Review: NYX Super Skinny Eye Marker

I recently finished up my Maybelline master precise liquid eyeliner and wanted to try something new in terms of eyeliner, I'm a big fan of the felt tip pen type as I just find it the easiest to use, largely due to the fact that it doesn't get gunky, it's easier to control the line weight and if you do mess up it's easier to fix up. So since I didn't seem to have many options I had not tried before (my fav is the Physician's Formula booster one) I decided to check out the NYX counter and ended up picking this one.

The NYX super skinny maker looks pretty good, it very much looks like a felt tip marker and has a nice thin tip, the ink flows very smoothly without problem and there is a great deal of variation you can do in terms of line weight as you can see below.

The biggest problem I had with this, which is my own fault for not clearly reading the packaging, is that this is not waterproof at all, as such it is smudgy as hell. Touching it at all will cause it to smudge, even excess heat will do it, it just seems to want to come off and Panda eyes are a constant concern. On the upside even a little bit of water will get this off, no need for any oil based make up remover, possibly looking at it funny m might be enough to get this stuff off.

This is a fine marker if your just trying out felt liners as it's sturdy and has good ink flow, the tip could stand to be a tad longer but it's stiff enough that it's not a huge issue. If you aren't concerned about smudging or only need to wear it for a short time, or hate removing eye makeup then this is fine, but otherwise steer clear.

Base Compare

Well, first things first. I have too many makeup bases. I didn't used to, in fact i'm not quite sure what happened.. I used to use one up then go buy another but now I hear something or see something talking about a shiny new foundation or a cult fav and somehow here it is... Well in  attempt to stop this I thought I would take the time to compare some of these for you and also try to control my own base-addiction so I won't be buying anymore until I finish at least 6 of these. I'll note how much has already been used in the post below too.

Foundations

So my collection of Foundations includes; Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum (bought start of this year), Bourjois Flower Perfection Foundation, Illamasqua Skin Base, L'Oreal Eau De Teint, NYX Matte but not Flat Foundation, Korres Vitamin Foundation, and Rimmel Stay Mate Foundation.

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum - This have been my everyday foundation since the start of the year when I found it on special, it's a great match for me once it's buffed out even though on the swatch below it looks quite dark. I would repurchase this but probably wait till there was a sale again as it was good but not the amazing foundation that people had raved about.

Texture: Liquid 

Finish : Dewy

Opacity: Sheer, buildable

Wear: 6- 8 Hrs

Rebuy: Only on sale

Why I haven't finished it:  It's nearing on empty, maybe a month use left

Bourjois Flower Perfection Foundation - I got a sample of this once and it was so god damn amazing I went and bought the full product full price and then tried it at home and was...deeply disappointed, it was not the smooth flawless coverage from the sample. it was thick, heavy and cake-y and I hated it but never threw it away because I still hoped one day I would find that one thing that could make it work. I would take it out every few months and try again and no luck, until last week! I finally found the one way this can be applied and look amazing - a damp beauty blender! With it you can get a very covered look but it won't feel heavy or look like you have a face full of foundation on. Success!

Texture: Liquid 

Finish: Matte

Opacity: Very Heavy

Wear: 8- 12 Hrs

Rebuy: No, too difficult to work with

Why I haven't finished it: Stopped using it due to difficulty of use.

Illamasqua Skin Base - shade SB02 - I love this foundation, it's amazingly pigmented for very little product. It's very pale and a little hard to use  if i get a but of sunlight but that's not usually a concern. But the biggest problem is the packaging which is so hard that it's very difficult to actually get any product out as it's more cream then liquid. 

Texture: Cream 

Finish: Satin

Opacity: Medium

Wear: 5- 8 Hrs 

Rebuy: Yes, if the packaging was changed

Why I haven't finished it: I save it for special occasions and the packaging is hard to use on a daily basis

L'Oreal Eau De Teint - shade 120 Pure Ivory - I've been keeping an eye on the advertised space in Priceline for weeks and lucky me it showed up just the Priceline 40% off sale came around so I snatched it up. Been using it everyday since then and I'm very much in love, it's so light and feels like there is nothing on my face. It's so effortlessly easy to blend and feels lovley, soft , and smooth to the touch.

