E.L.F. Studio Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow Review

I was very excited to try the E.L.F. Studio Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow, I ordered all the colors and anxiously awaited my delivery. I've seen many mixed reviews, people seem pretty polarized about these. I wanted to do a smoky party look with Confetti (#81141), Celebration (#81142) and Party (#81147), perhaps for a big sparkly celebration like New Year's Eve. I applied nothing to one eyelid and E.L.F Mineral Eyeshadow Primer in Sheer (#6531) on the other lid, letting it dry before starting application. I wanted to see if it affected the application at all.

The first thing I noticed was it was difficult to pick up the product with a brush. I tried an eyeshadow brush and a concealer brush. Then I tried it with my finger, which worked much better. The colors were difficult to blend into one another, especially on the side with primer. The hardest part was making a crease (using Party) with my finger. It smudged all over and didn't blend well at all. The color looked very sparkly, sheer and patchy. I scraped some of it up with a small concealer brush but it would not blend well, it ended up balling up on my eyelid. I let it dry for awhile and applied another layer, which provided more coverage, but I still felt it looked too patchy and unevenly applied.

It's a little difficult to tell just how patchy these eyeshadows are in these pictures. It's not too noticeable but it was enough to bother me. I didn't notice a difference in how the shadows looked with primer vs without, but it might affect the longevity.

The verdict on E.L.F. Studio Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow:

Not my favorite. 

I love the sparkliness of it but I don't like how hard it is to apply and the uneven nature of the application bothers me. It's not the worst eyeshadow I've ever tried but it's not something I'm anxious to repurchase.

I decided to try layering it over eyeshadow. I built up a smoky eye using two ELF Essential Eye Duos. I'm pretty certain the black and gray duo came from the E.L.F. Essential Beauty School 5 Piece Eyeshadow Set in Night and the lighter highlight shade came from the Day set. They aren't marked with the set name so I'm not completely sure. Here is what that looks like:

I used the same E.L.F. Mineral Eyeshadow Primer in Sheer, and left all the rest of my makeup the same. Here is the look with the E.L.F. Studio Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow in Confetti (#81141), Celebration (#81142) and Party (#81147) layered over the Duo eyeshadow:

Final Verdict on the E.L.F. Studio Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow:

I like it much better layered over another shadow. It does seem less patchy and uneven, although I did have some difficulty getting the Lustrous eyeshadow to completely smooth out. I don't think it's too noticable, definitely not as noticeable as when you use it by itself. When you layer them they are more vibrant and the black in the crease is much more apparent, even though it might be difficult to tell in the pictures. When I used them alone the whole lid looked similar, as if I didn't use three completely different shadows. Confetti (#81141) and Celebration (#81142) look VERY SIMILAR on my eyelids. You probably don't need to buy both of these. All in all, I do think these have a use in my makeup bag, to add pizazz or sparkle for a special event, but I think E.L.F. could stand to improve the formula. I don't think I will use these that often, I can see myself using a sheer amount on the inner third of my eyelids for a sparkling highlight when I want that little extra something.