ELF Cheeky Glow Contour Set (Holiday 2014) Review

I've been dying to try the Holiday 2014 ELF Cheeky Glow Contour Palette but was unable to find them in stock anywhere but at a local beauty supply retailer and they just happened to have BOGO on all holiday items, BONUS (so of course I just picked up 2 of these just in case I needed a backup, haha). It was such an amazing deal, for $5 you get this large-ish contour palette consisting of a highligher, blush and bronzer - and if that wasn't enough they even throw in an angled blush brush!

So of course, now I have it here for you for review.... for science!

ELF Cheeky Glow Contour Palette and Brush for Holiday 2014

The quantity of each product seems to be comparable to the full-sized blush singles from ELF, so it's quite a decent size. The packaging is sleek and simple and quite frankly, I love the clear window that lets me see the products inside (I have enough dark or opaque compacts to open as it is so it's nice to see the color of the powders clearly).

The bristles of the brush hair are a little too rough for my taste and they seem somewhat scratchy on the delicate skin of the face. I don't know about you guys but my skin is like paper so I can get red and irritated very quickly! I really would have bought this product without the brush, but I guess if you don't have that many brushes, this is a nice add-on bonus.

Close-up of ELF Cheeky Glow Contour Palette for Holiday 2014

Here's a close-up of the products, you can see that the bronzer is a matte, fairly light-toned shade (I don't think this would work well for darker skinned ladies, and I'm even skeptical about it working on medium gals). The blush is a shimmery peach - I know the finish is not everyone's cup of tea but I like it when my face looks like a happy disco ball! The highlighter is a pinkish hued satin finish with finely milled shimmer particles. 

Swatches of ELF Cheeky Glow Contour Palette for Holiday 2014

My photo above of the swatches came out very true to color and I think it's safe to assume that if you were to swatch these on your fingers, you would see the same results. Unfortunately, ELF did not come out with variations of this Contour Palette, which would have been very nice - so I really don't think this particular iteration is suitable for much more than fair to olive skin tones. 

I also want to point out that if you do not like your bronzer to lean orange even slightly, this set won't be for you. I happen to be very fair skinned (MAC NC15) and this trio just happened to work well but even for me the bronzer was a tad orange, especially paired with the tangerine-peach blush.

ELF Cheeky Glow Contour Palette for Holiday 2014 Applied to Face

The highlighter was noticeable but not too bright or overbearing so this is something I could see myself wearing on a regular basis but I might pair it up with another bronzer. As I mentioned before, I like the blush, it is almost a dupe for NARS Orgasm.

Don't mind my watery eyes in the photo, I was experiencing some allergies but still wanted to take a snapshot to show you what the product looked like on.

I hope ELF continues to make these more than just on a Limited Edition basis because the quality was definitely there but the shade selection could be expanded. I would love to see a taupe-leaning bronzer and a pink/red-based blush for a more natural flush.

Have you tried out this palette? What do you think?

New ELF Limited Edition Mineral Pearls (Guerlain Meteorites & Essence 'Me & My Ice Cream' Shimmer Pearls Dupe)

Exciting news! There's a new product from ELF and it is a Limited Edition Mineral Pearls dusting powder. These are a lower budget dupe of the Guerlain Meteorites set, coming in at $8 as opposed to the $60 price tag of the high-end version. It is worth nothing that this is one of the most expensive single items on the ELF website.

The mineral pearls come in 2 shades, Skin Balancing (to even out skin tone coloration and complexion) and Natural for a sheer wash of color. You are meant to brush your powder puff or kabuki brush and gently swirl around on the pearls before buffing onto the eyes, cheeks or body. This is an illuminating product which helps to reflect color on your skin and give a radiant glow (best used over foundation). 

ELF Mineral Pearls - Natural

ELF Mineral Pearls - Skin Balancing

6 multi-colored pearls are blended together when brushing them to brighten and mattify skin for a brightened look. ELF has created these not to be just beautiful on the skin but also to condition and hydrate skin since they are infused with Vitamin A, B, C & E for a silky feel.

Other similar products include the Guerlain Meteorites (which are touted as the original of this style of pearl powder - they now have created dozens of variant color combinations) and the Essence 'Me & My Ice Cream' Collection (Summer 2013) Shimmer Pearls. Many of these have been limited edition and can no longer be purchased unless you stalk one down on eBay!

Guerlain Meteorites example

Essence 'Me & My Ice Cream' Shimmer Pearls - courtesy Qtplace.com

E.L.F. Studio Large Brush Holder Review

A long-time favorite of mine is the E.L.F. Studio Large Brush Holder. This retails on the elf website for $15, but since they frequently have 50% off sales, I purchased mine for $7.50. It reminds me of the makeup holders that MAC has their brushes (or used to) in their stores and it looks very luxurious and high end. Don't mind the  powder smears on mine, it's well-used and well-loved. It is also very easily cleaned with a wet cloth or paper-towel, I just haven't gotten around to it for awhile.