Texture: Super Liquid

Finish: Satin

Opacity: Sheer, buildable

Wear: 6-8 Hrs , wears away well

Rebuy: yes

Why I haven't finished it: I just bought it

NYX Matte but not Flat Foundation - 04 Creamy Neutral , I picked this up last November when NYX first arrived at my local Target. I wanted to like this as the color match for me was quite spectacular however it did something no other foundation or bb or cc or any other kind of base ever has - it found dry patches on my normal/oily skin. Madness!

Texture: Cream/Mousse

Finish: Matte

Opacity: Medium

Wear: 4- 6 Hrs 

Rebuy: No

Why I haven't finished it: It's the first and onyl foundation to ever cling to supposed dry bits on my screen so it doesn't look good. Might try the beauty blender on this.

Korres Vitamin Foundation - I got this is a special package along with a few Korres lip balms which are also awesome and for most of last year this was my go-to-foundation and was the one I picked to take with me to Melbourne. It's very good and long lasting foundation that is great at controlling shine and it's too bad that it's been discontinued as I do feel that it made my skin look better.

Texture: Cream 

Finish: Dewy

Opacity: Medium

Wear: 6- 8 Hrs 

Rebuy: Yes, but discontinued

Why I haven't finished it: I got new foundation (Illamasqua) that I was eager to try and this fell to the back of the drawer.

Rimmel Stay Mate Foundation - I picked this one up at the Priceline 40% off last November and it was probably a mistake since it's quite similar to the NYX Stay matte but not flat, it feels heavy and although the coverage is great I don't really feel comfortable in it. This one however does not stick to apparent dry patches like the NYX.

Texture: Mousse

Finish: Matte

Opacity: Medium/Heavy

Wear: 4 - 8 Hrs 

Rebuy: No

Why I haven't finished it: It turned out to be si thick and heavy it didn't feel comfortable on the skin, another one for the beauty blender.

BB & CC Creams 

This collection of Foundations includes; Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream, Ponds Flawless Whitening BB Cream, Nivea BB Cream, Garnier Oil Free BB Cream, Revlon Photoready BB Cream and the Watsons Collagen BB Cream.

Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream - I saw on this some blogs and various youtube channels and it seemed to get a lot of love, I got shade 33 which is a smidgen too dark and I have worn this twice since purchase because I fell in love with the L'Oreal Eau De Taint.

Texture: Liquid

Finish: Dewy

Opacity: Medium

Wear:  4-6 Hrs

Rebuy: probably not, it's nice but I still like my Ponds BB cream better.

Why I haven't finished it: Just bought it

Ponds Flawless Whitening BB Cream- This is my favorite bb cream as it's a great match, it's a little thicker and ashy like an asian bb cream but is so much more easily available. I've gone through 2 of these and will almost certainly repurchase it again and again.

Texture: Liquid/Cream 

Finish: Satin

Opacity: Medium, buildable

Wear: 8- 12 Hrs 

Rebuy: Yes, have before

Why I haven't finished it: This one has been in rotation between the Bourjois health mix and is almost finished, maybe a week or two left.

Nivea BB Cream - A gift from mum when she went to Poland hence the crazy unreadable text, and i love the smell of it as it has that comforting Nivea smell but oh gosh the color is so wrong, it might as well be bright orange!  I tried it on a stay at home day to see how it lasted and it did okay, the texture reminds me of the Dove tinted moisturizer I used to use as a teenager.

Texture: Cream 

Finish: Matte

Opacity: Medium

Wear: 4-6 Hrs

Rebuy: No

Why I haven't finished it: It's the wrong color, probably going to give this away.

Garnier Oil Free BB Cream - This was my first ever brand of bb creams, I used the regular before the oil control version came out and then switched over, it's cheap and works quite well. There is really nothing wrong with this bb cream but for my skin the Ponds bb cream is much better for basically the same price.

Texture: Liquid 

Finish: Dewy

Opacity: Sheer, buildable

Wear: 6- 8 Hrs 

Rebuy: No, have found better matches since but I have re bought it in the past and gone through at least 3.

