Essence Trend Edition in Dark Romance

Essence is now out with another collection which is apt for winter here in Australia. Dark Romance is a collection of reds, berries and deep blues and grey. I picked up some of the products that I want to share with you guys today.

This collection also features some cool nail and body art products which I didn't pick up because I don't tend to use them. The products I got were the two lipsticks, two lipglosses, two blushes, one cream highlighter and one of the eyeshadow quads.

(Pic Heavy)

Top- Cream blush in 01 Painted Love, 02 Red Romance ( Swatched heavily/ blended in), Middle- Eyeshadow quad in 01 Mystery Glam,  Bottom- Lipsticks in 02 Painted Love, 01 Red Romance, Lipglosses in 02 Light up and 01 Black Shadow.

Cream Highlighter in 01 Light up.

The cream/ mousse blushes are very soft and creamy, but they do require a lot of product and work to actually blend and be seen on the cheek. Once blended they leave a slight stain that lasts for about 5 hours on my skin.

The Eyeshadow quads have some very nice smokey shades which are perfect for the winter but they are quite sheer if you do not apply a primer. They do blend seamlessly but have a bit of fallout too so make sure you tap of the excess before applying them on your eyes.

The Lipsticks are my second favorite products in this collection. They are super creamy and glide on so easily on the lips. The colour pay off is pretty good too. Two swipes and you get full opaque colour. If you are scared to rock red or dark berry lips then you could do only one swipe and pat it with your fingers to create a stain effect. They do have a chemically scent which is very faint and you cannot smell it when you have the lipstick on so thats a bonus.

Essence Lipglosses are the best lipglosses in my opinion. I am not a huge fan of glosses but when it comes to choosing between a MAC lipgloss and Essence, my vote will always go to Essence. They are creamy, non-sticky, and very comfortable on the lips. The two shades I got have a lot of iridescent shimmer which looks beautiful when the light catches it. 01 Black Shadow is a grey base with silver shimmer which is in no way gritty feeling on the lips. 02 Light up is a white base with pink and blue iridescent shimmer. Both these glosses smell like Watermelon Hubba Bubba. Yumm!!

I also got the Cream highlighter in 01 Light up which comes off as a beautiful pinky sheen on the skin when you blend it in. It reminds me of Benefit's Moon Beam but in a cream form. If you can pick only one item from this collection I would highly recommend this highlighter.

Available at Priceline now.

Have you picked up anything from this collection? What are your favorite products from Essence?

❤❤❤

Essence Blushes and Highlighters Collection

Hey guys,

This is part two of my Essence collection post and in this post I will b sharing with you all of my Essence blushes and highlighters. I absolutely adore some of these blushes and highlighters. 

Most of them are from their trend editions so they would be limited edition, but Essence comes out with trend editions almost every two months so you would definitely find something similar sooner or later.

(L-R) Circus Highlighter powder in It's Magic(L.E), Silky Touch blush in Secret It-Girl, Silky Touch Blush in Babydoll, Beauty Beats Blush in Groupie at heart(L.E), Twilight blush in Renesmee Red (L.E), Me and my Icecream Cream blush in Ice Bomb(L.E), Silky Touch blush in Life's a cherry, Twilight shimmer powder in Bella's Secret(L.E), Ticket to Paradise Shimmer Powder in Tropical Heat(L.E), Beauty Beats Shimmer powder in Swaaaag(L.E).
(L.E= Limited Edition)

(L-R) Bella's Secret, Tropical Heat, It's Magic, Swaaaag.

(L-R) Bella's Secret, Tropical Heat, It's Magic, Swaaaag.

I absolutely adore Essence shimmer powders. They all look similar but are quiet different on application. Bella's Secret is a champagne gold with very fine shimmer, Tropical Heat has more bronze tones to it. 

It's magic, is a pure yellow gold shimmer and Swaaaag is a frosted silver white with a tiny tinge of pink. 

Out of all of these four Bella's Secret had the least noticeable shimmer particles, next was Its magic. Both Tropical Heat and Swaaaag have noticeable shimmer particles and can look very chunky if not blended properly.

If your lucky you can still be able to find Swaaaag and Tropical Heat in some Priceline stores as they are from very recent Trend Editions.

(L-R) Renesmee Red, Life's a Cherry, Babydoll, Groupie at heart, Secret it-girl, Ice Bomb

Essence blushes are very hit and miss. Some I absolutely love, some not so much but they are not bad either.

 First off we have Renesmee Red which is a warm red with orange undertones and matte, to be used with a very light hand this gives a beautiful natural flush of rosy cheeks. Next is Life's a cherry, this is beautiful poppy pink with a satin finish, this blush is from the regular line so you can find it at all Pricelines and Targets. 

Babydoll is a cool toned baby pink with a satin finish again from the regular line. Groupie at heart is a vibrant watermelon pink with a matte finish.

Secret It-girl is a light peach with golden shimmer, the shimmer is not very chunky so it won't make you look like a disco ball. The last of the lot is the cream blush in Ice bomb. This was a part of the Me and my icecream collection that came out a few months ago. It is a smooth pinky coral with a satin finish.

