E.L.F Review and Petition Update

I bought some bits from E.L.F in January, and I figured it's about time I reviewed them! 


The main thing I wanted was their Mineral Eyeshadow Primer, £3. I used to use and love Urban Decay's Primer Potion, but over a year ago UD removed it's vegan 'Marley Footprint', after it transpired that one of the ingredients is derived from lanolin. This also means that their Vegan Palette is not vegan, as it comes with a mini primer potion! I don't understand why they didn't just include a mini brush instead, or even rename it. 

Darn you, Urban Decay!!!

So now that I'd finally used up my remaining Primer Potion, I needed a replacement. I did my research online and it seemed that the general consensus was E.L.F's Mineral Eyeshadow Primer to prevent creasing, and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy for foiling* shimmery shadows. Sobe Botanicals' Primed and Proper had good reviews too, but I decided to try E.L.F first as that's easier to get in the UK. 

(*Foiling - Applying shadow mixed with water or mixing medium to enhance the colour and metallic shine)

It comes in a tube with a doe-foot applicator. The primer appears beige but goes on clear, and is more liquid than UDPP, which is quite sticky. It has a silky, silicone texture, more like a facial primer, and when I first tried it I wondered whether it'd live up to it's reputation. 

E.L.F Mineral Eyeshadow Primer,  swatched heavily (left) and blended out (right)

It makes my shadow more vibrant, and a dream to blend. I really put it to the test on 4th February. I applied my make-up at 7am, then headed off to IMATS. Went clubbing with friends that evening, partied into the night, and by 7am the following morning I was on the bus home wearing day old make-up! Yes, I know - gross! Bad me! So after IMATS, clubbing, plus lots of walking around in the snow without an umbrella, how did my eyeshadow fare? Not bad - very minimal creasing, it still looked decent! Win! I would have taken a picture, but in my sleep-deprived state it I was barely able find my own house, trundling through the blizzard! Thank god I don't drink, or I might never have been seen again!


My next purchase from E.L.F was the 48pc Eyeshadow Collection, £3.75. I needed a small palette for myself (i.e not my pro kit) with lots of colours ranging from nudes to smoky to brights. After a lot of umm-ing and ahh-ing on the website, I settled on this, as it's small enough to fit in my handbag, and has a good variety of shades. I liked the packaging - the box was covered in silver glitter! The palette itself is covered in smooth patent-style plastic, with a small mirror inside. It comes with a double-sided foam applicator, which I promptly lost, using my EcoTools mini eye brushes instead.

I was kind of disappointed in the quality of this palette. Most shadows were chalky, many had poor colour pay-off and every shade was full of chunky, silver glitter that caused epic fallout all over my cheeks. I suppose I was expecting a lot from a £3.75 palette, but I really wanted this to be great. Overall not a terrible purchase, as there are a lot of nice colours, but the quality is what you'd expect for a palette of this price. 

Palette and Swatches over primer (apologies for my sasquatch arms)

I also wanted to mention the petition I wrote about on my last post. At this very moment, as I post this, we have 7,689 signatures! That's amazing! So many people from all around the world standing up for these defenceless creatures. But it's not enough, not yet. More people need to sign and boycott - they won't do anything until they see a significant drop in purchases. Sadly, this issue is being ignored by the beauty blogging/youtube guru world, probably due to sponsored posts and affiliate income and the like from the offending companies. That's why it's so important to spread the word - if you have a blog, post about it, make a video response to your favourite guru, comment the link on your favourite blog. It's truly vital that this receives more coverage! We won't give up until the animals are safe! 


http://www.change.org/petitions/boycott-este%C3%A9-lauder-companies-avon-and-mary-kay-for-animal-testing

Remember to buy cruelty-free. If you're not sure about something, you can always Google the company on your phone before buying! 


More posts to come,


Emma
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