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Product Details and Packaging
Elf Bite Size Eyeshadow Palettes come in 8 variations. Colors range from neutral to bright and colorful with a mixture of mattes and shimmers. Each quad retails for $3 and contains 3.5 grams / 0.12 oz of product.
The palettes are made of plastic but they feel like pretty decent quality, not too flimsy. They aren’t terribly difficult to open most of the time but in case I have some hand lotion on or something, there is a little groove on the side where I can use some tweezers to pry the compacts open. They feel like they stay shut securely. The back of the palette has a label on it with the ingredients for that particular quad and the name of the quad.
The shadows are not scented and do not smell like anything to me.
Even though these quads are tiny, the shadows themselves are plenty big enough to easily work with. I can fit any eyeshadow brush into the pans that I want to use without accidentally dipping into neighboring shades.
Formula Overview
Most of the matte shades were pigmented, blended easily, and had a somewhat substatial feel to them. They were not dusty, dry, or thin and they held together well. Some were a little powdery but not in a dry way, more in a slightly loosely pressed way. The one that was the most finicky was the blue quad, Acai You, which was the most prone to dusting away but in the end this one still worked out for me.
The shimmers ranged from a satin finish to nearly foiled depending on the quad. Most of these applied easily with brushes and I didn’t feel the need to use my fingers to get the color to show up well. There was no fallout or very little fallout from most of the shimmers. I’ll point out the ones that had noticeable fallout below.
Shade Selection
These quads give you a little bit of everything but there is definitely room for growth in this range. For example, there aren’t any true purple shades here. There are also not any good matte brow bone highlights for my skin tone. I do like that they offer some variety with this selection though.
Each of the 8 quads has enough shades to use individually but I prefer to mix and match with these. Not all of the quads have the best selection of colors to create a look that feels “complete”. Now, this is just my opinion of course, you can wear whatever shades you prefer. However, I enjoy having shades with a certain level of contrast so they both stand out individually but also blend together relatively easily.
For example, the Cream & Sugar quad has two matte shades which are quite far apart in contrast. One is very light and one is pretty dark. This makes me want to pick a shade in the middle from one of the other quads to help them blend more smoothly. This formula, luckily, is easy to work with so you certainly can make the Cream & Sugar quad work on it’s own. It’s just not what I prefer. I will cover more of my thoughts on the shade selection of each individual quad below.
Wear Time
I tested 5 out of the 8 quads for wear time. The ones I didn’t test for longevity were Acai You, Hot Jalapeño, and Carnival Candy. I found wear time to be average compared to other eyeshadows. After wearing them for 10-12 hours they were creased or faded in the crease but the creasing wasn’t terrible.
Elf Bite Size Eyeshadow –
Truffles
This palette is one in particular that I think has an extremely well balanced shade selection. The depth of the matte shades is spaced out well enough to get a very easy blend. At the same time there are enough different hues to get a look that isn’t completely monochromatic. The cooler tone shimmer stands out nicely against the warm mattes but doesn’t feel out of place. This whole palette performed well. Good color payoff, easy blending. Very minimal fallout from any of the shades.
- Shade 1 is a shimmery taupe.
- Shade 2 is a matte medium warm brown.
- Shade 3 is a matte deep warm brown.
- Shade 4 is a matte black. This shade was the most challenging to blend as would be expected with deeper shades. But to give you some context, this was easier to work with than some of the deeper shades in the Too Faced Born This Way The Natural Nudes Palette that I reviewed recently. In other words, I thought this was well formulated.
Elf Bite Size Eyeshadow –
Cream & Sugar
I like all of these shades but the combination of them leaves something to be desired. This quad would have been better if perhaps they swapped the lightest shade out for something slightly deeper. This one feels like more of a paring palette. All of the colors are nice but I wouldn’t want to necessarily use them all together.
- Shade 1 is a matte pale peach.
- Shade 2 is a sparkling light champagne. This was a slightly flakier formula that most of the other mattes. This shade had quite a bit of shimmer fallout. Borderline too much to do my foundation before my eyeshadow.
