ELF Brightening Eye Color Quad in Luxe

I've been sick since last weekend and today is the first day I've felt vaguely human again. Needless to say I haven't been wearing any makeup - in fact I'm lucky if I've managed to wash my face. It's - uh - probably been a couple of days...

The ELF Quad in Luxe is one of the ones I tested early last week and hadn't gotten around to posting yet. I found these eyeshadows to be very powdery - they go everywhere when you try to pick them up with a brush. They don't blend all that well - everything seems to moosh into one shade rather than keeping the disparate colours. The creamy yellow colour is useless - chalky and virtually invisible.



Having said all that, it does have a couple of things going for it. Firstly, it's dirt cheap - $1US for each quad. If you're someone on a tight budget, or you want to get something to test a colour you haven't tried before, or maybe for a young person to play around with when they just start out experimenting with makeup, these are an excellent bargain. 

First thing in the morning*

Late in the afternoon. 

And as you can see, they don't hold up too badly - a bit of fading but not too much, and not really any creasing to speak of. I wore this on quite a hot day, too.

You need a primer to get any real colour out of them, as evidenced by these swatches.

Bare skin

Over NYX White Eye Base

I wouldn't buy any more of these for myself - they're not as good as a lot of other eyeshadows I already have, and the colours are nothing unique. However, if Noodle Arms wanted to get into eyeshadow, I'd certainly buy some for her to play around with. They definitely have their place in the makeup world.

ELF has online shopping sites both in the US and UK. Aussie buyers can pick these up from Nonpareil Boutique for $1.10US, or if you're in a hurry you can find a limited range of colours at Crush Cosmetics, where - like pretty much all makeup in Australia - they're more than four times the price. But let's not get started on that again...

*Please ignore my stray eyebrow hairs. I am attempting to grow them back in for about the fifteenth time. I know I'm fighting a losing battle, but I have to try.