Why I haven't finished it: Found better color matches and better lasting products.

Revlon Photoready BB Cream - This was largely a purchase made at the spur of the moment due to excitement at seeing a new BB cream (when i bought this there was maybe 3-4 or the maker, not like 30 that there are now) and I probably didn't need it but id recently finished another bb cream and obviously felt that there a gap of some sort. It's not horrible but it;s very sheer and doesn't control oil at all, so this would be amazing on someone with dry or normal skin and a good complexion. While my complexion is much improved since I was a teen my forehead can get a bit oily especially on hot summer days.

Texture: Cream 

Finish: Dewy

Opacity: Sheer

Wear: 4- 6 Hrs 

Rebuy: No

Why I haven't finished it: It's so sheer and hardly build-able and terrible at oil control so it fell to the back of the drawer.

Watsons Collagen BB Cream - Another present from mum, this one from Singapore and it;s amazing. Probably better then my Ponds bb cream but it is almost impossible for me to get, it's a better texture and coverage but does harden a little in cold weather and needs some heating in your hands but is perfect in summer. If it was easily available I would get this BB cream and no others.

Texture: Cream 

Finish: Satin

Opacity: Medium

Wear: 8- 12 Hrs 

Rebuy: Yes

Why I haven't finished it: I'm so close to finishing it, if i do it will be gone and I will never find it again. That makes me sad. Has maybe a month or so left in it.

October 2013 Most Reached For

Better late then never right? It occurred to me that 1) Lush has Rose Jam in again and 2) My new RT Expert Face brush is amazing and you guys should totally know about it. Two of these items are making a return from last month; my Illamasqua blush in Katie which I fell in love with so much I actually didn't wear any other blush since I got this, NARS Orgasm and Deep Throat lie lonely and abandoned in my makeup storage case.Second item making a return for another month is Victoria's Secret Pure Seduction perfume, a amazing sweet and fruity perfume, though i wish it stuck around a little longer.

Rimmel's Stay Matte Powder has been my go to for a little over 2 months now an it does a fantastic job of keeping my makeup in place, getting rid of shine and has great oil control.

Can't believe it took me so long to pick up the expert face brush from Real Techniques, its so good, the short dense domed shapes bristles are perfect for applying foundation and I can't see myself going back to the stippling brush for that purpose ever again.

At the same time I'm loving using the NYX Jumbo Pencil in milk as a eye primer, it stays on all day and makes every color pop. Now that NYX is in Australia you can try it too!

Last but not least is Lush's Rose Jam shower gel, there is nothing better. I bought 3 bottles and i'm considering getting more before they are gone. Just go smell it.

NYX has Arrived!

So we all knew it was coming for weeks now, Perth (well WA in general) seems to have been near the bottom of the list but as of Monday they have made it over here too. Personally I've been following their facebook page (stalking more like) and was thrilled to discover that my local target got stocked up yesterday. So I made my way over before they had even finished stocking (as you can see in the photo above). If your in WA the current stores that have NYX are; Joondalup, Midland, Morley, Whitford (today), Perth City (today) , Victoria Park (today)  and Carousel (today).  If you need more info on other states then I suggest you check out their facebook , as they have been very forthcoming and responsive with info.

But moving on, all the stock wasn't on show yet but I managed to pick up three things I have been curious about for a while, the stock seems very decent though I was a tad disappointment to see there was no eyeshadow singles. I've has a few Nyx products in my day but it's so much nicer to be able to see it in person and swatch the colors yourself.

The three products I picked up were the Butter Gloss in Eclair, Stay Matte but not Flat liquid foundation, and a blush in the color Terra Cotta. I used all three products yesterday when i got home and to do a proper face of makeup today so I'm able to provide some initial thoughts on all three.

