ELF's The Beauty Encyclopedia seemed like a really good deal when I saw it in Target a couple weeks back. In part with our Holiday Gift Guide series, I posted a first look about this budget-friendly palette, and it drew a few interested parties! So here is my review with swatches and an application example.

This set contains:

12 eyeshadows

1 eyeliner pencil in black

1 mirror

1 applicator

$5 at Target stores

Different versions of the The Beauty Encyclopedia are available on Elf's site.

The palette opened.

First row: matte and shimmer.

Second row: The blue was built up a lot to show that much pay-off.

Sadly, the purple was built up as many times, but the efforts were futile.

No color pay-off from that purple.

Very weak last row.

Instructions.

Eye diagram.

I didn't follow the Encyclopedia's instructions.

See below for which colors I used (you may find it surprising!).

Diagram of the colors applied.

No, that's not a mistake. I *did* apply that bright robin's egg blue.

Color pay-off? Zilch.

D, the navy shade, was oh-so disappointingly hard and didn't show up at all.

Nars eye primer and MAC Haute and Naughty mascara were used on both eyes.

An eyebase to help bring out color from these weak shadows.

This is Cyber, a Metal-X shadow from MAC (discontinued).

If you missed Metal-X shadows the first or second time, more on on their way.

Base applied.

A metallic silver cream-to-powder shadow base.

Now let's try this again.

What a difference a base makes.

Pow... now THAT'S blue.

This is C, patted on.

The base made all the difference.

See the colors actually showed up!

Side by side, the eyeshadow base really brings out the colors.

Sadly, these shadows are just not that pigmented, but it's $5...

Seriously, what do you expect?

Another edition of the Beauty Encyclopedia.

The quality was very similar to the Smoky palette.

To Review:

Pros: Good gift that's very wallet friendly. Would make a good stocking stuffer or a nice Secret Santa/office present.
Cons: Hard, dry, mediocre quality shadows. Dry eyeliner pencil. Not a gift for someone who is really into makeup. They will be disappointed with the quality.... but then again, it's $5 (pro).

Overall Rating: C+ (only because it really is such a good value)