Preview: Essence Dark Romance Trend Edition

Most likely influenced by the release of Maleficent, Essence has brought out their Dark Romance collection, and i am quite excited by this one. It's been a while. and I think this is the most exciting edition in a while. 

So let's so what's included;

Cream highlighter in 01 Light Up!

Eyeshadow pencils in 01 Black Shadow, 02 Foggy Love (both are shimmery)

Lip gloss effects in 01 Black Shadow, 02 Light Up!

Body Tattoos in 01 Dark Art

Lipstick in 01 Red Romance, 02 Painted Love

Nail polish in 01 Dark Night Starlight (sparkling), 02 Red Romance (matte), 03 Moonless Night (suede), 04 Gothic Gold (sand)

Eyeshadow Quads in; 01 Mystery Glam (red, gold, cream, navy), and 02 A Romance to Remember (purple, navy, taupe, bronze).

Velvet Mousse Blush in  01 Painted Love, 02 Red Romance

Nail Decoration Kit in 01 What Gothic Girls Want

I'm going to pick up one of the blushes and the red nail polishes and maybe one or two more things, what are you most interested in? You can find it now at Priceline.

Essence Ticket To Paradise/Beauty Beats

It's been a while since we looked at Essence's new Trend Editions, it took me a while because honestly neither of these collections really did much for me. Let's have a look anyway.

Ticket to Paradise (available in Priceline)

A nice enough summery edition, I picked up the pink lip liner and gloss and I do quite like the liner. the gloss is okay, it has a nice sweet scent but isn't amazing in any way. The shimmer gloss is good if you didn't pick one up from an earlier collection ( i got one from the Breaking Dawn edition last year). I like the teal polish but the eye shadows are sadly disappointing, I always hope they will be like the amazing ones which featured in the Ballerina collection but alas it is not be.

Eye Shadow - 01 dive with me to the island, 02 deep sea baby,and 03 tropical heat

Lip Gloss - 01 sun said red, 02 my treasure island, and 03 dive with me to the island

Lip Liner - 01 sun said red, 02 my treasure island

Nail Polish - 01 dive with me to the island, 02 tropical heat, 03 sun said red, and 04 my treasure island 

Shimmer Powder - 01 tropical heat

Hair Mascara - 01 rumble in the jungle, and 02 dive with me to the island

Beauty Beats (available in Priceline)

Really not my think, the gray nail polish is vaguely interesting but nothing else here really does much for me. I'm sure fans of Justin Bieber will like it but it's not appealing to me. The hair ties are quite good though.

Shimmer Powder - 01 Swaaag! 

Lipgloss - 01 Groupie At Heart, 02 Eenie Meenie and 03 I'm Backstage 

Blush -  01 Groupie At Heart

Nail Polish - 1 Groupie at heart, 02 As long as you love me, 03 I'm Backstage, and 04 Baby, Baby, ooh 

Eyeshadow - 01 Baby, Baby, Ooh!, 02 I'm Backstage and 03 As Long As You Love Me.

Manicure Design transfer solution - and paper print design with pictures of Bieber 

2 in1  eyeliner - 01 The Biggest Fan

Hair ties

Me & My Icecream Essence Edition Preview

It's been a while since Essence released a new collection in Australia, since their Winter Hand Creams collection they have released their Snow White and 50's collections, both ones which i already had what I wanted from them. So personally I'm totally happy to say that their new collection looks super cute. Here is what's included:

3 Baked Eyeshadows in 

01 cone head, 02 icylicious, and 03 always in my mint

"the longlasting, baked eyeshadows in soft caramel, apricot and mint have a creamy texture and a cool marble effect to conjure-up a summery eye make-up style with a light shimmer."

3 Lip balms in 

01 ice, ice baby, 02 icylicious, and 03 ben & cherries.

