How to: e.l.f Couture Lips

Good Afternoon e.l.f fans! We’ve come to our final installment of the Couture Look How to: blogs.

Following the popularity and success of our previous Couture blogs we’ve decided to finish up with Couture Lips, the easiest trend to wear this season. Create full voluptuous lips in just a few steps to get that knockout pout.

Taking inspiration from the dramatic looks created on the Autumn/Winter Catwalk we’ve adapted the dramatic statement lip look and tweaked it for everyday wearability

The lucky participant from e.l.f HQ chosen to demonstrate this look was Kamen. Blessed with naturally full pouted lips she was the ideal candidate to show how glamorous this look can be. 

This is the perfect look for the Halloween and Christmas. Vamp it up or go glam for a show stopping pout.

Try the look for yourself; follow our 4 easy steps to be on trend this season.

 

Products we used:

Elf Longwear lip liner                       £1.50

Elf LipStick (Voodoo)                        £1.50

ElfStudio Lip Balm SPF 15 (Romantic Rouge)   £3.50

 

Tools and Brushes:

Elf Lip Defining brush                        £1.50

How to achieve the Elf Couture Look:

Step 1: Firstly, line your lips with e.l.f long wear lip liner. Trace the outer crease of your lips, being sure not to forget to emphasize your cupids bow to achieve that maximum pout!

Step 2: Apply e.l.f Lip Stick in Voodoo liberally to your lips as a base.

Step 3: Using the e.l.f Lip Defining Brush layer lashings of Voodoo lip stick to your lips building intense colour.

Step 4: Again, using the e.l.f Lip Defining Brush apply lashings of e.l.f Studio Lip Balm in Romantic Rouge to give your lips depth to achieve that couture pout.

And there you have it, Couture lips in 4 easy steps for less than £10. Make a statement this season for a little help from e.l.f

Now that we’ve shown you how to create the complete couture look, we’d love to see your efforts. Upload your looks to our Facebook page to show off your skills and statement style.

Own the couture look this season,

Love 

e.l.f

xx

How To: e.l.f Couture Eyes

Good morning Lady Elves! Its time for part two of our Couture Trend How to Tutorials!

We have been inspired by the dramatic and colour infused looks by Christian Dior at their AW11/12 Couture Shows. However we realize that whilst this look may look amazing on the models strutting their stuff on the catwalk, it may look slightly out of place in our every day lives.

BUT fret not fellow elves!  We at e.l.f HQ are here to help! We have taken the Couture Eyes Trend and reinvented it for a much more diluted and wearable look – which is a lot less bright but still very much about the drama… it is still Couture after all.

So after much dispute in the office we finally picked Amy who has the most gorgeous, ocean blue eyes to be the lucky model for our Tutorial! Check out her complete look - created using a range of Elf Cosmetics from our Essential, Mineral and studio range:

We absolutely love this look - Perfect and in line with Halloween Glam!

Want to give it a go? It’s a lot easier than it looks! Just follow our step-by-step guide below!

Products we used:

Mineral Eye shadow Primer                       £3.00

Duo Eye Shadow Cream (Black Licorice)           £1.50

Studio Single Eye Shadow (Amethyst)             £3.50

Mineral Eye Shadow (Seductive)                  £3.00

Mineral Eye Shadow (Royal)                      £3.00

Shimmer Eyeliner Pencil (Black Bandit)          £1.50

Liquid Eyeliner (Black)                         £1.50

Studio Lengthening & Volumising Mascara (Black) £3.50

Duo Eye Shadow Powder (BlackLicorice)           £1.50

Tools and Brushes:

 

Elf Defining Eye Brush              £1.50

Elf Blending Brush                  £1.50

Elf Eye Shadow Brush                £1.50

Elf Smudge Eye Brush                £1.50

Elf Eye Mechanical Eyelash Curler   £1.50

How to achieve the Elf Couture Look:

Step 1: Prep the eyelid with elf mineral eye shadow primer. Apply a dot to the centre of the eyelid and gently blend out towards the brow bone.

 

Step 2: Use elf eye shadow brush to apply a cream based shadow to the whole of your eyelid. Bring the colour to just beneath your brow bone. Don’t worry too much about blending in the colour.

Step 3: Next take a dark shade of powder eye shadow – we used Elf Studio eye shadow in Amethyst. Using elf eye shadow brush sweep the eye shadow over the entire eyelid. Bring the colour to the outer corner of the eyes sweeping upwards to create a flicked out look to widen your eye.

Step 4: Using elf defining eye brush and matte black eye shadow (we used Mineral eye shadow in Seductive,) contour the eye by applying the eye shadow to the outer corners of the eyes. Using the angled side of the defining brush blend the eye shadow into the crease line. You should bring it about two thirds of the way in for the best look.

Step 5: To add a bit of dimension and sparkle to the look we swept a layer of mineral Eye shadow in Royal over the entire eyelid with elf Blending Brush.

Step 6: Define the eyes with a pencil liner in black – we used elf Shimmer eyeliner in Black Bandit to line the upper and lower lash line.

Step 7: To enhance the eyes a bit more you can go over the pencil liner using Black liquid eyeliner. Here we used elf Liquid eyeliner on the upper eyelid only.

