E.L.F. Endless Eyes Pro Mini Eyeshadow Palette Review, Swatches, Photos

Ahhh the great debate. Should you indulge in the E.L.F. Endless Eyes Pro Mini Eyeshadow Palette or shouldn’t you? 32 Eyeshadows, sponge applicator, mirror, nice slim compact, $5 buck price tag….sounds dreamy right? Where could you possibly go wrong indulging since the price isn’t too bad….

This year E.L.F. has two of these limited edition palettes available for the Holidays. The one I’ll be reviewing here today is the mini version which includes 32 shadows for $5 bucks and there’s another, which I didn’t purchase, that includes 100 eyeshadows for $10 bucks.

First off, these are obviously way popular because they are sold out however E.L.F. is allowing orders for when they do come back in stock. Secondly, I purchased mine on a sheer whim because I know alot of people wanted to hear about it, see photos, etc…prior to purchasing it for themselves. And thirdly, I am a bit of a makeup snob and palettes like this don’t always garner my love and attention. Slapping 100’s of eyeshadow into a palette can prove great particularly from brands like Urban Decay, hey bring that on, but present me with one from E.L.F. and I’m naturally a little wary about the quality.

Let’s have a look and see if this bad boy lives up to it’s “professional status” as dubbed by E.L.F.

32 Eyeshadows in a slim black compact case with a budget friendly price tag of five dollars.

E.L.F. fans may or may not love this. It really depends. There are people who are hardcore and really love the brand and everything about it. I personally am not one of those people. I started purchasing E.L.F. when readers emailed asking me to review items from the brand and some who even recommended me products, explaining to me how happy they were with the brands offerings and the cheap prices.

In my experience since, I notice purchases are a hit and miss situation with miss being a major factor. Sometimes I get something great from the brand that’s surprisingly decent quality for the price but in many cases my purchases from them end up in the makeup graveyard or even the trash. Sorry, I’m not being harsh, rude, or ranty, I’m stating a fact.

Now the E.L.F. Endless Eyes Pro Mini Eyeshadow Palette could prove great for a few reasons one of which is I like its simple, slim design. It’s a not a bad palette packaging wise. Some might dub it a bit cheap as it is plastic but it’s not entirely bad and has a nice look to it (I placed a MAC blush on top of it so you can see the size comparison).

Another reason it would fall in the realms of great is if you’re a teen or you have a teen in your life who likes makeup and wants to experiment with color. This is a very nice little starter palette for her or him. Although fabulous for newbies to color or makeup in general, again a nice starter shadow palette as you can muck around with it and create a few different looks and learn to contrast eyeshadows correctly and combine them without dishing out a ton of cash.

The shades included pretty much cover an array of color. Blues, greens, pinks, nudes, naturals, browns, blacks….you have alot of color here to create any number of looks and E.L.F. arranged them in a great way as they have contrasting shades located side by side so it takes alot of the guess work out of the best shades to gradate a look.

It is what it is and what it is, is cheap eyeshadow. Sadly, the formula varies on every single shadow in this palette which in my opinion completely ruins the entire product and cheapens it. About 5% of the shades are very nice velvety feeling powders that apply and blend dreamy, some of the browns are truly gems however the other 95% of the palette are made up of chalky, semi-matte shadows or shades that feel matte to me and look like they have chunky bits of glitter in them. These shades blend awful, apply chalky, and just look cheap on eyes.

The palette does have a bit of a chemical scent. Nothing too bad but the smell is there.

A sponge applicator works best with these as you’ll find it hard picking up color with a regular brush so use a sponge to pile color on. Speaking of applicators…they included one dual end sponge applicator. There is a large well on the bottom half of the palette to store it…ummm…irony of such a large space? They could have thrown in at least four applicators….jeepers!

• Anyone just starting out in makeup (teens or older can enjoy trying out lots of shades and just playing around prior to indulging in something with better quality and formula to back it up).
• Anyone wanting to inject color into their looks but a bit scared to splurge (if you’ve always wanted to play with color but not over spend on high end brands this is a good way to try out colors).

• Makeup snobs (don’t bother, you won’t like this if you’re used to Dior, Guerlain, Etc….)
• Anyone who isn’t keen on makeup containing mineral oil, talc, etc…(this isn’t made with the finest ingredients in mind).
• Anyone wanting great color pay off and formula (pigmentation varies and in most case is chalky and formula is pretty much the same with about 90% of the palette being made up of useless, bad quality eyeshadow).

I personally didn’t love this palette. It had some good points but for the most part I felt many of the shadows weren’t usable. If they stuck with the same formula for all the eyeshadows they might have gotten a nice rave from me but it really is hit and miss by color and you never quite know which will work and which will apply and blend sloppy-like. Hardcore E.L.F. fans will easily rave this however I do not personally fall into the realms of a hardcore fan and personally don’t even feel like I’m bias because I like higher end brands, I do however feel like the palette borderlines cheaper makeup and isn’t the best quality at all.

No likey.

I’m just thankful they didn’t include, God Forbid, lip colors and blushes, that would make for a true hot mess!

$5 is a very nice price but if it ends up tossed in the makeup graveyard what’s the point?

Did you haul one of these palettes?

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