"these unique lip balms are available in three different color combinations: lavender-vanilla, apricot-beige and pink-mint. the colors blend perfectly upon application and look really cute, too! they pamper your lips with shea butter and jojoba oil as well as leaving behind a delicious fragrance. "

Cream Blush in 01 Ice Bomb.

"cream dream! this blush with a creamy formula and innovative curvature feels creamy and powdery at the same time. the intensive apricot shade offers a naturally beautiful, fresh complexion. head out into the sunshine – with a portion of your favorite ice cream!" 

Shimmer Pearls in in 01 i-cy u.

"shimmering scoops of ice cream… the softly shimmering pearls with a light color dispersion are perfectly aligned with the pastel shades of this trend edition. they give your face and neckline a subtle glow and can even cover-up fine imperfections as well as slight redness thanks to the different nuances."

4 Nail Polishes in

01 ben & cherries, 02 always in my mint, 03 ice, ice baby, and  04 icylicious.

"strawberry, sweet woodruff, blueberry or apricot? the long lasting nail polishes in gorgeous pastel shades like pink, mint, lavender and apricot are sure to put you in the mood for ice cream – and summery nails, of course!" 

Hand Wipes in 01 i scream ice cream. 

"ice cream cone to go? to make sure that your hands are fresh and clean after you enjoy your treat, the me & my ice cream hand wipes come in a practical, re-sealable packaging that’s sure to fit into any purse. and they have a delicious strawberry ice cream fragrance, too!" 

Nail Effect Sticker  in 01 rainbow sprinkles.

"rainbow sprinkle toppings! these innovative, self-adhesive stickers create a unique and surprising 3d effect on your nails. the sweet design with a pearl-like look is the ultimate nail style highlight – and not just for ice cream fans! "

Which ones are you looking forward to picking up? I think i want the cream blush ( it looks a bit like a bouncy blush) and the shimmer pearls, though the cherry lip balm sounds interesting too.

Essence Products Discontinued & Upcoming Trend Edition

So a little while ago i mentioned that Essence were discontinuing some of their products so i thought it might be useful to spread the message a little so no one is left without a back up of their favorite product;

Image from Essence Au Facebook group

The items which they have stated are going to be discontinued are;

colour & go nailpolish 102 sparkling water lily, 108 ultimate pink, 110 modern romance, 116 gorgeous bling bling, 117 i’m so very, 118 little miss sunrise, 119 boho chic, 121  gold fever, 123 1000 miles away, 124 wanna say hello, 127I Love Bad Boys, 130  whats my name?, 133 oh my glitter!, 139 Walk On The Wild Side, 140  go bold!, 142 grey-to be here.

If you want to see swatches of these click here.

nude glam nailpolish 06
eyeshadow 11 Wild At Heart, 16 Go Glam, 22 blockbuster, 30 Happy Hour, 34 Love That Grey!, 45 Back To Khaki, 51 Absolutely Nature, 52 Olive Garden, 54 Yes Eye Can, 56 Hyped Up, 57 In The Clouds, 59 Copper Island, 60 Kermit Says Hello

If you want to see swatches of these click here.

quattro eyeshadow 01
fix & matte! translucent loose powder
forget it! 3in1 concealer
gel eyeliner 01, 05 and gel eyeliner brush
I love runway highlighter
I love stage eyeshadow base - i know alot of people swear by this one so I'm sad to see it go too
kajal pencil 18
lipstick 40, 50, 59
mattifying compact powder 07
my base-illuminating make-up base and my base-skin perfection make-up base
sun club large bronzing powder 01, 02
smokey eyes set 01, 02
stay all day long lasting eyeshadow 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9
stay with me longlasting lipgloss 09
XXXL shine lipgloss 05

I'm not to bothered since i either already have these products or never used them, besides loosing the eyeshadow primer I'm not personally loosing anything i love but i do know some people really love the makeup bases and lip sticks and lip glosses so i hope if that's you, you go get yourself a spare right now!

________________________________________________________________________________

So onto happier business, though no date exists yet so far as i can tell, but Essence have said that their Sweet Home collection will be the next one hitting our shores.

