Another little Essence haul!

Whilst I was in town this week, I popped into Wilko (supposedly just to pick up some wrapping paper) and ended up getting a few things from the Essence stand whilst en route to the checkout, oops.
I love their quick dry range of nail polishes, but was disappointed that they'd replaced them all with ones from the gel range.  I believe you can still order them to be delivered to store, but it's always a bit nicer to be able to pick shades out in person!  Otherwise, the stand was pretty well stocked, so I picked out a few other items to test out.

The first was a lipstick from their 'Longlasting' range, in the shade '15 Oh So Matt'.  It's a quite neutral brown-y nude shade, which I don't have anything quite like in my collection - the closest I could find was Soap and Glory's Sexy Motherpucker Gloss Stick in 'Nudist', but that's peachier and quite a bit glossier!  I'm still not quite sure if the shade washes me out on its own, but paired with Rimmel's Lipliner in 'East End Snob' it's perfect.  I think I'll get a lot of use out of it over the summer when I want very neutral, but still looking-put-together makeup!  I thought I should mention too that the scent is totally different to the other lipstick I have from the range, '01 Coral Calling' - the nude has a more fruity scent whereas the coral has more of a generic lipstick scent (not sure if all the shades have different scents).

I also thought I'd give one of their glosses a go, and as I don't really have any darker shades of gloss The shade I picked out was '34 Poppy Red' from their XXXL Shine Range which is a gorgeous orange-y red.  I did want to try the red from the longer lasting range, but the product actually looked like it had dried up inside the tube - not great!  I'm really happy with the one I picked though - it looks great over a matt lipliner/pencil and is nice for a sheerer wash of colour alone.  The product has a very light sweet scent, and it's really comfortable to wear - not sticky at all!

Lastly, I fancied giving one of their eyeliners a go and since they say that purple/taupe shades enhance blue eyes, I picked the shade '18 Berry Merry' which is a beautiful dark berry shade (as the name would suggest) with an almost coppery shine.  I'm really looking forward to using this in place of my usual brown liner in the waterline as it's soft but not too smudgy so should stick around well.  And the best thing - it was only 50p!  I love how the Essence range has good quality products (much better than their drugstore counterparts, MUA) but they're extremely affordable so you can afford to experiment a bit - I've yet to be disappointed by something from the range and would highly recommend checking them out!

L-R: Essence XXXL Shine Gloss '34 Poppy Red', Essence Longlasting
 Lipstick '15 Oh So Matt', Essence Longlasting Eyeliner '18 Berry Merry'

xxx

The palest drugstore foundations!

Up until a few months ago, the only liquid foundation I owned that matched my skin was Bobbi Brown's Skin Foundation in the lightest shade, Alabaster.  It's a great foundation, but with my skin having more dry patches than this time last year, it wasn't working as well for me as it used to.  I decided to give something new a go, but as I didn't want to be experimenting with high end products (which at about £30 a pop were a bit out of my price range) I had a look round Boots to see what I could find...

The first product I found was the Loreal True-Match Foundation in the shade 'N1'.  This is a little yellower in tone than the Bobbi Brown but once blended in with my Real Techniques sponge matches my skin really well.  I love how this gives really natural coverage, and the lightweight, runny texture of the product makes it really easy to apply.  The lasting power is pretty good for this - about 8 to 10 hours with primer and then it starts to separate on the oilier areas of the face.  It also, like the Bobbi Brown, has no discernible scent which is great.  Definitely one to give a go if you're on the hunt for a good light-to-medium coverage foundation.

A few weeks ago though, I saw that Rimmel had released a new shade in their foundation ranges called 'Light Porcelain' which is almost exactly the same as the Bobbi Brown shade - maybe even lighter!  I decided to try out their Lasting Finish Nude foundation, as I was still looking for something with longer lasting-power, and fuller coverage that would still look natural (okay, a little optimistic but hey!)  This does actually live up to my expectations though - a couple of days ago I left the house at 6 in the morning and it was still looking nice at 9 at night!  I haven't tried it out (or the Loreal one) sans primer yet though, as I know my skin will eat up the product by lunchtime - but it'd be interesting to see and compare lasting power without primer at some point... It does apply really nicely though, without emphasising drier areas of skin, and also has buildable coverage so you can layer on a little more where needed without any issues!  The only thing that lets this one down is that the product has a quite strong fruity-floral scent - luckily it doesn't affect me but I can see this being a bit of a letdown for people with sensitive noses or skin which reacts to added fragrance.  Otherwise, I'd definitely recommend it (especially since it's one of the cheapest foundations you can find in the drugstore!)

L-R: Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation 'Alabaster', Rimmel Lasting Finish Nude
 Foundation 'Light Porcelain', Loreal True-Match Foundation 'N1'

xxx

Makeup Revolution...Iconic 3 palette swatches!

A few months ago, whilst in London I made a trip to Superdrug Marble Arch and managed to get my hands on the Iconic 3 palette by Makeup Revolution. I'd heard amazing things about the brand, and since I've always wanted to try out one of the infamous Naked palettes I thought this would be great to see whether the colours suited me!  I picked the Iconic 3, because the range of taupey-pink shades was gorgeous!!

