Essence Latest Collection!
Being the pocket friendly brand that it is known for, Essence latest collection practically had me giddy with excitement! I've tried quite a few products from Essence, and for the price that they come with, it has always left me pleased. Let's see how this latest offering of theirs fared :)
While there are alot more products in this collection, ranging from primers to CC creams, what I was sent was a special effect nail varnish, an ombre blush, a volume maximizing mascara and a super long lasting lip gloss. Let's see how they fared individually, shall we?
Starting with the XXL Long Lasting Lip gloss, the first thing that literally made me laugh out loud was the name! For Bollywood fans, the name 'Baby Dolls Favorite' might remind you of an annoyingly catchy song that was quite the rage a while back. Coming on to the lip gloss itself, it is a lovely everyday color that seems much more intense in the swatch above than it actually does on the lips. If I were a lip-gloss wearer, I would probably reserve this shade for everyday wear since it barely gives off any color when actually applied on to the lips. The XXL Long Lasting claims aren't the most accurate since this does wear off slowly over the duration of 2-3 hours, but in all honestly the concept of traditional lip-glosses and long lasting-ness doesn't really go hand-in-hand! It feels fairly light when applied and isn't very sticky or gloopy!
Now coming on to the product that I was most excited for, the ombre blush! Essence kinda exploded on the Pakistani beauty scene a while back when they brought out their "Roller Miami Girl" collection (pictured right) since the concept of an ombre blush ranging from a coral end to a pinky end was a new one that has not been attempted before, at such a price! Sad news was that the Roller Miami Girl collection was a limited edition collection,and many people could not grad a hold of the blush that was all the rage! Well worry not, because Essence's new 'Blush Up' is the exact same thing as the Miami Girl one, just with different packing! Talk about clever marketing strategies!
When swatched or kept side by side, there is absolutely no difference in the formulation that is easily bendable, the lasting power which is around the 4-5 hour mark or the colors. Swatched above you can see how the color start changing if you go from left (coral) to right (pink). The in between color is the shade you get when you swirl you finger around in both the shades! This blush is the highlight of this collection and I would recommend it to anyone :)
Being the almost lash-less girl that I am, volumizing and lengthening mascaras are a must for me! Anything that claims to make my thin lashes more visible and volumized is immediately going into my cart. Sadly, if you're like me, this mascara will let you down greatly. It did absolutely nothing for me, no volumizing action, no nothing, I could barely tell that it was on! The brush is plastic-y and it tends to hurt my eyes on application which is one of the reasons why it's lying in my drawer untouched since a while. The only saving grace of this mascara has to be the fact that it doesn't clump, and if the formula were better, it would be so-very-easy to layer this on, unfortunately, the formula gets a thumbs down for me. This was the greatest let down in the collection for me.
Coming on to the last product for today, the Essence glitter jewel effect nail polish was love at first sight for me! It consists of chunks of hexagonal glitter housed among normal glitters in a dark pink shade with variants of silver! I love topping of my darker polishes with this to lessen the 'Gothic' vibe, and using it on top of white nail varnish makes it very appropriate for summers! As all glitter polishes go, removing them is a pain, so I wouldn't hold that against this! Definitely gets a thumbs up from me! :)
Overall for this collection, I would say my must haves are the blush and the nail varnish, the lip gloss and mascara I could definitely go without. With prices ranging between PKR 220-PKR600 for these particular products, I'd say give them a whirl, you wont be disappointed.
Are you a fan of Essence, let me know in the comments below :)
Until next time, tc.
