Does Budget Friendly Beauty Exist?
If you’re a beauty on a budget, you may be looking for makeup that won’t break the bank. I love premium brands as much as the next girl, but their price tag can be painful. Is it possible to find gorgeous palettes that cost less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks (or your coffee house of choice)?
As a makeup lover, it’s very difficult to have too many eyeshadow palettes. You need a wide variety of shades to create the looks that your imagination dream up. At $18-$40 per moderately priced palette, adding to your collection can get pricey very quickly.
I was in Ulta and decided to try out this small $3 palette from E.LF. Yay for fiscal responsibility. Now let’s get into this budget friendly makeup!
Budget Friendly Beauty-ELF Bite Size Palette
E.L.F. sells “Bite-Size” eyeshadow palettes with four shades. I purchased Hot Jalapeño. It has various shades of green and yellow. Two of the four shades are matte, the other two are shimmer. The color payoff isn’t amazing. Expect to add a lot of product- especially when using the lighter matte green shade. The shimmery colors were decent. I was able to get better use of them by spraying my eyeshadow brush with my Farmasi mineral water spray before pressing my brush into the shadow.
Despite the slightly chalky formula, I was able to make a gorgeous eye look using shadows from ONLY this palette. We’re calling this look “She’s Spicy”
I’m loving this look and I can honestly say, none of the eyeshadows in my collections could have created this look. It was definitely worth the $3 to add some variety into my collection. It’s worth noting that this palette is 0.12 oz. In contrast, one of my favorite palettes,”Breakfast In Bed” by Beauty Bakerie, includes nine .05 oz pans (.45 oz in total) and retails for $38. The E.L.F. palette is a comparative steal.
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I wanted to complement this bold eyeshadow look with a neutral color palette. On my skin tone, that means browns, muted reds and orange tones.
“She’s Spicy” Makeup Look
I started by priming with my Farmasi VFX Pro primer. I find that it helps my foundation go on more smoothly (aka, my skin looks like butter!). Then I use a flat head kabuki brush to apply my foundation. My current go-to is Farmasi’s VFX Pro Camera Ready foundation. I wear the shade Latte.
My concealer of choice these days is Revlon Candid. It’s so easy to blend. A little goes a long way. I apply it to my forehead, under my eyes, nose bridge and chin to highlight places light would naturally touch my face.
The dark, chocolatey shade from BeautyBakeries‘ Brownie Bar makes for an excellent contour for my skin tone. I like subtle contouring. I apply my contour under my cheekbones and at the top of my forehead. After blending, I use the orange/ terracotta shade from the Brownie Bar as a blush.
For my lips, I used Savage from The Lip Bar. The shade is a rusty brown, not quite nude. If you re-create this look, and you’re not close to my skin tone, I’d recommend choosing a lipstick that is nude. It might be a bit too intense of a lip and eye combination on lighter complexions.
And now the eyes! I used the Hot Jalapeño Bite Size Eyeshadow from E.L.F. This look is super simple but so HOT! I started with the dark green shade. Put the dark green in your crease and BLEND. It is dang near impossible to over blend. A slightly fluffy brush is an awesome tool for this. I took a less fluffy brush (really technical…I know, right?!) to pack on the lighter matte green color on my eyelid. I blended out the color on my lid into the crease shade.
My Farmasi Mineral Water Spray really helped my shimmery shades stand out. I sprayed the mineral water on a dense, flat eyeshadow brush before dipping it into the light green shimmer shade. This color went on the first 1/3 of my eyelid, slightly past my inner eye.
I finished my shadow look with the shimmery yellow. I grabbed my fluffy brush and lightly applied the color under my eyebrow arch. So spicy!
I couldn’t call a look “She’s Spicy” without turning up the heat with some lashes. I used my newest magnetic eyelashes from OpulenceMD Beauty. The Lust style lash is thick and voluminous mink. It screams luxury and is anything but shy.
I took my liquid magnetic eyeliner and applied it as close to my lash line as possible. I like to apply 2 coats. I adjust the lash to ensure the magnets are sitting as close to my lash line as possible. Just like that “She’s Spicy” and *in my Tiffany Haddish voice* “She Ready!”.
Have you tried any of E.L.F.’s Bite Size Eyeshadows?
How did you like them? I’d love to see you recreate this look. If you do, use the hashtag #thatspicybeauty and mention me @thatbreezybeauty.
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