So when I first saw these on YouTube I was sold! I could really care less if they were from e.l.f., there were Disney and I HAD to have them!!
You see I'm a huge Disney/Disneyland fan. Completely obsessed....if they would let me live there I would! If I could afford the membership for Club 33 I would (if you don't know then you don't really love Disney). In fact Disneyland is where my husband proposed to me...right in front of Sleeping Beauty's (NOT Cinderella's) Castle. It was suppose to be at Snow White's Wishing Well (my favorite Disney movie) but it was closed for cleaning.
Okay I'm getting way off topic...I'm just a little excited over this :)
Anyways, I just had to have them so the hunt was on. Thing is, you can't buy them at the e.l.f. website. They are only being sold in Walgreen's and not at every Walgreen's only certain Walgreen's. You can do a search on the e.l.f. website so see which, if any, stores in your area are carrying these makeup books. The kicker is, I had to search three local stores before I could find them. I was only able to come across the Evil Queen's Devious Dramatic Eye makeup book and Maleficent's Sinister Smokey Eye's. Oh yes, there is also Cruella's Evil Everyday Eyes. I'm really hoping not to have to end up getting this one off eBay and paying more than the $9.99 price from Walgreen's. The hunt is still on....
Now I know the quality of e.l.f. products so I wasn't expecting like Urban Decay, TheBalm, or say Too Faced quality makeup. Really when buying this, it's for the Disney obsession. I was really impressed with the illustrations inside. I thought they were amazing and true to the original illustration of these characters. Each set comes with 4 day time look shadows, 4 night time look shadows, 2 cheek/lip colors for day/night, a eye primer, an eye liner, lashes, and glue. There are also directions and illustrations on how to achieve the day and night look.
What I do like...the eye shadows really aren't that bad if you use a good eye primer. The payoff for color would be better if you use a color pencil underneath for a more dramatic look. The packaging itself is easy to use and again I love all the illustrations. I feel like they did a great job putting the shadow colors together that really embody each character. Nothing out of left field. I was surprised at how creamy the cheek/lip color pencils were. I really thought they were going to be chalky and hard to blend. I was very impressed how well the colors worked together because at first glance I was a little unsure, but once on the final look is very well done. I think the colors could work well on just about any eye color/skin tone combo. I also feel like with some finessing, you could really take these colors from more sheer (which some already tend to be) to very dramatic and amazing with the right products to help boost the colors.
What I don't like...the eyeliners. Mainly the brush...not sure if it was just my set but I think the bristles on the brush were glued together. If not, it is the weirdest liquid liner brush I've ever seen. Also for the two makeup books I have, the illustrations shows a rather heavy liner but the written directions only address the eyeliner in the night time look. Now obviously you can do what ever you want with the liner but it seemed a little strange. Plus for the Maleficent look, they give you a clear liquid liner with glitter which is confusing considering the illustrations show her with very heavy black liner. Again, I realize you can add liner how ever you choose but I'm looking at this from a purist standpoint and there are zero pic's depicting Maleficent with glitter eyeliner. I may use it on top of my black liner though ;) Now on to the the eye primer, I have this stuff already...bought it for $1 and that's about $0.99 more than what it's worth. The first time I ever tried it, it creased before I even got my eyeshadow on it. I highly recommend either Palladio eye primer or Urban Decay's Primer Potion. Lastly, I just with the cheek/lip pencils were bigger. They are very tiny and I'm sure will be used up far sooner than the eye shadows.
I would give these makeup books a solid B overall. I think the $9.99 is the right price point considering the brand producing them. Any higher and I would have to take a second thought. I will definitely be on the hunt still for the Cruella makeup book. I'm still hoping to find it before they go away...when that is set to happen is unclear. I don't know if this is seasonal or something they plan on keeping around.
Before adding the pictures, just as a side note, I was checking out Sephora's website today. They have a new line out called...Cinderella! It is makeup and perfume line. Products start at $20 and go up. I'm sure the quality of product is better than the e.l.f. and I'm curious to get my hands on a few products and test them out.
So without further ado, here's The Evil Queen and Maleficent...enjoy!
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