Review + Swatches: ELF Shimmer Eyeliner Pencils

Price: $1 each from eyeslipsface.com

What they say:(click to view larger)


What's in it:(click to view larger)

From left to right:
Twinkle Teal, Gunmetal, Iconic Ivory, Plum Passion, Boldly Bronzed, Grassy Green

The good stuff:

• Only $1!
• Handy sharpener built into the cap
• Smooth, creamy texture
• Does not pull or tug
• Bold, pigmented colors with metallic shimmer
• Long lasting as an eyeshadow
• Works great as an eyeshadow base

The low-down:

• Almost TOO soft, tip is easy to smash
• Sharpener works well but takes a lot of product off with it
• Does not work very well as an eyeliner on waterline
• A bit smudgy

My take: I had originally said I wanted to wait on trying out these eyeliners because I wanted to see if other beauty bloggers would review it first... I mean, come on! It's $1 and usually, $1 eyeliners flat-out SUCK. I've had bad experiences with ELF's Brightening eyeliner AND Studio Eyeliner & Shadow Stick (can you say SMUDGE CITY?!), so I wasn't too keen on trying these liners just yet. But inevitably, curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to be the guinea pig. And I'm glad I did!

For $1, these liners are super smooth and pigmented. The colors are just wonderful and metallic and bold. Let the swatches do the talking:

From left to right:
Twinkle Teal, Gunmetal, Iconic Ivory, Plum Passion, Boldly Bronzed, Grassy Green

Pretty gorgeous, right? And pretty accurate to ELF's swatches (for once :P). The only shade that wasn't what I expected was "Grassy Green," which is depicted as a bright, kelly green on ELF's website, but turned out to be more of a dark, forest green. It is still nice though.

Despite all of their uber-pigmented, colorful goodness, these "liners" do not actually function very well as liners (or for me, at least). On my waterline, they don't last over an hour and end up smudging and migrating. However, I do think they work well to add a pop of color below the lower lashline.

Their redeeming factor is that they are FABULOUS as eyeshadows and/or eyeshadow bases. They are easy to apply, no pulling or tugging. The texture is very creamy and smooth. It stays a bit tacky on lids for a few minutes after application, so eyeshadow adheres to it VERY well. I use Boldly Bronzed daily under powder eyeshadow (since my everyday look is consists of browns) and it helps to intensify the color and keeps the shadow down pat, all day :)

Another great thing is that there is a sharpener built right into the cap:

And this ain't no cheapie sharpener. It works really well. The only thing is that it might work too well -- it shaves off a lot of product along with the wood shavings. Probably also because the pencil is SO soft. The tip can easily break or be smashed if you're not careful. The softness is good because it makes application a breeze, but just be careful when you're putting the cap back on!

The Rundown:
Packaging: 5/5
Handy sharpener built into the cap.

Product: 4/5
Not that great as a liner and is very soft, but works wonderfully as an eyeshadow/eyeshadow base!

Price: 5/5
Completely wallet-friendly!

Overall:
[ click here to read about my Review & Rating System ]

ELF Haul: Product Overviews & Swatches

Hey everyone! I just got my ELF order (from their free shipping special) in today and wanted to share some swatches and a little bit about the products and my thoughts on them. I was also supposed to get one of their new $1 lipsticks in "Seductive," but apparently this was sold out even though it went through when I made the order :(

Anywho, here is what I got:
Back to School Eyeshadow Set - Natural Shadows & Brush ($3),
Back to School Concealer Kit - Zit Zapper ($3),
and Studio Small Angled Brush ($3)

Shimmer Eyeliner Pencils ($1)

First off, the Shimmer Eyeliner Pencils. I mentioned that I was a little hesitant to try these because all of the ELF eyeliners I own smudge on me really quickly... I was betting on these being no different. But... they are just so pretty looking! So I decided to play guinea pig and order a bunch.

The caps have a built in sharpener, like their Studio Concealer Pencils. Very convenient. However, the cap doesn't really stay on that well... I find it pulls off a little TOO easily.


I like how the color of the pencil is pretty much the actual color of the liner.

These pencils are very, very smooth and easy to apply. However, it is because they are VERY VERY soft. That's why I'm a little wary about the cap being so flimsy because you can easily smush the tip, and it'll probably be hard to sharpen since it's so soft.

L-R:
Twinkle Teal, Gunmetal, Iconic Ivory, Plum Passion, Boldly Bronzed, Grassy Green

However, the colors really are quite beautiful in person. The swatches on the ELF website are actually pretty accurate, except for Grassy Green. On the website, Grassy Green looks like a really bright, kelly green. But it is actually a dark, forest green IRL. Still very pretty though.

So far, I have only tried the Grassy Green one. It did not show up on my waterline very well, but it did show up nicely on my lashline though. I've only been wearing it for a few hours, but smudging has been minimal so far. Will continue to test the rest of the colors and see how they do. On the ELF website, it shows these liners being used more like eyeshadows, applied over the entire eyelid. I think I'll try them like that instead of just liners and see how they do as an eyeshadow or shadow base instead.

This is one of their Back To School Eyeshadow Sets, the Natural Shadows set.

I really like the packaging, it's very cute, sleek, and sturdy. I love the little windows on the outside so you can see the shadows. The inside has a little mirror. The tiny brush is pretty much useless though.


