Essence New Products for Spring/Summer 2017. Reviews and Swatches
petek, marec 10, 2017
Instant Matt foundation
10 Matt Ivory
Essence's other matte foundation, All About Matte, got replaced with this one called Instant Matte. It claims to be long-lasting (a bold up to 18h claim), waterproof and that it has full coverage.
Texture: It's a very thick, almost paste-like foundation, but with a dry matte texture. Those mousse foundations come to mind when I use this and I had difficulties blending around the edges because it's thick and it sets fast, so you have little time to work with it. It looks awful on close inspection on my currently combination-dry skin. It's flaky and uneven, the only word I can come up with is tragic. I have no idea how it would look on very oily skin, but I can only assume that it fits such skin better.
Coverage and finish: It's got medium-full coverage, though it's hard to me to assess its coverage properly because the shade is too dark for me. But I didn't feel like I need to use concealer under the eyes, however for spots either another coat would be needed or a separate concealer. The finish is matte, as a promised, but it didn't hold back the oils on my forehead for more than three hours (I don't use powder). It a very obvious foundation, for my taste, too cakey, but you do get coverage.
Shade: I got the lightest shade, which is as usual for Essence, only appropriate for oompa loompas. Not one foundation from Essence fit me so far, their shade ranges completely leave out anyone under NC/W20. Compared to my other similar shades, Instant Matte 10 is the most peachy-yellow, which on me looks orange people, but it's probably around NC25-30. Catrice has much more neutral and wearable shades. In comparison Milani Conceal + Perfect 01 is a shade darker, more yellow; Beyu Nutri Power Foundation 15 is a shade darker, more neutral; Catrice HD Liquid Coverage 010 is a lot more neutral/almost a bit pink; L'Oreal Infallible 24h Matte 10 is pink, while Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum 51 is two shades lighter and yellow.
Staying Power: It lasts at least 10 hours on my combination-dry skin, but I'm not a fan of how it wears (and yes, I went all orange face for the sake of blogging for a day). When I swatched it on my hand, a makeup wipe could not remove it well and I had to scrub a lot, so it is waterproof.
Packaging: It comes in a simple, thin tube, but the product is so thick, it's not easy to squeeze it out. Ingredients here.
Price and availability: It costs 4.39 € in drugstores and supermarkets.
Blush Play Sculpting Blush Palette
10 Play it Peach
Just like L'Oreal, Essence decide to do a selection of blushes with which you should be able to create a 3D effect or more plump looking cheeks. I tried it that way, but everything blends in together like always, so I find it pointless to bother with such application, however, all these blushes work excellently on their own.
Highlight: for my skin tone this isn't a highlight, but a pale peach blush with a glowy finish. The texture is nice and soft.
Sculpt: a matte, dirty peachy-pink shade. The texture is the hardest of the three and it needs a couple more swipes, but it's the shade I like most.
Define: a bright peachy-pink with a glowy-satin finish. It's got a very lovely soft, blendable texture.
Using all three shades. On the lips Catrice Longlasting Lip Pencil in 070 I got you Babel.
A very likeable palette for the price and it's my favourite from the new products I tried, but the colours are pretty basic. It costs 4.39 €
Prismatic Rainbow Glow Highlighter
10 Be a Unicorn
So rainbow highlighters actually became a thing, who would have thought. I'm not sure if Bitter Lace Beauty on Etzy was the original creator, but once Wet n Wild picked up on the idea these became super popular and Essence is quick to jump on the bandwagon. I dislike the idea of rainbows on my cheeks, but that doesn't matter at the moment.
Essence created a version with only four colours, so you don't get the same effect as Wet n Wild's for example and both the stripes as well as the packaging itself are too wide for swiping the brush in all shades at once and creating a rainbow effect on the cheeks, but I think that Essence meant it to be mixed anyway.
As I said you get four colours: a blue, yellow gold, peach and red-pink. Blue and red are very intense, you can use them as eyeshadows if you wish, especially if you wet the brush, but the other two shades are very classic warm highlighters. Mixed together you get a champagne highlight (I hope you can see it well on the swatches above), on my cheeks on the picture it looks a bit blue because my brush concentrated on the blue shade last, so actually if you wish you can custom mix the desired shades. I applied it in stripes too just for the pictures, but I had to use an eyeshadow brush. The glow is nice, however, I feel for true glow lovers it'll be too weak. The shimmer isn't obvious, but it could be more fine.
Rainbow effect.
Mixed.
It costs 3.79 €.
Shine Shine Shine Lip Gloss
12 Runway, your Way
New on Essence stands are lines of lip glosses, one of them are Shine, Shine, Shine, which honestly are the about same as all the lip glosses they had before. Essence does decent lip glosses - not sticky, they don't go all weird during the day and have some colour, so you don't just get a bunch of clear shades in disguise.