Starting with the  Stay Matte but not Flat liquid foundation, i picked it up in the color 04 Creamy Natural which seems to be the palest pink toned foundation as 01 Nude was the lightest in the yellow toned group. I picked this one up on a whim since I've just finished my Maybelline Dream bb Cream and needed something new. Upon trying I'm not sure how I feel about it. The color is a great match so no problems there, the texture is super smooth and surprisingly light for a matte foundation, the coverage is light to medium which is enough for me, the only problem being that...well it seems to cling a little to dry bits of skin.

I have never has this issue before with any foundation/bb cream/ or even powder. I have combination to oily skin, as far as i was aware I had NO dry bits on my skin. Turns out I was wrong. I'm going to play around with some different application methods as i still have hope that I can find a way to make this work for me.

The second item i grabbed was the butter gloss in the color Eclair, I'm usually not a fan of gloss of any kind but some of my favorite Youtube gurus mentioned they liked these and they smelled really nice that i decided to give it a go. Surprisingly i actually like it a lot, it doesn't make me any kinder to lip gloss in general but I'm willing to make an exception for this because it smells amazing, isn't high shine and isn't sticky. It smells kind of like a soft buttery pastry mixed with something sweet like maybe strawberries but it just sinks into your lips, it really reminds me of lip balm rather then a gloss as it feels insanely hydrating on the lips. I've been testing the Australis Velourlips the past few days and my lips were dry as dirt and this helped more then my Nivea lip butters, so I'm very impressed.

I've heard nice things on the blogo sphere about NYX blushes and the color i most often see is Terra Cotta so that's the one ended up picking up. It's a bit of a scary shade for me as i nearly always lean towards a more pink based blush.This one has a bit of shimmer (not glitter) and does lean towards the bronze with clear peachy notes. It's well liked as a dupe for MAC 'So Ceylon" and is also quite similar to Sunbasque which is why it gets more attention. It's quite soft and impressively pigmented but quite packed into the case so my ultra soft RT blush brush took a little bit of swirling around to pick up the color. I think this will make a great summer time blush as those golden peachy notes make it a wonderful blush/highlighter hybrid. So far very impressed with this.

Swatches are a little off, the foundation isn't quite so bright and the blush is a little more golden but the lip butter is pretty dead on.

Here's a pic of some of all my current NYX stuff, if you want a review or info on any of these let me know :) 

Here are links to other NYX reviews i have done; NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils and NYX Matte Lip Creams.

Top Six Winter Lipsticks

Now that Winter is beginning to wrap up (in Australia that is) i thought it was a good time to share with you some of my favorite lipsticks that i have been wearing a lot in these colder months, they are great Autumn and Winter shades though i must admit that personally I am drawn to these sorts of colors all year round.

The contenders are (from left to right) NYX Saturn, Revlon Liptember Berry, Australis Go Long Glam, Illamasqua Growl, Australis Color Inject in Foxtrot, and the Australis Color Inject in Boogie Woogie. As you can see the NYX Saturn has probably gotten the most use

all of them have nice packaging though my two favorites would have to be the Illamasqua (it's luxe) and the Color Injects; both of these feel a bit heavier so i feel like I'm getting my money's worth and i believe that they are the most attractive of the bunch.

NYX - SATURN

I've tried about three of the NYX round lipsticks and i have to say that Saturn has to rank in my favorite NYX lipsticks, but would also be in the top three favorite lipsticks of all time. It's a great shimmery golden berry color. It's clearly not a particularly dark shade but it gives a lot of dimension to the lips and is great in warmer weather too. Lasts a good 4 hours if i don't eat or drink.

9/10

REVLON - LIPTEMBER BERRY

I initially bought this in mid-August to support the cause, as such i haven't had it as long as the others and it hasn't seen as much use. Having said that i picked it up because the shimmer effect reminded me a lot of the same shimmer i can see Saturn although in this case it's a much deeper red/plum color. It's a little more dry then Saturn but because of that it has better staying power and with a little effort lasts up to 4 hours.

7/10

AUSTRALIS GO LONG - GLAM

I choose to pick up Glam after trying the Color Injects from Australis and being very pleased with the results, this color seemed to look great on every blog i saw and it called to me. It's a matte warm toned berry that is indeed quite long lasting, it is however quite dry on the lips so you will want to exfoliate before using this. That said it's not as bad as some matte lipsticks i have tried as it doesn't pull on your lips quite as much. Lasts around 6 hours but is a bit drying. I have also noticed that it can stain your lips sometimes.

