BEAUTY BATTLE: E.L.F. ESSENTIAL VS. MINERAL LIPSTICKS & SWATCHES!

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If you're looking into ELF lipsticks and you're unsure about whether to go for the £5 mineral or the dirt cheap £1.50 Essential lipsticks then thank God you have me to help you out

I have 4 of the Essential lipsticks and 3 of the mineral, and they're basically EXACTLY THE SAME

In my opinion the Mineral lipsticks offer more variety of shades that you won't find in the Essential line, for example 'Natural Nymph' in the Mineral line is a straight up nude but essential does not offer this, Essentials mainly stick to a range of pinks and reds.

When I received one of the Essential lipsticks the bullet was actually broken off, but didn't bother me for £1.50. I prefer the packaging of Mineral lipsticks, very similar appearance to Nars lipsticks, they like to take notes off of Nars quite a lot haha but lets face Nars is like the Regina George of make up.

 Above: E.L.F Essential Lipsticks

ABOVE: ESSENTIAL LIPSTICK SWATCHES TAKEN WITH FLASH ON

ABOVE: ESSENTIAL LIPSTICKS WITH FLASH OFF.

From left to right: Classy, Seductive, Sociable and Gypsy.

Sociable in real life is more red toned and is extremely sparkly (you can see the glitter in the non-flash image) it feels quite gritty and is very drying, I wouldn't recommend this shade.

Classy and Gypsy are my two favourites, both have an amazing texture, if not better than Mineral, and are long lasting. Gypsy especially lasts for a very long time which you wouldn't expect as it's a dark pink/berry shade. I wore this to Wireless festival which included a lot of drinking and I think I touched up like once lol I highly recommend this one.

ABOVE: E.L.F MINERAL LIPSTICKS

 ABOVE: E.L.F MINERAL LIPSTICKS WITH FLASH ON

ABOVE: E.L.F MINERAL LIPSTICKS WITH FLASH OFF

From left to right: Natural Nymph, Runway Pink, Nicely Nude.

Natural nymph I really like but will require a base as it really sinks into the fine lines of your lips, I use E.L.F Plump and Prime

What confused me when I bought Runway Pink and Nicely Nude was that Nicely Nude, as you can see, is WAY more pink than Runway Pink lol like what? 

 You can probably tell in the images that Mineral appears to apply more smoothly and consistantly, but when actually applying on lips I've never noticed a difference.

Overall, if you're very concerned with packaging I recommend Mineral lipsticks, if however you're looking for extremely cheap lipsticks that won't disappoint the Essential lipsticks are brilliant.

RANT & SALVATION: THE TRICK TO APPLYING NYX SOFT MATTE LIP CREAMS

If anyone else is having a hard ass time with the Nyx Soft Matte Lip Creams then read on...

I got the Nyx Soft Matte lip cream in Buenos Aires because I saw Shaaanxo wear it and she looked like a goddess so I had to get it too obvi.. So I got it and used it and then I cried and angels cried. Because its SHIT.
I don't know I guess Shan has like amazing lips that exude its own moisture but this left my lips as dry as a hooker at church, literally first application it didn't even sit right on my lips, like left a line of colour then wouldn't apply any product on MY ACTUAL LIPS like hello what the fuck is your purpose?
So long story short it left my lips so dry and flakey, looked proper skanky and the more you applied the worse it looked.

THEN ONE DAY I UNLOCKED THE MAGICAL SECRET

I didn't want to give up because I'm obsessed with the colour so what I did was put a lipgloss on first, I used a really cheap colourtrend one that cost literally 99p but its really good so.. then I put the matte lip cream ON TOP AND IT WORKS.
Like it needs a really sticky base to work on, which is weird because it's a 'cream' so its supposed to be more moisturising but that's bullshit
It has like a velvet / kind of matte finish which is going to happen because of the lip gloss underneath but it gradually becomes more matte and it will last several hours.. I still wouldn't wear this if I'm going to have a long day.. and when you reapply still use the lipgloss underneath

Or you could just go find a new matte product of a similar colour which would be way easier but I didn't want to waste my money and throw it away haha..

Hope this helped a bunch!
Hayley x