elf

Unsung Makeup Heroes: e.l.f. Solid Sponge Cleanser

October 9th, 2019 by Karen 7 Comments

What’s an unsung hero in beauty-speak? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup (or polish!) morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar of many makeup lovers but regularly rocks my world. My long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.

If you’ve been visiting MBB for a while now, you might already know that my ride-or-die makeup brush cleanser has been good ol’ Dr. Bronner’s solid soap for years; however, one thing that drives me crazy and has always driven me crazy about Dr. B’s is that once you use that white bar, it never looks anywhere near as pristine as it did when you first opened it, and it ends up looking dirty and gross in the soap dish…

The part of me that’s morphing into a lady who only wears muumuus and yells at kids on her lawn does not like this, which is why I bought the e.l.f. Solid Sponge Cleanser. It’s black, so you can’t see any dirt on it, which I adore. Plus, it works crazy well. Even your jankiest brushes will sparkle quicker than you can say, “GET OFF MY LAWN.”

elf solid sponge cleanser review — Ahhh!

This soap is made to clean makeup sponges like Beautyblenders and whatnot, but you can also use it on natural and synthetic fiber makeup brushes. It foams up in a hummingbird’s heartbeat, and then BAM! — cuts through whatever’s in your bristles. Then it rinses out with just a few splashes of water. When I leave my brushes out to air dry, the next time I use them, they feel soft, not crunchy, and they smell kinda minty… I wonder if that has something to do with the charcoal they added to the soap, which is supposed to have anti-bacterial properties).

Hmm…

Dare I say that it works faster Dr. B’s?! 🤗

Oh, and P.S., it’s only $4, bargain hunters. I get mine at Target.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Bay Area Beauty Love: E.L.F.

February 22nd, 2019 by Karen 12 Comments

Yay for the Bay! In this series, for the month of February 2019, I’ll be featuring products from and around my stomping grounds, the San Francisco Bay Area.

A trifle of trivia for my friends who marvel at makeup minutia: Drugstore brand E.L.F. was founded in Oakland, California, in 2004. Contrary to popular myth, their name stands for “Eyes Lips Face,” and not for the classic Christmas film starring Will Farrell (which I’ve seen about a million times!).

WOW! That’s a lot of fun facts, I know! 😉 You’re soooooo welcome.

E.L.F. is low-key famous for doing a full range of super affordable drugstore makeup — color, tools, skincare, the whole nine yards — with plenty of products to choose from under $10. Whenever I have a beauty itch that needs scratching but don’t want to start a raging bonfire in my wallet, I’ll go to Ulta or Target and grab a few $2 doohickeys in the E.L.F. section for some instant gratification.

Granted, it doesn’t always work out for me, because I’m pickier about textures and finishes now that I’m in my 40s than I was in my 20s and 30s (a.k.a. the age when I could throw any shimmery shadow with the consistency of almond meal on my lids and be just fine), but sometimes I’ll find something great! Sure, it might not be the most perfect product in the history of the world, but it also won’t require me to take out a loan.

What happens when you “smize” and pop your hip in front of your garage… BTW, I’m wearing the E.L.F. Shadow Brow and Liner Palette and the No Budge Retractable Liner on my eyes.

Like their $12 matte powder eye palette with cool-toned mattes (YES!), which you can use to fill in your brows, shade your lids AND line your eyes.

Let me say that again: COOL-TONED MATTES. As in *no* orange or red shades. What a gem! I can do pretty much an entire eye look from start to finish with this palette (just add a tightline and mascara), and it works with practically every blush/lip combo around.

The caveat? Nil wear time…so I absolutely have to use it with an eye primer. If I don’t, the shadow vanishes in less than two hours.

Even with primer, it fades more and faster than higher-end shadows. But still…it’s $12! For that price, I’ll take it. I’m happy enough with the colors, the blending and the texture of the powders (similar to Urban Decay).

I made an E.L.F. run last week because I needed a pick-me-up after going to the dentist, so I got…

A $3 No Budge Retractable Eyeliner in Black: Long-wearing and decently pigmented (although not as pigmented as the Maybelline twist-up, so I have to use two or three layers). It’s stiff, but it’s good enough for tightlining.
A $2 pack of Line & Define Tape: This stuff is juuuust sticky enough. You can even cut them in half to make a pack last longer.
A $4 Solid Brush & Sponge Cleanser: Pretty great.

An entire haul for less than $10!? How is that even possible!?

What are your E.L.F. faves?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF!!!