7/10

ILLAMASQUA - GROWL

This one looks much scarier in the tube then on the lips, it's actually nowhere near as dark as it first appears to be, it is a bit dry being a matte shade but not as much as Glam. I find it's best to apply this one with a lip brush to get the best coverage otherwise it tends to stick to dry parts of your lips and not cover very evenly. Lasts a good 7+ hours.

9/10

AUSTRALIS COLOR INJECT - FOXTROT

It was a long time before i tried any lip shades from Australis but boy am i glad i did, they are incredibly smooth and nourishing and feel so amazing on the lips i feel like I'm using a lip butter not a lipstick, they have good staying power and don't stain at all. The only downside i can think of is the smell is a very old school lipstick scent which. Foxtrot is my absolute favorite color. It's similar to my all time (now discontinued) Lancome Color Fever in Rose Defile. It's a brown leaning mauve but it has pink undertones that your lips don't look dead or too dark for a normal day out. Love! It might not last as long as the matte colors but it looks more natural, I've has this last around 4-5 hours.

10/10

AUSTRALIS COLOR INJECT - BOOGIE WOOGIE

After my successful foray into the Color Inject line with Foxtrot i could hardly stop there and picked up Boogie Woogie as a more pink but still mauve tones lipstick to wear to work as if i had darker eyshadows on then Foxtrot tended to look much darker against my skin tone then usual. Boogie Woogie is just as amazing and has the same qualities as Foxtrot, but all in all i like the color of Foxtrot better. This however is a great pink and a good work color.

These were taken a little later in the day so they are a little bit darker then the lip swatches and you can't see the shimmer in Saturn or Liptember Berry, they do however give you a good idea of the consistency with Foxtrot and Boogie Woogie being particularly creamy and moisturizing.

Review: NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk & Black Bean

Most of you are probably familiar with the famous NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils in one way or another. Recently I was inspired by a Youtuber going by the call sign xsparkage and her love of the NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk especially, as she uses it as a base for 99% of her eyeshadow looks.

There are alot of shades and I look forward to trying some of the brighter ones, sadly the one i wanted (yellow) was out of stock so i'm going to wait rather then force myself to get a few colors i might not be as happy with. As i note i bought mine at Crush Cosmetics and it arrived very quickly, as in less then a week which is amazing to me So that's what it's like to live in America.

I decided to pick up Milk (duh) and Black Bean to start with as black and white are obviously the most usable. Milk is a matte creamy white which makes any color sitting on top of it pop and stand out a lot more. Certainly brights and pastels show up a lot more then on any other base i have tried. Because it's very creamy it will crease so the best place to apply this is directly onto your lid (not into the crease) and then blend it out, i find using your fingers is best.

I also picked up Black Bean, a glossy smooth as buttery black. It's incredibly smooth and makes for a great smoky look. Because it's so creamy you can get a very deep look with very little effort.

I would say these are worth the hype, especially if you consider how your going to use them and what you really want out them. For instance in my case i want to get into using more bright eyeshadow and want them to stay on and stay bright so Milk was an obvious choice.

WIN: Creamy, Blends well, great eyeshadow base

LOOSE: Will crease if used all over the eye

REPURCHASE: Yes

AVAILABILITY: Crush Cosmetics $6.95 + Shipping

FOTD: I like my new eyeshadows

My 2nd FOTD! yay, since everyone was so encouraging the first time around i wanted to do another of these posts, in addition i just wrote up my pre-birthday haul post and really wanted to try it all, i think it turned out pretty well.