Image from Miss Firuz Blog

The edition consists of;

3 Eyeshadow; 01 happy couching, 02 light the fire, place! ,03 my home is my castle.

2 Lipsticks; 01 red-y to relax (red) , 02 berry me home (pink).

1 Gloss; 01 mugs & kisses.

2 Blushes; 1 knits for chicks (pink), 02 wool-d you cuddle me? (apricot)

4 Nail polishes; 01 caramel cheesecake (apricot), 02 red-y to relax (red), 03 hot fruit punch (plum) , 04 berry me home (pink)

1 Set of Nail Stickers; 01 neither swedish nor-wegian.

1 purse; 01 knitted with love.

It's a really nice cuddly theme to be releasing with the on set of winter and i will totally be picking up a few, at the moment i have my eye on the plum nail polish, the apricot blush and maybe the pink or brown eyeshadow, plus the bag. I can use it for my dice, cos I'm a Dungeons and Dragons nerd. The lipsticks are cool but a bit to bright for me so i will pass but swatches of them look pretty bitching, especially the pink one.

So what products are you sad to see go, or alternatively what are you looking forward to?

Essence Circus Circus Edition Preview

Available now in Priceline (in Australia) is the Essence Circus Circus Edition from Essence, and it's definitely got some interesting stuff in there. It's probably the coolest, in my opinion, since the Breaking Dawn edition, Color Arts and Blossom just didn't excite me very much. But this i really like, especially the colors on the branding; super cool. Plus, since I've been following the brand this is the first perfume i have seen from them, so very interested in that. Let's take a closer look below; beware, this one will go fast.

The eye-shadows are probably the part of this set I'm most interested in, because i was so in love with their eye suffles fro mthe Ballerina collection, though their regular line of cream eye-shadows really does nothing for me. The lids are like the regular line but have a cute Circus emblem embedded in the lid. The shades are 01 It’s Magic (gold), 02 Raise the Curtain (bronze/champaign) and 03 My Sparkling Acrobat (the graphite/gray).

Ah the perfume! It's so cute i almost don't even care what it smells like! From the official descriptions it's 50ml and is quite sweet and sugary. I'm okay with that. For only $10 this seems like a cool purchase and i will very much consider it if i like the scent. Other editions also included the $7 small spray bottle but it seems to be missing in our Australian promos. As is the glittery purse;

However all the nail polishes are here; 01 My Sparkling Acrobat (see top picture), 02 Don’t Feed the Tiger (gold and black and gold glitter), 03 Applause Applause (red) and 04 Cotton Candy (pink). These look really nice but honestly i feel like i could make these combinations myself from my personal polish stash. I love the look though.

Or if nail polish is not your thing, perhaps the nail fashion stickers are more up your ally; the patterns are 01 Come in, One and all (left) and 02 Big Top (right). I like the names :)

There is also the two liquid eyeliners in 01 its magic(gold) and 02 my sparkling acrobat (graphite) as well as a highlighting powder similar to the one we saw in the breaking dawn collection available in 01 its magic. It seems to be mostly a brighting/highlighting type powder.

EDIT: The two eyeliners also seem to be missing from the Australian edition. Sad face

And last are the pearly gold lip topper, basically a gloss in 01 It's Magic, and two lip glosses in 01 applause (the red) , applause and 02 my glammy acrobat (the pink). So what are you looking forward to the most?

Essence Color Arts Edition Preview + Mini Review

Well i admit I'm a little late with this one, it's been out about two weeks now but it just didn't get me that excited, so i decided to try some out anyway and here is my preview of this unique collections and some thoughts about how it actually functions.

