Tag: quads

Makeup Haul! e.l.f. Mint Melt Collection

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Many makeup enthusiasts probably have heard about e.l.f. releasing a new collection called the Mint Melt collection, but if you missed it, this collection is made up of new skincare and makeup. As I have very sensitive skin, I tend to stay away from new skincare and my skin care routine consists of specific products used to target specific needs. For this reason, I will not be trying out the new skincare, but I did pick up the two new Bite Size eyeshadow quads. I also picked up the new Camo CC Cream (not part of the collection, just another item I picked up) and the Mint Melt Cleansing Cloud.

To start with, I have only used each of the quads once and swatched them, so this is more of a first impression of them. Mint To Be is the name of the all green quad in this collection and the most minty color story. The shadows all feel very creamy and swatch nicely, however there is one shade that I wish was a bit more pigmented. The lightest matte shade in the palette is very difficult to see on lighter skin tones. When creating an eye look with this palette, if you want to use this shade, I recommend using a white base to get the most color payoff. I have not seen this palette on a darker skin tone, so it is possible that that shade is just too close to my natural skin color, but I fear that is unlikely. If you have a darker skin tone and picked up this quad, please leave a comment bellow letting us know how well it works for you. I know pastels are very difficult to formulate, but this one was a little underwhelming.

My favorite of the two quads by far was the Chocolate Mint palette. This one also has a very buttery formula, but unlike the other quad, all of the shadows show up on my skin tone. The mint color in this quad is a little lackluster compared to some of the other foiled shades but upon closer inspection, I believe it was meant to be more of a shimmer shade than a foil. To clarify, a shimmer shade lacks the texture of the foiled shades and therefore is a bit less dimensional on the lid. It is still beautiful, just a bit more subtle, which is not my preference. Although I wanted these quads for the green shades, the neutrals in this quad are standouts for this collection. I loved the look I created and found it very easy to work with.

The Mint Melt Cleansing Cloud seems very similar to the famous Face Halo, although I have never tried it. To use the Cleansing Cloud, you apply water to the cloth and then gently massage your skin to remove the makeup. The Cloud is extremely soft so I can’t imagine it would irritate anyone’s skin unless you are rubbing too hard. So far, this seems to work very well to remove makeup. I have yet to put it to the test though, and try it with more difficult makeup. I will have to do an update regarding how this works with more intense makeup.

Lastly, in this haul, I picked up the Camo CC Cream in shade fair 120 N. Again, this is more of a first impression but so far, I am very impressed. I was able to use about a pump to cover my whole face and I used my typical Love is the Foundation It cosmetics foundation brush to apply it. It looks very natural on my skin and helped even out the redness in my cheeks. I think the key to this product is that less is more. I also really like that this product has SPF 30 in it as sunscreen is very important for good skin health. My one complaint is that e.l.f. doesn’t have the widest color range when it comes to their complexion products. They are far better then many other brands but I would still love to see a wider range. The color I picked up was the lightest shade and I know for a fact, I am not the lightest skin tone out there.

Have you picked up any new products lately? If so, what are you most excited about? It is also worth noting that this haul was purchased before my last post was created so if you are curious about why I might have purchased an item when I said I was trying to limit my spending, these were already on their way.

St. Patrick’s Day Palette Recommendations

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With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, you might be thinking, “what palette should I use, to encapsulate the holiday theme?” Green is a unique color that most really struggle to work with or have a difficult time using in a look. My hope is to help you pick a palette that you may already have in your collection, to help you create a simple, green look to celebrate the holiday.

A common theme you might see when looking at St. Patrick’s Day makeup is the combination of green and gold. The following will go from easiest application to more complicated.

For a simple one-shadow look, L’Oreal Infallible in the shade of Golden Emerald is beautiful if you apply it to the lid, then buff it into the crease. It is worth noting that this shade does have more of a dark base to it so it will still appear a bit smokey even buffed out. This color is green with specks of gold shimmer running throughout so it will give a glam effect when on the eye.

Next is Revlon Photoready Eye Art in Desert Dazzle. This is a dual-sided liquid eyeshadow. One side is an olive green opaque shimmer, while the other side is gold glitter. The simplest look has the green shade swiped on the eye with the gold glitter swept on the lid in either the center for a halo eye, or all over the the lid for a glitter glam effect. It is worth noting, if you haven’t used these in a while, let the green dry down before applying the gold glitter on the eye.

