Eyes Lips Face (ELF): Moisturizing Lipstick in Wink Pink, Party in the Buff, & Rosy-Go-Round

Hi everyone!

Thanks so much for taking the time to check out my blog, I really appreciate it! Today's post is a review of the Eyes Lips Face (ELF) Moisturizing Lipsticks in the shades Wink Pink, Party in the Buff, & Rosy-Go-Round. These lipsticks retail for $3 from ELF website and there are 16 shades in the product line, ranging from nudes all the way to a black shade and covering everything in between. ELF describes these lipsticks as "The velvety, satin texture glides on lips with vibrant color and luminous shine. Enriched with Shea and Vitamins A, C, & E to nourish and hydrate the lips. The rich, creamy formula seals in moisture for long-lasting wear and comfort."

The packaging of the lipsticks is simple and sleek. It's a solid black tube with the color of the lipstick visible on the bottom.

I really enjoyed the pigmentation and ease of applying Wink Pink and Rosy-Go-Round. I did not like Party in the Buff because it was very patchy and hard to apply an even coat to the lips, as you can see below. Of the three, Rosy-Go-Round is my favorite in terms of formula and Wink Pink is my favorite in terms of lipstick color.

As claimed, I found these lipsticks to be very moisturizing and they provided a nice sheen to the lips. In my opinion, they sort of felt more like a lip balm than a traditional lipstick. They have a lot of slip and as a result can be a little messy. I did not apply these lipsticks with a lip liner, but that might be an option to consider if you want to use one of the more bold colors but don't want to worry about it falling outside your lip line or getting messy. I also found that the color pigmentation of Rosy-Go-Round lasted much longer on my lips than the other two shades which I found I had to reapply fairly often to maintain the color.

Final Verdict

Overall, I think the quality of the lipstick formula varies greatly between shades. I really like and recommend the shades Wink Pink and Rosy-Go-Round, but Party in the Buff was definitely a miss in my opinion because it applied very patchy to the lips. For $3, these lipsticks are definitely a steal, but make sure you do your research on which shades are great and which you should pass by.

Have you tried any of the ELF Moisturizing Lipsticks? Which shades are your favorites? Please leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading!

-Meg

Lush: Mint Julips Lip Scrub

Hi everyone,

Today's review is of the Mint Julips Lip Scrub by Lush. This product retails for $9.95 through the Lush website and contains 0.9oz of product. Lush describes this product as, "Just like the scrumptious cocktail served in hot southern summers, Mint Julips is packed full of fresh peppermint and sweet castor sugar. Peppermint is responsible for that ‘tingly feeling’ you get after brushing your teeth or using lip balm, so we thought it would make a perfect addition to our lip scrub! Plus, it makes Mint Julips tastes like a big, creamy bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream."

This is a sugar scrub and Lush uses Fair Trade sugar as the base of their lip scrubs which makes for an effective exfoliant. Lush recommends how to use this product as "Scrub your lips with our sugary Lip Scrubs to make them smooth and tempting. Take a pea-sized amount and scrub your lips soft, then lick off the excess!"

I've long been a fan of the ELF Studio Lip Exfoliator (retails for $3 full-price for 0.16 oz of product) and decided to try this Lush product to see how it would compare. While I like that the ELF product comes in a lipstick-style tube for convenience, I find that the actual scrub of the Lush product is much better. It's a finely milled sugar scrub that doesn't hurt when applied to even the most sensitive of lips.  I find that once you get to the bottom of the ELF Lip Exfoliator the product becomes quite hard and is painful to apply onto your lips. With the Lush scrub, when you move your lips back and forth the product scrubs your lips but it doesn't hurt at all. I actually find that I have to stop myself after about 30 seconds so that I don't overexfoliate my lips because you can't tell until after you wipe off the product if you've over exfoliated since it's doesn't ever hurt your lips. After using the scrub, I highly recommend applying your favorite lip balm to help renourish your lips. Personally, I love using the EOS Visibly Soft lip balms - see my review here. Additionally, I also like that Lush uses natural ingredients in their products so I don't have to worry about accidentally swallowing the product. In fact, Lush even recommend licking off the excess product on your lips. I find the flavor of this scrub to be very pleasant as it's minty fresh with some notes of cocoa. It truly tastes like a mint julip!

