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?