Review: e.l.f.

I finally placed my first order from e.l.f., for those who don’t know(are there any of “those”?) it’s an inexpensive make-up website, most items are only $1. So I thought I would do a little review. I might add reviews for specific items later, but for now I’ll review the site itself and the shopping experience.

I have known about e.l.f. for quite a few years but just never got around to trying them out, partially because it always costs more to order from Canada. Our dollar has been relatively equal to the US dollar for a while now, so there’s not much difference there like there once was. Shipping is where there is usually a noticeable difference. So many sites offer free or cheap shipping within the US but then charge insane amounts to ship to Canada. Yes, it is more expensive to ship up here of course, but some sites charge 2 to 3 times what the actual shipping cost would be….those stores obviously do not get my business. Fortunately while shipping is a little high from e.l.f. if you’re only ordering a few things, it’s not too bad if you order enough to make it worthwhile. I paid $6.95 shipping for this order, I placed a large enough order that it was definitely worth it.

My order came to $26.95 including shipping. Here is what I ordered: 

Studio Cream Eyeliner(Black) $3

Studio Cream Eyeliner(Copper) $3

Eyelid Primer(Champagne)(x2) $1

Essential Luscious Liquid Lipstick(Cherry Tart) $1

Essential Luscious Liquid Lipstick(Ruby Slipper) $1

Studio Lip Primer and Plumper $3

Essential Dual Pencil Sharpener $1

Essential Mechanical Eyelash Curler $1

Essential Slant Tweezer $1

Studio Small Angled Brush $3

Essential Zit Zapper $1

What got my attention and encouraged me to finally place an order was a promotion that was on at the time to get a free “Mystery Bag” with $20 worth of product with an order of $20. Sounded like a good deal to me! Nothing makes me try out a new company more than a great deal. I’m pretty happy with what I got in my “Mystery Bag” as well!

My “Mystery Bag” included (these were all free to me!):

Essential Silver Box Duo Eyeshadow Collection - Limited Edition $5

Studio Shimmer Palette $3

Mineral Concealer Brush $5

Studio Single Eyeshadow(Butter Cream) $3

Essential Hypershine Gloss(Sugar Plum) $1

Gem Nail File $3

Definitely all items I would gladly try, especially for free!!

It had been a few years since I even looked at their site and I was pretty impressed with how much they had grown. There is definitely a lot more product than I recall seeing in the past. I also really liked that they have a review system set up. I like being able to see what other people have to say about a product, and the review system seems to be well used by customers.

Overall the ordering experience was good. I placed my order on February 28th and received it March 13th. That’s pretty average for ordering from the US. I only have 2 complaints. One is that if you order from Canada they apparently don’t send you an email to confirm your order has shipped, nor do they provide you with a tracking number. For the tracking number there may not be one, it depends how they ship it. But I can’t see any reason why they would not provide an email confirming your order has shipped like they do for US customers. Anywhere I have ever ordered from sends an email confirming shipment, this is the first time ever I did not get one when ordering online. To me it’s a courtesy thing and we’re spending our money just like the US customers, we deserve the same quality of service. At least knowing the order has shipped we know it’s on the way and about when to expect it.

My other complaint is the colors on the website compared to the actual color for some things are way off, I mean really WAY off. You expect there to be a slight variation, it’s impossible to get a picture showing exact and of course how it shows on the screen depends on your screen. But that doesn’t explain when they look like completely different colors. Because I haven’t tried any of the make-up yet I can’t speak for the difference between how they look once they are actually on. But I have seen some complaints in the reviews about the difference between the color on screen and in reality.

Based on the ordering experience I would order again, especially since it appears they put out a lot of promotions. Since ordering I have received constant emails from them with offers of bonus things with an order. It’s almost too many emails they send, but as long as the bonus offers remain good I’ll tolerate them .

I’ll spend the next little while trying everything out and maybe do some individual reviews on some of the products.

Have you bought from e.l.f. before? Did you have a good experience? Any favorite products?

Jolene

 

*This review is my own opinion and was done simply because I like to share experiences good or bad with others. All products with the exception of the items in the “Mystery Bag” were paid for on my own, “Mystery Bag” items were simply a promotion offered to all customers at the time. I was not asked to do this review nor was I supplied anything for the purpose of reviewing.