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E.L.F Cosmetics: Yes or No?

You know we’re always on the hunt for a bargain, and e.l.f. cosmetics certainly fits under that category. If you’re out of the loop, e.l.f. is a makeup company that sells products through their online store and at local chains and drugstores. Some of their makeup products are in the $1 range with a few eye shadows coming in at a mere $3. It’s hard to trust a makeup that’s so inexpensive, so you probably want to know, “Is the quality any good?” We wanted to know too, so we did a little digging. Let’s decide.

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e.l.f. Cosmetics Products Review

Price

Essential Nail Polish

e.l.f. Essential Nail Polish, $2.00

e.l.f. cosmetics products are amazingly priced. We love that we can snatch up a nail polish color just to try it for $2.00. The low prices really open up the possibilities. You can easily throw a few products in a gift basket for a friend. Or, if your 5 year old niece wants to play dress up, you can buy about 10 products for her to play with without breaking the bank. Similarly, you can experiment and see what works best for you without a huge initial investment.

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Quality

Liquid Lipstick

Liquid Lipstick, $1.00

e.l.f. has several great products, but also a few that we would pass on. The liquid lipstick is a nice color, but many have reported that the lip gloss containers leak. The $1.00 false eyelashes are a steal, but using a different eyelash glue is recommended. The mineral eye shadows work well and are inexpensive, but the e.l.f. makeup brushes are poor quality. The nail polishes, mascara, and eyeliner are all good and are on par with slightly pricier brands.

Reliability

elf Mascara

Lengthening and Volumizing Mascara, $3.00

As far as reliability of e.l.f. as a company, many, many people have reported that purchasing e.l.f. products in a store is the way to go (even though online prices might be slightly cheaper.) Shipping takes a long time if you order online, and often products are missing or backordered. For reliability of the products, they do have a nice shelf life with the nail polishes needing to be used the quickest before they separate.

What We Say

Mineral Eye Shadow

e.l.f. mineral eye shadow, $3.00

We think e.l.f. cosmetics are worth a try, especially if you incorporate some of your higher quality tools with them, like your nice set of makeup brushes. Start with some mineral eye shadow. If it doesn’t stick or blend well, try pairing it with an eye shadow primer of a different brand. We think you’ll be happy with the mascara, eyeliner, and liquid lipstick, which can save you a ton of money in the long run. Of course, everyone is different with different skin types and tones, so just give it a shot and see what works best for you.

Check out this video of e.l.f’s latest Beauty Bundle

Have you tried any e.l.f. Cosmetics products? Feel free to weigh in.

Sarah

Thursday 28th of January 2016

DO NOT BUY ONLINE. PERIOD. As a first time customer I should have done more research before my purchase. E.L.F. has the worst customer service I have ever experienced. I ordered products on Jan 5 and after waiting a reasonable amount of time I contacted them to figure out where my order was. They told me to give it a few more days to see if it showed up. It never did. So then they blamed USPS for misplacing it, how can USPS misplace an order that I never even received an email about getting shipped out in the first place. Well thinking I had everything sorted out, they were going to reship my order. I assumed it would be quickly to fix their mistake. Needless to say it is Jan 28, 23 days after I placed my order and I still haven't received my products. Nor do I expect to see them anytime soon. This is just ridiculous and E.L.F. is a JOKE.

Jasmine

Monday 21st of December 2015

Do NOT place large orders with ELF cosmetics online during the holiday season. Their cyber monday sale was 50% off almost everything, and it was too good to pass up. So I paid for 30+ items, waited two whole weeks, and the package was lighter than I expected. Turns out, 14 of my items were missing. When I contacted them, they told me to wait for my refund. I waited, and I got $3 :) Three dollars for fourteen missing ELF products. I guess 5 years of loyalty meant nothing to them.

Sandra

Wednesday 25th of November 2015

Wow! Where do I start...there's no communication with them at all! I had placed an order with a coupon code that gave me 50%off. Waited about 12 days & didn't receive any email confirmation of my order. I then decided to email them requesting info on my order (since you can't reach any via phone). And they emailed me in return: Thank you for your order with e.l.f. Cosmetics. Due to the recent extremely heavy volume of orders, we apologize that your order has been delayed. Our warehouse has been open around the clock to deal with the increased order volume. Thank you again for your loyalty and patience. So after that I waited & waited by the third week I sent another email requesting once again info on my order. Then this time I got: We apologize for any confusion. We were unable to process your order because it was declined by PayPal. Please contact them for further information. We are very sorry for any inconvenience please feel free to contact us with any further information. Well I called my paypal account & nothing was wrong with my account. My payment was kept on "pending" due to the merchant. So not sure what their issue was. I again tried reaching them via email asking if they can replace my order and try again, also giving them a credit card # instead. Of course they replied within 2 hours: We apologize, unfortunately we are not able to reauthorize this through PayPal, please place a new order. We apologize for any inconvenience. I asked if I were to replace my order I would then loose my discounted price. They said unfortunately yes. E.L.F. Had no consideration whatsoever & did not try to even help. I will never order feom them again I wasted my time not only ordering but in trying to resolve an issue that was even an issue. Never once did E.l.f. accommodate me at all. Never had anything like this happen to me. And now that I read their reviews I should have known better. They are known for doing this kind of stuff, as well as taking forever with their orders.

Lisa Carmichael

Saturday 14th of November 2015

I am so glad that you didn't go into "how great their cosmetics are" and suggested that my 5 year old niece would definitely enjoy them in a game of "dress up"--- (priceless) but that's about all you're going to get for $3 and $5 retail cosmetics. I wonder why more women don't research and try NATURAL and ORGANIC products that are also "Cruelty-Free" and actually work to heal and nourish the skin, clear up breakouts, improve texture, control oil, make you look and feel the best you ever have-=-by spending a few more dollars for QUALITY cosmetics and skin care products. Sure, you think you're getting a bargain---all you're getting is ripped off. Makeup doesn't have to break the bank to give you great looking skin and application--but this stuff won't make it more than 120 seconds after applied. None of it---and besides "ANIMAL CRUELTY"--is there anyone as concerned about "HUMAN CRUELTY" ---most of these products are loaded with cheap fillers and preservatives--otherwise they couldn't sit on the shelf for years and still be sold. Go NATURAL :) Peace and Love! Lisa

Abi Beutler

Friday 4th of September 2015

ELF has hits and misses. Their blush contour duo is great, as are their brushes. I also like their lip tint a lot. As far as customer service, they don't do returns. The only thing that they do is replace an item if it arrives damaged. I know from personal experience that they honor the damaged products thing. I SO WISH that they would start allowing returns. They have great deals online and they offer free shipping for your first order. But if you can buy this brand from a store that accepts used returns on make-up, then that is the "safe" way to go if you end up hating the product.

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