The color/colour arts edition is a sort of "make your own" edition; it relies on these released pigments (word is there will likely be more coming out in the core collection, not sure if it will be in Australia) . You can use the pigments on their own or mix them however you please with one of the three bases the collection provides;

These are the Nail Base; for mixing up your own nail polish, a lip base for making your own lipstick/gloss, and a eyebase (the most useful of these i have found) for eyeshadows. Here's a little video essence released about how they think their color pigments can me used;

mini-REVIEW

I'm not really the best at using pigments; they tale a lot of extra work and make much more of a mess and honestly most of the time i can't really be bothered. Still, for science, i picked up the two most neutral pigments i could find so i was more likely to use them; smell the Carmel and Strawberry smoothie, and each of the three bases.

I have since getting these tried each of them with the provided bases and....well sadly besides the eye base acting as a wicked primer in terms of longevity there wasn't much there to boast about.

Nail Polish Base; this isn't a suspension base so you can't mix right in the bottle and make your own polish. Instead you have to mix it in a separate container and basically only make enough for one go as i have no idea how you would go about storing it.  

This is crazy messy, and the nail polish base dries very quickly so you almost have to do one nail at a time meaning you don't get the same color every time so each nail looks like a different shade of whatever color you were going for (assuming you mix them, which is kinda the point). In addition to this, no matter how long i spent mixing the nail polish still came out in different consistency; super thin or super clumpy. 

Nail polish is already a bother waiting for it to dry and not stain anything. Adding these extra steps just makes it not worth bothering with in my opinion. I didn't take photos because it was just too much of a disaster.

Lip Base; this is somewhat better, it's still a bit of work but the pigment seems to dissolve better and the end effects is more like a lipstick tattoo then a gloss. It's not sitting on top of your lip, it's closer to a stain in the regard that is actually colors the skin underneath it. It is very sticky though, however the base itself smells very fruity and sweet but you don't notice it much once it's mixed up. I think id prefer a lipstick or regular gloss.

Smell the Carmel and Strawberry Smoothie mixed together with the lip base.

Eyeshadow Base; This i actually like, it's a great primer; it keeps your eyeshadow on for ages and does a decent job of blending th pigments but i would use this more just as a primer rather then a blending base. It's clear and has a slightly tacky feel to it but it grips onto eyeshadow like no ones business.

Overall not the greatest edition, more like a play set to play around with. Way too much trouble to bother with for anyones regular make up routine but might prove fun for dress up or parties and the like.

Have you tried these? What's you opinion? Too much work or worth the extra effort?

Essence Snow White Trend Edition Preview

Coming out this week is  the new Essence "Snow White" collection, based it appears on the Disney version of the classic rather then the two movies that came out this year (Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsmen) but it's certainly "on trend".

This is primarily a nail polish edition and the only non nail polish things seem to be the nail stickers and nail file. So let's take a better look at the colors;

Snow White is the tall red with the other seven polishes named after dwarves; it's a super cute idea and so very simple yet creative, i love it. I feel like i have most of these colors however Grumpy, Bashful, Sleepy and Sneezy  do catch my interest somewhat so I'll take a look when i find them in store and decide then.

Available in 01 Evil Queen, 02 The Huntsmen and 03 Prince Charming these special top coats are a mix of holo, hex and round glitters and look like they could work very nicely. I'd like to try Prince Charming over Grumpy.

Second last is the the nail file, looks pretty enough for a plain cardboard file but it makes a cute addition to any collection so i guess it might be fun but i don't think i really need this, i much perfer crystal nail files. Currently my OPI file is the best I've ever used.

These certainly won';t be for everyone, there's a very specific group that can walk around with dwarf stickers on their nails; those still at school or without long term work. But heck, they look kinda fun and the butterflies are a draw fr me, though I'm not sure what the green things are, grass? Not sure i want to wear tufts of grass on my nails.

A nice collection but probably no must haves here, still some of the colors seem unique and the collection looks super cute. What part of this collection do you like?

Essence Breaking Dawn 2 Trend Haul

Yay for per-sheduled posts; since i did not want to disappear completely this month; either due to too much work or panic attack from too much work i though this was the best path to take.

