ELF brightening eyeshadow quad in Brownstone

It's Friday! Sadly today is a really grim day because it's raining right now and we haven't even had a tiny glimpse of the sun since yesterday. But I'm still glad it's the weekend and my cold has almost passed too.

Today I'm stepping out of my beloved nail zone again to talk about an eyeshadow quad from ELF that I just got this week. It's officially called Brightening Eye Color and comes from the Essentials line. It's 1 dollar in the USA, but here in Europe we pay around 2,5 bucks for one of these. I chose Brownstone because I wanted some neutrals I could use for everyday looks in the fall. I'm not big on browns but I find they work better in the fall than the golds and shimmery pinks I've been using last season.

ELF Brightening Eye Color in Brownstone

The small case contains 0.09 oz or 2.5 grams of product (almost two times the weight of a MAC or Urban Decay full sized shadow). ELF claims the shadows are long-lasting, easy blending, crease resistant and that they have a safe, gentle formula. 

Ingredients (from the ELF website, also available on the packaging): Talc, Mica, Zinc Stearate, Kaolin, Paraffinium Liquidu(Mineral Oil), Petrolatum, Bis-Diglyceryl Polyacyladipate-2, MethylParaben, Propylparaben, Iron Oxides (CI 77491 , CI 77492 , CI 77499), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Mica (CI 77019), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Yellow No.5 Lake (CI 19140), Red No.40 Lake (CI 16035), Ultramarine Violet (CI 77077), Blue No.1 Lake (CI 42090) 

 I don't know what to say about the ingredients because I'm no chemist, but I can see that the product contains parabens, so if you are against these you should avoid getting it. Other than that, the eyeshadows are soft and blendable, but not that pigmented and vibrant when used without a primer. I have swatched these both without primer and with the NYX Eyeshadow Base (that comes in a jar) to show you the difference. 

without primer

with NYX eyeshadow base

Now about the creasing and lasting power, I first have to state that eyeshadows usually crease on me after a several hours of wear time. I don't have the Urban Decay Primer Potion and I should probably invest in one, but I have still tested these with two different primers. First I've used the ELF Essentials Eyelid Primer and the colors weren't very blendable and they creased really bad. The next day I went for the NYX primer and blending was a breeze. They still creased after many hours of wear, but not nearly as bad as with the ELF primer. 

I would have showed you an eye look I did with these, but I'm not very familiar with photographing makeup and can't seem to get the pictures right. I think all in all this is a good everyday quad for its price. I love the colors and I think they are great basics everyone should have in their collection.