Elf Healthy Glow Bronzing Powders: Luminance and Sun Kissed

I write this with mind-blowingly painful pins and needles in my left leg thanks to my motionless sitting down. I hope everyone's had a good start to 2014, mine began at a friend's house, progressed to walking home and nearly freezing to death, waking up very late in the day, eating chocolate stars, getting a headache and then now this. Obviously there was more but none of which is all that interesting, not that any of the previously listed is either...

I bring another Elf related post but this time on two of their Healthy Glow Bronzing Powders in the shades Luminance and Sun Kissed. Although these are marketed as bronzers I bought them with the intention to use them as a highlighter, one for me and one for my mum and *drum roll* they work goooooood.

They sell for £1.50 and are pretty much in the most basic packaging known to life itself but make a nice little click when closed (okay I lie, only one makes that satisfying clicking noise, the other tries but fails). If you like your products to look luxurious then these probably aren't going to cut it for you as there are glue marks clearly visible on the bottom of the bronzers but as I've said countless of times on this blog, I don't mind what a product looks like on the outside.

From left to right: Luminance, Sun Kissed

Luminance is almost sand coloured but on my skin comes out a shimmery champagne colour; it doesn't have much noticeable glitter making it so much more wearable than Mac's Soft and Gentle which I feel could look a teeny bit overdone on me just for going to the shop quickly. Sun Kissed is much more of a golden bronze and just would not work on my skin tone if I was wearing blusher but would work if I was wearing bronzer and wanted to look sun kissed (everyone laugh plz). On my mum however, who is naturally more tanned and darker than me, Sun Kissed works amazingly as a highlighter for her while Luminance looks quite silvery and is much too cool-toned on her skin.

I'm only guessing but I feel like these bronzers have an overlay on them as, when you use them for the first time, the surface feels really smooth and fairly velvety but once they've been used a few times it becomes rough and textured. You can probably see this on Luminance whereas on Sun Kissed you can see a section that hasn't been used yet. Although this is the case, it does't affect/effect (uh who even knows) how it applies to the face.

 From left to right: Luminance swatched, Sun Kissed swatched, both unblended

I have been reaching for Luminance on a daily basis and I keep hassling my mum to remember to use Sun Kissed because it looks so pretty on her but she says she forgets so we'll have to allow that to slide. I really should have swatched the bronzers on my mum's arm so you guys could see how the bronzers look different depending on skin tone and what would work best for your guys, apologies.

For £1.50 these bronzers are hardly an investment and definitely worth picking up next time you make an Elf purchase regardless of the cheap packaging and feel to the product. Have you tried these before or is there anything else from Elf that you use in a different way than what it is intended for?

Elf Haul

Elf posts are one of my favourite things to read and I can finally do one thanks to their elf-mazing (okay I'll just put an end to that now) 50% offer they held recently. Elf do these promotions fairly often but I always used to forget to sign up to their newsletter so would miss it *shakes first angrily*, but not this time. I spent £19.07 in total which is pretty darn good value for money and I was pretty well restrained considering it was my first time ordering.

Originally I really wanted the Studio High Definition Powder and had read so many positive reviews but unfortunately it was out of stock, it was an emotional moment for all people involved (just me). I'm going to get the powder next time there's 50% off and I might as well throw the matching Undereye Setting Powder in there too.

Essentials Lip Defining Brush- £1.50

I bought this lip brush for college as when I'm doing people's makeup I always end up using small eyeshadow brushes but they are a pain in the beehive to clean so I thought I'd order a brush actually meant for lips in the hope it will clean better. It is a little bigger than I expected but actually seems like it'll be good for applying lipstick, it's also really soft as well.

Studio Angled Eyeliner Brush- £3.75

Oh my word I've always wanted one of these brushes, I just think they look so dang coooool. I struggle with gel eyeliner so much, both on myself and other people, but this seems like it's going to be good as my hand won't end up getting in the way and block my vision.

Small Tapered Brush- £3.75

This brush is seriously my hero, it is so amazing and better than I could have imagined. It is so perfect for contouring and doesn't pick up a lot of product meaning you can't go overboard and blends everything out so well. I need to pick up another one of these brushes so I can use it for my highlighter as the ones I currently use don't do the job as well as I would like. The shape of this brush reminds me of the Real Techniques Blush Brush but on a much smaller scale.

Essentials Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder in Luminance- £1.50

This product is supposed to be a bronzer (Captain Obvious) but after doing a heck load of research online people said they prefer using it as a highlighter so ordered it for that purpose instead. I've been really liking using this as it gives a nice champagney gold sheen to the skin; I'm planning on doing a post on this and also of another shade, Sun Kissed which I bought for my mum, so people can actually see what these look like and aren't just buying them based on the picture online.

Baked Eyeshadow in Pixie and Burnt Plum- £3.75

I'd heard a lot about Elf's baked eyeshadows so thought I'd give them a go in some shades that aren't similar to ones I already have. Burnt Plum (to the left of the bronzer) is a sheeny burgundy sort of shade while Pixie (to the right of the bronzer) is an iridescent pinky gold shade. Both of them are so smooth and seem like they'll blend really well but I can't really say much because the only time I've tried them is late at night when I look practically dead but I'm going to try them in daylight and shall report back.

Studio Single Eyeshadow in Mystic Moss- £3.75

I much prefer the packaging of this eyeshadow, it looks like the little baby child of a Nars product, is anyone getting this vibe? Mystic Moss is a slightly shimmery dark green colour that I ordered as I thought it'd be more flattering on my eye colour as browns just don't seem to do anything to make my eyes pop (to be fair I've never felt anything makes my eye colour unbelievably great) but feel a dark green in the crease will make the green in my eyes come out a bit more.

Essentials Eyelid Primer- £1.50

No-one will be able to understand how long I spent debating over whether to get this primer or the Mineral Eyeshadow Primer; I googled endlessly, bugged my mum constantly and even tweeted about it, pretty sad for the sake of £1.50 difference. I read pros and cons about both primers but in the end went with the one from the Essentials range and I am so pleased with it so far. I have used it a couple of times and there has been such minimal creasing which is so good and makes me feel a lot better as my Urban Decay Primer Potion has started going runny and weird so I wanted a cheaper but equally good product. I bought mine in Sheer but there are three other options to choose from.

Studio Lip Lock Pencil- £3.75

This is something I had always been intrigued by but not heard much about so thought I'd give it a go. I also bought one for my mum but neither of us have used it that much yet. It's supposed to create an invisible barrier for lip products to stop them sliding around and moving which is perfect for me as I'm one of those irritating people who checks their lipstick after basically every mouthful of food/sip of drink in either my phone reflection or a mirror.

That's everything I bought during the 50% off sale and the items I'm most pleased with is the Small Tapered Brush, the Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder and the Eyelid Primer. I'm going to do individual reviews on the three I just mentioned as I think they're worth people knowing about but is there anything else you guys want to know more about? Let me know in the comments! Also, is there anything else I should try from Elf?