Brand Review: Essence!

It’s every beauty addicts dream: you walk into the drugstore and you see that perfect little “NEW” sign.

When Essence came to Canada, I first started seeing the brand in Shoppers Drug Mart (side note – gotta hand it to SDM for bringing in Euro products like No 7, Bourjois, ect. I guess hanging on to the Queen is working out for us 😉 ),  I thought it was for little girls. And I mean, to a certain extent it kind of is.. the cutesie packaging and colours, it is definitely targeted at young girls and not grown women. Well, I started seeing people talking about it, and of course as soon as that happened I needed to get my hands on the products. Now, Essence is known as an amazing drugstore find. It’s super cheap (everything under $5) and awesome quality that reminds us all of high-end makeup. I honestly thing if you did a blind test side by side, these products could pass for some Sephora-quality brands. And not to mention, it is a German brand, which is really hard to find among inexpensive products.

I’ve decided to do a little mini review of the brand as a whole, as I love it so much. But even if you don’t read any further, here’s a summary of my thoughts: TOTALLY WORTH IT, AWESOME, GREAT QUALITY, DO IT, WHY AREN’T YOU AT THE STORE BUYING IT RIGHT NOW.

Here are some of the things I own from Essence:

Essence Lipstick in Blush My Lips (12)

Holy bright pink batman. These lipsticks go for $2.99 and I would honestly pay $20 each for them. I picked this one up recently and I’ve only used it once. I’m not super brave with bright lips, but I’ve decided this is the summer to push myself out of my lipstick comfort zone!

Essence Lipstick in Natural Beauty (07)

This is a fantastic MLBB shade that is perfect for every day. The formula of these lippies is wonderful! They smell great, they are creamy and they last well.

Essence Lipstick in Barely There! (06)

Another amazing MLBB shade, but this one is more mauve/brown/ Kylie lip jenner. I also love to wear this every day and

Essence Lipstick in On The Catwalk! (04)

I love this lipstick for night, it reminds me of the one above, but darker with more burgundy. All of the lipsticks are amazing quality and have the same great formula!

Essence Sheer Lipstick in Almost Famous (44)

Ok so maybe I bought this because of the name, like I said in my May favourites, I definitely did. But it is a great little lippie as well! Very sheer and shiny red that is easy to throw on to give some colour to the lips. I keep it in my purse and use it daily. The name gets me every time. Love that movie. 

Swatches:

Left to right: Blush my lips, Natural beauty, Barely there, On the catwalk. Top: Almost famous.

Next is Essence Long Lasting Eyeliner.

 

I picked up Coolest Chic (16) and I Have a Green (12). I find Coolest chic to be a little too much glitter, but I love the way that purple brings out my green eyes. The formula is pretty long-lasting, but if you do suffer from your liner smudging on your upper eyelid, I wouldn’t recommend using it there, or only use a tiny bit. I Have a Green is a an awesome shade, it is exactly like my Sephora waterproof green liner pencil, but it was $1.99.   

A recent purchase for me is the Essence Lash and Brow Gel. I bought this as I used up my Anastasia brow gel and I had to make an exception with my no-buy after going months without brow gel… I did try the Maybelline brow drama, which gives some good colour but honestly SUCKS to hold brows in place. This Essence brow gel is friggen awesome, it was $1.99 and it holds just as well as the Anastasia, BUT it doesn’t make my brows hard like Anastasia gel does! EVEN BETTER! Not to mention the Anastasia brow gel is a serious dip in the wallet for something so simple… I would rather spend my money on foundation and mascara.

I also have two eyeliner brushes, which I use for both liner and brows. They are A W E S O M E.

I hope you can see how tiny these brushes are, the green one even more so. They are so amazing for liner and for brows! Both brushes were $2.99 each!  

I am completely obsessed with Essence and I will definitely be buying more from them, especially at their price point! Is there anything you would recommend from Essence that I should try next? I want to get my hands on some shadows!

xoxo, Ali