September 18, 2013

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette Review & Swatches

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette

The E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette ($9.99) is one of four new limited edition Beauty Book Palettes that E.L.F. Cosmetics has put together for Halloween/Fall 2013 exclusively available at Walgreens. Each palette features essentials for creating a look inspired by a Disney Villain (or villainess really). The E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette is more of a nude, natural look and features a new selection of shades compared to last year’s palette.

Let’s take a look!

Last year each palette featured eight eyeshadows, false lashes, eyeshadow primer, an eyeliner pencil, liquid eyeliner, and a cheek/lip pencil. The shadows were built into the actual palette book last year but this year everything is removable from the palette including the shadows which come in a plastic compact.

I liked last year’s design but this year they went a little more artsy with a water color print of Cruella featured on the front cover of the palette. This opens up on either side to reveal the contents with the left and right hand side of the palette giving instructions to create either a day or a night look. In my opinion you’re paying for the design of the palette here but not necessarily the contents as purchased separately and taking some of the smaller minis into consideration you’d likely be able to haul a lot more makeup from E.L.F. with ten dollars. Obviously Disney has sold the copyright on these Villains as they do pop up just about everywhere lately and E.L.F. made a strong decision to cash in on some of that market share as these will be very appealing to both Disney fans and makeup junkies. I imagine purchasing into something that’s a copyright character isn’t cheap so you need to take that into consideration when thinking of the $10 price tag

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette 11

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Beauty Book Palette

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette 7

Here’s a break down of what you get:
Eyeshadow Palette featuring shades Maniac, Puppy Love, Fur, Cruelty, Eccentric, and Stolen

  • E.L.F. Liquid Liner
  • E.L.F. Eyeshadow Brush
  • E.L.F. Eyeliner Pencil (mini)
  • E.L.F. Eyeshadow Primer (mini)
  • E.L.F. Lip Color Gloss (mini)
  • E.L.F. Lengthening and Defining Mascara (deluxe size)

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette 4

The fact they did away with the very silly cheek and lip pencil is a relief. I had no idea how they expected anyone to use such a dense pencil on cheeks…! They also took away two shadows as last year you got eight where as this year you get six. And finally they added a lip color where as last year you did not get one.

It deserves to be mentioned all the items included are from the E.L.F. Essentials Collection. I mention this because I find the quality on the E.L.F. Studio Collection much nicer where as the Essentials Collection has a few misses for me.

If I’m honest I only like one thing from the entire palette and that would be the shadow palette. Other than that the other items are misses for me and not something I’d personally use. If you like you can say I like two things about the palette if you’re counting the art work of the palette which I simply adore. In the end this would mean the palette is more a collector’s piece than an actual practical selection of products I’d use daily.

The quad has a nice selection of natural nude colors which I really like. They don’t have an evil cheap makeup smell and the texture is smooth and velvety. They blend easily and have plenty of pigment to keep me quite happy. For everyday looks this is a very cute palette! Of course, you’ll want to use eyeshadow primer so they last all day and don’t lose their intensity as they do tend to crease and fade quickly without the aid of a primer!

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Eyeshadow Palette (1)

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette 1

Maniac, Puppy Love, Fur

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette 18

Stolen, Eccentric, Cruelty

I didn’t personally love the Eyeshadow Primer as I reviewed this in the past and don’t feel it extended the length of my shadows at all. I also disliked the eyeliner pencil which is incredibly dense and tugs like crazy. The liquid liner is nice enough but upon dry down it tends to peel away. The mascara is ok….but nothing to write home about either. It creates fairly nice length but separates a bit too much so lashes are very fluttery and natural. I like a fuller mascara look personally. The shadow brush was excellent. Soft bristles, not too floppy, just dense enough and no shedding. The gloss was also very good as this had fairly nice color, sheerer but still some tint (it’s an orange-y nude that looks quite nice on lips). It isn’t sticky and has a nice glossy look to it.