Out of all the blushes I prefer the Renesmee red, Life's a cherry, Groupie at heart for my skin tone. The others are a little too light and I have to build up the colours to create the intensity. In saying that I do still like all of them.

(L-R) Renesmee Red, Life's a Cherry, Babydoll, Groupie at heart, Secret it-girl, Ice Bomb

Essence Cosmetics can be found at all Pricelines and Targets in Australia.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading about my Essence cheek collection. If you have tried any of these products before then let me know what you think of them in the comments below.

Essence Ticket to Paradise collection exclusive to Priceline

Hey guys,

I was wandering around Priceline in one of the shopping centres in the eastern suburbs when the new Ticket to Paradise collection by Essence caught my attention. The bright colours of summer pulled me into buying a few things. I had read a post by Sophie from BorntoBuy talk about this collection in one of her posts in November and fell in love with all the products. You can read her post here.

The collection consists of 

4 nail colours RRP $2.95 each

2 glossy lip pencils RRP $2.25 each

3 lip glosses RRP $3.50 each

1 shimmer powder RRP $5.35 each

3 cream eyeshadows RRP $4.95 each and

2 hair mascaras RRP $5.35 each

I could get hold of only a few of the products so I don't have the whole collection to show you.

I bought the shimmer powder in 01 Tropical Heat which is a bronze gold highlighter. It is a beautiful highlighter especially for the summer. I love Essence Highlighters overall so this is no exception too.

The two lip glosses I got are in 01 Sun said red which is a clear lip gloss with a teeny tiny hint of orange through it. On the lips it shows up clear. It smells exactly like the other Essence lip glosses, wish it was a little pigmented instead of completely clear. The other lip gloss I bought is in 03 Dive with me to the island which is a blue clear lip gloss with shimmer. This is a great lipgloss to top off a matte lipstick or to wear on its own because the shimmer looks beautiful and is not too overpowering.

The glossy lip pencils in 01 Sun said red and 02 My Treasure Island are basically lip crayons in a thin pencil form. They glide on smoothly and do stain the lips a little. Since these are not matte they do keep your lips feeling hydrated and you can wear these on their own or under lip glosses.

The cream eyeshadows in 01 Dive with me to the Island, 02 Deep Sea Baby and 03 Tropical Heat are gorgeous shimmery cream eyeshadows that look great on their own or use them as a base. They have a plush pillow like consistency and are super smooth. 

Over all I love the products of this collection. It is available at selected Priceline stores right now but by January most of the Pricelines in Australia will stock this trend edition. 

Have you seen this collection at your local Priceline yet???

Dior Lipsticks in JOY and MINUIT from the Golden Winter Collection

Hey guys,

Recently my husband and I were roaming around Myer and I was checking out the stuff at Dior when my eyes fell on the new Winter collection by Dior. They had a beautiful range of lipsticks, nail polishes, eyeshadow palettes, highlighters, lip glosses and blushes.

 I was in awe with the whole collection. My husband was really nice to me that day and said I could pick up one thing. I really couldn't decide and told him to buy me two instead. So I ended up buying two of the lipsticks. If I save some money I may go back to buy the nail polishes. The bottles look so cute. 

You can read about the collection on Temptalia's post here.

The collection is out at all Myer stores but not yet at David Jones. The lipsticks cost $50 each. I did try the eyeshadow too but had an allergic reaction to it. It could be the glitter because the MUA did use the glittery shade from the Golden Flower palette on me but I am not sure. I have never used Dior eyeshadows before so it could be that I am allergic to a particular ingredient they use.

https://plus.google.com/+Dior/posts

The lipsticks I bought were 046 Minuit which is a gorgeous dark magenta pink with shimmer particles and 043 Joy which is a muted mauve nude pink.

Both the colours look gorgeous on any skin tone. They glide on so easily and have a good staying power too. I applied the colour Joy in store before buying and it lasted me pretty much 6 hours though food and a drink. The sheen did wear off a little bit but the colour was still there. 

Even though they are long wearing they do not feel drying. Also they did not dry my lips out afterwards too. The packaging of the lipstick is gorgeous but I could not include a pic as it was reflecting the background. Thus I have included the pic below from Dior's Google+ page.

https://plus.google.com/+Dior/posts

I completely love the feel of these lipsticks on my lips and they are great wearable shades for the upcoming holiday season.

Have you checked out Dior's winter collection yet and is there any product you have your eyes on???

Models Prefer Sweet Shadows and Sweet Kisses Swatches and First Impressions

Hey Guys,

Its that time of the year again where all makeup companies come out with gift sets, Yes!! Christmas is almost here. I had been eyeing this eyeshadow set since the day Priceline posted a picture of it on Instagram. Finally I found it and also found another gift set with face products too. I am talking about the Models Prefer Sweet Shadows and Models Prefer Sweet Kisses. There is another gift set launched by them which is a cute clutch purse with three makeup items in it. I did not buy that as I was more keen on getting these.

*All swatches are applied using a brush

First Impressions:

When I first saw the picture on Instagram it reminded me of Too Faced gift sets. That was the primary reason I wanted to buy these. There were no testers in store so I could not swatch the shadows before purchasing.

