ELF haul #15

haha yeah yet another elf haul. I bought the whole master set too just yesterday, so it will arrive around Oct.1. Kinda excited =D The main reason I went ahead with this haul was because I wanted to try their mineral line and their new mineral brushes. I did want to buy all of the brushes, but then i had the whole collection of the studio brushes and a lot of other ones so i didn't buy all of them in the end.I bought: Mineral powder brush, waterproof eyeliner pens (plum, midnight, coffee), 2 nail polish pad, mineral booster in sheer, mineral foundation in light, mineral lipsticks (nicely nude, runway pink), mineral eyeliner in midnight, ELF refer three friends and get a shimmering facial whip in citrus.

I ordered 2 mineral eyeliners, but only one of them came. Also the waterproof eyeliner pen in midnight came all dried up which I wasn't too happy about. These pens have a 50/50 chance of either being super good or super messed up. I don't know if anyone knows this, but on the bottom of the ELF site there's a PETA button that you can click to buy a tweezers for only $2 and it goes towards PETA.

Smashbox VS ELF

Is it just me or is ELF copying Smashbox? I know that ELF isn`t selling it but as far as I can see, they look like they might be the exact same thing.

Smashbox company quote on their product
"Smashbox Sheer Focus Tinted Moisturizer is a lightweight, revolutionary sheer color formula for naturally radiant skin. A healthy complexion starts with unique citrus honey ingredients for long-lasting hydration and oil absorption, with UVA/UVB SPF 15 added to guard against future sun damage. Vitamins C and E offer protection against free radicals and anti-aging peptides improve elasticity. Skin stays flawless and protected with a smooth, matte finish all day long."

On ELF's packaging, it says "ELF tinted moisturizer SPF 20 with Aloe, cucumber and Vitamins A, C & E. It comes with 1.05oz/30g in one tube.

So yes there is differences in the ingredients but as far as i'm concerned, its really really similar. Smashboxs comes with 1.07 oz, SPF 15, while ELF comes with 1.05 oz, and SPF 20. I don't really have these products, so i can't really review them. But I'm sure I'm going to buy ELF's studio tinted moisturizer.

How-to: Perfect Semi Dramatic Day Winged Liner

Ever wondered how to get that pretty winged liner without going overboard? The way I normally line my eyes is a mixture of tight lining and the classic winged tip. Here are the steps I take in the morning, rushing through that 5-10 mins to get out of the house for school.

1. Using/finding the perfect brush

The first most important step to lining your eyes is the brush itself. You need a really thin angled brush that is at the same time, dense. My favorite brush out of my whole collection is POSH brow brush. Its nice and thick and makes the perfect detailing.I had a friend that had so much problems with her gel liner from KATE, she was about to throw it away . I asked her "What brush are you using?". She said she had the angled brush from MAC, so I thought it must be good right? So I asked her to give me the eyeliner to try, and it worked beautifully for me so I didn't understand her hatred towards that product. So as you can see, brand doesn't really matter just finding the right brush for yourself makes a whole lot of difference.

2. Get your gel/cream eyeliner ready!

A lot of people (ex. Michelle Phan from youtube) loves to teach others to "warm up your eyeliner on the back of your hand by brushing it a few times." Seriously, I don't believe in that crap at all. I have tried it a few times, but what i notice is that I use more product then I really have to. I just love it all loaded up with the product and its totally ready to go!Here I'm using my new ELF cream liner in metallic olive. Iunno why but I have the tendency to use colors other then black. Its more interesting and when it smudges, you can't see it as much. Cream liners are much easier to work with and glides on like butter.

3. PositioningAngle your head 45 degrees so that your looking at your mirror at an angle (makes your eye muscles/skin stretch a little more). Then place any finger on your lids (but not too much pressure) so that your lash line is more exposed and is easier to work with.

4. Start from the middle
I know you can't really see in the picture, but start 1/3 from your lid. Basically what i do is I tight line my whole lid, then I do a classic Hollywood glam winged tip.

