Okay, I know from the weekly Amazon posts that there are a lot of E.L.F. makeup fans here. Y’all even made me a convert over the summer, and now I love their hydrating line (the blue one). This will probably not be a surprise to anyone, but it turns out that we’re not alone in our E.L.F. love. According to beauty influencers, talking about the brand is a guaranteed viral success. People on social media love E.L.F.’s quality, especially how they are able to duplicate (“dupe”) some of the more high-end makeup lines’ products and make them affordable to the everyday consumer.
Mikayla Nogueira says there’s no predicting whether one of her daily makeup videos will go viral — unless it involves E.L.F. The brand that got its start hawking $1 eye shadows is so revered among the beauty influencer’s 15.2 million TikTok followers that they routinely steer conversations back to E.L.F. no matter the day’s topic. Her takes on such prestige brands as Patrick Ta or Dior are peppered with comments like “Watch E.L.F. dupe it,” or “I’ll wait for E.L.F.”
“The fan base, the cult following that E.L.F. has is so strong,” she says.
The Oakland, Calif.- based company dominates a slice of the beauty industry rewarded for imitation: Dupes — short for duplicates — are makeup and skin care products that are near-replicas of higher-end lines but at a fraction of the price. Analysts say E.L.F.’s ability to capitalize on social media experimentation, supply-chain efficiency and multigenerational appeal have made it the beauty brand of the moment.
“We have a great deal of respect for all of our competitors; we think there’s incredible areas of inspiration,” said Tarang Amin, chief executive of E.L.F. Beauty, which saw its net sales surge 76 percent last quarter and its shares soar more than 160 percent in 2023.
Companies such as E.L.F., Essence and NYX have flourished as beauty influencers — particularly on TikTok and YouTube — raised their profiles, and as entrenched inflation made many consumers reassess their spending. At $6, Essence’s Hello, Good Stuff! Glow Serum Primer has become a popular alternative to a $35 offering by Glow Recipe. Maybelline makes a lip gloss routinely compared to Urban Decay’s $27 Vice Lip Bond for roughly half the price, and E.L.F. has an $8 dupe for Dior’s $40 Addict Lip Glow Oil.
Founded in 2004 by Scott-Vincent Borba and father and son Alan Shamah and Joey Shamah, E.L.F. (an acronym for eyes, lips, face) initially dumbfounded the industry with its strategy of selling mascara, eye shadow and lip gloss for $1 online. The brand soon found its way into drugstores, supermarkets, Target and Ulta. By the time equity investment firm TPG Growth acquired a majority stake in 2014, the company had reached $100 million in sales, Amin said. Last year, it had more than five times that in sales.
The $112 billion beauty industry, which includes skin care, cosmetics, perfume and hair care, has endured even as consumer spending overall has softened. It was one of the highest-performing categories over the five-day kickoff — Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday — to the holiday shopping season, according to Phil Rist, the executive vice president of strategy at Prosper Insights and Analytics. Mass market beauty sales jumped 8 percent year over year, while prestige brands swelled 14 percent, according to Circana.
“Beauty is a very emotional market, making it much more resilient to economic turmoil,” said Delphine Horvath, a cosmetics and fragrance marketing professor at Fashion Institute of Technology. “As inflation worries persist … consumers are looking for good value brands at affordable prices.”
None of this surprises me. They are preaching to the choir over here. Does this make me an Elfie, because put that E.L.F. on my shelf! (#MomJoke) I don’t wear makeup every time I leave my house, but I do like doing a beauty routine that makes my skin feel good, and therefore, makes me feel good about myself. It can get expensive, though. I have never minded using something that costs more if it works, but I don’t want to pay for something that I can’t sample beforehand to know how my sensitive skin will react. Word of mouth is still really important and I have enjoyed all of the E.L.F. products I’ve tried (which also includes their putty primer, that I bought in a pinch at a Walgreens while traveling because I had left my larger, hydrating primer at home by accident). Because I’m not on TikTok, the whole “dupe” world is still somewhat new to me, but I’ve been reading up and am excited to try some new things. I’m really grateful that companies like this one exist to help bridge the price gap, and I’m always open to suggestions on what “dupes” to try.