Huda Beauty Emerald Obsessions is another go-to palette when trying to create a green eye look. When looking at this palette, there are many options to go with but trying to keep it simple, take the lightest green shade in the crease, then apply your preferred green or gold shimmer on the lid. If you are taking this on a date night and want a little more depth, add in the darkest matte green or brown to the outer corner of the eye.

ColourPop’s Just My Luck palette is another go-to when creating a deeper green look. This palette has many options for the lid shade, using any of the middle row. Each one will give you a slightly different look, but using the color Chances Are… in the crease will work with any of them. Then you can use Act Natural or Charmed to deepen it up. Mo Bamba is also a great shade to smoke the look up a bit.

While ColourPop’s Mint To Be palette is not difficult to work with, pastels don’t always work best for everyone, so I moved it down the list. This is a great palette if you are looking for a more ethereal look or a daytime look. For the most simple look with this palette, use Get Fresh in the crease with a touch of Seltzer for a gradient look. Then apply Mintea on the lid with Play It Cool on the inner corner. For a fun touch, use Chill Factor to create a smokey liner.

Finally, the e.l.f. Hot Jalapeño quad is great to create a halo eye that is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day. Apply the shades from right to left on the outer and inner portion of the eye moving in towards the middle of the eye. Use the shimmer gold for the center of the lid and use the shimmer green to melt the matte green with the shimmer gold.

This happens to be my favorite holiday and color scheme to wear as it goes so well with my brown eyes so I have A LOT of options available to me. I plan on trying one of these looks out for mine and my husband’s date night in on St. Patrick’s Day. If you plan on doing a look with this color scheme, comment below which palette you will be using!

e.l.f. Bite Size Quad in Rose Water

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Finally, we have my top ranked quad in this series and this quad is in the shade Rose Water. I LOVE this quad so much! With the same formula as the previous quads, this one has an amazing color story that would flatter many skin tones. The colors in this quad, work perfectly together to create multiple possible looks.

This quad has a matte shade, a shimmer shade, a sequin shade and a foiled shade. The matte shade is the perfect transition shade in a dusty rose that you can build up or softly dust through the crease for different looks. The sequin shade is a deep plum with gold sparkle throughout, but when applied to the eye, it comes across as mostly matte. The shimmer shade is a lovely rose that can be used as a darker lid shade, or you can use the foil shade in the quad that is a light pink.

One thing I really enjoy about this quad is that it can be used for an every day look or you can really foil the shades to amp up the look and create a beautiful glam eye. My preferred look with this quad is to dust the matte rose through the crease, apply the foiled light pink shade on the lid, and then the darker rose shade on the outer corner. Then finish it off with the sequin plum shade as the liner.

What sets this quad above the rest of the quads for me, is the color story and how simple it is to use. I know I can pick up this quad and no matter what look I create, it always looks good. I highly recommend this quad, especially for beginners or those who want an easy quad to work with.

If you haven’t seen my whole series, start with this review!

e.l.f. Bite Size Quad in Hot Jalapeño

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Coming in at second place, we have the Hot Jalapeño quad. This colorful quad is a range of greens with a pop of gold. The formula in this quad is the same as the other quads, creamy and blendable with great pigmentation. This quad has two matte shades, a shimmer shade and foil shade. The matte shades are the darkest shades in the palette, a forest green and an olive green to provide some depth to this quad. The shimmer is an olive green with a hint of gold in it. The foil shade is the brilliant pop of gold that perfectly accents this quad.

This quad comes in at second place because I love to wear green and these shades are extremely wearable. Green can intimidate a lot of people but I feel this quad is a great quad to dip your toes in with. This quad, while extremely colorful, allows for a simple use of the color.

I have my favorite look (a halo eye, using every color in the quad) but that is not the look I am going to explain today, as it is a bit more complicated. The look that is easiest to do but has a great use of the colors in this quad is as follows: Take the matte olive green through the crease, use a light hand and build the color to the desired opacity. Then take the foiled gold color all over the lid. Finish the look off with a shadow liner using the matte forest green. This look, while using two of the three green shades will focus on the gold which most people are more comfortable wearing.

Check out the first review in this series!

e.l.f. Bite Size Quad in Cream & Sugar

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We are now in the top three of the quads I own. Coming in at third place is Cream & Sugar. It’s important to remember that I am a huge fan of color but this neutral eyeshadow quad squeaked in to the top three. The formula in this quad is just like the others, creamy and blendable yet pigmented and beautiful.