- Shade 3 is a shimmery medium golden bronze.
- Shade 4 is a matte deep brown.
Elf Bite Size Eyeshadow –
Pumpkin Pie
This is a great quad for somebody that loves warm toned eyeshadow. The shades are warm without be overly orange. While this quad is fairly monochromatic, the shades have enough nuance in tone and finish to be used for different looks. I would use this as a pairing palette to complete a look since everything is very midtone. This quad was great quality all around. Good color payoff, easy blending, very little fallout.
- Shade 1 is a matte orangey brown.
- Shade 2 is a shimmery orange-toned copper.
- Shade 3 is matte warm brown.
- Shade 4 is a warm bronze with a metallic, almost foiled, finish.
Elf Bite Size Eyeshadow –
Carnival Candy
If I wasn’t reviewing these, this color combo is not one that would normally draw me in. However, these shades together are very summery and fun paired together. They look intimidating in the pans but are surprisingly beautiful (and dare I say wearable?) on the eyes. All the mattes were easy to work with. This blue was a bit thicker in texture than some of the other shimmers in this range but still very usable.
- Shade 1 is a matte pale peach.
- Shade 2 is a matte medium-deep warm brown.
- Shade 3 is a matte medium-deep brick red.
- Shade 4 is a shimmery ocean blue. I used a combination of brushes and my finger to apply this. It applied better with my finger to get it to look evenly applied. Applying colors with my fingers usually results in more fallout than with brushes. I did get fallout from this but it was pretty minimal given how heavily I applied it. The edges blended easily over the mattes without getting too muddy. The blue blended next to the browns created a greyish tone but I didn’t think it looked bad.
Elf Bite Size Eyeshadow – Berry Bad
This is another pretty well balanced palette. The two mattes have enough contrast to tell them apart on the lid but they aren’t so far apart that it’s hard to blend them together. I do think the two shimmers might be a smidge too similar for somebody that’s not into these types of shades. They are different though. Shade 2 will give the look a warmer, more coppery feel whereas Shade 3 will have a cooler, more cranberry vibe.
- Shade 1 is a warm medium rosy pink with a matte finish. This was a little sheer but worked well as a transition shade.
- Shade 2 is a metallic reddish bronze with larger silver sparkles. I got some sparkle fallout from this shade when I wore if for the first time. On a second wear test, I didn’t get any fallout. They probably stick better to the lid when not applied over other matte eyeshadows.
- Shade 3 is a shimmery medium berry pink. This didn’t pick up as nicely on a brush. I did feel the need to use my finger with this shade.
- Shade 4 is a matte burgundy.
Elf Bite Size Eyeshadow –
Rose Water
This quad was the one I was most interested in but it wasn’t actually my favorite of the bunch. Shade 2 is much lighter on my skin than I initially thought it would be. I actually wish it was a tad bit darker. I also would have preferred for the deepest shade to not have micro glitter in it.
- Shade 1 is a shimmery pale pink. Works well with a brush but this shade was a little flakier than the other shimmers. Definitely tap off excess to avoid fallout. There was minimal fallout with brush application but much more noticeable fallout with finger application.
- Shade 2 is a matte cool toned pale pink. This shade is lighter than I expected and doesn’t show up very well against my skin tone. It has plenty of pigmentation but it’s just very pale.
- Shade 3 is a shimmery medium rosy pink. This shade is slightly creamier than Shade 1 and less prone to fallout. I was able to apply this with a brush though using a finger applied the color with more intensity.
- Shade 4 is a deep charcoal with a mostly matte base and larger golden sparkles. This shade had both sparkle and pigment fallout during application but was pigmented and easy to blend.
Elf Bite Size Eyeshadow –
Acai You
I like that this quad offers some very cool toned blues. I feel like the most common blues we see in eyeshadows are “warmer”, like sky blue, ocean blue, teal-leaning blues. This quad was the most finicky one to work with. All but Shade 2 were prone to dusting away on the eye. They are workable though, especially if you use a tackier eyeshadow base. I will gladly put up with that to have these unique shades in my collection.