So by now I'm sure you know my love for all thing's Essence; and it took me a bit longer then i like to get my hands on this and some of the new polish bottles but good things come to those who wait, and those who stalk the Essence counters like prey.

So I ended up getting most of the stuff i thought i would plus a few additions and alterations;

NAILPOLISH

I only got two polishes; 02 Jacob's Protection and 03 A Piece of Forever. I found the black very similar to Black Galaxy which i already had a dupe of anyway. I'm still considering the purple and might go back for it but upon testing 02 the formula appears very thick.

PIGMENT

I got the purple pigment and the gold one like i thought and I'm happy with that but I've never used pigments before so there will probably be some trial and error with these. The other two again seemed very very dark and i wasn't sure if the color would come through too muddy.

BLUSH

The blush was a no question for me and i was surprised that it was a powder not a creme like the last two Essence collections, it's a dark kind of brownish red that is actually very reminiscent of blood so appropriate in that regard. It's very pigmented and will take some blending to get right but a lovely addition to the collection.

HIGHLIGHTER

I surprised myself with the highlighter powder but it occurred to be i have nothing similar to this and though why not, it looks like fun. I'm such a sucker for Essence but swatching so far it seems like it highlights in a nice golden tone not a shiny silvery one which i think will go much nicer for the summer.

LIP GLOSS

The last solid purchase was the lip gloss which i got for the scent mostly, it smells like candy and the application is super smooth and only the tiniest bit sticky at first, choose the red not the purple as the purple looked very blue tinted and despite my recent enjoyment of Walking Dead i did not want to look like one.

EYELINER

Lastly the somewhat fail purchase, the glitter eyeliner, not sure what i was thinking there i bearly use eyeliner anyway and i have no idea how to apply a glitter one without it just looking a bit random. I can only say i was lured in by the pretty packaging. 

By the way, this post went live today because Target is today releasing their catalog with this trend edition listed within it's pages; meaning all Target stores should now have it in stock.

Happy Hunting :)

Essence Breaking Dawn 2 Trend Edition Preview

Just a few days ago Essence announced their next trend edition the "Breaking Dawn Part 2 Trend Edition". Though i  have no real interest in Twilight i must say the collection looks tempting. Not sure yet if this will be in Priceline or Target, though i suspect it will be Target as Priceline recently changed to the Rebels collection. This should be available in November, which i believe is around the time the movie comes out. This seems to be the case everywhere so not much around on line in the way of swatches. It's nice to get a collection on time for once.

So let's take a look at what's included:

Four Nail polishes ; 01 Jacob’s protection (the blue), 02 Alice had a vision – again (the purple), 03 A piece of forever ( the gold), 04 Edward’s love (the black). 

Four Pigments; in the same shades as the polishes;  01 Jacob’s protection (the blue), 02 Alice had a vision – again (the purple), 03 A piece of forever ( the gold), 04 Edward’s love (the black).

A Red Blush in 01 Renesmee red/pink toned blush. Looks like a cream blush similar to that in the last two collections; Boarding and Rebels.

Shimmer powder in 01 Bella‘s secret.

Two Shimmer Lip Glosses in  01 Alice had a vision – again, and  02 Renesmee red.

One lipstick in 01 A Piece of Forever.

Two Liquid Glitter Eyeliners  in 01 Alice Had a Vision – again and 02 Jacob’s Protection.

I think I'll be getting all the nail polishes save the black as it looks too similar to Essence Black Galaxy and Essence Hunt Me If You Can but I'll decided that upon loser inspection. I've never tried pigments over panned eyeshadow so I'm excited for the chance to try those, probably the gold and purple. Other then that i might try the  purple gloss, and eyeliner and I'm a sucker for blush.

The only thing not really interesting is the gold shimmer lipstick, as I can't really see a use for that. Never in my life have i considered the need for a gold/nude lip?! I doubt this will stay on shelves very long so keep your eyes open. 

Which item interests you most?