e.l.f - Mint Melt Eyeshadow - Review
I am trying to be more conscious in what I buy - and eyeshadow palettes are definitely something I need to cut back on - that being said, when e.l.f released their Mint Melt collection earlier this year, I knew I had to pick some of it up.
A few years ago, I would have bought the whole collection, but now I am much more selective in the things I buy and just chose the three items above. Like I said, I really don’t need more eyeshadow palettes, but from previous experience with these four pan quads, I knew that they had the potential to be something special.
Having had a chance to play around with them for a little while, I have some thoughts to share:
Inside:
Firstly I just have to praise how compact these little palettes are. Nothing unnecessarily bulky, no thick and chunky plastic that takes up loads of space. This packaging is simple and effective.
Each palette contains two matte and two shimmer shades. The mattes seem pretty consistent between all the bite-size palettes in the line - however, the shimmer shades are very different, even between just these two palettes. In “Chocolate Mint”, they are smooth and apply easily on the eye, while in “Mint To Be”, they are chunky and flaky - but boy, are they beautiful!
Cruelty Free Credentials:
e.l.f is a Cruelty Free brand, and all of their items are Vegan - so no need to check all the labels before buying anything!
Testing:
I primed my eyes with the e.l.f Putty Eye Primer in the shade “Rose” - this is a good match for my skin tone, but they are pretty sheer, so it might work for lots of people.
Starting with the paler brown shade from the Chocolate Mint palette, I ran it through my crease. While this shade seems quite intimidating in the pan, it’s not too pigmented and fantastically easy to blend.
Next, I used the No Budge Eyeshadow Stick in the shade “Mint For You” to cut out a messy crease; this colour is very similar to the third matte shade in the “Mint To Be” palette and works well as a base to make the colour pop - which is exactly what I did!
Moving on to the shimmers, and I could not resist just throwing both the chunky shimmer shades from the “Mint To Be” palette all over my lids. The picture above really doesn’t do them justice; they are super sparkly and perform better than some high-end ones I’ve tried. Best applied with a finger, they are not the easiest to work with, and there is a bit of fallout, but the payoff is so worth it. I completed the look with a small amount of the deepest colour from the “Mint To Be” palette in the outer corner.
These palettes are super easy to use, and as a non-professional, I felt like they were so user friendly. The picture above is after about four hours of wear, so they held up well too!
Swatches:
Swatches are not the most pigmented, but I’m not mad about this. These bite-size palettes are all very wearable and easy to use - blendability is key here, and they’ve nailed it! While the look I created above is a bit bold, it would be easy to get something more soft and muted - especially with the “Mint To Be” palette.
I had to just take a quick shot of the green shimmer shade from “Chocolate Mint”. While it doesn’t look much on the picture with all the other shades, it’s actually a really pretty mint colour with a golden shift. Less chunky than the shimmers in the other palette, this looks beautifully smooth on the eye.
The Verdict:
As with most things, e.l.f has released recently, what I’ve tried from the Mint Melt collection has been fantastic. Great quality, easy to use and at a really affordable price point.
While I think the No Budge Eyeshadow Stick is a must, I don’t believe that the average person needs both eyeshadow palettes. If you have a large enough eyeshadow collection but want to add a couple of mint green colours, then you’re best picking up “Mint To Be”, but if you’re after a more neutral palette with just a small pop of colour, then go for “Chocolate Mint”.
I do need to point out that if you already own the regular e.l.f Bite-Size palette in the shade “Cream & Sugar”, then you already have two similar shades to “Chocolate Mint”. While they don’t look exactly the same in the pan, they really are very close when swatched, as you can see below.
A champagne gold shade and a deep chocolate brown, very, very similar on the eye and considering its 50% of the overall palette, you probably don’t need both.
Overall, I really like this collection and have since bought several more items from it because of the quality. I’m excited to see what comes next - especially in the Bite-Size format, as they are probably the best drugstore eyeshadows I’ve ever tried!