The Best E.L.F Dupes
From CB: I went through E.L.F.’s Amazon storefront and they have so many great dupes! I’m sure I’m missing some but here are a few I got from The Chirpyest.
– A dewy highlighter that’s a dupe for Charlotte Tilbury’s $50 Flawless Filter
I use e.l.f.’s Halo Glow and it’s such a game changer! I had a woman compliment me and ask what I use and when I said e.l.f. she was like “really that’s elf?” At under $14 it’s a bargain.
– A $6 brightening wand that’s so much more affordable that YSL’s Touche Eclat
e.l.f. Flawless Brightening Concealer is said to be great at achieving ‘no-makeup’ flawless looks. Reviewers say it’s not cakey and has great coverage.
– A Supergoop sunblock dupe that’s half the price
I use Supergoop sunblock and primer but it’s almost $30. This version is just $14!
– A $7 concealer that’s a dupe for Tarte’s ultra creamy at over $30
People say this concealer is so great at hiding tired eyes and covering blemishes and dark spots.
– A primer that’s a dupe for Milk’s Hydro grip
Milk’s Hydro Grip primer is $38 but e.l.f.’s Power Grip Primer with niacinamide is just $10. People say it makes their makeup last all day and that they get compliments on their skin.
– A contouring beauty wand that’s a dupe for Charlotte Tilbury’s glow wand
e.l.f.’s Halo Glow Contour Beauty Wand is just $9 and at that price you’ll want it for both highlighting and contouring. The photos convinced me!
– An $11 cleansing balm that’s a dupe for Clinique’s $51 version
I use e.l.f.’s Holy Hydration cleanser which is crazy affordable at $6. Their cleansing balm is also a bargain at just $11 and it’s formulated with hyaluronic acid.
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I’m saving this post for the next time I go to Target. I wear their eye shadow pencils and love them, but hadn’t tried their skincare yet. Target’s branching out into more makeup lines has been the best thing for my makeup routine
Bookmarking this post!
Does anyone use the contouring beauty wand and should I buy three of them?
I do. I only use it as a contour. Not a bronzer. It’s great. It’s easy to use. It’s really pigmented so a little goes a long way. I don’t think you need three of them. Unless contouring is part of your daily routine one should be enough.
Just get one and see if you like it.
I do. I got the lightest shade for contouring and it’s too ashy but the other colours are too damn good!
Go to the ELF website to buy and save yourself the frustration of shopping for it in stores, where they are often largely sold out. Their lip stain is my holy grail!
Scampering off to the website now. I already bought the moisturizer (spf 30) from Amazon. I’ll be trying the lip stain now.
The ELF poreless primer (the one in the pink bottle) is my holy grail. It makes my skin like glass before applying foundation. It is the BEST and I get it at Walmart/Target.
I love E.L.F. They are still an affordably priced drugstore brand. The Halo Glow liquid filter and contour wand is amazing! If you haven’t tried them yet, I highly recommend you do. You won’t regret it.
Another dupe of theirs is the Poreless Putty Primer. It is a reasonable dupe of the Tatcha Silk Canvas.
All the Black Women that I know…SWEARS BY E.L.F.! After YEARS of spending beaucoup $$$ at Ulta…Over the years E.L.F. has been a true 🎁!
I recently discovered E.L.F on Amazon by sheer chance and love their products. They have a gorgeous nude mini eyeshadow palette that was perfect for me (as a dark skinned Black woman who’s getting older, it’s hard finding the right ones). My favorite daily moisturizer tripled in price and I wanted an inexpensive good one without SPF for the days when I stay home. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try their Holy Hydration daily moisturizer and I love it and already ordered another one.
