss Thang (a metallic gold) in my stash. Using Sedona Lace EB 23 I applied it to the upper and lower inner corner of my eyes. I highlighted my brow bone with Wet n Wild's Color Icon Eyeshadow in Creme Brûlée. Applied Milani, Total Lash Cover Mascara in Black to my lashes. Sometimes this mascara works great and other times my lashes just can't be helped. LOL

The HD Mattifying Balm is something I've eyeballed since it was released a few months ago. Since I have oily skin I'm always looking to try new products to minimize oil. I love the case this comes in; it's a black plastic round case with a matte finish; I like that it wont show fingerprints. It comes with .9 grams of product, a nice sized mirror inside (that sits at a tilt when open; perfect for application), and a compartment under the product that contains a sponge applicator. The texture of the balm is a very emolient, light weight balm that mattifys to a velvet finish almost instantly. I patted it on my forehead, nose, chin, and cheeks. It feels like nothing on your skin but when you touch your skin you can feel the smooth, velvety finish. It doesn't minimize or accentuate my pores and its undetectable on the skin. I let the product set for a few minutes before applying my foundation. Today I used Wet n Wild's Coverall Cream Foundation in Fair/Light. This is a good basic foundation, its a medium coverage, and performs quite well for an inexpensive product. I used the Real Techniques Stippling Brush to apply my foundation in a stippling motion (I find this works best to cover my acne scars; it's also a good technique to avoid disturbing products applied prior to foundation). I did apply Wet n Wild's Coverall Pressed Powder in Fair/Light on my T-Zone. After 4 hours or wear I noticed I was a little shiney in my T-Zone so I tried blotting some of the Mattifying Balm on those areas and it actually removed some of my makeup; but it did mattify the area. On the e.l.f. website it states you can use it under or on top of your makeup so I wanted to see what would happen. This is actually quite typical for me; blotting papers do the same thing for me. I find it is actually better to just pat on a little more powder. But even that gets old because at the end of the day you end up with makeup caked on your face.

The last product I want to show you is the Moisturizing Lipstick in Cheeky. I've never used an e.l.f. lipstick before (only their tinted lip balms which I love btw) so I was a little overwhelmed while browsing their lipstick selection. I ended up choosing Cheeky because it's not the type of color I've been drawn to lately. This one seemed to have a metallic/shimmer to it and it wasn't so bold that it would compete with the smokey purple eye. To prep my lips I used the Lip Exfoliator to remove dead skin and to smooth out any flaking skin. I then wiped my lips clean and applied a thin layer of a lip moisturizer. After allowing the moisturizer to soak in for a few minutes I used Milani's Transparent Anti-Feathering Lipliner to line my lips. I then applied Cheeky. This a very sheer color but it's easy to build up. It's between a pink and a coral and has this gorgeous golden sheen to it. It's very metallic; perfect for the holidays. The texture is thicker than most lipsticks but that has been my experience with metallic/shimmery lip colors. It's a thicker formula so it can suspend the metallic particles. The good news is I didn't experience any issues with migrating (neither feathering or accumulating in my water line). It won't last as long as a matte but as long as you are not eating or drinking it will stay put quite well. I also noticed that it is infact quite moisturizing.

In this photo I had decided to line my lips with NYX's Lipliner Pencil in Nectar; It's almost a perfect match to Cheeky and helped to define my lip line. After awhile I realized I had a lip color close to Cheeky; Impulse Cosmetics, Infatuation. Infatuation is very similar; it's sheer but can be built up like Cheeky. Infatuation leans a little more pink and has significantly more of a gold sheen to it. It also contains glitter which means it feels a little gritty on the lips. Just keep in mind that lipsticks like these tend to accentuate lines in your lips so if you hate that you won't like either of these lippies.

 

What do you think of the look(s) I did? Have you used any of these products? Any of these look interesting to you? Let me know in the comments!

Here's where you enter the giveaway:

From Dec. 1st through Dec. 18th I will randomly (Mondays & Thursdays) post giveaway posts that will show you a new prize that will be added to the pot. Each post will also give you additional ways to earn extra entries. One randomly chosen individual will win it all.

You will have until 11:59pm December 20th to get your entries in. Winner will be drawn on December 21st. Winner will have 72 hours to respond otherwise a new winner will be selected.

Giveaway open to US Residents only (Cause its going to include lots of nail polish and polish cannot be shipped internationally). Must be 18 years of age or older. Please note there are mandatory entries that must be completed in order to win. Be sure to read carefully and properly complete your entries, otherwise, you will be disqualified. If you have any questions or concerns you can leave me a comment below or send me a message thru my Blogger profile. 

Good Luck!

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Check out all the other WIN-ter Wonderland posts HERE!