Essence Haul and Mini Reviews

After a great many days I happened to venture into the local beauty mart. I was not really expecting anything new, but Essence had a few new products on display. Some things I had already read reviews on, and most reviews were all good. A couple of items were on sale at half price. Most Essence products are priced between 12 and 22 dhs, which is a very good price, especially for the price. I am glad with all the products in my haul and am generally pretty impressed with the brand.

So these are the things I bought:

From L to R: Waterproof eyeliner pen, XXXL Longlasting Lipgloss Matte Effect in 05 Velvet Rose, Rebel Soft Matte Lip Glosses in 02 Rebel Delight and 01 Mauve Like a Rockstar, All About Matt Oil Control Make-up Base, Essence Blush Up in 10 Heat Wave

A close up of the products open....

Play it up with Orchid

A confession before we start: I use the term "orchid" rather loosely. When it was declared Pantone color of the year, I thought to myself, it is indeed a beautiful color, but not one so easily incorporated into daily life, especially for me who is an all neutrals kind of gal. This prompted me to have a closer look into my collection and see what I could qualify to be included in the 'orchid family' and though I didn't have a lot, I came up with a modest little bunch of makeup items that I could "broadly" pass of as being in the orchid color scheme.

Top: Clinique Quad in Plum Seduction, Wet n Wild Palette in Petal Pusher
Bottom: Diana of London Blush in 06 Charming Cherry, OCC Lip Tar in Hoochie, Essence Lipstick in Funky Funky,
 Revlon Colorstay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick in Ultimate Orchid, Essence Eyeshadow Base in 08

Essence Multi Color Blush in no.10 How Cute is That?

People are forever coming out with ways to save time. Life is so fast paced these days, with hardly enough time to get all the things that need to be done, get done, that multi tasking products really come in handy. Lately lots of such products have been hitting the market. A good time saving, multi tasking makeup product should have three qualities, ease of application, easy to handle packaging and longevity of the product itself. So this little gem I found on the Essence counter qualifies in all three departments.

Colors to Flatter Brown Eyes

In a post I did few days back, I mentioned that brown and black eyes girls are lucky because their eye color is neutral (with maybe some warm or cool flecks) and hence they are able to make most colors work to enhance it.

Which got me to thinking about some colors that would look amazing, and suggestions for you.

Some shades might push you out of your comfort zone, but you could always use the brighter or bolder colors as a liner shade under your eyes rather than a full on lid color. Once again I want to remind you that the swatches that will come later are without primer so obviously with primer they come off as more intense.

So here we go...

What colors? From L to R: Navy/deep blue, burgundy, slate/dark/gunmetal gray, deep purples, moss/olive green, gold, bronze and in the middle champagne, and glittery black....

Eyeliner 101

As with all makeup products out there, the range and variety of a single type is overwhelming. Over the years, the quality has improved and innovation has played a huge part in terms of the choices we have when we go out shopping.

So today I want to go through the basic types of eyeliners out there, what effect each one is meant to give and a mention to some favorite drugstore brands with an honorary mention of one high end product as well if I have one that is.

Clash of the Eye Primers: Urban Decay Primer Potion vs Essence I Love Stage Eyeshadow Base

So what do eye primers do...I mean what is their function exactly? So far as all the key words regarding this makeup product is concerned, they are 'long lasting', 'more true to color, pigmented' and 'prevents creasing'.

Now its true that these do all the above to some capacity. Obviously every individual's skin type if different. Very oily eyelids  may need a cream eyeshadow or something extra, some people may find that its just the same anyway.

So here I want to put 2 primers to the test...one, the giant of all primers- the all famous UDPP and the other the lesser known the Essence I Love Stage Eyeshadow Base.

On the left: UDPP (sample size)

On the right: Essence Base (full size)

So I picked up some random Revlon 12 hour Colorstay eyeshadows and swatched them without any base:

I picked 3 shades, a light one, a medium toned and a dark shade.

What's in my out the door to-go Makeup Pouch?

Sometimes we're in such a darn hurry that we don't get time to even smear on some lipstick. For just such a situation, or if I have to be staying overnight someplace, I keep some hassle free easy to use products. A random moisturizer suffices as a primer which is usually haunting some dark nook and cranny in my purse but since the pouch is quite tiny, that does not get to hang out with the makeup itself. I would not normally use these makeup products or most of them if I have some time before headed out. I do admit that the only mirror I have is the tiny one that comes with the Bobbi Brown concealer but lets move on to the actual stuff:

From the top : Rimmel London Makeup Pouch

Victoria's Secret Metallic Eyes Palette

Max Factor Mineral Foundation in Warm Almond

Lancome sample size Mascara-Virtuous

Sample size Urban Decay lip gloss (came in one of the Naked Palettes)

Ecotools powder brush

Bobbi Brown corrector in Peach

MAC blush in Raizin

Avon Everlasting Lipstick in Ginger

Essence Long Lasting eye pencil in 02 Hot Chocolate

Little brush that came in the Nude 'tude Palette by The Balm

Sigma Blending brush, travel size E25