ELF Desert Haze and ELF Innocent: two peas in a pod?
I recently discovered ELF’s line of polishes and various other sundries. I was smitten at once: here was a budget brand with a huuuuge selection, and it was cruelty-free to boot! Obviously, my shopping fingers couldn’t keep away, and I clicked home a nice little selection for my first order.
Pictured to the right here is ELF Dezert Haze, a lovely nude shade that applies rather like a dream and covers quite well in two coats if you’re careful (three if you aren’t!). The formula is on the extremely thin side, but for some reason (the brush?), I didn’t find it hard to control or work with at all. Apparently, some of the other shades from ELF now feature a “new improved formula” and if the one I tried (more on that later) is anything to judge by, this means the formula is slightly thicker and, in my opinion, a wee bit trickier to work with. Not by a lot, though!
And here’s another photo of Desert Haze, right? Wrong!
This is supposed to be Innocent. On the website, they both belong to the same colour family, but Desert Haze is shown as a darker version of Innocent.
From the ELF website.
For the life of me, I cannot actually see a difference. I’ve tried different lights, I’ve tried squinting, I’ve tried everything, but I can’t see it. Maybe I’ve not yet acquired “the trained eye”, but I honestly think I accidentally got a mismarked bottle of one of these.
Dezert Haze on my thumb, Innocent on the other fingers. Can you see a difference?
I e-mailed ELF about it and this is what they had to say:
Having compared both of the samples here in the office I appreciate your feedback regarding the colour. Although they are similar, I can advise that both have different shades. While the Innocent is more nude and pink, Desert Haze has more brown undertones.
While they may appear very similarly on nails, I assure you that when swatched, side by side on white paper there is a clear colour difference.
I’m just going to have to swatch again and really look for that difference, I suppose.