12 Runway, your Way is a basic purple and a type of shade that's on the warm side. Pigmentation is semi-opaque, but as it wears, it quickly turns into more of a stain. It's got a gentle fruity scent that's typical of Essence.
Shine, Shine, Shine glosses costs 2.19 €. 13 shades of these are made.
ESSENCE Fade your Shade Lipstick
02 ombré parfait
There are actually two shades of these, one is white and this one is a vampy shade. They are meant to be used as top coats, so this one you apply just in the centre of the lips, then blend it out to create an ombre effect. But 02 works like a normal lipstick and that's how I swatched it.
02 ombré parfait is a very deep plum burgundy shade, well almost black (Essence just calls it black-red). It's the deepest such shade in my collection, so if you're looking for a true vampy shade, this one is nice and cheap.
The formula is thick, matte and completely opaque. It's not easy to blend, but instead you get a long-lasting lipstick that doesn't smudge much. If you plan to wear it on its own, it might feel drying to some.
The packaging is like an eyeshadow stick and you don't get the most precise application. Lip liner is needed if you're not planning to go ombre.
It costs 2.99 €.
*PR products.
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11 comments
I feel bad for you trying out this horrible foundation!
OdgovoriIzbrišiAnd you are the only one who made this rainbow highlighter really seem blue one applied, I guess it is because your skintone is really fair.. not sure if this is a look I'm going for!! ;-)
Have a nice weekend!
Yeah, that was a waste of my time. I know I shouldn't say this kind of things, but I really wish companies stopped sending me foundations. Not a single one send me a shade that fits me.
IzbrišiReally? Because that blue stripe is pretty intense, it's like an eyeshadow when you swatch it with a finger. I think the rainbow trend is just awful.
"I think the rainbow trend is just awful." *lol*
IzbrišiAnd yes, I saw a lot of so-called fair-skinned girls trying to get a little bit of blue tint to show up on their skin, but nothing.. just a silvery glow. So I was nearly sold to get it just for fun because I mean, some cool-toned highlighter, why not? But now, I'm too afraid to test it *.+
Thank you for your expertise!!
Well I did use an eyeshadow brush, so it's more intense. The fact I'm pale as milk helps too :D Otherwise it's not really that cool toned, all other three shades are warm and counteract the blue too much. Maybe you'd like the one from the spring collection more, I heard my fellow bloggers praise it a lot.
Izbriši"The one from the spring collection (...) I heard my fellow bloggers praise it a lot"
IzbrišiI heard this rumours, too. But one girl posted pictures which showed a lot of glittery sparkles in it showing up on the skin and this is not the look I'm going for! So I skipped it altogether, plus it was really fast sold out in german drugstores ^^
I haven't seen it in person, so I wouldn't know. I dislike glittery highlighters too.
IzbrišiEssence podlage imajo res tako čudne odtenke. I don't get it za koga to delajo. Mavrica me itak ne gane. Sta mi pa zelo všeč lip gloss in ombre šminka. Oba ti estremno pašeta :). V tej poplavi mat šmink je prav fajn za spremembo kdaj nosit kaj sijočega. Ombre šminka pa mi je odtenek zelo všeč. Si želim za kakšen look imeti res temno šminko, ki nima sijaja.
OdgovoriIzbrišiNe razumem kako ima lahko Essence tako oranžne odtenke, Catrice, ki je narejen v isti firmi, pa dejansko nosljive, nevtralne. Če že imaš znanje in možnost, zakaj ne apliciraš na vse izdelke.
IzbrišiMavrica je brezvezna, ne kapiram trenda. Samo če tebe ne pritegne highlighter, potem mora bi pa že res nič poseben :D
Hvala :) Gloss mi ni všeč odtenek, je pa formula čisto ok. Ombre stvarca je kul odtenek za pravi vampy look. Ne vem če lahko za tako poceni dobiš kaj podobnega :)
Meni je ta rainbow highlighter bil preveč intenziven, sploh ne vem kaj bi delala z njim, sem pa dobila od TE enega, ki je veliko boljši in mi je dejansko všeč, barve so nežne, opazi se samo malo podton kakšne barve, odvisno s katere strani uporabiš. :) Pri blush paleti se "highlighter" na moji koži skorajda ne opazi, sta mi pa drugi dve barvi zelo všeč. :)
OdgovoriIzbrišiRainbow highlighter ni pretirano intenziven kar se tiče šimra, ampak če se preveč koncentriraš na rdečo ali modro potem dobiš tak barvni efekt. Če vse primerno skupaj zmešaš je nek belkasto-šampanjski odtenek, sicer nič posebnega. Mi je tisti iz LE bolj spodoben.
IzbrišiNa meni so vsi blushi dosti intenzivni, ampak jaz sem itak Sneguljčica :) Je pa prvi odtenek verjetno na večini dejansko highlighter.
I'm sorry to say this but that foundation made you look horribly patchy and uneven. Blugh...please don't use it again. I'm just thankful that you're very honest with this review.
OdgovoriIzbriši