Elate Cosmetics Creme Lipstick in Adore Review

Recently I've been really getting into 'Clean', 'Green' or 'Natural' beauty. By no means am I saying that mainstream products are out of my routine or even necessarily harmful (which seems to be the cause of many people switching over), merely that I am trying to buy from more eco-conscious brands that give back more, have more biodegradable formulas and packaging, and try to make a difference. I also have a lot of sensitivities and ingredient allergies and I find it's easier to a) figure out the ingredients in these products and b) avoid many of the acne causing ingredients that cause me problems.

Elate Cosmetics is one of these brands, and bonus they're Canadian!

I've not tried much from this brand but what I did pick-up was one of their Creme lipsticks. The lipstick I chose was a shade called Adore that I believe was limited edition as I can't find it on the site anymore. If you are looking for something very close colour-wise Plush is very similar, just a tad pinker.

Adore is in my opinion the perfect mauve/everyday shade. It's ever-so-slightly purple and I love it. It is very much a 'my lips but better' shade for me and I love how makes me feel. Sophisticated and unique but not too different as to cause a fuss at work.  (Please excuse the acne in the photos, I do the best I can).

Wearing Adore in Natural Lighting

Wearing Adore in Indoor Lighting

The Elate Creme lipstick formula is a lovely one, it's creamy and has medium-long wear time. Without major eating/drinking it lasts about 3-4 hours on average. It's not transfer-proof but it's moisturizing and comfortable to wear and it has a lovely vanilla smell from the real Vanilla Absolute that is one of the ingredients.

Natural Light swatch of Adore (Most realistic)

Indoor Light swatch of Adore

Here is a list of the ingredients:

Ricinus Communis (Organic Castor Seed Oil), Simmondsia Chinensis (Organic Cold Pressed Jojoba Seed Oil), Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla Wax), Limnanthes Alba (Organic Meadowfoam Seed Oil), Butyrospermum Parkii Fruit (Unrefined Organic Shea Butter), Mangifera Indica (Organic Mango Seed Butter), Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba Wax), Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Vanilla Planifolia (Vanilla Absolute Oil), +/- CI77499 (Black Oxide), CI77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77820 (Manganese Violet), CI77491 (Red Oxide)

Another benefit of these lipsticks is the beautiful packaging. The tubes are made of bamboo and aluminum metal wrapped on a recyclable plastic insert, so they are partially compostable and partially recyclable. Elate recommends crushing the bamboo and composting that part and to recycle the rest. I particularly love the burned/etched design on all the tubes.

There are a couple downsides to the packaging however, the first being that they come with a sticker that shows you that the lipstick hasn't been opened. This is fine, and it isn't plastic which is great, but the sticker doesn't come off cleanly and you need to spend some time cleaning the bits and residue off of the bamboo which is annoying.

My tube also came slightly ski-jawed so the bullet is a touch crooked. It wastes a bit of product when I twist the tube up and down which is a shame, but doesn't affect the use except for my gentle handling of it.

Elate is a great company that is available in multiple places so if you want to pick-up one of their products. So look around to see if you can get a deal anywhere, here is the link to the lipstick page on their website. The lipsticks retail for $22 CND, which I think is very reasonable considering the packaging and ingredients, etc. There are currently 13 different shades that I think would suit a wide variety of skin tones.

Overall, I do really like these lipsticks, I would get another of these (possibly in the shade Kink, it looks interesting). I would have preferred a touch more wear time, and for the bullet to not have been so fragile but I do like the moisturizing factor and the ingredients, packaging and perfect shade Adore turned out to be.

Sprite Rating: 8.5/10

Stila Magnificent Metals Eyeshadows~ Swatches and First Impressions

The last time I was at Sephora I was instantly drawn to the new display for the Stila Magnificent Metals Eyeshadows. These are an insanely metallic and shiny eyeshadow formula with a sort of flake texture that is sort of sponge/cream finish. Very unique and unlike anything I've ever experienced before! I knew immediately that I needed to do swatches of the entire line for you all.

A couple things about application. From my experience (using my finger) these were easier to use the more liquid-like they were. The formula of these is identical between shades but as these come with a tiny vial of liquid primer it is reccommended to drop the liquid into the shadow pots. The amount you add the more liquidy they become. The easiest ones to use were the shades that people had added quite a bit of the primer too but not so much that the shadows became a runny goop. Also though it would be a pain due to the screw-top packaging I can totally see why they chose it because you wouldn't want to have the primer dry-out in the shadows between uses- it would be a huge waste of the tiny primer vial.

I didn't notice any other differences between shades other than the emerald shade stains like crazy. Which is sad because all the other shades were fine and I loved the emerald colour.

These retail for an insane $42 Canadian each (at Sephora) which includes one mini primer vial, one eyeshadow pot and one metal pan to mix in (which isn't really necessary in my opinion).

I swatched these two ways for you all, first on my fingers and then on my arm. Enjoy!

L-R: Metallic Cobalt, Metallic Emerald, Metallic Laurel

L-R: Vintage Black Gold, Comex Copper, Metallic Merlot

L-R: Comex Gold, Titanium, Comex Platinum

L-R: Metallic Lavender, Kitten, Metallic Dusty Rose

All together! T-B: Metallic Lavender, Kitten, Metallic Dusty Rose, Comex Platinum, Titanium, Comex Gold, Metallic Merlot, Comex Copper, Vintage Black Gold, Metallic Laurel, Metallic Emerald, Metallic Cobalt

B-T: Metallic Cobalt, Metallic Emerald, Metallic Laurel, Vintage Black Gold, Comex Copper, Metallic Merlot

B-T: Comex Copper, Metallic Merlot, Comex Gold, Titanium, Comex Platinum

B-T: Comex Platinum, Metallic Dusty Rose, Kitten, Metallic Lavender

L-R: Metallic Lavender, Kitten, Metallic Dusty Rose, Comex Platinum, Titanium

L-R: Comex Platinum, Titanium, Comex Gold, Metallic Merlot, Comex Copper, Vintage Black Gold

L-R: Comex Copper, Vintage Black Gold, Metallic Laurel, Metallic Emerald, Metallic Cobalt

As you can see from the swatches these are difficult to apply evenly. Like I mentioned before it was easier to apply these more evenly when they were wetter (such as with metallic merlot and comex platinum). All shades have the same sort of intense metallic finish, there truly isn't a difference I could see between shades as there sometimes is in ranges.

Overall I think these are really neat. I do think they'd take practise to use effectively as the flakes seem to go everywhere and a brush may be a better option than fingers- you may have to do some experimentation. At the price I'd put them as a luxury item to splurge on but if a shade really calls out to you I can see these making a statement look easily.

What do you all think? Are you intrigued?