e.l.f. haul

This whole thing started last weekend because I wanted some of those e.l.f. concealer brushes that everybody always talks about using to clean up their nails, right? So I went to their website figuring that I would get those and then try out some of their other stuff too, since I've heard good things about their products and they're super-cheap. I don't know about where y'all live, but around here I only ever see very limited displays of e.l.f. products. Walmart had theirs on a freestanding display at one time, I know, although I rarely go in there these days so I'm not sure if that's still the case. CVS has some and I think Target has some, but none of them seem to have full runs of it. So that's why I thought if I was going to order brushes from the website I should use the opportunity to sample some other products. And I ended up with a metric ton of stuff.  (Added: I did finally go in Walmart the other day after I posted this, and e.l.f. has in fact graduated to a full display, at least at my local store. But they didn't have the concealer brushes so I still would have ended up ordering online.)

So the box came, and after I pulled the padding and paper out, here's what was left:

I know you can't really tell much from that - and well, maybe it's not quite a ton, but it's a lot of stuff for the $35 or so that I actually spent. They had a "Desk to Dinner" set for $14, and then I ordered some other items and  I ended up getting free shipping plus a free bonus set as well, an eye set. I figured whatever I don't want goes in my stash of stuff to give away.

(Incidentally, I get the impression that there's some sort of special deal going on their website most of the time, although some are better than others, maybe.)

The "other items" I mentioned are the ones that were loose in the bottom of the box above:

• the concealer brushes (I got 5 of them, since they're only $1 and I gather that they aren't really meant to stand up to being dipped in acetone repeatedly, so they wear out)
• a pack of 2 cuticle pushers (I don't really push my cuticles around much, but I imagine I'll use them occasionally
• BB cream (SPF20) in Fair
• Matte Lip Color in Berry Sorbet
• Concealer in Ivory
• Blush in Fuchsia Fusion

The larger bag that was in the box contained the "Desk to Dinner" set (which is still on their website, but now for $35) & which had these items:

• Eye Transformers - which is (to put it in nail polish terms) kind of like shifting topcoat for your eyes, apparently - it's 4 pale shadows you put on top of other shadows to change their colors 
• Blush Palette - a 4-pan set of blushes
• Matte Lip Color in Wine
• HD Mattifying Balm (which is clear, and has a sponge that stores underneath the pan of balm) (AND also a more traditional powder blush, which I left off of the list the first time!)
• Eye Refresh - supposed to help with puffy eyes and circles
• 3-in-1 Mascara
• Lip Balm in Pink
• Eyeliner & Shadow Stick in Black/Smoke (this is a double-ended wand thing)
• Angled Blush Brush

Now bear in mind that this was a very good deal at $14 - but at $35, I'd say unless you really want every bit of this you'd be better off ordering what you want a la carte, because $35 is not much less than the total retail value of these. Also note that (inevitably, I guess, since I always manage to do something like this) I mixed up the eyeshadows when I was taking pictures - the eyeshadow pan at the top right with the white package goes in the set below, and the one that belongs above is actually below:

The actual items in the free eye set were:

• Flawless Eyeshadow set in Tantalizing Taupe (that's the one in the white package, the set of 4 shadows, with a retail value of all of $2)
• Lash Tint Mascara in Naked Noir
• Mineral Eyeliner in Black

Basically the free set was from lower-priced Essentials line (white packaging) except for the mascara, and everything in the Desk-to-Dinner set is the Studio line (black packaging), which is slightly more expensive but still quite low-priced. The mascara from the free set seems to be more expensive than either of these other lines - something new, maybe? I don't know enough about this to be sure.

So that's all of it, but here are more pictures of individual items - the blush palette:

The two on the left look pretty cool-toned in this picture, but actually I decided these were all too warm-toned for me. (Maybe I need to go back and look at these in another light and see if they're cooler than I thought!) (Added: on further experimentation I decided that it's not that they're too warm-toned for me, it's that they're just plain too bright for me and my super-pale skin. They just wash me out.)

The transformer palette:

I'm interested in these - I don't know if I'll really use them though. I'll definitely play with them a little, at least!

The mattifying balm:

I'm not entirely clear on how you're meant to use this. I'mna have to poke around and see what I can figure out. I tend to get shiny in the t-zone, though, so I've been experimenting around with what the good options for that are these days.

I'd say that I definitely ended up with a generous cross-section of their merchandise, and so I'll see how I like it all. I'm sure I'll have more to say about this later.