ELF Cosmetics Illuminating Palette Review

It has been quite some time since I've talked about an ELF Cosmetics products and I'm finally happy to be trying several of the new product launches. ELF Cosmetics was one of those brands when I started blogging that I quickly fell in love with and I even posted many hauls, reviews and makeup looks featuring them. But then ELF became a little bit cocky in my eyes and shifted from a very affordable and approachable brand to a very mainstream brand. Prices started to increase, shipping got even worse and many of their 'sitewide' sales were never sitewide. This caused me to take a step back from ELF Cosmetics for a while.

Over the last couple of weeks, ELF Cosmetics has started popping up in Wal-Mart here in Canada as Flower Beauty is being pulled from shelves. I'm happy to see that ELF is making the switch and becoming more readily available in Canada because it has allowed me to think differently about the brand and to want to buy and try their product once again.

Once of those products is the Illuminating Palette, which is going to be the focus of today's review.

Currently, the Illuminating Palette can be found it most Wal-Mart stores but if you can't find it at your local store chances are they should be coming in the next few week. Keep a look out on your store shelves for this product and many more new ELF Cosmetics goodies. This palette retails for $7.97 (CAD) and contains 16 grams of product. Doing the math, that means that each shade in this palette contains 4 grams of product

As with many of the new ELF Cosmetics products the Illuminating Palette comes in a very sturdy plastic sleek black packaging with e.l.f clearly written across the front. On the back, you simply get the name of the palette and indication of how much product the palette contains. When opening the palette, you get a beautiful and high-quality full-size mirror which I really appreciate since I can see myself taking this palette on the go because of the really heavy duty packaging.

Along with all the great packaging qualities, each individual shade can actually be removed from its case. These shades can then be transferred into other palettes that ELF has within their collection that have the same packaging. Palettes such as the Blush Palettes and Contour Palette are perfect examples of other palettes you could interchange shades with. This is a Makeup Artists dream, in my opinion, because it allows me to really customize a palette for my client(s) and not have to worry about carrying a large variety of shades and palettes with me when I know half the products in those palettes won't fit my client(s) needs.

Shade One is a creamy yellow-based white shade with a semi-matte finish. This shade is the most pigmented in the palette but that also means it needs to be applied lightly to the skin. When applied in a concentrated amount the powder can come off very white instead of giving you that highlighted effect.

Shade Two is a pale baby pink with a semi-matte finish. With a more sheer formula, that doesn't mean that this color doesn't pack a punch when applied. Again, I would be careful with this shade because it can look slightly ashy. 

Shade Three is a light peach with a semi-matte finish. This shade is the least pigmented of the palette and leans slightly more matte than the other shades within this palette. It still gives a very natural sheen the skin and is going to be the one that is the easiest to use because of the more peach or skin-tone color.

Shade Four is a light tangerine with a satin finish. This shade has the most sheen out of all of the shades in the palette but I find this to be the strangest in tone. I'm assuming this to be for those with medium to deep skin tones but I even feel like those individuals would have to be careful with a shade like this looking off or ashy on the skin.

Each of the powders located in this palette are extremely smooth and soft with great pigmentation. In saying this, you are going to notice quite a bit of powder kick-up when using these because they are so soft. Along with this pigmentation, I feel like many of the shades are semi-matte, so naturally, when you think of an 'illuminating' palette you think there is going to be some shimmer or sheen. That really isn't the case with this palette. This palette is a highlighting palette but you are going to get a very natural finish with this or a matte highlighted effect. This is a bit of a spin on the traditional highlighting that we are used to from products like the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfectors. 

Overall, I'm always impressed by the quality of most ELF Cosmetics products and this isn't an exception to that rule. I love everything from the packaging to the formula and even though the finishes aren't quite what I expected, I still love the more natural finish. I own plenty of full-on highlighters so it's nice to have something to grab that is going to give me an everyday finish that I don't have to spend time building or fussing with. Not to mention, for only $8 (CAD) this really is a great deal for such a large amount of product. 

Have you tried the new ELF Illuminating Palette?

If so, did you enjoy it? If not, is this something you want to purchase?