Are those e.l.f. palettes any good?

 We've all seen these at Target or other department stores, right? The super-affordable e.l.f palettes with their really intense colors. I'd heard that they were actually not bad, so at only $6 I decided to take a chance and pick up the Little Black Beauty Book "night edition."

Look at those colors! You'll have to forgive me for not hand-swatching them, but it would have to go all the way up to my elbow at the very least. I like this palette because it has a great range of colors running from light to dark, plenty of neutrals, some mattes and some sparkles. The individual pans are pretty small, but hey, it's $6.

I'm a bit iffy on the packaging. It's cute, compact, and easy to carry, but it doesn't always close securely. If you want to just throw this in your purse, I'd wrap some ribbon or elastic around it or maybe tape it closed, just to be on the safe side. The outside color is actually very much like a thinner version of a hardback book cover. It dents and scratches very easily, so it won't stay pretty, but again, it only cost $6, so what do you expect?

On Tuesday I decided to do a nice daytime look with two colors from the palette, a nice soft bronze and medium green. It held up for two hours of dance and some shopping and driving around. This is actually how it looked at the end of the night. Not bad!

But we're here to talk about its suitability for performance makeup, so how about a look at some of the more vibrant colors?

Yeah! Colors! Turquoise, green, and blue, with a light shimmery neutral along my brow bone. I was surprised by how well-pigmented these brights were. I'd just like to point out that I managed to put together a better emerald eye look with this cheap department store palette than with the much more expensive Sephora eye shadows I bought earlier this year.

Sorry about the up-the-nose shot. That's all eyeshadow from this palette, including using the green as liner. Well, I did add just a touch of some sparkly UD shadow over the teal because I wanted some glitter. There's also some green mascara, because hey, why not wear green mascara for daytime wear? It's just sitting there in my train case, I might as well use it.

Despite using primer potion and makeup-setting spray, I did have some color loss after two hours of dance class, but most of the color was still there. I like these colors enough that I'm going to try again, maybe apply a little more and pat it in better, or try it wet.

I feel like these colors probably wouldn't hold up well to dancing all night, and they probably aren't intense enough for big stage makeup, but if you're just doing a single number at a hafla or recital, you'll be really happy with these. You could probably even use them for a restaurant gig if you're not prone to sweaty-face. I'd definitely recommend this palette to the newbie dancer who hasn't previously worn colorful makeup and doesn't want to spend a fortune at Sephora or the MAC counter. It would also be perfect for those days when you want to experiment with some of the crazy looks you see on-line... there's enough different colors to play with, and then when you figure out a look you want to use for the big stage, you can go out and buy more expensive, hardier versions of the colors.