Products Used:

face:

Illamasqua Hydra Veil

Illamasqua skin base foundation in 02

Illamasqua Hollow pigment (contour)

Illamasqua Rude cream blush

Korres Wild Rose concealer in WRC3

Rimmel Stay Matte translucent powder in 01

eyes:

MAC Rubenesque paint pot (base an inner lid shadow)

L'Oreal Infallible in Naughty Strawberry (outer lid)

MUA Dusk till Dawn dark purple shade (crease)

Essence Long lasting Eyeliner pen (black) (top lid liner)

Urban Decay Bootycall (brow highlight)

Urban Decay Blackout (top lid, inner line)

MUA intense color eyeliner in snow white (highlight at eye corner)

Maybelline The Falsies black mascara (top lashes)

L'Oreal telescopic (bottom lashes, the brush is easier for small lashes)

brows:

Models Perfer retractable brown pencil in medium

lips:

Maybelline 445 On the Mauve (base)

NYX soft matte lip cream in Antwerp (layer on top)

Most Reached for October 2011

Despite my absence this month (which will somewhat continue until my grad show on November 29) i still managed to get a few favorites in, and because of a lack of time three are returns from last month. So let's get to it;

Lush Rose Jam Body Wash(Limited Edition): Only one maybe two washes left and it will be gone forever. Not sure i can bring myself to do it. I can only hope it makes a return one day.

Haus of Gloi Pumpkin Butter in Ghost Puffs: Reviewd Here. Still just as awesome as last month, and totally in theme for Halloween. The whipped soap and perfume will probably make next month's post nut they arrived a little late to be included this month, plus i didn't have a huge amount of opportunity to wear it.

Haus of Gloi Lip Balm in Spun Sugar: Reviewed Here Smell of candy floss i have found it be be my most reached for gloss when my lips need a bit of r&r, which with looming graduation, portfolio printing, typography competitions etc etc they have been in sore need of as i tend to bite my lip when i get stressed.

NYX Round lipstick in Saturn: Probably my new favorite lipstick, i bought it at the same time as the NYX Lip Creames but was so taken by those that i barely tried this and this month it has been a savior. Rushing around this was my go to lipstick almost everyday and i can't say enough about the color; it's a lovely frosted berry color with the slightest hint of gold. This slight metallic hint gives this lipstick a wonderful 3d effect on the lips and it stays on 6 hrs plus. Will definable repurchase, Massive surprise here.

Essence Lash & Brow Gel Mascara: This has been a lifesaver this month where lots of pictures have been taken for end of year catalogs and such and these do a perfect job of keeping your eyebrows nice looking and not feel crunchy.

Essence Pas de Copper: Reviewed Here.  Best best best eyeshadow, stays on for years and years, super soft to apply (much more so then the eye tattoos) and i would love to see more of these. This will probably my go to eyeshadow for a long time to come)

Most Reached for September

Looking at this months most reached for items it seems to have been a very indulgent month, smell wise at least. Not much in the way of make up too much, not much has changed in my everyday routine except for the addition of the NYX lip creams. So here we go;

Lush Rose Jam Body Wash(Limited Edition): I'm in love with this stuff, I'll be ordering more as soon as it's back up on the website and am seriously considering starting a petition to get this stuff to be not so limited because if it disappears completely i will be a very sad panda. I'll try do a full review soon but it makes me giddy just smelling it; it smells like Ro's Argan Body Conditioner! (also it doubles as awesome shampoo)

Haus of Gloi Pumpkin Butter in Ghost Puffs: Reviewed Here You are probably sick of me raving about Haus of Gloi, but come on! It smells like a Carnival; marshmallows and popcorn. Plus it's crazy moisturizing. I've since ordered this in both Whipped Soap and Perfume variety.

Haus of Gloi Lip Balm in Spun Sugar: Reviewed Here Ditto, the smell of candy floss is delicious but not overwhelming, Thank god it;s not flavored or the whole thing would be gone by now. I really like the consistency of this and I'm looking forward to trying more but i can't think of a sweeter scent then this.

NYX Lip Cream in Antwerp: Reviewed Here I wasn't sure how much i liked these till i was considering what to include in this months fav post, and i realized i used this more then any other lip product this month. I think the biggest pull for me, besides the color, is the feeling that you are not actually wearing anything on your lips, it's so incredibly light. Great for lazy days too.

