e.l.f haul

Elf is a brand I've been aware of for absolutely yonks, but only being availabel online I've put off buying anything until recently.I'm not one to ever turn down a bargain, so when e.l.f did a 60% off sale I took the opportunity to try a few bits. After googling swatches and reviews I eventually went for their HD powder in corrective yellow and shimmer, their bronzer in Los Cabos and two baked eyeshadows in burnt plum and toasted

Baked eyeshadows £3.75

The baked eyeshadows were probably my favourite pieces I chose during the sale. Being baked the shadows can be used wet or dry but I've only used them wet so far, although I have heard that  burnt plum is a million times better pigmentation wise when wet. The texture is silky soft and they actually blend really well too with minimal effort. Burnt plum is a lovely reddish brown and although not as 'plum' as I was hoping for it is still a great colour and makes a nice alternative to my usual everyday nudes in my naked pallette. Toasted is a gorgeous warm bronze and is super pigmented ( more so than burnt plum) with a beautiful sheen. Unfortunately these eyeshadows do start to crease after about six hours wear but for £3.75 each I'm actually impressed by the quality of these shadows

Baked bronzer in Los Cabos - £3.75

At first I didn't particularly want this shade as it is the darkest of the 3 possible shades and I'm quite pale (I'm still haunted by my bright orange face during my year 9 school days) but the other two had sold out. However when it arrived it wasn't as scary as I was expecting. The formula is lovely and soft and it applies quite sheerly, taking a good few sweeps to build up a visible colour. I really like that this doesn't have shimmer in like so many other bronzers so it gives a really natural look.

HD face powders - £6

These were my least favourite items that I bought. For starters the tubs are absolutely huge and not make up bag friendly, forget carrying your makeup in your handbag, you'd need a suitcase to lug these about. The packaging also feels really cheap and is a little awkward to use, I found it quite difficult to open them without product poofing everywhere ( look at the yellow powder photo above ^^). As for the powders themselves, both have a lovely silky texture, feel finely milled and really soft and light once they're on the skin. The shimmer powder is really shimmery, and it looks far too sparkly for during the day.I was hoping for more of a  healthy glow and less disco ball shimmer. You also have to take care when applying the powder because if you're a little heavy handed you'll end up with a white face. The powder does give a nice soft focus to the skin though and it did do a good job of setting my make up and helping it stay in place.

The yellow powder was also quite impressive, I found it did a really good job of hiding my dark under eye circles and canceling out any redness around my nose.

If the packaging were better I would really have enjoyed using both of these products.

What are your favourite e.l.f products?