e.l.f Cosmetics Mini Haul (Cardiff Store)

Last week I popped into town to have a look at the e.l.f store. I had no idea it was the only actual store in the world - I just assumed they were everywhere as I have seen so many blog posts featuring them! The girls in there were absolutely lovely, they were so helpful about the products but also up for a general chat about make-up! They were happy for me to take photos in-store and said they love bloggers, so hopefully I'll be there a lot more often from now on!

I love the way the store is decorated and set out - it is very clean and organised making it easy to find anything you're looking for. I am a sucker for black and white, as we all know, so I fell in love with the store straight away, even before I had tried their products.

Another thing I loved was the way they do samples - they have a full sized tester out of every product so you can really get a feel for what you're buying, and they are attached with magnets so are really easy to look at and pick up.

I picked up a few things to try out, as everything was really reasonably priced and I was slightly worried the products wouldn't be very high quality. However, I was pleasantly surprised and will definitely be going back in to pick up some more items! Their website says they are "the home of low-cost, quality makeup" and it certainly seems to me as if this is true!

 Baked Eyeshadow - Toasted (£3.95)

The first thing that caught my eye was this gorgeous baked eyeshadow. On the website it looks like a pale brown metallic colour, but in person it is actually the most beautiful copper/rose gold shade. The pigmentation is impressive and you get so much product for so little money. I'm going to go back and pick up more shades of this baked eyeshadow as they all looked amazing.

Essentials Lip Stain - Nude Nectar (£2.95)

This is the only product I was actually disappointed with. I was attracted to it because it "lasts for hours" but I wouldn't want it to as it looked so bad on my lips! I'm not sure if mine was just a faulty product but the tip was extremely hard and hardly any colour came off it at all, and what did was patchy. I have read online that sometimes these dry out if they are kept upright too long, so I might try leaving it upside-down for a few weeks to see if that changes anything.

Essentials Lipstick - Fantasy (£1.95)

I picked up this lipstick on recommendation from one of the girls in store. I absolutely adore the colour with my complexion and after a few uses it was soft and easy to apply. The only complaints I would make is that the packaging looks extremely cheap and the pigmentation could be better, but I guess that is expected sometimes from such an affordable brand! Next time, I'm going to go for some of their more expensive formulas, so I'll let you know how they compare.

Nail Polish - Desert Haze & Copper (£2.50 £2.00 each)

The store has tester bottles of every shade of nail polish, so I stupidly tested out almost every colour leaving me with very messy and sticky fingers by the end of my shopping trip! I thought both of these colours were lovely, I am currently wearing Desert Haze which is the perfect neutral shade for everyday wear, and I couldn't resist Copper as I thought it would go so well with the eyeshadow I had already picked up. These polishes are really great, I only needed two very thin coats to make Desert Haze completely opaque, and only one for Copper.

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Here is a photo from my Instagram of me wearing Desert Haze.

I think that e.l.f is perfect for those starting out in make-up or those who don't have a huge amount of money to fritter away on products. Everything in the store was affordable but without compromising too much on quality. Personally, I will definitely be going back to try out some more items (I have heard fantastic things about their blushes) as well as using other brands.