e.l.f.'s Mineral Eyeshadows Swatches and Review

I was really skeptical of  e.l.f.'s loose mineral eye shadows before I bought them.  Eyeshadows from indie companies are some the most nuanced and pigmented out of any shadows I have ever used, so these e.l.f. shadows had a high bar to reach.  I bought these on a whim because they after the sale the sets were $2.50 each and came with 2 eye shadows and a brush.  I love the eyeshadow brush from e.l.f.'s $1 line and wanted to try these. Since I bought 2 sets I got 2 eyeshadow brushes.  I discovered something... interesting that I never would have if i only bought 1.  I'll show you at the end.

These sets of 2 shadows and an eyeshadow brush were $5 each.  I think I got them for half off though as elf is always having sales.

Eyeshadow ingredients

It's hard to tell in the pictures but the jars are like 1/3 full.  I don't mind really as I would never use up a full jar anyway.

From left- Beachy, Dreamy, Outdoorsy, Earthy

The top row is swatched dry and the bottom row is swatched over a sticky base.

I am actually really impressed with these.  These are some of favorite products from elf.  I like that they don't contain talc. Also look how pigmented and sparkly they are!  I didn't experience any fallout either. The colors are just complex enough for my tastes and I especially love Outdoorsy.  If you didn't know there came from elf, you would think they were from a really good mineral makeup seller.  They aren't chalky at all, but apply smoothly and I didn't have any problems with fading either.

Here are the mineral eyeshadow brushes compared to the eyeshadow brush from elf's $1 essentials line.

Compared to the $1 brush, the bristles are stiffer,more coarse, and not nearly as soft.  I've had that $1 brush for over 5 years and have never had any issues with shedding or anything. for me, the mineral brushes work best for patting color on my lid while the essentials brush I can pat or sweep and even buff the color on.

I never would have known this if I hadn't bought two of the brushes, but look how different they are.  You can also see how different in the side view in the picture above this one.  They are like totally different brushes.  The one on the left has longer, flopper bristles and feels less dense.  The one on the right has shorter stiff bristles of varying lengths.

I am using the same pressure to push down on the bristles of each brush.  You can see how the one on the left is a lot floppier than the one on the right.  Quality control for the loss!

elf's products tend to be hit or miss for me.  I tend to only buy the ones that have gotten good reviews.  Sometimes I branch out from that and am pleasently surprised, like with these eyeshadows.  But far too many times I am disappointed.  Also, I'm a little turned off by how elf is run.  I get tons of emails from them and because of cookies, I get a "We miss you!" email every time I visit their site, which I don't like at all.  They have been pretty good about replacing items that were faulty or broken, but they never let me know that they are going to after I email them.  Not until I get a random notice that my order is shipped and I realize it's the replacement when I go and check!

Available:

• These sets retail for $5 each on elf's website but I have also seen them at Target in store.

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!