Haul // $25 e.l.f. Fourth-of-July Haul

If you’re reading this, right as this is scheduled to post, I’m at an interview for a new job! Send me good vibes- I’ll need them!

So, my first ever online elf order came in recently (took them almost two weeks). I’m really excited about it! For $25, I got so much. I haven’t really used a lot of elf products in the past, but for the price, I wanted to try!

All the item I got although it’s kind of hard to see, so let’s open some things up!

Here we have the makeup sponges, the Precision Sponge Trio. Even though I really like my Real Techniques sponges, these were $12 for the set and I like that they come in various sizes. That mini would be great for under eyes, the medium one for cream blush, and of course the larger one for foundation. I like that this comes in various sizes- and the large one is larger than the original Beauty Blender. However, I’m ambivalent on the white. On one hand, it has no pigment to bleed out (my beauty blender bleeds out color which I hate). On the other, stains are easier to see (so it’ll get really gross looking).

And we have some face products I ordered:

• Studio Flawless Finish Foundation in Porcelain. Given how much I have already spent trying to find a good foundation, I didn’t really have any problems with spending $6 on this one to try. It comes in a pump top. I’ll be reviewing this sometime soon!
• Shimmering Facial Whip in Lilac Petal. I had heard this is a dupe for Benefit’s High Beam, which I have a sample of and love. At only $1, I figured it was worth it just to try. This actually looks darker than High Beam and maybe even a bit warmer, but I’ll have to actually test it out myself.

I’ve also been looking into doing a softer eye look and grabbed this cream eyeliner in Espresso. I usually use black or a color (like purple), so I didn’t have a brown. Cream/gel eyeliners are consistently my favorite, and I often use smudge pot shadows to line (in fact, I use elf’s Poppin Party smudge pot to do a purple liner). This was only $3, which is definitely a good value just to see if I even really like brown liner.

I also got two lip products, as I’ve been wanting to try these as well.

• Essential Lip Stain in Nude Nectar. This product has some varying reviews on their website, mostly regarding how much product is in them and how long they last (or rather, how long they don’t last). Yet, again, elf products are cheap, and $2 for a couple month’s use sounds good to me. I’m always looking for a good lip stain anyway because they just last longer on my lips and look nice, too- I love when I can use a balm over them to hydrate my lips.
• Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Pink Lemonade. I love liquid lips, and I’ve been looking for some pink and more red “natural” colors to use since I typically go for dark, bold colors. At this point, I only $1 left until free shipping…and this just so happened to be $1! It has a felt tip thing similar to the Too Faced Melted lips. I think the color is beautiful, although the name is misleading. I also was a little irritated that I had to twist up the product a LOT to get product to come out. You can see the fill line when I got it (in that top left corner pic). To get any product out, I had to twist it up almost halfway (bottom left pic).

I also got a lot of free products with some coupon code they had a the time (unsure what it was, but it is no longer valid). These products are here (taken out of their packaging, of course).

Wow, right? That’s a lot of free product! The actual retail value of this free set is $16, which isn’t bad at all.

• Gotta Glow Lip Tint in Perfect Pink. Although it looks like a lipstick, it’s pretty sheer. It’s supposed to “react” with your “chemistry” to get a perfect shade for you, but I’m pretty skeptical with how that works. Being sheer, though? That will help create a perfect shade. I didn’t realize it, but this one has shea butter so I’ll have to find a new home for it (although it’s retail value is $6– it shouldn’t be hard to rehome it)
• Studio Blush in Tickled Pink. This is way more peachy than a true pink, which makes me wonder what Peachy Keen looks like (or perhaps they just put the wrong pan in this, idk). I might actually go and buy Peachy Keen to see the difference. I do think it’s a pretty blush and it’s fairly light, so that works well for me. This retails for $3 (and I got it for free anyway), so I’m not going to be picky; I’m just curious!
• Angled Blush Brush. I love having more brushes because I am lazy and don’t like to wash mine very often. Angled brushes, especially, are valuable to me. If you’re wondering, it retails for $4.
• Eye Refresh. I’ve never thought to try any elf skincare products. Yes, their prices are great (this one is only $3), but I just don’t think about it as I typically go for higher-end drugstore to mid-range products. I’d never pick up an eye roller bottle myself, but it’s interesting and if I have it, I’ll use it!

My arms are crazy-covered in lipstick stains from doing a ton of swatches of my lip stash, but I did manage to get some swatches on the back of my hand of the products I ordered/paid for

From top to bottom:

• Flawless Finish Foundation in Porcelain (pumped a little too much out)
• Cream Eyeliner in Espresso
• Luscious Liquid Lip in Pink Lemonade
• Lip Stain in Nude Nectar
• Shimmering Facial Whip in Lilac Petal

And on my arm, I got some swatches of the lip color and blush from the free gift:

I really like the sheer pink color of the lip tint, but with the shea in it, I can’t use it without risking itchy, flaky, dry lips. Below that pink is the blush- It’s hard to see, but it gives off a slight shimmer.

I’m really excited to actually try out these products!! Let me know what products I want to see on me, and I’ll make sure to post up first impressions and reviews soon.