Hello! I have upset my bank account so many times in the last month, I don’t even want to use the ‘H’ word anymore, but it is pretty exciting to share with you all! Last week we went to Wilko, a store I’ve literally never been into before. Its 15/20 minutes away from where we live depending on traffic, and we have a larger shopping centre much closer so we don’t tend to go to that area much, but as soon as I saw the large Essence sign and the 3 for 2 I knew it was fate! Don’t worry if you don’t live near a wilko though, I have linked each product to their site so you can order online if you feel like it!
Essence is a fairly well known makeup brand world wide. They don’t test on animals and as far as I know have no affiliation with Zionism! Their product prices are VERY affordable, and even though I bought 9 items (to get a real feel for of the brand) with the 3 for 2 offer my total came up to £15 which is incredible value for money!
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TOP: I <3 stage E/S Primer
MIDDLE: Stay Natural concealer 04 honey
BOTTOM: Stay All Day 16hr
So starting off with the face products, I decided to buy two of their concealers. The Stay All Day 16 hr long lasting concealer in the shade 10 natural beige. The first reason I was drawn to this was because the 16hr claim reminded me of Collection’s lasting perfection which is my all time favourite but also when I swatched this I was taken aback as to how light but NOT PINK it was! Its definitely more neutral than yellow, but it looks like it can be fantastic for highlighting and reminded me a tiny bit of MAC’s prep-and-prime in light boost which I would love to find an ETHICAL dupe for! Unfortunately it’s not as yellow as that but so far its done a decent job of brightening. I’ll report back with a full review soon! The second concealer I picked up was one of those brush types, the Stay Natural concealer in 04 soft honey (£2). I have yet to try this but I’m hoping its a good replacement to my Maybelline version of this. Finally I couldn’t resist picking up another eyeshadow base in I heart stage in a small lipgloss style packaging and to be honest the shade of this interested me - it look like a brilliant corrector shade! Its worth a shot right? Plus it could stop creasing under the eyes. If you’ve tried any of these I’d love to hear your thoughts ^_^
Moving on to the eyes, I did linger over the single shadows but remembering how my muji drawer is full to the brim of single pots that I’m trying to use up, I skipped those and instead checked out the eyeshadow sticks. Ever since I purchased my NYX Jumbo pencil in Milk I’ve loved the ease of using these sticks! I was most drawn to two shades from the Essence Stays No Matter What eyepencil and shadow (these are chunkier than the eyeliner ones even though they have the same name #imconfusedtoo) because it was literally love at first swatch, gah just look at them! 05 Cute Copper is a stunning shade for all over the lid with a touch of mascara and you’re good to go. The texture and finish make these suitable for use during the day and for nightime looks. Much to my delight they work PHENOMENALLY as eyeshadow bases, both intensifying the pigment and making the shadow last longer!
08 Chocolate Brownie is less metallic/fancy, but just as creamy and the two of them make a beautiful quick and simple Smokey eye without the need of brushes (they blend well with fingers!)These two colours in particular compliment brown eyes BEAUTIFULLY. I really wish I had picked up more shades now... I probably will next time I’m there because 3 of these for £5 is a real bargain!
Moving onto the Cheeks, after hearing and seeing so much about these Essence Silky Touch Blush from the gorgeous blog run by Vanessa (srsly you HAVE TO CHECK OUT HER BLOG, BEST PHOTOGRAPHY EVA and here is the review for the blushers from her lovely self) and seeing the price was only £2.50! I picked up two 10 Adorable and 50 Sweetheart. Although they both look quite similar, on the cheeks they do appear different and these look great for want a gentle wash of colour on the cheeks.
The only things I bought for lips are these XXXL Longlasting lipglosses in MATT effect. The reason why I purchased these was the promise of a matt look because I don’t tend to go for lipglosses anymore! The shade 06 Soft Nude is my favourite already, a gorgeous classy brown nude. 05 Velvet Rose is more of a barbie pink and I would only wear this shade mixed with soft nude because I just don’t like that colour against my skintone! The finish is velvety and although it does dry down, it feels a tad odd for the first few minutes when first applied.
And that is my 9 item haul from essence! As you can tell I have A LOT to be experimenting with for the time being, but I’m already very impressed with the things I have been trying, especially for their price!
Is there anything else from the brand that you would recommend?
Thanks for reading!
