Brand Focus: Essence

Brand Focus: Essence

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Today's brand focus is a brand that has rose dramatically in popularity over the past few years. Prior to receiving my Essence goodie bag, I had only ventured as far as their liquid glitter eye products and lipsticks so I was extremely excited to see what else they had to offer. Already, I was expecting good things, as I was rather impressed at the quality of their lipsticks, despite the inexpensive pricing.

Essence are a cosmetic company that are sold exclusively in Wilkinson's in the UK; however, when I went to Ireland a couple of years ago, they were selling Essence in a shop called Pennies (I believe it's the equivalent of Primark in England). 

EYES 

'Plump NO CLUMP' Mascara ~ Drugstore mascara is my go-to! I've never found a highend mascara that is any better than one I love from the drugstore; so quite simply, I just stick to the cheaper option. This worked very well on my lashes, giving added volume and lengthening too. 

Long Lasting Black Eyeliner ~ Eyeliner is something I always struggle to apply - I cannot perfect the 'winged' liner no matter how many times I try. However, I'm also a lover of eyeliner in my waterline and below to my bottom lashes to intensify an eye look. Thus, a long-lasting black eye pencil is what I need. I've wore this out once so far and was rather impressed by the results. The liner didn't budge for a good 5 hours, alongside maintaining the same pigmentation from when I first applied.

LIPS

XXXL Nude Lipgloss in 'Soft Almond' ~ I always turn to matte lips in the Winter, despite my lips deteriorating in the cooler months. This has literally ruined my lips and I completely regret not opting for lighter options, like lipgloss. I really love subtle lipglosses to add a shine to the look - a layer of this would look incredible on top of a nude lip! Perfect for the summer!

'Soft Berry' Lipliner ~ This may actually be the favourite product I received from Essence. I am a huge fan of nude lips, like most of the female population at the minute, so was thrilled to be gifted with the PERFECT nude liner to accompany my MAC Velvet Teddy lipstick. Soft Berry is a muted mauve-pink that doesn't budge from the lips all evening. I like to apply the product on my lip line and in the corner of my mouth to create a soft, ombre gradient.

NAILS

'The Gel Nail Polish' Base Coat 

'The Gel Nail Polish' in 'My Love Diary'

'The Gel Nail Polish' Top Coat

Nail Polish is something that always seems a chore to me. However, whenever I buy new polishes, I cannot help but quickly apply them. My go-to colour to wear on a daily basis is nude - it's just perfect for sixth form and every day wear because of the versatility of the colour. This makes matching your nails to your outfits a solvable issue. Anyway, these gel polishes were something I was excited to get my hands on. I love gel polish and have had my nails painted with 'shellac' many a time - I couldn't wait to try it on myself. Unfortunately, I didn't capture a photo with them on but the product lasted on my nails for 6 straight days. Usually, drugstore nail polishes chip within a day or two so this was a huge difference from me. Get your hands on these while you can girlies!

Have you purchased anything from Essence before? What are your favourite summer nails polishes?

Lots of love

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These products were received in collaboration with Essence Cosmetics. All opinions are honest and my own.

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils // Review

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils // Review

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Hey there everybody!

I hope you are all well this Saturday evening. Tonight I have a review on one of my favourite eye products ever...the phenomenal and infamous NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils. Seeing as they were so popular, I decided to buy a few colours to try over the past few months in my local Next and when I went on holiday to Ireland, as they fortunately had a stand there.
Carry on reading if you wish to find out more about these little gems, even if you've seen 343243 beauty bloggers already post and rave about them.

I decided to buy three contrasting colours so that I was able to incorporate each of them into various looks. The three colours are:

Milk - A pure white. You have probably seen every beauty guru, youtuber and blogger talk about  using this eye pencil as a blank canvas before the use of eye shadow. This helps to ensure the colours you use on top 'pop' and increases the vibrancy and pigmentation of the shadow - it honestly does! This is a staple for your makeup collection; milk is suuuper long-lasting, works well on the waterline as well as the lid and a great eye opener in the inner corner. My favourite out of the three by far!

Yogurt - A subtle, yet flattering pink. Although it looks very metallic in the swatch and when first applied, you can really blend it out to great a beautiful champagne sheen, perfect for the lid. I would totally recommend this shade to those who love natural makeup/don't like to wear a lot. I tend to wear this during the day with lighter makeup; it looks amazing on its own with a thin sweep of eyeliner.

French Fries - A brown with gold/olive undertones. Despite having used this the least of the three, I really love the colour pay off and turn out. The olive/gold/brown tones really reflect off the eyelid and create the prettiest dark smokey eye - the colour when intensely applied really reminds me of Mac's melon pigment. I am sure to be wearing this a lot more now we have entered the cooler months, as I opt more for warmer, darker colours on the eye.

Packaging wise, I think they are pretty simplistic - a white pencil shaped product with a transparent plastic lid, handy when you want to find the colour you want fast. The only issue is that the writing comes off fairly easily, but this isn't much of a problem as the colours can be easily seen.

When looking at pigmentation, these babies have got it all. The swatches above say it all really - one swipe and BAM - an intense, bold colour, exactly the same as it looks in the pencil. The creamy formula is always a plus for me too because they are incredibly easy to blend, whether you want it all over the lid or in the crease. I also love how these don't tug on your eye lids, as some products similar to this tend to do.
Overall, 10/10 for these amazing little pencils, and for such an affordable value. I bought each of these for just £5.00 each in the UK and Ireland - soooo worth the money. I intend to purchase lots of these in the future and might even sneak a few onto my Christmas list..hehe! I recommend this to all those who love a good ol' cream shadow, an amazing bargain and all those that are eye shadow fans in general.

Any further questions on the product that you didn't think I covered, please comment below at the end of this post.

Love you all lots x