Sunday, October 10, 2010

10x ELF Nail Polish Swatches Compared to Computer Screen

(My attempt to contribute to the world of consumer reviews.)

By comparing to how the colors show online, Sammy and I take a stab at color-accuracy in swatches,.  As E.L.F. is ever so rare in brick+mortar stores, I think comparing them to how they show up on screen is quite useful.

And if someone wants to school me on the physics behind why taking a photo of a monitor is a color-transform no-no, please do!  My brain hurts when I try to think about it - it's just too meta.  

(These are photographed in partial sun in front of a 2010 Macbook with a matte display on max brightness using the best browser ever. My pictures seem to show everything slightly warmer than in real life.)

(2 coats of) Smoky Brown #1561 is not as grey and desaturated as it paints on screen, but it is almost as dark.  It separates easily and takes a lot of shaking/rolling to mix this creme.

(2-3 coats of) Desert Haze #1560 is a slightly warmer tan than on-screen, and a little darker. (Creme)

(3 coats of) Light Pink #1504 is just... pinker! ... than on-screen.  It also has a slight neutral shimmer.

(2 coats of) Bubble Gum Pink #1507 is a little warmer than on-screen.  (why is their website's "swatch" so different from their photo of the bottle anyways?)  This is a creme, as pictured.

(2 coats of) Fluorescent Pink #1508 is not what I would call fluorescent.. more of a medium-dark cool pink creme.

(2 coats of) Hot Pink #1548 is more of a slightly cool-toned pinkish red creme.

(2 coats of) Mango Madness #1563 is much less orange than pictured.  It's like a darker "Fluorescent Pink" with yellow-orange shimmer. Also, it's satin-ish-matte finish!

(2 coats of) Fuchsia #1547 is not as dark and marooney as pictured.  It's a plummy, purplish pink creme.

(2 coats of) Red Velvet #1568 is most definitely not glittery or sparkly!  it's a deep blood-red with a light red shimmer.

(2 coats of) Passion Pink #1564 is not pink at all!  It's a very lovely pinkish orange creme.

I have the following additional thoughts on E.L.F. Nail Polish:
  1. When 60% off (as it was, a few months ago) you can own all 40 colors for just $16, or $23 after shipping and handling.  If I wasn't paranoid that a $1 polish would totally suck, I really would have just bought the whole set.
  2. While B3F (big 3 free), this is the stinkiest polish I own.  Possibly stinkier than Seche Vite. :o
  3. You only get 0.35 oz and not the usual 0.5 oz, because the bottle is not square! The online photos lead you to believe you get a nice square bottle, but they are actually shorter in one direction than the other:
  1. The cap takes a lot more effort to screw on and off.  It takes 3 full revolutions (1080°) to remove!  In comparison, a Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear only takes ~2.3 revolutions.  It also just seems so much more tedious because the cap is square* and you can't roll it between your fingers. (*Yes, actually square, unlike the Chanel polishes that have a round grip under the square cap.)

There is something very satisfying about lining them all up in a row.  c:


Maggie said...

Fluorescent Pink, Mango Madness, and Passion Pink look so pretty! :)

Ping said...

Wow, this was totally helpful, thanks! I love cheap nail polishes, and find the ELF polishes to be great, but yeah, not a big fan of the bottles.

Sammersaurus said...

Yay! I'm so glad you've done this!
I can't believe the red velvet isn't glittery at all since they've obviously portrayed it as that on the website. And I can't believe the difference in Mango Madness :o it's a totally different shade.

sunny said...

Thank you so much for doing this post! It's immensely helpful, especially for those of us who do almost all of our shopping online. I was actually going to order some of those colors. Good thing I got the chance to see this post before I clicked Buy! =)

Sydney said...

I recently place an elf order for the first time, and I so wanted to get some nail polish bottles, however, many of the shades I like are out of stock :(.

Visit Petite Gorgeous for more details.

raisa said...

oh my.
i'm so jealous.
i always want to try these yummy colors.
but there isnt an elf store in my country!
so so envious! :/

Michelle said...

The name stickers on Passion Pink and Mango Madness were switched on a lot of bottles. I had ordered Passion Pink but got a bottle of pink with a Mango Madness label. So I contacted Elf thinking they had sent the wrong bottle. They informed me that these two polishes just had their labels switched. I don't know why they didn't mention that anywhere, since they obviously were aware of the problem.

Biberlee said...

What you swatched under Passion Pink is actually Mango madness and vice versa, because their packages are switched. I've got a notice with my package, and I was so disappointed to see that Passion Pink is not the color I thought to be. But I gave it to my sister who liked the color very much :)

Pfefi X said...

Thanks, Biberlee! I will have to remember to get around to correcting that! When did you get your package? I wonder if they know about the error...

The Little Dust Princess said...

Have you tried their matte top coat? I find that it actually works pretty well, though it doesn't give a COMPLETE matte finish. People DO notice it though. :D

xx The Little Dust Princess

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