Sweet Shadows  $15 at Priceline:

The sweet shadows gift set comes with 12 eyeshadows, 1 eye primer and 1 mascara and brow gel duo for $15.

The eye primer feels smooth and dries matte. It does not have any tackiness to it like most eye primers have. Tacky eye primers help intensify shadows on the eye. I felt this eye primer to have the formulation of a face primer. 

The Mascara wand is a rubber wand with short bristles on one side and longer bristles on the other. I quite like the formulation of the mascara as it is a thick consistency. The Brow gel side has a normal mascara wand with clear gel.

The eyeshadows have cute names and most of them fall under the mauves and purples category. The shadows are very chalky and don't have much pigmentation. You have to layer them 4 or 5 times to get the shadows to actually show up. In the pictures I had to layer the shadows 4 times to make them look close to color. 

Highest Pigmented shades:

Precious

Enchanting

Lowest Pigmented shades:

Innocent

Adorable

Angelic

Sweetened

Overall Verdict:

Cute gift but not a must have. There are other gift sets from Models Prefer under the same price range which have better quality eyeshadows.

Sweet Kisses $25 at Priceline:

When I saw this box I expected some lip products to be in there but there is none. Like the name Sweet Shadows had eyeshadows, Sweet kisses did not have any lip products. Instead it has face products like blush and bronzer.

This box comes with 16 eyeshadows, 1 eye primer, 1 mascara and brow gel duo, 1 bronzer, 1 highlighter, 2 blushes and 1 eye brush duo for $25

The eye primer and mascara duo is the same as in the Sweet Shadows. The duo eye brush is synthetic with one side shader and one side blender. It is quite a stiff brush and I personally will not use it.

The highlighter in Macaroon is very powdery and has a slight sheen. It is not a very noticeable highlighter.

The bronzer in Cinnamon Spice has a nice texture and is warm toned. It is not completely matte.

The blushes in Marshmallow and Peach Parfait are hard and not very blend able. They are not at all pigmented. Even when I used my finger to swatch hardly any color showed up on my skin.

All the eyeshadows are named after sweets and again not very pigmented. The 3rd and 4th columns of eyeshadows seem to have more color pay off than the first 2 columns. 

Highest pigmented shades:

Toffee

Black Forest

Honey Crunch

Dark Cluster

Lowest Pigmented Shades:

Chocolate Whip

Mint Slice

Cherry Ripe

Caramel

Overall Verdict:

Again this is a cute gift but not something that will be of any use because there is no proper pigmentation. The tin boxes that these come in are reusable to store knickknacks. 

I was just looking through some pictures online and these gift sets are exact copies of Too Faced products. In terms of eyeshadow colors, Models Prefer tried to come out with almost exact dupes but unfortunately the quality just does not match up. These are just my first impressions and all eyeshadow swatches did not have a primer or base underneath. Maybe they will perform well with a primer, can't be too sure though. I really liked the quality of Models Prefer eyeshadow quads but these don't look like similar quality. 

Have you tried the Models Prefer gift sets? what do you think of them??

http://www.beautylish.com/p/too-faced-shadow-bon-bons

http://www.beautylish.com/p/too-faced-sweet-indulgence-palette

Laura Mercier Face Illuminator in Spellbound

Hey guys,

Today I am going to be reviewing the Laura Mercier Face Illuminator in Spellbound from the Dark Spell collection.

What Laura Mercier says about this product :

A beautiful face illuminating hybrid product with a soft rose gold shimmer perfect for highlighting. The unique formula based on high pearl levels provides buildable long-wearing colour.

Effortlessly highlights cheeks, eyes and décolleté with pure light-reflecting pigments for a colour-true, multi-dimensional luminous finish

Provides natural radiance to complexion for an instant healthy glow

Lightweight formula with a smooth, soft, creamy texture is comfortable to wear

Bouncy texture allows for excellent colour payoff

Applies smoothly and evenly onto face without dragging on skin or dusting

Long-wearing formula; wears all day (8 hours)

Stays colour-true and does not fade throughout the day

Designed to complement all skin tones

Versatile formula can be used on face, cheeks and eyes

Dermatologist and Ophthalmologist tested

Suitable for all skin types, even sensitive

Size: 10.00g/0.35 oz.

What I think about this product:

First of all the packaging is simple and classy. 

The product itself has a beautiful satin scrunched look. 

The texture is creamy and blends like a dream. 

The colour of the highlighter is a rose gold with a shimmer which is not glittery.

 For lighter skin tones this can work as a blush as it has some colour, but for darker skin tones, only as a highlighter.

Since it has warm undertones, it suits cooler and warmer skin equally.

It lasted about 7 hours on me and then faded evenly.

It retails for $60 in Australia and $42 in the US. I bought mine from Myer. 

Swatched heavily             Blended out

Swatched heavily                   Blended out

I have swatched Essence Bella's Secret on the left and Spellbound on the right, in the pictures below.

Bella's Secret                   Spellbound  

Bella's Secret                    Spellbound  

I think this is a gorgeous product for those who are looking for a highlighter that works on all skin tones. I must warn you this is limited edition so pick one up before it sells out.

Till next time,

❤