The price of this product might seem a little pricey, but truly, a little bit goes a LONG way. I've had mine for several months and I still have more than half of it left. I tend to use it about once a week so as to not over exfoliate my lips.

Final Verdict:

I really like this lip scrub! I think Lush did a great job of making a product that works for people with very sensitive lips and the flavor of this scrub is very minty fresh with hints of chocolate. I think for the price, this is a great item to try, especially with the winter months coming up which means lots of chapped, dry lips. If you like the ELF lip exfoliator definitely give this product a try, I highly recommend trying it!

What are your favorite Lush products? Please leave a comment below, I would love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading!

-Meg

Eyes Lips Face (ELF): Pressed Mineral Bronzer (3 Shades)

Hi everyone,

Today's review is of ELF's Pressed Mineral Bronzer in three of the four available shades. These are a relatively new product to ELF, I believe they were released in August. Each bronzer contains 0.14 oz of product and retail for $5 from ELF's website. I'm not sure yet if this product is available to buy at Target, like some ELF products. Every so often, ELF has 50% off sales so do try to wait for one of those because then you can get these bronzers for only $2.50 each.

ELF describes these bronzers as "Create a healthy looking glow year-round with this sculpting bronzer. The silky smooth texture of this pressed formula is blendable for everyday wear. Infused with Vitamin E and Grape to help nourish the skin for a more revitalized feel."

In terms of packaging, I think these bronzers are very sleek! They come in a small black compact type packaging with a clear lid so you can see the shade through the top.

This bronzer is available in four shades currently:
     - Baked Peach
     - Tan Toffee
     - Caramel Cabana
     - Beach Bronze (The one shade I don't have)

Baked Peach is more of a highlighter shade than a bronzer in my opinion. It's a very light bronzer that I'd honestly think would even be too light for the fairest of skin tones and is also a bit powdery. It also contains a lot of shimmer and sheen, and I think it's too shimmery to be a bronzer. As a highlighter, I really like this product as it has a bronze hint to it, which I think makes it look a bit more natural on top of a matte contouring bronzer or blush. In terms of coloring, I find that this shade gives off a shimmery champagne-pink color.

Tan Toffee is a really nice warm medium range bronzer color with warm undertones. This is the only matte shade out of all the colors, and thus, I believe it is the best color of the group to contour with. I wouldn't say it's 100% matte, more of a semi-matte with a very slight sheen, but no shimmer. It's not the deepest shade, so I think if you're about my skin tone or any darker this shade will probably be too light for you to contour with. I like using this shade to even out my skin tone and add a slight color to my face.

The last color of these bronzers that I have is Caramel Cabana. This shade is a more medium to tan range warm toned bronzer shade with a sort of reddish brown tone to it. It is a nice deep shade that does have some sheen to it, but no shimmer. It, like Tan Toffee, is a semi-matte shade.

The color I don't have is Beach Bronze, which is a deep cooler toned bronzer that does contain shimmer. I didn't purchase this bronzer as I thought it would be too dark for my skin tone.

The formula of these bronzers is soooo silky and soft! For those of you who have tried ELF's Pressed Mineral Blushes, these are very similar. Do make sure to tap off your brush before applying it to your face as these bronzers are incredibly soft and you don't want any fallout. Additionally, these bronzers are pretty pigmented and I find they look very similar applied to as they look in the packaging. The bronzers feel lightweight when applied to your face and you can definitely build them up for more coverage if you desire.

Swatches applied to my face with no additional makeup

Final Verdict:
I really like these bronzers, but I hope ELF comes out with additional matte shades as I really prefer matte bronzers over shimmer bronzers. I think matte bronzers tend to be more useful, as you can always add highlighter on top of them if you want a shimmery look. I think the color range of this product is very wide (which isn't always the case with ELF products) and would flatter those of all skin tones, from the fairest to the darkest. I also think for the price, this bronzer can't be beat! I don't know where else you can get a bronzer this fantastic for only $2.50 (when you buy it on sale). I definitely recommend checking out these bronzers!

Have you tried any of ELF's Pressed Mineral Bronzers or Blushes? Which shades are your favorite? Please leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading!