- Shade 1 is a matte pale periwinkle blue. A bit sheer but usable. Probably best to use a sticky base with this. Blends easily.
- Shade 2 is a shimmery denim blue. Required a little more building up than some of the other shimmers in this range but the end result looked good.
- Shade 3 is a muted indigo with a satin finish. Doesn’t adhere well over the matte shadows. Worked much better applied straight over a sticky base.
- Shade 4 is a matte blackened blue. This had good pigmentation and easy to blend but lacks a bit in adherence. This shade works but can use the help of a sticky base.
Elf Bite Size Eyeshadow –
Hot Jalapeño
This quad is in a tie with Truffles for my favorites of the bunch. Very little fallout from all shades.
- Shade 1 is a metallic yellow gold. Very creamy, picks up and deposits very easily with a brush. High shine.
- Shade 2 is a shimmery medium golden green. Picks up and applies easily with a brush as well but isn’t quite as shiny. This is a tad bit more fallout than the rest of the shades but the fallout was still very minimal.
- Shade 3 is a matte medium green with yellow undertones. Has good pigmentation and blends easily. This one can look a tiny bit patchy but not enough for me to not want to use it.
- Shade 4 is a matte deep green with blue undertones. Is highly pigmented and blends easily.
Looks I Did With These Palettes
Look #1:
- Elf Cream and Sugar Bite Size Eyeshadow Quad
- Light matte cream – set lids, applied lightly on inner corner because this shade is a little dark for me
- Elf Truffles Bite Size Eyeshadow Quad
- Medium matte brown – transition, inner crease, outer lower lashline
- Dark matte brown – outer lid, outer crease
- Matte black – a tiny bit in the very outer corner
- Shimmery taupe – center of lid
- Elf Pumpkin Pie Bite Size Eyeshadow Quad
- Right-most shade – inner lower lashline
Look #2:
- Elf Cream and Sugar Bite Size Eyeshadow Quad
- Light matte cream – Set lids, lightly on inner corner because this shade is a little dark for me
- Dark matte brown – Outer lid
- Pale shimmery cream – inner lower lashline
- Pale bronze shimmer – inner lid
- Elf Pumpkin Pie Bite Size Eyeshadow Quad
- Matte warm brown – outer lower lashline, inner crease
- Matte cool brown – outer crease
- Second shade from left – center of lid
Look #3:
- Elf Rose Water Bite Size Eyeshadow Quad
- Matte dusty pink – Crease, transition area
- Deepest shade – Outer lid, outer crease, lower lashline
- First shade on left – Inner corner
- Third shade from left – Center of lid
Look #4:
- Elf Berry Bad Bite Size Eyeshadow Quad
- Matte medium pink – Crease, transition
- Matte burgundy – Outer lid, outer crease, outer lower lashline
- Second shade from left – Center of lid
- Third shade from left – Inner lower lashline
Look #5:
- Elf Cream and Sugar Bite Size Eyeshadow Quad
- Matte light cream – I used this shade to set my primer
- Elf Hot Jalapeño Bite Size Eyeshadow Quad
- Matte medium green – Crease, lower lashline
- Matte dark green – Outer lid, blended into crease
- Shimmery green – Center of lid
- Shimmery yellow – Inner lid
Look #6:
- Elf Rose Water Bite Size Eyeshadow Quad
- Lightest shimmer shade – Inner corner, brow bone
- Elf Acai You Bite Size Eyeshadow Quad
- Lightest matte – Transition around edges both on top lid and lower lashline
- Deepest matte – Outer corner
- Satin shade – All over lid, blended into crease
- Higher shine shimmer shade – Inner lid on upper and lower lid
Look #7:
- Elf Carnival Candy Bite Size Eyeshadow Quad
- Warm brown matte – Inner crease
- Brick red matte – Outer crease
- Shimmery ocean blue – All over lid
- Pale peach matte – Blend around edges