Line it all the way to the corner of your eye, but leave a little bit of space so you can get the perfect tip. Sorry if my wording doesn't really make sense, so look at the picture =).

5. Prepping for the Winged tip

If your using a angled brush, turn your brush inwards so that the short bristles are facing your inner lid and the longer ones are on the corner. Looking downwards with your head tilted 45 degrees to your mirror, place the brush in the angle you want your winged tip to be. If you need to, really gently stretch or just place your finger on the corner of your eyes so it is easier to draw your tip.

6. Connect everything

Take your brush and connect the top to the bottom. You can either do the whole bottom lash or just a little bit. In my case, i don't do the bottom but it doesn't really matter.

7. Now to finish it off~~

To finish it off, load your brush once again. Take your brush and turn it so that the longer bristles are on the inside and..yeah just look at the picture XD. Lightly sweep your brush tip to make that perfect wing. You don't actually have to brush anything anymore, your just making it nice, sharp and clean. And Voila~ (sorry if my wording sucks...but i hope the pictures help).

ELF studio liners

Cream liners have always been my favorite out of all of the choices. They give a softer look when you line your eyes, you can use them on your waterline and as a color base if you want. So when ELF came out with new studio cream liner colors, I couldn't resist any longer.The very first thing I noticed when I received these was the packaging. They use to just come with a simple little box with a picture on the outside, but the color wasn't even right. I guess ELF stepped up their game eh? Everyone of them comes with a mini ELF studio angled liner bush, which is really nice I must say. This seriously isn't even worth $1.50, its a steal man! Very smart to have the product exposed so you can see the true color. ELF have repackaged must of their studio stuff so the real color is exposed. ELF claims that this liner " creates smooth lines that are defined and precises." I must say, yes this is correct. It glides on with no pressure at all with the beautiful pigmentation of the unique colors such as the metallic olive. The life of this product is 6 months, but seriously get real. Who's really going to throw something this good away beacause of the "life span". Just pray some 90% alcohol from time to time so it will have a longer life span =). Swatches coming right up! But first, lets have a close up eh? Ivory: A nice sneer pearly white color which is good for highlighting. I was hoping it was opaque enough to use on the waterline, but big disappointment there. But on well, I'll still find use of it.
Black: This black is creamy, just like my Make Up Forever aqua eyeliner. The only complaint I have is the pigmentation of the black, but you can easily fix that with two layers eh? Other then that, there's no other problem.Metallic Olive: A beautiful dark olive color with a nice slight green sheen. Compared to the black, this one has a better pigmentation and isn't sheer. Thumbs up for the unique color ^^. Gunmetal: This I think my friend Karen would like since she was looking for a sliver eyeliner last time we went shopping. Gunmetal is a, well hence the name, gunmetal with a hint of sliver metallic-esque. Very nice unique color that is also wearable.

These dry reasonable fast and when they are actually dry, you can rub and rub but it will not smudge. Isn't that awesome? For $3, that's even better then my Make Up Forever aqua liners which are $25 each and they have more product (ELF: 2.7 g, MUFE, 2 g). ELF's liners have really nice packaging, a nice sleek and pretty to look at jewel box. Unlike a lot of the lid problems that ELF causes (ex: minty lip gloss lids), these line up and makes a little click sound/feel meaning its locked. =)

So whats my verdict for these?
Conclusion:-price: A+ ($3 each! or $1.50 during studio 50% sales)
-packaging: A+
-product quality: B+
-Overall quality: A
-Buy again? YES! a million times YES!

ELF haul #14

haha yes I am insane, yet another haul. The only reason I went witht his haul was the pressed powders and concealer stick from the studio line. I tested it out in Winners, and I feel in love with them.

I know, I know, the ELF $1 face powder sucks, but i wanna do an experiment with rubbing alcohol to make it softer. It is possible you know =). I also wanted to try their $1 quads which was a pleasant surprise!! SO PIGMENTED! (btw I got nymph's dreams, which I will review in depth later on). Everything I bought, I will review later on in depth =). So far I'm loving everything I bought except for the liquid eye liner.