Eyes Lips Face (ELF): Lip Exfoliator

So to kick things off today, I will be reviewing one of my all time favorite skincare products for you - ELF's Lip Exfoliator! This is the first skincare product I'm reviewing on my blog and I figured there was no better one to start with than one of my all time personal favorites.

I first learned about this product a while back from some youtube videos I watched by Emily from Beauty Broadcast who absolutely adores and swears by this product and consistently ranks among her top drugstore makeup finds. I was a little skeptical when I first got this product thinking oh I don't need this because my lips aren't super chapped or dry, but BOY WAS I WRONG!!! My lips have never been smoother than when I use this product. My lipsticks and lip glosses glide onto my lips so much better and visibly look smuch smoother and more flawless.

For only $3 this is such an affordable and wonderful product. You can buy ELF products from their website and they also sell some of their products at Target and other retailers (I've seen them at Marshalls, T.J. Maxx, etc.). I haven't seen this product at my local Target yet, so I purchased it off their website. Also, ELF somewhat often has half-off sales on their products so I like to try and wait for those before I make my purchases. I know that this isn't an expensive brand so it may seem silly to wait for the items to be half priced, but I figure I can try twice as many new products if I wait for the sale and who doesn't love a deal and saving money?!?

Stock photo courtesy of ELF

The product itself comes in a square tube reminiscent of a lipstick tube. In fact, this product is shaped like a lipstick and upon first glance you could definitely confuse it for one. However, this isn't a lipstick it's a lip exfoliator! I think it's absolutely perfect that it's in a lipstick form as it makes it super easy to apply. The formula of the product is like a brown sugary-sweet scrub with a gritty texture that is intended to exfoliate and remove the dry, dead skin from your lips so that they are oh so smooth. 

I tend to apply this product at night when I'm also exfoliating my face just since that's easiest for me (and because it's a little messy now that I'm toward the end of the tube), but you could definitely use this product before you put on your makeup in the morning. I apply it on my lips for about 30 seconds or so in a circular motion and then just wipe off the product with a makeup wipe. I think it's critical that you apply a really hydrating and moisturizing lip balm or chapstick to your after applying so that you renew the moisture back to your lips so they become incredibly soft. ELF claims that this product is moisturizing but that's definitely not true so you will need to do that yourself after you use this product. Lately I've been using my EOS Visibly Soft lip balm (which I previously did a review of here) and I absolutely adore it. It's probably the most hydrating lip balm I've used in a while and it's SO affordable, so if you're debating whether or not to get it, I definitely recommend it.

This product does become increasingly more gritty as you use it so if you aren't loving it right away keep with it and I promise it will get better. I find that upon first use the product in the tube doesn't seem very powerful and I caught myself wondering if it was actually going to do anything to my lips. There's almost a thin layer on the top outside of the tube that you need to get past and once you do it will become a very intense lip scrub. I've had my tube for a while now and you can see how gritty the texture has become. I will say, if you have very sensitive lips this product may be a little too harsh for you as you get toward the end of the tube. Personally, I love a rough exfoliator because I love how smooth my skin feels afterwards, but it is a little harsh and abrasive so be forewarned.

I will say, one negative I have about this product is that when you get toward the end of the tube the product starts crumbling. In fact, mine has even removed itself from being attached at the bottom and now is on an angle like the Leaning Tower of Pisa - a little unideal. However, because I love this product so much (and it is so affordable!) I am able to look past this flaw.

All in all, I love this product (if you can't tell by now) and highly recommend it! For only $3 it's such a bargain and it makes such a difference with the application and appearance of my lipsticks and lip glosses. Honestly, even if it was more expensive, like $15 or $20, I would probably still love it just as much and I would pay that amount for it because I've never seen a product like this and it works phenomenally well. Definitely give it a try, I promise you won't be disappointed! I'm waiting for the next ELF 50% off sale so I can buy another one. If you're waiting for that too, please leave a comment below and I will make sure to create a blog post when it starts so you don't miss out on it.

Have you tried out the ELF Lip Exfoliator yet? What are some of your favorite ELF products. I would love to hear from you so please leave a comment below!

Thanks for reading!