Back when ELF had their last 50% sale I decided to buy a couple of their basic lipsticks to try as I really like their mineral lipsticks. I managed to get mine for just 75 pence each, and even at the full retail price of £1.50, these lipsticks are a real bargain! There are twelve shades available ranging from pink, red and brown. Each shade has its own unique name and I purchased Posh and Fearless, both of which are pinky red shades. Fearless is a nice and bright shade of red with subtle shimmers, while Posh is a dark pink. One thing worth mentioning is that the swatches on the ELF website are incredibly inaccurate, so I'd recommend using Google Images to check the different shades to see which would suit you.

I was expecting Posh to be postbox red, when infact it's a dark, almost bubblegum pink - luckily it does actually suit me quite well though so I'm not too dissapointed! Another thing to mention is that certain shades sell out quickly and remain out of stock for a few weeks, which is slightly annoying. Each lipstick comes attatched to a cardboard backing which is sealed with a transparent piece of plastic which I personally think is a real waste of packaging. The cardboard part simply has the ELF logo and product name as well as a small circular swatch and the shade name. The packaging needs to be opened with scissors. The design of the lipstick is average.. the casing does look a little basic and cheap - it's silver with the ELF logo on it and it has a transparent section showing the lipstick, which is handy if you have more than one as you can see which shade is which without having to take the lid off.

Each tube contains 3.5grams of product and the packaging is overall very basic but I don't see this as much of a disadvantage as the lipstick itself is pretty good quality. The lipstick has a slanted nib and it is very soft and waxy, meaning it can easily become mishapen or even snap in half if you apply too much pressure to it while applying it. The lipstick has a pleasant fruity scent which is very girly and sweet. It does however smell artificial and if I'm honest, the scent is quite cheap and plasticy. The lipstick is easy to apply and the nib glides along my lips, applying the lipstick evenly. One coat is enough as this is so well pigmented and I find that the smooth, creamy formula is also quite moisturising, too.

It doesn't look cheap and the lasting power is reasonably good (around 4hrs before a top up is needed) however it's pretty easily transferrable, meaning it can easily get on clothes/on my boyfriends face! It is easy to remove though and a bit of moist tissue does the job. This is not at all drying and as long as I apply vaseline as a base, this doesn't highlight any lines or dryness on my lips and due to the subtle sheen it provides, it makes them appear quite moist. Overall, the ELF lipsticks are a real bargain. Despite the rather cheap looking packaging, the lipstick is good quality - it's well pigmented and reasonably long lasting as well as suprisingly moisturising. The only disadvantage that I can think of is that it's quite easily transferrable.