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette 20

Lipgloss/Lipcolor, Eyeshadow Primer, Eyeliner, Liquid Eyeliner

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette 3

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette 8

Lip Color/Lipgloss

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette 9

Eyeshadow Primer

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette 12

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette 16

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette 15

ELF Mascara
As you can there aren’t a ton of redeemable things about the palette on a whole but hey, it’s ten bucks and it’s cute…that works right?

I went a little less with my look below and I paired up a variety of different lipsticks with the eye look I created using the palette. I also used a little Pixi Copperglow Eyeliner as I thought it would look nice with some of these shadows.

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Eyeshadow Palette (2)

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette 57

For this look I used the new Bobbi Brown Baby Pink Lip Color as I thought it would look rather nice with the natural eye look!

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette 35

After going nude with my lips above I thought a nice Fall color would look great so I used Maybelline Coral Tease Lip Whisper Lipstick in my photo above.

E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette 53

And finally I decided that at some point in her evil life that Cruella must have rocked a vampy red so I thought a little Mary Kay True Dimensions Lipstick in Sizzling Red would do the trick!

Overall, the E.L.F. Cruella de Vil Look Book Palette isn’t out to save you any money as I think some of these items might prove unusable for many. However, it’ll likely win your heart with packaging alone….!

You’ll have to decide yourself if you love this palette or not.

It’s available now exclusively at Walgreens.

Will you or have you already purchased it?

Do share!

I purchased this item.

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • Veronica

    Most of these shades are too warm for me, but it’s nice to see a good quality palette from e.l.f. This would be a great starter palette for somebody new to makeup. 🙂

    On a side note, the primer actually works surprisingly well for me. Granted, I have hooded eyes with oily lids, so anything helps. It’s nowhere near the level of NARS Smudgeproof or UDPP, but it’s certainly much better than I expected.

    • the Muse

      there are cooler ones in the other sets veronica 😀 I wish it worked for me 🙁 I’ve tried in a few times and so many folks rave it but just doesn’t do the trick for me 🙁

  • EliCaroline

    I agree that it’s a good thing that they got rid of the lip/cheek pencil. I don’t get the whole cheek pencil thing anyway. I also really love that a brush is included in this year’s pallete. Also it looks like the liquid liner is better quality this year too.
    I used my (last year) Cruella pallete on an almost daily basis. I think this year, I’ll have to buy two.

  • Malinda Jane

    I always want to like ELF eyeshadows but I’ve found that they can look pretty good and then, even with a primer, the color has totally almost faded away within a few hours. Do these act any differently?

    • the Muse

      so long as I have primer under it I don’t have a problem without they def fade away. :-/

  • Simone

    I’m so getting this one, and maybe one other. I love that they include a brush! I’ve heard great things about that brush. Can’t wait to play with these kits 🙂

  • Holly

    Sorry if you mentioned this and I somehow missed it, but are the names of the shadows on the back of the quad? Or is it just on the protective sheet of plastic that you throw away? I liked the look of last years palettes. This kinda seems like they threw a bunch of regular ELF products into a disney themed display, so the only true difference is the outer packaging (Covergirl Hunger Games style).

    • the Muse

      no holly to my major annoyance they are not. there’s a clear film over the entire palette and that’s where the names are listed. It’s attached with stickers to the palette but it’ll prob get dirty, or you’ll lose it at some point etc, so they really should have printed the names on the palette. Out packaging is about the extent of it as they are quite the same (almost) to last years collection.

  • Miranda

    Wow, those eyeshadow swatches AND liquid eyeliner swatch really surprise me! I have an elf liquid liner that really sucks… and those eyeshadows look so silky and pigmented! Definitely gonna have to look into this more!

  • Leah

    I really did not like the first Cruella palette; the shadows lacked pigmentation, my eyeliner came with a wonky brush and I didn’t have much luck with the eye primer, either. I remember being so disappointed because it seemed like such a great concept. It sounds like this palette has similar issues which is sucky because I love the design concept. 🙁

    • the Muse

      totally same probs leah….the shadows are good here (i recall liking the shadows in the original as well) but everything else meh….!