I love their sunblock. As a pale girl with problematic skin it’s one of the best I’ve used. Their brushes are also pretty good. I do like the way their foundation wears but they haven’t expanded enough to include a shade that is light enough for me, so I mix it with L.A. Girl pro color.
I love the primers and I too switched from the Tarte concealer to the ELF one, this is my first tube of it and it is great. Sign me up as an Elfie too, skin care is just getting outrageous. I can’t afford to splurge on everything!
The cleansing balm is the real deal. The makeup just melts off.
OOOOOh must look into this as I like the Clinique one a lot, but at £32 for 125ml in the UK, it’s getting kind of pricy……
Their best product is hands down their Camo Concealer. It’s very affordable at @ $6 and works better than some of my higher end ones.
I used to have this habit of buying expensive concealers i.e. NARS, YSL etc for evening and then the ELF one for day until I realised I was no longer reaching for the expensive ones even in the evenings at weekends so I stopped buying them.
Also as a brown girl – the ELF price point means I can buy two colours and combine to get the perfect shade for me.
EDIT : Can someone who has used the MILK and ELF primers confirm if they’re dupes for each other ?
Ahhhh a beauty post. The perfect holiday season de-stresser!
Dupes have been around forever for fragrance, I know because I’m an old. A lot of perfumes I love are no longer made so I rely on dupes (and the odd Ebay purchase, but there you’re dependent on storage conditions because heat and light destroy perfumes over the years no matter how well made bla bla bla).
I will definitely look for ELF products now that I’ve seen this! I’d sell a well loved relative for a decent mascara, haha….and I’m an Ulta devotee so I’ll keep an eye out the next time I go….
Before I had to go vegan due to extreme allergies (alpha gal, got it twice!) I absolutely loved L’oreal voluminous million lashes mascara
https://amzn.to/48hyYuC
-edit ALL ELF products are vegan! I’m not really fond of their mascara but I’ve only tried Big Mood, I’ve heard that Lash and Roll is good
https://amzn.to/471TKxe
Woohoo! There’s my Xmas gift to myself sorted…thank you so much 🙂
Their neutral brown brow gel is the best brow gel I’ve tried. Goes on very natural and is less gloopy than Anastasia or Glossier. A lot of brown brow products run reddish on me, but this one doesn’t, and it’s only $5!
The quality of the dupe products from e.l.f. are hit or miss. I have liked a few things but most I have not. The dupe of Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless Filter was one of the worst products I tried this year. The dupe of the Nars lipstick is just okay. I haven’t tried the Charlotte Tilbury Highlight and Blush Wand dupes – but I know those who have and they weren’t impressed. I like e.l.f. for the most part. But I think people need to realize that just because something SAYS it’s a dupe doesn’t mean it is. Ingredients really do play a huge role in that. Not just packaging and names.
I have been trying so many concealers, but I can say that ELFs camouflage concealer is crazy good. Also I love their brushes.
I recently started using Halo Glow and my skin has never looked better. It has just the right amount of pigment to even out my skin tone, doesn’t feel heavy, doesn’t cake or settle into lines, and makes my skin look super glowy. I sometimes use a tiny bit of concealer with it. It’s been a game changer for me, especially after spending SO. MUCH. MONEY. on high end products that left me disappointed.
Huge fan of E.L.F. I will almost always try something my favorite YouTube influencer suggests because even it’s not great for me, it’s an affordable experiment usually.
I swear by ELF’s gel eyeliner pencils.
More posts like this, please! I am on TikTok and Insta, but it’s all a ton of rabbit holes to try and figure out what really slaps (or if it’s just some kind of paid promotion/marketing). I have a lot of E.L.F. products and have been pleased with most everything. I haven’t tried their face wash as I’m hesitant to leave my CeraVe, but it might be a good travel toiletry bag purchase.
The E.L.F. eyebrow pencil! It’s a dupe for Benefit’s skinniest one (can’t remember the name). Love spending $8 instead of $35 Canadian for a *very* small amount of product!
I don’t wear much makeup, but I did buy a bunch of their stock, so thanks!