This quad has two matte shades, a shimmer, and a foil. The two matte shades are the lightest and darkest shades in the quad. The light shade is a cream-colored shade and the darkest is a lovely shade of rich chocolate brown. The shimmer shade is a copper that, when applied, can look almost as foiled as the foil shade. The foil shade is champagne color that foils amazingly on the eyes.

This quad comes in at third place because I think there is a lot you can do with this quad. You can create at least four different looks just on first glance. My personal favorite look is an everyday look with the cream matte shade in the crease, either the foil or shimmer shade on the lid and the matte brown as a liner. If you enjoy a neutral eyeshadow look, this quad is perfect for you!

Check out the first review in this series!

e.l.f. Bite Size Quad in Açaí You

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Coming in at 4th place is the quad in Açaí You. This quad has the same formula as the previously ranked quads (links are at the bottom of the post if you haven’t seen them yet) and performs extremely well on the eyes. This is the first colorful quad that appears in my ranking series. I am a huge fan of colorful palettes and this one is no different.

This quad has two matte shadows, a satin shadow and a foil shadow. This quad is cool-toned and therefore is not my absolute favorite but I do love the unique colors that are present in this quad. It is a very blue-toned purple quad with a lovely gradient. The two matte shadows include the lightest shade and the darkest shade in the quad. This allows for the user to have a great crease color and a darkening shade as well. The satin shadow is is the second darkest shade in the quad and while it does have a slight sheen, it too can be used to darken up the crease or as an all over the lid color. The last shadow in the quad is a foiled shade that looks beautiful wet or dry, all over the lid.

My preferred look with this palette is the light shade in the crease, the satin in the outer corner, the foil shade all over the lid, and then the darkest matte smoked out in a liner and on the lower outer corner.

Bite Size Quad Review in Truffles

e.l.f. Bite Size Quad in Pumpkin Pie

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Coming in at 5th place is the quad in Pumpkin Pie. The formula in this quad is still amazing, like the other bite-sized quads! The shadows wear for a long time on the eyes and blend beautifully. This quad has two matte shades, a shimmer shade and a foil shade. This warm-toned quad is in varying shades of browns and coppers. The two matte shades are a warm-toned brown, and a neutral brown. The shimmer is a copper and the foil shade is also a variant of the copper color.

While I love this palette for a known look, this palette comes in at 5th place because there is not enough variation in the shades for me. You can get multiple looks out of this quad, but they will all mostly look very similar on the eye. The foil is a slightly more metallic look than the shimmer but on the eye, they look nearly identical. The two matte browns are different which will allow you to have a fully warm-toned eye or a more neutral eye but again, both looks are very similar. There is no deepening shade in this palette and no means of doing a liner. If these are your colors, then this palette is going to be great for you.

My go-to look with this palette is a brown in the crease (either one), and the foil on the lid. I then take the shimmer on the lower lash line. I do really enjoy this palette because I know exactly the kind of look I am going to have and that makes it an easy pick for everyday.

Check out my previously ranked quad here!

e.l.f. Bite-Size Eyeshadow Quad in Truffles

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If you have seen my other blog posts, then you know that I am a fan of the new e.l.f. eyeshadow formula. These new Bite-Size quads have the same formula which already puts the quads in my enjoy category, especially at the $3 price tag. The next few blog posts will be a deep dive into the 6 different quads that I have picked up so far. I plan on ranking these and releasing the posts in accordance from least favorite to most. With that being said, it is important to understand that I think all of these quads are extremely good and that these rankings are just my personal opinion.

Truffles comes in at 6th place. This quad has two matte shades, a sequin shade, and a foil shade. This quad is the coolest-toned neutral of the bunch. The two mattes are neutrals in a gradient of a lighter and darker brown. The sequin is a black shade but when applied to the eye, it comes out as a matte shade. I believe the small shimmer particles in the black are actually to help the shade blend well (which it does). The foil shade is a taupe silver shade which is what makes this palette lean cool toned.

The reason I’m ranking this at 6th place is primarily because cool tones do not look the best with my coloring. That said, the shades perform beautifully on the eyes so if cool-toned shades are your cup of tea, then you should absolutely pick this quad up!

My go-to glam look with this quad is to use the lightest brown through the crease, deepen up the outer corner with the dark brown, put the foiled silver on the lid and then use the black as a shadow liner. You can also smoke out the liner for a more sultry look.