Sukin Rose Hip Oil - I've mostly switched to using Rose hip oil for my moisturizing on my face and this is the second brand that I've tried and honestly i like the A'kin version better this one just smells way too strong and is really orange when it first goes on. It doesn't stain but it's just a bit off putting. Still it'd definitely a everyday use item so it makes the list. It works reasonably well but again i feel like the A'kin did a better job.

Dove Foaming Make Up Remover - A fan favorite here, i choose to purchase this after my last few make removing napkins felt really rough on my skin and the further they got in the packet the more painful it seemed to be so i wanted something much more gentle and have heard awesome stuff about this. This product seems to have won several awards and I'm not surprised, it's managed to get off even heavy eye-make up without harsh scrubbing.

Have you tried any of these?

Review: NYX Matte Creams/ Essence Rebel Matte Creams

About two weeks ago i became enamored with the NYX matte lip creams and decided to purchase some from CrushCosmetics. (win) So for about a week after i got them  i was totally in love and then Essence released their "Rebels Collection" which basically featured the same sort of  product. (boo!)

So a comparison post seemed impossible to avoid.

So let's start with the base facts;

Essence $3.50 each vs NYX $10.95 (+ Shipping)
Essence has a little bit more product inside.
Essence has 2 color choices, NYX has 11
Essence is available for around a month give or take, NYX is available all year round
Both are vanilla scented
Both have a doe foot applicator

Overall it depends what sort of product you're after.

Milan | Stockholm | Antwerp

I was originally attracted to these as they reminded me of a product i used a few years ago, the Bourjois So Delicate Lip Creams which were also matte.

These were a great favorite of mine, they were matte so they were fairly easy to use for most occasions, they lasted ages and did not dry out my lips. Sadly they were discontinued and their nail polish line adopted a similar packaging, trying to be tricksy.

San Paulo

Hence the decision to try the NYX variant, though the color i was originally after (San Paulo) was out of stock at the time, so i ended up getting 3 simmiliar-ish ones that also looked good;

Milan | Stockholm | Antwerp (web swatches)

The formula on these was very creamy; kind of like if you combined a lipstick with a gloss. Creamy but textured and slightly on the thick side but this means the pigment spreads very evenly across your lips and doesn't leave any bold spots. Once applied these dry quite quickly and will last for hours without needed a huge effort from you to make sure it looks good. Once it's dry you can even put a clear balm or gloss over it if matte is not what your feeling at the time.

Unlike the Burjois which i loved these will dry out your lips a bit, usually after about an hour, but this can be fixed with a lip balm underneath/on top or a reapplication. The colors i have do sit nicely on the lips and don't creep into lip lined like i know the very lightest shade of these is known to do. (Tokyo)

They do smell a little like vanilla, but although i don't mind it i feel like it's a synthetic sort of vanilla scent that might not sit well with some people. 

Mauve like a Rock Star | Rebels Delight

The Essence products on the other hand are limited time engagements; though to be honest if i had been aware of this collection when i made my crush order i might have reconsidered. These colors are a little more subtle, but i feel with a matte look that is a bit easier to work with.

The formula on these is a little bit heavier then the NYX, but also much creamier and less likely to separate and become water. (I've noticed that Antwerp is a bit liquid compared to the two other NYX's, while both the Essence are perfect). 

These also smell like vanilla but it's less noticeable and is a more pleasant vanilla smell, not quite so cosmetic. These last a bit better and feel more comfortable on the lips; what i mean to say is they feel lighter and are less noticeable that your wearing it. I usually forget i have it on. They don't however stain as well, once they fade away they are gone while the NYX leaves your lips tinted long afterwards. This one also dries out your lips but not as noticeably as the NYX.

In the end i love both; if push came to shove i would probably choose the Essence but i love the colors that NYX offers and in the end they are basically the same product save a few very minor differences. If you just want to try a matte cream then try the Essence as for $3.50 it won't put a huge dent into your bank account and you can figure out if you like the finish or not. 

One annoying thing is that the web swatches for NYX (posted above) are not very true to color and all sort of look the same so if your going to try these out then look at lots of different reviews to figure out which color you like.

Have you tried any matte lip creams?

P.S. If i don't come back it;s because my life was stolen away by this game;