Neutral smokey eyes using ELF neutral beauty book with photos & swatches

With all the overwhelming hype of the Urban Decay naked palette flowing from every beauty blog page there is out there, it's a little hard for me to accept the fact that I will never get it.
Sadly, I live an hour's drive away from Sephora, and I didn't get the chance to grab one up.
Of course it's completely sold out online and I refuse to purchase it on Ebay for ridiculously inflated prices. *end sob story*
So - I decided to try something a little bit different for a 'naked' look.
I recently stumbled across E.L.F.'s neutral beauty book and immediately thought the colors looked really nice and wearable. I often find most palettes with 'neutrals' tend to be on the warm side, mainly bronze and copper colors which I don't like much.

Front cover:

It includes 12 shades of really neutral colors, ranging from shimmer to matte and warm to cool tones.
It turns out that a lot of these colors are really similar to some MAC eyeshadow colors! A few a dupes and some of are just really close.
The best part is this only set me back $7 CAD. You can get it online on the E.L.F. site for $5 US.
What a steal!

Inside you will find:

On the left page there is a step by step tutorial on how to create a basic look using the palette.
Included is a double ended sponge tip applicator, and a mini brightening eyeliner.

Mini liner:

Swatched:

It's actually a nice mid tone brown color. Great to use as a base for the smoky neutral eye look. I wouldn't expect any real staying power on the waterline since it is a kohl type pencil and smudges easily.

The eyeshadows:

I will admit that these eyeshadows are not the nicest texture. Some go on better than the others, but they are all very loosely pressed and tend to fall out when you are applying. The palette can get messy.
They will work best over a good eyeshadow base, I tried them over NYX jumbo pencil in strawberry milk and the colors 'stuck' well and looked vibrant.

Here are swatches and descriptions; No base was used for the swatches, but I did heavily layer the colors so they would show up well.

Row 1 Left to Right:

- shimmery light ivory with gold undertone
- shimmery golden tan -> similar to MAC woodwinked
- shimmery medium golden brown -> MAC mulch dupe
- shimmery deep brown with a plum undertone -> Similar to MAC smut


Row 2 Left to Right:

- frosty whitish gold -> MAC nylon dupe
- frosty light pink -> Similar to MAC pink freeze
- mid-tone pink beige with slight shimmer -> MAC banshee dupe
- Deep blackened navy matte -> Similar to MAC Nehru

Row 3 Left to Right:

- flesh toned beige shimmer (looks the same shade as my skin!)
- copper shimmer -> MAC amber lights dupe
- reddened purple with slight shimmer -> somewhere between MAC cranberry and sketch
- Dark neutral brown matte -> MAC brun dupe

EOTD # 1 smokey neutral for daytime :

For this look I used these colors from the palette:

EOTD #2 smokey neutral look for night:

Not sure why I look like an oompaloompa here...bad lighting :/

For this one I used these colors from the palette:

Overall, I think this palette is worth it just because it's easy to use; and so so easy on the wallet! The shadows coordinate well with each other and you can create a wide variety of looks using them.
It's great to have in your kit for those days you want to do something simple and pretty.
Just be sure to use a good base or you will be disappointed.
In no way is this comparable to MAC quality, but the colors I mentioned in the descriptions are very close.

What do you think about ELF products? yay or nay?