ELF Beach Beauty Palette Review

 

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to share a little review/face of the day using the ELF Beach Beauty 28 Piece Day Palette! I got this for $6 at Target, and it's also being sold online at the ELF website along with a nighttime version. I didn't see the night palette at Target- not sure if they weren't carrying it or if it was just sold out. Either way, this little cardboard palette really does pack in a lot of product-- there are 2 blushes, 2 bronzers, 16 eyeshadows, 8 lip colors, a lip brush/sponge tip applicator, and a mirror. I'll explain the look I did with this kit in a minute, first here's a closer look at all the parts of the palette. 

 

You get a pretty generous amount of product where the blushes and bronzers are concerned. Both blushes seem to have a satin finish, the bronzer on the top right is matte, and the other bronzer has shimmer.

Here's a look at the peach blush, pink blush, matte bronzer, and shimmer bronzer. I was really pleased with the pigmentation and color payoff of the blushes. The matte bronzer is very light and subtle. It wouldn't be deep enough to be a contour shade for tan/deep skintones, and was on the verge of being a little light for me. While the shimmery bronzer is pretty and pigmented, it's super shimmery- so be careful with that one.

They eyeshadows are all shimmery, and looking at the shades vertically,  you have rows of peach, gold, green, and blue. I would have enjoyed some matte shades in this palette, as well as a couple deeper neutral shades like a dark brown or black. While these colors are pretty, it's nice to have a deeper neutral that can anchor the look and not compete with the other colors.

The pigmentation is a little hit and miss... I swatched all of these shadows in the format that they appear in the palette and I did not use a base. Some sort of shadow primer or cream base will definitely improve the color payoff of those lighter shades- which look pretty sheer in the swatches. In a nutshell: with this kit, the deeper the shadow, the better the performance. That bottom row of shadows is really stunning! While I make it a habit to always use an eyeshadow primer, I think you really, really need one with these shadows (especially the light ones) which can be a little powdery/flakey. 

I don't normally like it when lip colors are thrown into a palette full of powder products... I don't like when the powder fallout gets into the creamy stuff. However, I'm kind of torn when it comes to this palette because the lip colors are really pretty! I like the variety of pink, berry, and coppery/warm tones. The tiny lip brush on the applicator provided is not very good though... I'd recommend using your own lip brush. If you have any amount of length to your nails, you will have a hard time applying these with your finger since the space in the palette is so small.

 

Now for the look I did with this palette! I used a mix of the pink and peach blushes, and I used the matte bronzer for a light contour. On the lips, I'm using the rose gold & coppery shades in the center of the bottom row of lip colors. 

 As a base for the lid, I used this Maybelline Color Tattoo in Icy Mint. I think this might be a limited edition shade. It's really pretty, but I just haven't had a lot of situations where I wanted to use it.

As you can see here- it's a pastel, kind of metallic shade of green. It was nice that it coordinated with the mint green powder shadow I used for the look, but I don't think this particular cream shadow is essential for the look. Any light creamy shade would help the mint shadow pop.

 The shadows I used in this palette are the mint green (top right in palette), brown (second row, bottom shadow), gold (second row, third shadow down), peach (first row, third shadow down), and dark green (third row, bottom shadow). I was kind of shooting for a "water and sand" type of look. I was pretty happy with the way it came out!

-I used the Color Tattoo in Icy Mint on the lid

-I patted the mint green shadow on the inner part of the lid

-I used the shimmery brown on the outer half of the lid and in the crease

-I smudged the brown on the lower lashline as well

-Just above the crease, I blended out the brown with the gold color

-I highlighted under the brow with the peach shade, which was very sheer

-After lining the upper lashline with black liquid liner, I used a liner brush with the dark green and blended it over the border. It gives a subtle faded effect to that line, but still maintains the definition. 

♥

Overall, I think this is a pretty palette, but it does contain some hit and miss products. While I like the blushes and the lip colors, I would have preferred to have some matte eyeshadows mixed in with all the shimmer. If you're looking to add some color pops to your collection, there are some nice bright shades in this kit! And for $6, it's a very affordable way to experiment. But if you already own a decent variety, I don't think this is a total must-have.

Daily Nuggets...

• Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? Today I uploaded a makeup tutorial that really took me out of my comfort zone. I actually got a little nervous making it live! 
• Beauty Broadcast Live was so fun today! Since next Thursday is the 4th of July, I'm planning to do a PM edition of BBL on Wednesday, July 3 at 7pm central time!
• We had some heavy storms roll through last night. Lots of rain, but fortunately not enough wind to cause damage.
• I am a big note-writer to myself. Like to remind myself to do something, or video ideas... I just realized I have 5 notes to myself on this desk!