The container itself has 3 compartments with 2 dividers, it has a matte finish with a soft rubberized feel reminiscent of the NARS packaging (which E.L.F. is notorious for duping in much of their packaging for blushes and lipsticks). These are fairly generous compartments with each one fitting more than a typical mug might (particularly because there are no tapered edges at the bottom).

The angled view of the bottom reveals that I have added some Adhestive Grips to the bottom since there aren't any on the actual product, this gives me the added security that the brushes won't all fall over if I accidentally hit it with one of my palettes when I'm in a rush to get ready. 

The overhead view really provides a good angle of just how much I was able to fit into this brush holder. My brushes are separated by type, with the left-most compartment holding eyeshadow brushes of all shapes and functions (53 eye brushes in total), the middle compartment holding foundation/concealer and smaller powder brushes (13 in total) and he right-most compartment containing large face/powder brushes (10 enormous brushes are housed here). There is even more room in each compartment and I could stuff it even more, but I like to leave room so I can easily handle my tools.

All in all, I think this is a great, inexpensive and professional-quality purchase at a really affordable price. It's not the most glitz or glam, but I find that it doesn't stick out in my room and it actually hides the fact that my brushes are so dirty (I figure a white container would probably make my brushes look VERY dirty).

Allure Beauty Box Winter 2013 Unboxing

I was so thrilled to receive my Allure Beauty Box for Winter 2013 (this is a quarterly box so they only ship out 4 times a year, one for every season)!! This is my first one and this is somewhat of a tricky service but it's definitely worth it to try to get one of these boxes! For a minuscule $50, you get $327 worth of products!

Here's how it works: you make an account and sign in to http://allureaccess.com/. They will post a message when the next box is expecting roughly a month before the box becomes available. Then you have approximately 20 minutes to get your box before they sell out at the time announced! Happy hunting, everyone!

Watch  my unboxing video here!

Products Received

Almay Color + Care Liquid Lip Balm - Value $6
Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion - Value $7
e.l.f. Contouring Bronzer and Blush - Value $3
Julep Nail Polish in Missy and Anissa – Value $28
Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream - Value  $14
Loreal Paris Extraordinare by Colour Riche Liquid Lip Color in Coral Encore – Value $7
Neutrogena Pore Refining Daily Cleanser - Value $7.49
Neutrogena Healthy Skin Primer - Value $13
Neutrogena Crease Proof Eye Shadow Stick in Stay Golden- Value $8.49
Not Your Mother’s Knotty To Nice Conditioning Detangler - Value $6
NYX Love in Paris Eye Shadow Palette - Value $10
One n’ Only Brazilian Tech Keratin De-Frizz Wand - Value $15
Red Carpet Youth Cream - Value $15
Rimmel Scandaleyes Eye Liner in Black – Value $6
Rusk Deep Shine Color Care Lock In Treatment – Value $14
Rusk Deep Shine Color Care Invisible Dry Shampoo – Value $19
Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Dry And Go Drops - Value $5
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat - Value $5
Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs Makeup - Value $13
Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat Polish in Fuzz Sea – Value $5 (replaced a Sation nail lacquer that was supposed to be in the box but could not make it)
Sally Hansen Triple Shine Polish - Value $5
Smile Sciences Teeth Whitening Pen - Value $78
Ultra Repair Cream Intense Therapy - Value $28
Zoya Pixie Dust Nail Polish in Tomoko – Value $9

E.L.F. Disney Villains Limited Edition Collection

For the past 2 years, ELF has released limited edition Disney Villains collections, one per year. These are only sold at Walgreens across the U.S. and are in very high demand. There are 4 look-books in total, one for the Evil Queen, Ursula, Maleficient, and Cruella de Vil. I didn't have the privilege of getting any of these last year so I picked up 2 of the set this year. The price of these is a very affordable $9.99/each as with all ELF makeup. There are also Ardell eyelash trios available for purchase, a 12-pack of nail-polish minis from ELF, matching cosmetic bags and hair ties from Goody.

Feast your eyes on the display!!

I absolutely love the packaging for all of these and I think they would make wonderful Christmas presents for any teenager that's getting into makeup, any makeup junkie you know, or anyone who is young at heart. If I didn't have to haul these across the country since I'm not home, I probably would have picked up a lot more.

I'll do an in-depth look at the 2 look-books I purchased, the Evil Queen and Ursula. I thought Ursula's colors were the most vibrant of them so that's why I was very drawn to it and I really loved the neutrals in the Evil Queen.

This is the outer packaging:

Here's a closer look, in each lookbook you will get a palette with 6 eyeshadows, mascara, lipgloss, eye primer, black liquid eyeliner, eyeshadow brush and a black pencil liner

I think the packaging really goes above and beyond in this set. Unlike the previous set, you can choose to keep the packaging or remove all of the components if you wish, they are not embedded into the look-book. Also, on the left inner flap, there are instructions for a day look and on the right inner flap, there are instructions for a night look to achieve dramatically different eyes. The flavor text on these descriptions is extremely colorful and villainous. Although these sets appear "evil" you can achieve some very conventionally beautiful looks with them, so don't be afraid to try it out!

If these aren't your cup of tea, then you can always head over to http://www.eyeslipsface.com and pick up a myriad of other products :)