Worn with a primer (which I cannot go without - even with high end shadows) these last all day on the lids.  They also have excellent pigmentation and blend easily with a fluffy brush.  For £4 you get 12 shadows, and in total 14g of product which is a bargain!  This particular palette does have a wide range of shades, but is lacking a dark, matte brown and a champagne highlight shade - other than that I can't really fault it for the price.

The shades don't appear to have names, but above are the first 6 (lighter, pinker-toned shadows)
and below are the last 6 (taupey, purple-toned ones) which are super highly pigmented.

And here's the palette overall.  I prefer the packaging to MUA's equivalent,
simply because there's less plastic and more shadow!

xxx

The one coat nail polish.

Recently, I picked up a bottle of Essence's 'Colour and Go' polish in the shade '168 Love Me Cupcake'.  It's a gorgeous grey-purple colour, very similar to Barry M's 'Almond' but with a little more lilac.  It is also a gazillion times easier to apply!

Out of routine, I previously have applied two thin coats and it's been absolutely perfect.  But last night, I didn't have time to wait so just slapped on the one (slightly thicker) coat over a quick dry base, and ran out the door.  It wasn't till later on that I noticed it was completely opaque with no streaks - that second coat wasn't needed!  It still needs a topcoat to avoid chipping obviously, but if you're looking for something that you can just do the one coat of and be done with - this is the one for you.  It also dries super fast, and although the coat was thicker than usual there were no odd smudge marks the following morning.

And here you go, one coat with no topcoat!

You can find it here or in store at Wilko, priced at £1.60.

xxx

Bargain brushes...

A few months ago, I was having a little mooch around the brush department on Ebay.  I was looking for someone selling the Real Techniques contour brush, as it's only available in the Core Collection and didn't need the entire set.  However, most sellers were charging above and beyond and I would've given up had I not stumbled across this seller.  They had a huge variety of brushes on offer, and for only a few pounds!

The brushes look very similar to the Real Techniques ones, but aren't complete knock offs (or I wouldn't have been comfortable purchasing them) - but they do have very similar synthetic fibres and the coloured aluminium handles.  I found one that looked as if it would be good for contouring, as it was tapered - No.1 from this listing.  I also ordered No.2 from this listing, as it looked similar to the 'Expert Face Brush' and I thought it might come in handy for blending in foundation.

They both arrived in a couple of weeks, and before getting them near my face I gave them a really good wash.  They smelt rather plasticky, but after a few weeks use that wore off completely.  Both brushes are actually great though!  I've been using No.1 for it's intended purpose - contouring - but I've found that No.2 is amazing for applying cream/liquid blush.  I've been using it with Daniel Sandler's watercolour blush, and it works a treat!  If you want a brush to use exclusively with his blushes, but don't want to buy another £10 brush, it's definitely worth checking out.  They also wash very well, with no shedding, and are super soft.

The contouring brush (No.1) is on the right, hopefully you can see how it tapers.
No.2 is almost a hybrid of the 'Expert Face Brush' and the 'Buffing Brush' by Real Techniques.

Overall, I'm super impressed with these and for about £3.50 for the two how can you go wrong?!  (Also, having just revisited the page I've gone and popped the duo fibre brush in my basket - oops!) 

xxx

Budget brand focus: Essence

When you're counting the pennies (especially after that little trip to Space.nk turned into a full on splurging spree), it's a relief to come across a new budget brand to try out.  I'd seen a few posts about Essence recently, but as my closest Wilko is 45 minutes away I hadn't yet gotten around to picking anything up.  Price point wise, they're somewhere inbetween MUA and Rimmel - but the products I managed to get were well up there in quality.

I just wish I'd gotten more things to try!  In total, these
cost £4.30, an average of £1.43 each (bargain!)

I was especially impressed by the 'Colour and Go' nail polish I picked up - the brush was just the right shape and size to cover the nail in a couple of swipes and it dried super fast (I believe I did my nails in 15 minutes, which is a complete record!)  The shade 168 is a gorgeous dusky lavender, slightly more purple than Barry M 'Almond' but very very similar.

Apologies for the slightly shaky picture here,
but I thought it was definitely worth showing
the brush shape - it's just like the Essie polishes.

The blush I chose was from their Silky Touch range - and is very highly pigmented.  The texture is very soft and not chalky at all, and it lasts all day on my combination/oily skin.  This, like the nail polish felt comparable to much higher end products!

L-R: One swipe, Blended out

As the whole range was on 3 for 2, I also chose a glitter topcoat (for fun!) which I haven't yet tested out.  It's a gorgeous rainbow glitter, that I'm sure I'll use coming up to Christmas/New Years - and as it was so cheap I won't feel guilty for not using it all the time.

All in all, my first experience with Essence as a brand has been stellar!  I'll for certain be popping a few more of their polishes in my basket next time I'm in store.

The entire Essence range is available online at Wilko, and there's also a limited range in store.

xxx