Drugstore Needs and Nopes, Vol. 3

June 2nd, 2017 by Karen 16 Comments

1. Yes To Liquid Hand Soap ($3.99 each)

I’m the weirdo who washes her hands about, oh, let’s see… 20 times a day? I’m so not kidding, either. And I’m REALLY picky about my hand soaps, but I thoroughly plan to love the dickens out of this bottle of Yes to Liquid Hand Soap because it doesn’t dry out my skin, even when I wash my hands hella times.

Also, the Marula Oil Mango var-eh-TAY smells like marvelous mangoes, but here’s the thing: it doesn’t smell fake, which is important if you wash your hands as much as I do, because, as you know, it’s nice to have a yummy fragrance waft up into yo’ nose.

It removes dirt, oils and all manner of baby goo, and it easily rinses off and doesn’t leave behind an annoying residue.

VERDICT: Need!

Yes To Liquid Hand Soap ingredients
Water (Aqua), Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Coco-Sulfate, Glycerin, Sclerocarya Birrea (Marula) Seed Oil, Mangivera Indica (Mango) Fruit Extract, Glyceryl Caprylate, Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate, Sodium Chloride, Glyceryl Undecylenate, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance (Parfum), Benzyl Benzoate, Hexyl Cinnamal Linalool

2. E.L.F. Cosmetics Illuminating Palette ($6)

elf illuminating palette — E.L.F. Cosmetics Illuminating Palette ($6)

The four-pan E.L.F. Cosmetics Illuminating Palette is darned-near perfect for the price. The finely milled powders look really expensive and natural.

The highlighters are on the neutral- and cool-toned sides, which is a cool surprise (haha, bad pun) because of how many highlighter palettes skew warm.

The shimmer in these shades is also low-key — which again makes them seem higher end than they are.

Heck, I’d go so far as to call these drugstore Hourglass Ambient powders.

VERDICT: Need!

E.L.F. Cosmetics Illuminating Palette ingredients
Talc, Mica, Magnesium Stearate, Dimethicone, Silica, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Boron Nitride, Tridecyl Trimellitate, Tocopheryl Acetate (Ve), Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol. May Contain: Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Manganese Violet (CI 77742)

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A Pink Eyeshadow Makeup Tutorial

May 24th, 2016 by Jen Clark 10 Comments

How I rock pink eyeshadow — Loving the pink eye shadow look!

Not long ago, Anna, Adia and I collaborated on how we rock pink eyeshadow, and many of you wanted to know how I got my look! I loved it too, so I thought I would do a quick tutorial. It’s actually super easy.

If you saw the other post, you’ll know that I mostly used the e.l.f Blush Palette in Light.

Are you ready? Here we go!

To start, blend the lightest pink blush in the palette into and slightly above your crease using a fluffy blending brush.

Bright pink eyeshadow tutorial — Top left shade in the e.l.f Blush Palette

Next, once you have that blended out really well, using a blending brush that’s a little more dense, place the bottom left shade from the palette all over your lid, and blend it into the crease.

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How I Rock Pink Eyeshadow (A Collaboration With Adia and Anna)

May 5th, 2016 by Jen Clark 34 Comments

Pink eyeshadow?! This was a first for me, and I have to say, I. AM. OBSESSED! I’ve used lots of rose tones on my eyes before, but never anything bright pink. I decided I was going to use a bright pink just as a transition shade, but then I got carried away experimenting, as I always do. Sometimes it’s so fun to just take your time, and do something fun with your makeup that you wouldn’t normally do, and I’m so happy with how it came out.

I got together with Anna and Adia for this look and we decided on pink. I was like, “Wait…I don’t own a pink eye shadow…but I own lots of blushes!” I use bronzer as eye shadow all the time, so why wouldn’t blush work the same way?

I grabbed my favorite, the Elf Blush Palette in Light and used it for the majority of this look, and I’ve gotta tell you, if you don’t have this palette already, get your booty to Target and buy it. It’s only $6 and has 4 incredibly soft, pigmented, blend-able blushes. The colors are just perfect as blushes, and now, as eye shadows too! It even made a special appearance in my Top 10 Under $10 post over on Jen Leigh Beauty!

Pink eye shadow look — A pink eye shadow look using the e.l.f Blush Palette in Light

I do have one important tip when using bright pink eye shadow that might help before you give it a try, because with pink shadow, if it’s used incorrectly, you can end up looking a little diseased and zombie-like.

When the pink is right up next to the whites of your eyes, your eyes will look sore, so the solution to this is to put something between your eyeballs and the pink. In this case, I put a brown eyeliner on my water line and plenty of mascara. Problem solved!