Step 8: Next we curled the lashes with Elf Mechanical Eyelash curler.

Step 9: Finally to finish the look apply lashings of Mascara, we used Elf Studio Lengthening and Volumising Mascara for added length and fuller lashes.

 

Step 10: To add a bit more drama smudge a black powder eye shadow to the lower lash line. Apply along the bottom of the lashes using the Eye defining brush, then smudge and blend using a smudge brush to get rid of any harsh lines.

Voila! A Couture look in 10 easy steps!

We hope you liked it, and don’t forget to check back for our statement lips tutorial!

Love 

e.l.f

xx

How to: e.l.f Couture Nails

We had a fantastic day at e.l.f headquarters yesterday experimenting with some e.l.f nail polish to recreate the Catwalk nail Couture Trends for Autumn/Winter.

Our desks were decked with an array of luxurious colours to play with – we created a catalogue of looks with jet black, rich greys, royal purples, velvet reds and all decorated with a splash of golden glitter or sparkling silver! We really had a good bash at it! We even pulled out our Matte Over Coat to really give the looks an edge!

However after much debate we picked our favorite look, which was created using Elf Nail Polish in “Black, Blush and Golden Goddess”.

Check it out: 

 What do you think?

If you liked this look why not have a go at it yourself by following our step-by-step guide below.

Products we used:

·       Elf Nail Block                      £1.50

·       Elf Nail Polish in Black            £1.50

·       Elf Nail Polish in Blush            £1.50

·       Elf Nail Polish in Golden Goddess   £1.50

·       Elf Nail Polish in Clear            £1.50

£7.50 Total

Wow! A couture manicure for under £10!

Before you start.

Tip 1: Preparing the nails:

Before you apply your polish make sure you have a good canvas to work with. Cleanse your nails with a good polish remover to remove all traces of oil and old polish. This will help your nail polish last longer.

Tip 2: Buffing the nails:

We used elf’s nail block to buff our nails first. This four-sided block helps you with a 4-step nail routine to remove rough edges, file, polish and buff away dry flakes. It is a good idea to do this if your nails are ridged. A smooth, even surface will help the polish application and will give the complete look a better finish.

Tip 3: Protect the nails:
Apply a clear basecoat to your nails to give your polish an even foundation to grip on to and help protect the nails from staining.

Applying polish

Step 1: Select the colour you want to use as your base colour – and apply two even coats. Allow your first coat to dry before applying the second coat for a smooth, even finish.
Tip 4: We chose Black, but you can use whatever colour you like. Just remember the couture look for this season has a heavy emphasis on dark, rich shades!

Step 2: Once your nails are dry. Chose a colour to use on your nail tips. We used elf Nail polish in Blush.

Apply the colour to your nail tips only, don’t worry about making a perfect curve, just brush it on the tips about 1/3 of the way down. You should end up with something like this.

Step 3: Once your tips are dry you can start applying the glitter over the top to add a bit of sparkle to the finish. We chose to use Golden Goddess – this gorgeous clear coat is encrusted with specks of gold dust and glitter pieces for a holographic effect.

Step 4: Once your nails are dry, finish with a coat of clear topcoat to seal your polish and to give your nails a shiny finish.

Tip 6: Try using a matte topcoat to add interest to your finished look. We had ago by applying the elf Matte Finisher only on the ring finger for a dramatic contrast. 

Check out the pictures of all the other looks we created whilst we were experimenting:

Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed it and that we’ve inspired you to give it a go!

Now please excuse us while we go show off our new couture nails to the rest of the office!

Love 

e.l.f 

x

Welcome to Me, My e.l.f and I

We want to give our loyal fans a little bit extra and give you an insight into e.l.f and provide exclusive ‘How to’ tutorials and step by step blogs for you to achieve the hottest looks this season.

For our first blog we want to bring the Couture Trend straight from the Catwalk to you this season.

Couture Trend

Smokey eyes, vampy lips and statement nails! There are so many exciting make up trends this season and since we’re in midst of October with Halloween fast approaching we at elf Cosmetics UK think it’s the perfect time to test out the Couture trend! We’re aiming to put the glamour into Halloween.

We will be revealing one key trend tutorial throughout the next week, so keep an eye out for those but here’s a little taster of what’s to come!

Couture Eyes - Smokey

Drama is key to the couture look! So don’t be shy with your eyeliner or shadow!

Check out the gorgeous make up from Christian Dior at their Couture Show Autumn Winter 11/12

Christian Dior – Smokey eyes

Couture Lips – Bold

Statement lips -one of the key trends of Spring/Summer is carried forward into the Autumn/Winter season- think rich and bold colours in red, crimsons or berry.

Statement Lips – from L-R: Gucci AW11, YSL AW11 and Jill Sander AW11.

Couture Nails – Grunge Glam

Nails will see a return in deep shades ranging from black, midnight blues to deep violets with matt finishes to add texture.

We’re so excited here at elf UK and cant wait to start experimenting with these looks! Watch this space to see what we come up with!

We hope you’ve enjoyed our first official e.l.f UK blog, we always want to hear from you what you would like us to feature, any ideas, or questions are more than welcome!

Me, My e.l.f and I

xx