Some sparkly shit from e.l.f. (Studio Blush in Gotta Glow! and Studio Tone Correcting Powder in Shimmer)

I bought both of these products mainly because I didn't really understand what they were supposed to be. Even after googling them, they remained mysterious to me. They were cheap and I was curious, so whatever. I got them.

e.l.f. Studio Blush in Gotta Glow! and e.l.f. Studio Tone Correcting Powder in Shimmer

To explain my journey of discovery with e.l.f. Studio Blush in Gotta Glow! and e.l.f. Studio Tone Correcting Powder in Shimmer in more visual terms, before I tried them, I was like this:

 And then after I tried them, I was like this:

And also this:

So that about sums it up, I think. But I'll show you some photos anyway.

e.l.f. Studio Blush in Gotta Glow! is clearly meant to appeal to people who don't want to pay $30 for Nars Blush (highlighter) in Albatross. But I have to assume that this e.l.f. wannabe dupe is in fact not at all like the Nars version, or I don't know why anyone would ever buy Albatross. This e.l.f. shit is basically useless. It's a not-particularly-fine, crumbly, yellowish-white, vaguely shimmery powder with some sparkles in it. It does not work as a highlighter. You can barely see it, except for the chunks of sparkle. It's possible that it would show up better on darker skin than mine, but I don't think you'd want it to, because it's not fine and smooth enough to create pretty highlights. You'll just look like you have some patchy, sparkly crap on your face. And it doesn't fucking last. I don't know what its problem is, but it pretty much just falls off your skin 5 seconds later. Garbage.

Here are swatches, which make it look much nicer than it really is (heavy swatch on the left and blended out on the right):

Swatches of e.l.f. Studio Blush in Gotta Glow! (natural light)

Swatches of e.l.f. Studio Blush in Gotta Glow! (with flash)

I remember taking another photo of my arm where I'd swatched it about 3 minutes later to show that the stuff had almost completely disappeared, but I seem to have deleted it. Probably I was going through my photos and thought, "Why is there a picture of my bare arm skin in here? Trash."

As for e.l.f. Studio Tone Correcting Powder in Shimmer, well, let's first dispense with the notion that it has any tone correcting properties, unless the thing you want to correct is that your face isn't glittery enough. It's really just a very translucent powder with a lot of sparkle in it. There doesn't seem to be any difference at all between the four colors that appear in the pan. It you brush it on your face, it looks hideous. Or at least on mine it does. It seems to have a magical ability to deposit one piece of glitter in each pore, which is really a spectacular look, I must say.

Check it out! Every pore on my cheek and nose is individually highlighted. Just what I've always wanted.

I really don't know what purpose this product could serve. The shimmer is too sparse to use it as an eyeshadow or highlighter. All over the face, you get the wonderful results pictured above. Maybe if you are into body glitter? Like you want to brush this on your décolletage when you go out at night or for a holiday party or something. Do people do that? I've seen products marketed that way, but I don't know anyone who uses them. Or maybe your face is as smooth as baby's skin, but you would like some random specks of glitter scattered all over it for some reason.

I didn't waste too much money on these, at least, and now I know. And now you know. But I could have got a nice coffee or something instead.

I am curious, though: does anyone out there have either of these? Do you have an actual use for them? Am I missing something here? I'm still like this: