Sparkled Beauty

Essence has quietly released a series of new products that went straight to the shelf without not much notice.

I heard a few mentions from fellow bloggers and went looking. The first item I bought was their liquid lipsticks.

Staying true to the claim (but not the name) to have coverage of a lipstick and the shine of a gloss, these liquid lipsticks feel more like pigmented glosses.

I got #2 Beauty Secret and #6 Make a Statement. The packaging reminds you of Maybelline Color Elixirs, doesn't it?

The plastic tube is sturdy, no cheap feels. The colour coded cap is helpful with colour choice when you store the items up right. Just note that the indication is slightly darker than the colours themselves.

The sponge tip has a light curve in the middle. The shorter wand offers good manipulation during application.

All angles of the packaging fit a more expensive product line than what the product sells for. The only thing that sets them back is the shade range - only 6 available, from nudes to red, no dark colours.

Beauty Secret is a pale pink, and you guessed it, almost invisible on my lips unless I have a darker lip liner underneath. It is good to top off nude lipsticks and add the shine. Make a Statement has better colour payoff, and is flattering thanks to the red undertone.

They perform just like glosses - not too long wearing but comfortable on, with the shine. The tubes are of decent size - 0.13oz/ 4ml, only $3.99 each.

Another product that I had to get is the Make Me Brow eyebrow gel mascara - tinted brow gel with fibers to colour, fill and shape.

2 shades available, I went for the darker one - #2 Browny Brows. Sad to say it is not dark enough for brunettes, as I have to fill in my brows with a darker chubby pencil, unless I want very subtle brows.

The fiber brush is tiny, small enough to give precise stroke of gel along the brows, which lasts through the day and does not feel crispy.

I find the brush a little too firm, so go in with a light hand and build it up.

I do appreciate the tinted gel in a dark tube, not having to see it turning nasty like my Wet n Wild Mega Clear "mascara", but the tube is small - 0.12oz/ 3.8ml, $3.99 vs. 0.28oz/ 8.3ml, $2.49 with the WnW version.

Make Me Brow is not a bad product, if the shade suits you. The lighter shade is #1 Blondy Brows. I hope for a brunette shade in the future.

Essence Contour powder looks so similar to Make Up For Ever Pro Sculpting duo without the pretty surface pattern. It does not claim to have any fancy light reflecting nor smoothing effects either, just has a basic shimmery highlighter and a matte bronzer.

The bronzer looks more cool toned compared to MUFE version but is not cool enough to be a contour colour. I chose #01 Light because of the yellow-toned highlighter which turns out to be too subtle, and the bronzer is also too light to make a difference.

The compact is 0.38oz/ 11g, 3.99. Shade #02 Medium has a pink toned highlighter.

Other new releases from Essence you might be interested in:
- Sheer & Shine lipsticks - 9 shades
- I ♥ Extreme Volume mascara - waterproof version
- Say No To Dark Circles/ Imperfections/ Redness
- Satin Matt and Pastel Ombre top coats, I ♥ Trends The Metals nail polish.

No signs of the Blush Up! (ombre) powder blushes that were out in the US!

Not planned but I happened to pick up the 2 Essence nail polish in the same names with the Good Girl Bad Girl lipsticks.

Featured today is It wasn't Me! - Glitter Effect. Caught in the Middle will follow, stay tuned!

Colour wise, It wasn't Me! shares the purple base with its lipstick partner. The glitters are super pretty, but get this, they are textured too. Just slightly, but still noticeable on the nails, not smooth like most glitters after a top coat. I didn't expect that, but certainly appreciate the bonus.

I used 1 and a half coats here. The base looks slightly sheer at certain spots under flash but IRL it is opaque enough.

I like purple tones, so this nail polish is a nice addition to the stash. Plus, it is LE :)

I also prefer the smooth round tall bottle shape, good size too (0.27oz/ 8ml), $2.99. Check out other colours in the collection too, with different effect, and 2 bar glitter shades.

It's Thanksgiving in Canada this weekend, any feast planned with your loved ones yet?

I finally found the display of Essence Good Girl Bad Girl collection last week.

I grabbed the 2 lipsticks first, $3.49 each. Still have the standard Longlasting lipstick packaging, with the collection name printed on the tube.

The colour indication strips and the coloured labels at the bottom give good indication of the colours, and there are testers on the display as well.

I think it was neat that the colours interpreted the Good Girl - Bad Girl concept pretty well, one "evil" dark colour, one "innocent" pink :)

Here are It wasn't Me! (left) and Caught in the Middle (right).

The pigmentation in these two lipsticks is slightly more sheer with the first coat compared to the core shades, but they layer up quite nicely.

It wasn't Me! looks almost black in the tube. On, it is a very dark plum with a strong tint of purple. A bit patchy, requires a bit of care in application.

As an opposite, Caught in the Middle is brighter in the tube, goes on more subtle. Like I said, it looks innocent and cheerful, as intended. Not totally my type of colour but it is great to layer on top of It wasn't Me! to lighten it.

Swatches below were 2 coats, flash on the left, natural light on the right.

I always have a soft spot for Essence LE lipsticks and wish they had more shades in this collection. The display only has 3 tubes of each shade, so get them soon.

The colour theme for today's NOTD is not really summer-oriented, but bare with me.

Recently clearance tags are spotted on Essence display at Shoppers, including the nail polish section. That might be the sign of new stuff coming soon, but also means we need to grab what we want before they are gone.

I thought I should show you Blue-jeaned, a Sugar Effect nail polish from Essence. I am pretty sure it is from the regular display, but not 100% positive, so please check your store.

If you have enough of the textured trend, sorry I am rubbing it in again but I still love them :) It only took one coat for this opacity, awesome huh?

Blue-jeaned dries semi matte, with medium grittiness, but the blue and silver glitters make it more glowy, even without a top coat.

If Essence decides to give Canadians the whole Sugar Effect line, I would probably buy them all. Blue-jeaned is perfect, just need more "friends" to hang around with in the stash :)

Have a great sunny day!

It has been a while since I got any new Essence products. The brand has recently updated the shelf at Shoppers with a number of products marked as "New". I certainly shop happy :)

Let's bring the brand back to the NOTD scene today with Rock My World, a new permanent shade from the Galaxy Flakes effect line.

Essence defines this effect, with multiple flakes, gives the nails a cook and skillful shine, which is a step up from their Sand effect line. I would say it is the iridescent version of Zoya Pixie Dusts.

See that iridescence I mentioned here?

This is 2 coats of Rock My World without base or top coat, for swatching purpose, to preserve the texture and opacity of the shade.

To wear it though, I would suggest a base colour to avoid sheer spots, which are more visible in pictures than IRL. I love the colour and finish so much that sheerness does not bother me at all.

I hope Essence brings more Galaxy Flakes to Canada, especially warmer and darker tones, as I would buy them all. The $3.49 price tag helps too!

A brand new LE collection from Essence called Like an Unforgettable Kiss just hit Shoppers last week, just in time for Valentine's.

I came across a full display, so things landed in my basket naturally. Cute packaging, I gotta give them that!

Like most Essence LE collections, quantities are limited (between 2-4 items per product). If you see something you want, grab them now before it is too late.

Let me show you each product up close.

I couldn't pass up the lipsticks, so I got all 3 shades, $2.99 each:
- 01 Nothing but Lovestoned
- 02 Pink Me, and
- 03 Keep Calm and Kiss Me.

Interesting choice of packaging for lipsticks (as Essence calls them), as I normally associate thin long tubes with tinted lip balms. Love the colour coding, vibrantly convenient.

I would say these lipsticks fit somewhere between a lipstick and a tinted lip balms. They are comfortable and moisturizing on. The colours are slightly sheer but buildable.

01 Nothing but Lovestoned is described as an apricot, which is quite on point. On me, it simply is a lip balm as the colour shows up almost clear.

02 Pink Me is something I call a pink that suits all ages, i.e. a pink that does not make me age inappropriate :) An easy to wear everyday kind of colour.

03 Keep Calm and Kiss Me is a neutral toned red, not leaning too cool nor too warm. And since it is sheer, it is safe for work too.

I layered the colours in the swatches so you can see them well but there is always the option to wear the lipsticks sheer for a wash of colour. Recommend them either way.

The cute factor continues with the duo blushes - 01 Nothing but Lovestoned and 02 Pink Me, $4.99 each.

Heart-shaped boxes, beautiful prints and patterns make it hard to resist a purchase. Note that the boxes are small, just enough to fit your regular blush brush bit a tight space to swirl it around.

Also, Essence describes these blushes as having just a touch of colour, and I agree. They are not the highly pigmented type.

Beautiful on in the inside too, aren't they? I was excited to see Essence embracing the matte blush trend, considering they have come out with so many sparkly things in the past.

Below are the swatches for 01 Nothing but Lovestoned, each colour separately with an eyeshadow brush first (to see their pigmentation if used as eyeshadows), then both colours swirled with a blush brush.

The colours are matte alright, but pigmentation (even with building work) is not great unfortunately. To get that hint of colour on the swatches (and on the cheeks), I had to swipe the brush so many times.

02 Pink Me is slightly more pigmented, but still takes lots of work to show up. In both shades, the supposedly highlighter half kinda dilutes the blush half, making the end result too subtle to my taste.

I would only recommend these duo blushes if you want display items on your vanity, have a super dense blush brush to pick up more pigment, or use them as a matte setting powder for your cream blush.

Now this is a beauty toy for the young at heart :)

This adorable blush brush has a short purple handle (i.e. travel size), hot pink/ almost red synthetic bristles and a purple heart in the middle.

Only one colour combination - 01 Dear Valentine!, $3.99

The bristles are soft but not the softest I have felt in a brush, and they are not super dense either. This brush would work well with pigmented blushes, not the duo blushes above.

I heart this brush (literally). A true display item, also a not so subtle way to say the L word this Valentine's :)

I skipped on the 3 eyeshadows ($2.99 each), the Lip Smoother gloss ($1.99) and the fragrance ($9.99), and only got
1 of the 4 polishes -  04 Pink Me, $2.49, which I might get around to swatch next time.

Happy V-Day to those who celebrate it. I don't, but will enjoy this long weekend (Monday is Family Day in NS). Might be snowed in though, another storm approaches Thursday night :)

Omg, what did I do to deserve a +16 degree morning in the middle of November? I was never happier leaving the house this morning. Sorry Toronto for being on the other opposite site of the thermometer (I heard -17?).

Continuing the neutral end trend I have been spotting on the blog, this is another one featuring Essence How to Make Nude Eyes makeup box I reviewed yesterday.

I used:
- An Eye On Apricot: brow bone highlight
- All About Nude: inner and outer corner
- Go For Gold: transition (not very visible as it is close to my skin tone)
- Eye Light Beige: highlight mid lids
- Nude Night Out: crease and lower lash line (not dark enough, as you can see).

The only shade I did not use was Team Nude which would work better as a transition colour on me. After blending, all colours seemed to become very similar and it felt like I only used one colour or two. Not good!

Other products used:
- Marcelle Ideal Skin perfector
- Maybelline Baby Skin Instant pore eraser
- Make Up For Ever HD Micro-perfecting primer #0
- Make Up For Ever HD Invisible Cover foundation in 123
- CoverFx cream foundation SPF30 in M50 as concealer
- ArtDeco All in One mascara in 01 Black
- Annabelle Smudgeliner in Envy on lower lash line underneath Nude Night Out above
- Stay Sharp Waterproof lip liner in Glam Red
- TwistUp Retractable lipstick crayon in Rock & Rose (Metal Mix collection) as highlight mid lips, which turned Glam Red to more of a hot pink than red
- Wet n Wild Flirting at the After Party palette, the purple eyelid colour as blush
Purple craze, can you tell? I want purple everything!
- Annabelle InstaGlam Brow Design + Fix in Medium to Dark.

What eye and lip looks have you been wearing lately?

Have you noticed almost every brand now has some nude eyeshadow palette/ quad/ trio offers?

I found myself drifting over to the neutral side with lots of FOTDs lately
- Yves Rocher Quad Eyeshadow Sumptuous Color in 06 Incandescent Brown
- MUFE Artist eyeshadows in M646 Latte & ME614 Graphite Brown
- The most recent: Quo Back to Basics Matte.

One more today: Essence How to Make Nude Eyes makeup box!

A cardboard box that holds 6 shimmery neutral eyeshadows, a mirror under the lid and 2 look cards. Here is the inside, in different lighting.

Packaging wise, the box is thicker and has more empty space than necessary. I can still bring it on short work trips as it has most colours I might need.

The eyeshadows have decent pigmentation but nothing to write home about, work best with a primer to prevent fallout as the colours do kick up a bit in the pan with the touch of a brush. I also wish for a better combination of shades, see below to see why.

Swatches of the first row, from L-R: Eye Light Beige, Go For Gold and An Eye On Apricot. Go For Gold while looking darkest among the 3 swatches very close to my skin tone and as a result is hardly used.

The second row: All About Nude, Nude Night Out and Team Nude. The darkest colour in the palette, Nude Night Out, turns out to be a dark brown, not dark enough for most night looks. All About Nude is slightly more grey than Team Nude and are used interchangeably.

The palette has 0.14oz/ 4.2g of products (0.123oz/ 0.7g each eyeshadow), retails $9.99. For comparison, Essence 3D eyeshadows are 0.09oz/ 2.8g for $3.49 a piece. I only suggest Nude Eyes palette for those who need a simple neutral palette to travel with.

Here is a FOTD I did with the palette, to show you how the colours wear.

I wasn't planning to do a FOTD when I didn't have anything creative to share, but since I have been enjoying these products for a while, they deserve a post.

The Essence products I wore:
- From the Dark Romance collection: Longlasting lipstick in Red Romance and Velvet mousse blush in Painted Love
- From the core line: All about Matte! fixing compact powder.

Nothing against Red Romance, as it is a beautiful red, but I couldn't help but wishing for a darker/ vampy shade when the collection is called Dark Romance and it's released in the Fall.

Also wearing Vichy Fall releases - Idelia Eyes, Idealia BB cream in Medium, plus the core Idealia Life serum, but they are contributing behind the scene, you can't really see them. I have been wearing this trio nonstop for a few weeks :)

Other products used:
- Marcelle Ideal Skin perfector
- Yves Rocher Radiant Glow fluid foundation with precious pearls mixed with the BB cream above
- It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eyes full coverage concealer in Neutral Medium
- Maybelline Color Tattoo in Shimmering Sea as base
- Makeup Revolution Awesome Eyeshadow and Eyebrow palette in Lock and Load
The eyeshadows are great, but the brown shade for brows is a little light for me, and the beige colour turns out to be a powder too, not a wax, used as brow bone highlight I guess
- Lise Watier 24rs Glam eyeshadow in Disco Glam as liner on the lower lash line
- Marcelle Xtension Plus + Pro Lash Growth Complex mascara in Black
- Wet n Wild Color Icon brow & eye liner in Dark Brown to darken the brows a bit.

With the prominent chill in the air, I guess I should switch to darker lips about now :) Did you?

Pheww, I survived the crazy rain this morning. Let's talk lipsticks :)

Catching my eyes first among new Essence products this Fall is the Longlasting lipsticks.

Their claim is to provide intensive colours for several hours without drying out the lips. Quite modest, compared to those 12hrs or all day wear claims other lipstick lines promote, but I don't know if only few hours justifies the "long lasting" name.

Name aside, I appreciate the packaging upgrade on these lipsticks - sleek matte black tube, with colour indication ring and label, especially when it only comes with a very small price tag. The white print on the Dark Romance item is an added bonus.

I got 3 shades from the core line and 1 LE shade.

01 Coral Calling is a gentle coral that I can wear, I was glad to find it.

06 Barely There! is great for work touchups during the day when I don't feel like a bright shade.

14 Adorable Matt! is a good red, with the best pigmentation among the 4. It does appear to be a little less shiny than the rest but is not a complete matte either.

01 Red Romance (LE, from the Dark Romance collection) is the berry version of Adorable Matt!, I am a big fan. If this is your type of colour, go get it now before it's gone for good.

Swatches in the same order, with Red Romance at the bottom.

The Longlasting lipsticks are 0.13oz/ 3.8g, $2.99 each. I found the "few hours" claim quite true, but I didn't expect more than that, so it's all good. As long as you don't hold these to their name, I would recommend them.

It has been a hot minute since I blogged last. It is not the norm on SB not having a post every week day, but I broke that streak lately. 

Life happened, and mean comments added insult to injury, so I lost my blogging fire. Normally they won't bother me one bit, but I am extremely moody as my bday approaches this year, so I took them harder.

Still painting my nails though. This is the third Sparkling Sand polish from Essence Beach Cruisers collection - Keep Calm and go to the Beach.

Love the name! I wish I could do just that and forget about the cruel world for a second. It still is a busy summer with Squirt and friends, so I didn't cry myself to sleep or anything, but some calm moments would be nice too. But then again, I'm a Leo, I can't keep calm :)

It is not easy to see here but I added striping tapes on the base colour (SinfulColors Mint Apple, 2 coats) before adding one coat of Keep Calm and go to the Beach.

We are half way through August/ summer now. I won't cry over the "cup half full/ half empty" situation but have to admit things in life take a lot longer to get better once you get old. Tolerance meter just drops like apples. I don't blame anybody though, am frustrated (and maybe depressed) but not bitter.

I apologize for turning a NOTD into a life post, but I have to get it out somehow. I will be back to my own self, just slowly. At least I have pretty polish to show you sometimes :)

Enjoy your life to the fullest (I am trying), and hug your love ones!

I know Mondays aren't normally for NOTDs but Essence Beach Cruisers collection has landed at my beloved Shoppers location and I couldn't wait to tell you about it.

Out of 4 Sparkling Sand nail polish shades released in Europe, we get 3, $2.49 each. I was not too upset as the fourth shade did not look like something I would wear.

I have 2 shades to show you today and the third shade will soon follow.

On 4 of my fingers is 02 Girls Just Wanna Have Sun!, 2 coats. It is a beautiful peachy coral, with a light hint of shimmers.

On the accent nail is one coat of 01 I ♥ Summer Break, one of the most beautiful raspberry reds I have seen. To top off the great pigmentation, the fuchsia sparkles in it are strong and visible in all lighting.

I kinda like this pairing between the 2 shades. Girls Just Wanna Have Sun! tends to make my hands look darker, not necessarily preferable, so I ♥ Summer Break helps balancing it out.

If you can't tell by the name (Sparkling Sand), these nail polish are textures with fine grittiness, if you know what I mean. They are nowhere near the texture of China Glaze Textureds, rest assured. I don't mind either way.

The sparkles in the bottles show up better in the last two pictures here. Application and removal were a breeze!

The third shade 03 Keep Calm and Go to the Beach is a beautiful teal. You won't regret picking it up either. Needless to say, I definitely recommend Essence Sparkling Sands, if you enjoy textured nail polish.

Looks like Essence is on a roll with finishes as the Road Trip collection will have Thermo/ Asphalt/ Leather/ Gasoline effects :)

How did your weekend go? We had the most beautiful sunny days, spent couple hours picking cherries (11 pounds of Stellar, Lapin and Napoleon lol). No Rainiers but I was happy nonetheless.