Essence eyeshadows

Hi everyone, sorry for the absence of posts lately, but I’m back with a series of reviews on Essence cosmetics. : )

Here’s the categories of makeup I’ll be doing the reviews on: Eyeshadows, lipglosses, lipsticks, eyeliners and nail polishes.

I’m going to start with their eyeshadows :)

But first, let me tell you that Essence is a German cosmetics brand whose products are all made in Europe, and what makes this brand stand out is that the quality is higher than the price suggests. The products are between $1-$6 AUD so if you’re on a super tight budget, this is a lovely brand to turn to. 

However, you’ll find that Essence is more of a brand intended for young girls if you have a browse on their site: http://www.essence.eu/  (But I know many older girls and adults use this brand too and they love it!) You’ll also find that they don’t test on animals “absolutely no testing on animals is conducted for the cosmetic products by essence, nor do we assign anyone to test any of our products on animals. Not in Germany, nor anywhere else in the world! This applies to the final products as well as any ingredients. Because essence is strictly against any kind of animal testing whatsoever as we think it is absolutely awful to torture animals for the sake of beauty products.”

On to the reviews now,

I spotted a shelf of these very affordable products at a Target a while back and I was amazed at the low price so I decided to try them out and the first product I got was the Sun club mini eye shadow range in 02 Bondi Beach collection long beach, it has 8 colours in it.

I’ve noticed it gets fall-outs very easily which is ALWAYS annoying. It stays put for 4 hours at most with just a little fading but it will probably stay on longer with an eyeshadow primer. The pigmentation is a 5 on a scale of 1-10 where 10 is most pigmented- which is okay because when you buy something this cheap, you  shouldn’t expect it to be of  very high quality.

The packaging is okay, it comes with a two sided applicator and it’s small enough to be put into most makeup bags. Overall, not too bad but it’s really not something you should use for your partying makeup, wedding makeup or prom etc.

 Now on to their single eyeshadows, of which I own four shades:

 59 Copper island, 48 forest gump, 56 hyped up and [no.]Metropolitian

I quite like the clear, round and light weight packaging of these eyeshadows. The staying power is 4 hours at most but it starts to fade by the first hour so in the end the colour is really light, unlike when you first applied it. It does look quite pigmented at first with at least 3 layers, but with the shade ‘metropolitian’ you only need 1 layer and with ‘hyped up’ it’s not pigmented at all.

Overall, not bad for the price.

Here’s the swatches:

Metropolitian, forest gump, copper island and hyped up.

So there’s my review on Essence eyeshadows.

 I hope you give this brand a go and let me know what you think!

NEXT Essence review: Lipglosses!

Mini Nail Polish Haul

Hello ..!

One of the things I do in my spare time is reading beauty blogs. I like to see what others is up to and one of the beauty bloggers mentioned a $10 OFF voucher for BOURJOIS  in a recent post, which I just want to share with you all. The voucher is exclusive to Priceline and you can get it on BOURJOIS's website. It's valid to 31 August 2012 so it's a great save on BOURJOIS cosmetics.

(The limit is one voucher per person per transaction)

So I went to Priceline today and some other shops and I think I've bought enough nail polishes to call it a MINI nail polish haul! 

Note that this is my first haul! :)

First up...

 The  Ultra Shine So Laque nail polish in 22 Rouge Diva is the darkest red they’ve got in their colour range. It’s a dark crimson red which I’m looking forward to trying, as this will be my first BOURJOIS product.

I also have this from BOURJOIS..I absolutely do not like the packaging of this nail polish but I somehow got it. (I do not feel like explaining why I got it) This is in shade.. 19 and it’s a fine glittery dark berry purple colour.

Here's the Essence colour & go fast-drying nail polish, this is my first nail product from Essence so I can't wait to try it out! It's a sparkly gold colour which I think would great if you just put one coat over any nail polish to make it more fancy! 
It goes the same with all glitter nail polishes like this, if the glitters are sparse, than try one coat over ANY nail colour and it will instantly make it more glamorous and can give it a whole different look. Best of all, there's soooo many different colored glitter nail polishes, so you'll never run out of choice!

I  went to BIG W too, and came out with these.. 

This is my first Rimmel London nail polish which is the ‘Lasting Finish Nail Colour’ in 193 Black Cherries. When I got this colour I knew I’d love it on my nails. It’s a dark shimmery purple..with hints of brown if that’s how you describe it. It’s just not like the ordinary dark purple. I am super excited to wear this!

I also got the ‘Face of Australia colour pro triple action nail enamel ’in angel baby, out of curiosity. I didn’t want to get this product even though it was on sale because I’m not particularly fond of Australian branded stuff but I got it only because I wanted to see what this brands nail polishes are like.

I will be doing reviews on all the nail polishes mentioned in this post and feel free to share your opinions on any of the products I got! 

Xoxo

Sakura

The COLOSSAL VOLUM’ EXPRESS

Today's post is a review on ‘the COLOSSAL VOLUM’ EXPRESS’ by Maybelline

What I look for in a mascara is lengthening , pigmentation, and staying power. I don't really look for volume but it’s still important and I’ve still got to have at least one mascara that gives volume in my makeup collection.

The ‘COLOSSAL VOLUM’ EXPRESS’ has a nice round packaging that’s a little bulky but you'll get used to it and think that it's not so bulky. The brush of this yellow tubed mascara is thick just like all mascaras specialising in volume, but the bristles are more separated which helps even application and what it claims, no clumping.

It has good staying power, around 4 hrs at most, and I think that's good for a drug store mascara.

This mascara is more of giving volume so I think it would be great on false lashes because when it comes to false lashes, it's already long so all you need then is volume.

In application, it coats even short lashes and makes the lashes thicker while also giving a bold look…BUT it made my lashes look spidery…maybe thats just me? 

I don't know if others experience it too, so let me know if you do :)

What do you look for in a mascara?