Are ELF Cosmetics As Good as Expensive Brands?

December

Are ELF Cosmetics As Good as Expensive Brands?

L. Cederkin Writes…What do you think about e.l.f. Cosmetics? They claim to use the same formulations as “name brand” products but because they don’t charge for marketing and packaging so their products are a lot cheaper.

The Right Brain Writes Back:

For those of you not familiar with e.l.f, it is NOT a North Pole based toy company owned by Will Ferrell. e.l.f. really stands for eyes, lips, and face and it’s a web-based cosmetics company that claims to use the same ingredients as the “major” brands.

Can this be true? Sure, e.l.f. products may be formulated with the same basic ingredient technology as more expensive brands, but that’s not really the point.

Beauty Brains bottom line

As we Beauty Brains have said many times before, you can’t tell the quality of a cosmetic product from price alone. You can find very good cheap products and really crappy expensive products out there. If you like the quality of e.l.f. products and if you can find the shade of lipstick or eyeshadow that you like, then BUY it! There’s no reason to spend more if you’re satisfied with a product that only costs $1.

But if you’ve decided that you can only go out in public wearing M.A.C.’s Vegas Volt lipstick ($12.50) or that you wouldn’t be caught dead without Girlactic’s Pink Glam Eye Powder ($14) then you go girl! There’s nothing wrong with spending more money on an expensive brand. It’s really a matter of your taste. Just realize that with the prestige products you may be paying more for brand name “sorcery” than functional science.

What is your favorite inexpensive cosmetic brand? Leave a comment and let the rest of the Beauty Brains community know what products are a real deal.

9 Responses to “Are ELF Cosmetics As Good as Expensive Brands?”

Sharon Says:

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thebeautybrains.com » Blog Archive » How Beauty Brands Control Your Brain Says:

[...] frequently field questions asking if expensive name brands are better than other products (See e.l.f. as an example.). Our answers usually deal with the functional aspects of the formulas and we [...]
Jenna Says:

I’ve tried these products, and they are hit-or-miss. Some are true winners, and others are garbage. My only tip is that you should buy as much as you can in stores like Target and KMart, because the company is notorious for their poor shipping practices. If you can’t find it in stores, order it one at a time online so you aren’t out much if they lose it.
College Candy » Candy Dish: Where’s Santa? Says:

[...] ELF cosmetics as good as the expensive [...]
aspenstar Says:

I haven’t tried ELF cosmetics but I do like Jordana sold at Walgreens. Great eyeliners and lipliners for little little $$$$
Nimue Says:

That’s great, it’s too bad you didn’t answer the question that was asked of you. (and compare the elf formulations to name brand formulations)
carole Says:

i have tried e.l.f. cosmetics and i can tell you personally that not all products are made the same and in this case, i will assume the price matters. all pencils,whether for lips or eyes, are dry and almost unuseable. as is their liquid eyeliner. BUT they do have some good products you just have to weed them out. the drawback is their shipping rate.
shin Says:

i love the brand NYX! it’s really cheap (cost only a few bucks more than elf) and it’s of great quality!
Xnyorkr Says:

Wet n Wild has excellent products. I love their eyeshadow palettes especially.