Neelam Jayna: elf cosmetics

In affordable, elf cosmetics

An Affordable Every Day Lipstick

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, by neelamjayna

My top 5 elf products

As some of you may know, I was a huge elf fan and bought the most ridiculous amount of products from their website. The cheap prices of the products and the frequent discounts always attracted me to the cosmetics but there was so many disappointing products or stuff I've just not tried enough to like. However, I have found some amazing products that I use as part of my daily routine and recommend you try out.

My ultimate favourite product from elf has to be the blushes in the studio range. I cannot even begin to explain how amazing they are. My favourite, which I have just hit pan on (and now repurchased) is the blush in the shade Mellow Mauve. It is the perfect shade for my skin tone, not too pink but still gives a nice flushed colour to my cheeks. I love that it blends perfectly with my bronzer so there's no harsh lines. I like to apply it with a tapered blush brush but I have used it with a stippling blush brush to get a slightly more pigmented finish. Like most blushes, it's best to start off light and build up with more product.

One of the recent products that I have purchased and loved has been the eyebrow kit in the shade medium. To be fair, I have only started experimenting with brow products at the moment. But, I love the way this product makes my eyebrows look. I'm not actually sure if you're meant to apply the shadow to the actual eyebrow or around it to sharpen the edges, anyone know? But the waxy side is perfect for filling in your brows without making them look drawn on. I use the little brush that comes with the kit but I do find it a tad fiddly. I also use a spooly to smooth out the colour and hairs once I've applied the product which gives it a more natural finish.

I've had mixed reviews about some of the brushes from elf, but one of the first brushes I bought from them is actually my most used brush in general. It's the powder brush from the studio range. Oh my, this is such a good brush! I actually use it for liquid foundation but it can be used to apply powder too. It's dense, sturdy and I've never had any fallout from the bristles. The handle is becoming slightly loose from the head of the brush but it's no biggie. If it were to ever fall off I would simply super glue it back into place. There's no way I would go without this brush!

The second brush that I have used a lot recently is the small angled brush, also from the studio range. I originally used this brush to tightline my bottom lashline with eyeshadow. I simply dampen the brush and load up some eyeshadow on the tip. I now use this to apply brow gel and it works just as well. You could also use it to do your winged eyeliner but I haven't yet tried this method.

Lastly, I have is something I haven't used in a while but was once obsessed with - the concealer kit. I particularly love this palette in the summer or when I'm on holiday and my normal concealers are too light to fit my tanned skin. It's cute and compact and fits perfectly into your makeup bag or handbag. If neither of the shades match then I simply mix two or three together to get that perfect shade. I definitely recommend this as it's sometimes hard to decide what shade you are when you are shopping online.

These are my top 5 elf products, let me know yours in the comments below and if you haven't already, check out the elf website.

Neelam xx

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, by neelamjayna

In all over cover stick, baked blush

Yes, another e.l.f. haul!

This months beauty haul is going to have quite a few different things; so I decided not to include these items in there. When I first started this blog I always did e.l.f. hauls and I thought, why not stick to tradition! The main reason behind this haul was that I had just hit pan on my favourite blush and I wanted to repurchase. I know that my old blush will most likely last me at least another month (I hope), but there was a 50% off everything off that I just could not resist. A few of the things I wanted to try had sold out and to be quite honest with you, I have a lot of elf products already so there wasn't much else I wanted. But for the deal to work I needed to spend £30. Considering there was also free delivery at the time I only spent a total of £15 (well just a few pennies over).

Blushes were the main drive of this haul and the most frequent product too! I decided to try two new blushes in the same studio range as my all time favourite mellow mauve blush; Candid Coral and Blushing Rose. I've never tried a corally coloured blush before so I'm not sure how that is going to turn out. I'm hoping it does show up on my skin tone, otherwise I'll have to find another use for it. Blushing Rose looks like a darker version of mellow mauve, even though the images show differently. I've probably said this before, but I absolutely adore the packaging on these blushes. They look a hell of a lot more expensive than £3.95 and are just as pigmented as any other blush. I'm thinking of doing a little swatch post for these blushes so keep your eyes peeled for that. The fourth blush I purchased is one that I haven't seen before and it's the baked blushes in the studio range. It says new on the packaging but I get the feeling its been around for a while and I just haven't really paid attention to it. I like the look of the marble effect it has. The one I purchased is in the shade Passion Pink. However, it almost looks like the Tickled Pink blush with streaks of Passion Pink, both from the blushes in the studio line. I think it works really well and despite the packaging looking quite cheap, I am happy with this purchase.

I won't dither much on the elf powder brush as I'm sure I have mentioned this before. I already have one of these and I have to admit it's my most used and most loved brush. It's just perfect for applying foundation and I really have nothing bad to say about it. I actually purchased it for my mum (little addition to her Mother's Day presents).

I then decided to try out the nail polish. I see pictures being post about them on their Facebook all the time but just never thought of trying them out. I thought if try out the natural ones because I have so many pinks and reds that I needed something different. They're a lot smaller than I hoped, sort of the same size as the MUA £1 nail polishes. The colour is really opaque although I'm not 100% about the lasting power - not sure if I used top coat so I'll have to give it another go!

I accidentally bought two of the elf eyebrow stencils - what a sausage. I liked the idea of these but I really can't see me using them. I like the shape of my brows and I'm unlikely to change it drastically. But who knows, one day they could come in handy.

Lastly, I bought a shimmery all over stick (Spotlight). I thought it could be a good cheek highlighter. But I could use it to highlight under my brow bone or even the inner corner of my eyes when I want to brighten them up. There's plenty of uses for this product.

If you bought anything from the 50% sale or even elf in general then I would love to know in the comments below!