The shadows look quite pretty, no? I love neutral, natural shades so I thought this would be perfect. There are 3 matte shades (top left, top right, bottom right) and 3 shimmery shades (top middle, bottom left, bottom middle).

However, I must say, these shadows kind of suck. I was pretty disappointed with this product. The shadows are super soft and buttery, but also SUPER powdery and chalky and majorly lacking in pigmentation. At first swipe, they look alright I guess...

...But after some furious swatching, this is all you get:

This took about 5 layers to get the color to show up this much. I know this is supposed to be a "Natural" set, but I still wish it packed more pigmentation. I've been much more satisfied with their $1 Brightening Eyeshadow Quads. Out of the 6 shades, I can only really use one -- the dark brown one. The rest of the shadows are too sheer and shimmery for my liking, so I can only use them as highlights.


Here is the Back to School Concealer Kit. I got this mainly to try the Zit Zapper. I had also been wanting to try a lighter shade of the Tone Correcting Concealer, so I figured I might as well get the whole set. I have not tried the Zit Zapper yet but I will be back with a review soon!

Here's swatches of the Tone Correcting Concealer in Light Beige. I think it's an alright match for my skin tone. Haven't tried it on my dark circles yet. I semi-hate how just about everything in the $1 line has that strong citrusy scent though. This concealer is especially scented.


Here is the Studio Small Angled Brush. I've been religiously using my Wet N Wild Mega Eyes Creme Eyeliner lately, using Sephora and Coastal Scents bent angled eyeliner brushes, which are starting to get caked up and stiff. So I decided I would try an angled liner brush instead. I didn't really expect it to be so "long," but it is super soft. Have not tried it yet but I hear good things about it so I hope I'll like it :)

I was mostly disappointed that I didn't get my lipstick though... :( Was really looking forward to trying that out. Oh well, next time...

Have you hauled anything from ELF recently?

NYX $1 "Sale" haul Swatches + Overviews

Here is my haul from the NYX $1 "Sale"
It took several weeks to come in, and I got no shipping info.

Liquid Makeup

Got this because I've been wanting to try NYX liquid foundation for awhile now... I thought if I got these 2 shades, I could mix them into a decent shade for my skintone...

Ivory is really pale but slightly ashy and Caramel is really... brown. So even when trying different mixtures, I still end up with an ashy-toned shade that doesn't match my skin very well. Oh well. Maybe I will have to keep trying. If not I can still use it as highlight/contour.

The pump bottle is very nice though, although it is a bit difficult at first to control the amount of product you want to come out. The texture/consistency is light and not too liquidy. Feels similar to Etude House BB Magic Balm. Coverage is quite buildable but too much ends up looking cakey.

Black Label Powder

Comes in a cute lace bag. The compact itself is really nice and sleek. I think it would look better without all the wording on the cover... but that's just me. The mirror swivels! Seems pointless but it looks cool :P

I thought the shade Buff would be WAAYY too light for me, but upon first inspection, it seems comparable to the EDM pressed powder I normally use in Fairly Light Golden. BUT it is actually lighter when applied. Still a bit too light for me and doesn't blend into my skin like the EDM does. I gave it to my mom because it's a better shade for her.


The powder itself is smooth and nice. Not powdery or chalky. It nicely evens out and smooths the appearance of my skin to a matte finish. I still wouldn't pay $25 for it though.

Blush Brush


Since it was only $1, I'm satisfied with it. It reminds me of my Shu Uemura blush brush from the compact brush set, except it is SLIGHTLY more prickly and doesn't feel soft to the touch or on my face. Good for $1 though.

Eye Pencil

I got this in "Extreme black." It's smooth & very pigmented. Haven't tried it on my eyes yet, but I like it so far.

Glitter on the go

"Las Vegas"


It's real pretty! There are so many multi-colored glitters. It looks fucking gorgeous over the liner. But apparently, it is not eye safe. Fuck. I guess I will use this on my nails then.

NYX Lips lipstick

Here's the lipsticks I got. This is mainly what my haul was for. Sadly, I'm pretty disappointed with all these shades. Does anyone know what is the difference between the NYX lips and the NYX Round lipsticks? Despite the different packaging, some shades are the same names. But these (the NYX Lips) seem a lot smoother and more moisturizing than the NYX Round lipsticks IMO.

Unfortunately, while all the shades are very pretty on my arm, they don't look nearly as nice on my lips. Thalia, Sierra, and Shakira are matte shades. The rest (Indian pink, Sky pink, Peach love, Baby) all have a frosty sheen and the color doesn't show up very well... it's kinda confusing to explain but most of these shades make my lips look rather dark AND/OR frosty at the same time.

I apologize for the crappy-ness of the "no flash" pictures... I usually end up taking my pictures at night in bad lighting :( BUT it does do a pretty accurate job of showing how frosty and/or dark the shades appear on my lips.

I broke the Peach Love! :( I forgot I had twisted it up so far, and then I swatched it and it broke at the base. Boo. So I fixed it using the flame-melting method.... it looks like shit but still usable :/ I suppose these would make nice bases for layering over with gloss but I wouldn't wear them by themselves, because they just don't work with my lip pigmentation and skintone. I really like the texture though.

Overall, this order was mostly a bust for me. Atleast with shipping it was like I only paid $2 for each item. But still. I don't think I'll be ordering from NYX again anytime soon.

Did you order anything from this "sale"?
Were you happy with what you ordered?

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