E.L.F Illuminating Eye Shadow

This is the eye palette I got with the E.L.F Loves collection, it costs £1.50 individually, and you get 4 colours and 2.5g of product. I received the palette called Silver Lining which includes pink and blue shades. To be honest, I wasn't all that fussed about the colours when I first saw this, and I probably wouldn't have picked these shades myself. However, when I tried it out, I was really happy that I bought it, the colours were really pretty and feminine.

The colours from the website look nothing like the colours in real life though:

The Packaging

The packaging is pretty naff really. It doesn't scream out to me "look how pretty I am! Use me!" But for £1.50, I'm not really too upset about that! I quite like the fact that there is a little mirror under the eyeshadows, although it's not very big, so would be difficult to use.

The Product

The colours are pretty sheer, so this is a nice palette for the day, you wont get a really dark smoky look from this palette. The shades have a nice amount of shimmer, and I did notice that my eyes did look a bit brighter and more awake. These are pretty long wearing as well, they didn't really fade and only creased after 8+ hours of wear. For a £1.50 eye shadow, I am very impressed with the quality of these. OK, they don't compare with the pigmentation of high end eyeshadows, but they are really nice.

I used the pale silver for a highlight, the pale pink for the lid, the navy blue for the crease and the charcoal grey for the outer portion of my eye. My camera didn't pick up the lighter shades that well because they are so sheer, sorry about that.

I had a quick look at the ingredients and this product contains mineral oil and parabens. Although the highly refined form of mineral oil used in cosmetics has not been found to clog pores, some people react to it. Parabens are quite controversial ingredients in cosmetics; they are used as preservatives but can aggravate some people with paraben allergies. There is also debate as to whether parabens are related to the growth of tumours, although no causal evidence has been found and the cosmetic industry believes they are safe because they have been used for so long. So if you don't feel comfortable with these ingredients you might want to steer clear of this palette.

The Verdict

I think, for the price, this is a nice product. It's definitely more suitable for day to day wear, but I don't have many sheer eyeshadows, so I'm glad I got this. The fact it has mineral oil and parabens doesn't bother me, my skin never really breaks out due to the products I use, so I don't think it's a problem.