e.l.f. Spoofs True Crime With 'Vanity Vandals'

Solving a very silly branded mystery

Is your bathroom vanity a crime scene? Strewn with tons of cosmetics, ranging from blush and lipstick to eye-liner and lord knows what else?

Does this sorry state of affairs piss off your roommate or significant other so intensely that they never want to see you again?

e.l.f. Cosmetics explores such makeup misdemeanors in a nearly 10-minute film created by its in-house team with Movers+Shakers and Prettybird director Alex Buono.

We hit all the true-crime staples: dogged investigators (one can’t stop munching bagels), a dogged psychologist and a young couple going through a rough time. The wife makes a mess of the bathroom; hubby’s at wit’s end.

A wild-eyed make-up guru gets the best, most ludicrous lines: “You’re profiling her soul when you should be profiling the night.”

In the end, it’s all about “access,” “not excess.” e.l.f is so darn affordable, why not splurge?

Speaking of excess, though it’s all quite amusing, five minutes would’ve been the sweet spot here. Or three. (It’s garnered several million social views already, so what do I know?)

“We saw this growing conversation around messy shared bathroom spaces and beauty routines, and we knew we had to show them we were listening in a way that is unmistakably e.l.f.,” says Patrick O’Keefe, chief integrated marketing officer.

“Vanity vandalism may feel like chaos, but it is really a result of something positive: More people having access to beauty and expressing themselves in new ways. Why have one blush when you can have them all?”

Phoebe Dynevor, Christina Chang, Gary Kraus and Christopher Sky star.

True Crime sendups have become a subgenre of late. e.l.f told a tale of “Cosmetic Criminals” in 2024. And this recent French lottery promo proved a fun romp (and managed to hit the jackpot in less than two minutes).