Shakeup Your Makeup

 

Several weeks ago while grabbing some stocking stuffers at Ulta, I found the remnants of an Essence Breaking Dawn makeup collection display and picked up a couple of the remaining items.  There wasn't much left of what looked to have been an interesting collection, but I was able to get two glitter eyeliners and a pigment.

 



 

Both come with a small and thin artificial bristle applicator.

 

The pigment I picked up, Jacob's Protection, is a dark almost black pigment with iridescent shimmer.  This would make a gorgeous eyeliner.

 

 

Swatches below.  The eyeliners required several swipes to get the color to pay off, so if you are looking for a subtle glitter to wear as an eyeliner alone or on top of your favorite everyday liner to kick it up a notch, these would be pretty good.  Once dry, they lasted all day without flaking off, which was also nice. 

 

The pigment is rich and dark - the picture below doesn't do it much justice.  I wore mine over Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy and it lasted all day with nice color and shimmer payoff.  I haven't tried this as a liner yet, but think i would be a nice alternative to plain black.

 

There were several other items in this collection that I missed out on, including two highlights, a blush and three other pigments.  Prices started at $1.99 for the liners and went up from there.  Did you pick any of this collection up? 

 

It's been a long time since I've posted a look I've really enjoyed creating and wearing.  Not only have I just not had the time over the past several months to really spend playing around with my makeup, but I just haven't really been motivated to.  Well, thanks to my son, I am.  He had his toy dump truck full of my Fyrinnae eyeshadows, which he had decided to "excavate" from my makeup drawers, so I took a look and grabbed these three to play with this morning: STFU, Red Panda and Arcane Magic Pyromontic Erotica. 

The first picture is probably the best of the entire look.  It's take in natural light, no flash, and you really see the transitions in colors.  The purple eyeliner also really stands out in the picture above, where it's difficult to differentiate in the pictures below.  Regardless, this look reminds me of a beautiful summer sunset, and I'm glad I finally got back to being inspired with my makeup!  I almost forgot how much I enjoy creating these looks.

For the FOTD, here is what I did/used:

Face:

Laura Geller Champagne Spackle - primer

Laura Geller "Real Deal" Concealer - Light

Laura Geller Balance 'n Brighten Foundation

Mally Bronzer - light - to contour

Mally Poreless Airbrush Blush - Afterglow and Purelight

Eyes:

Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy - all over lid

Fyrinnae Arcane Magic Pyromontic Erotica - inner corner, and blended ontop of crease

Fyrinnae Red Panda - middle of lid

Fyrinnae STFU - outer crease, blended into the Arcane magic in the middle of crease

Essence Gel Eyeliner "Berlin Rocks"

Jordana Retractable Glitters Eyeliner "Punk Rock Purple" - lower lashline

NYX candy Glitter Eyeliner - Lavender - ontop of Essence Berlin Rocks

Lips:

Revlon Lip Butter - Candy Apple

A quick FOTD since I've been lacking in these recently.  I am really enjoying my Essence London Baby Gel Eyeliner, so this look is kind of built around it.  Enjoy!

Laura Geller Champagne Spackle

Laura Geller Balance 'n Brighten Fair

Laura Geller Blush 'n Brighten Golden Apricot

Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy

MAC Seasonally Cool Pigment - inner corner, lower lashline

Laura Geller Black Cherry - outer corner, crease

NYX Eyeshadow Single Egg White - highlight

Essence Gel Eyeliner London Baby

Mally Volumizing Mascara "Black"

Laura Geller Lipstick in Banana Berry

Last week I posted some closeups and swatches of the essence Gel Eyeliners in London Baby and Berlin Rocks.  I have a soft spot for taupes, although I don't wear much of them.  Since I finally found a beautiful taupe gel eyeliner that actually looks taupe on, I thought I'd post an EOTD with it. 

The picture above is without mascara, just so you can see how the color glides on and actually looks like a rich taupe on the lashline.  Below, a snapshot with mascara.  It's dark enough of a color to add definition to the lashline, but it's not black.  Essence London Baby would be a great option for someone looking for an eyeliner with some color, but afraid to step away from the basics of black or brown.  And, at $3.49, it's easy on the wallet!

For the look, I used:

Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy - all over lid

Laura Geller's Baked Eyeshadow in Spumoni/Sinful Praline - Spumoni on the inner corner, Sinful Praline on the outer v and crease

MAC Vanilla Pigment - highlight

Essence Gel Eyeliner in London Baby - lashline

Mally Volumizing Mascara - Black



Over the holidays I popped into Ulta to pick up some stock stuffers and gift toppers, as well as see all the new items that have come out from drug store to premium brands.  A little brand I always forget about in the drugstore section is essence, which is a cute little brand that hugs an end cap at the Ulta I visit most often.  Every once in a while I'll pick up a nail polish or lipgloss, but this time something caught my eye: Gel Eyeliners.  At $3.49 a piece, I figured I'd pick a couple up and give them a try.

The two shades I picked were Berlin Rocks (a deep frosty purple) and London Baby (a warm graphite).  Both come in glass pots with screw top lids.  There are 0.1 oz in each pot.  There are three total colors to choose from - the one I didn't pick up was Paris at Night, which was black.

A closeup of Berlin Rocks.  This is a royal purple shimmer, with the slightest hint of blue and pink, depending on how you turn it in the light. 

London Baby reminds me of Chanel Graphite or Revlon's Carbonite nail polish.  It is definitely a deep steel color, but there is a bit of gold shimmer running underneath - just enough to warm up the shade and take it away from silver. 

A couple of swatches below - one in natural light and one with a flash.  The product itself is extremely smooth.  It was so easy to pick up on my liner brush out of the pot - one dip and one swipe was enough.  The product lasts all day as well.  We're talking hours and hours.  I swatched this and washed my hands 3 times before it all came off.  I had no problem removing this from my eyes with my normal Olay face wash, though. 

What do you think?  Have you seen these yet?  Picked them up and give them a try?  I'm actually quite impressed.  I hope they come out with other colors because I love gel eyeliners, and these were one of the easiest sets I've used - I'd definitely consider these right up there with my favorites: Physician's Formula's Shimmer Strips Gel eyeliner trios. 

As I mentioned, these are $3.49 at Ulta.  If you don't have an Ulta near you, these are available for purchase online here.

In addition to my post yesterday, I also bought essence's Lash Mania Mascara, which retails around $3.99 a tube.  Now, I'm big on first impressions, and when I pulled out the tube and looked at it, the first thing I thought was....

Dior Show Mascara!  Could we possibly have a dupe on our hands??

The brush in the essence Lash Mania mascara is quite similar to the Diorshow.  This is a larger brush, with the spiraled, individual bristles running down the brush.  I did notice this brush is a lot fatter than a typical brush, which is also reminiscent of the Diorshow mascara. 

The product itself is not quite as wet as Diorshow - but...that's not to say that it's dry in the tube.  It's just not as wet/thin as Diorshow.  Application was was a breeze.  Every lash was coated with mascara, and because of the fatness and consistency of the essence mascara, there was no clumping or glopping together of the lashes.  I also didn't get the smearing of mascara on the lid/under eyes that a lot of the fatter brushes tend to present - I think this has to do with the constency of the product as well.

On the other hand, although for the price I think this is an excellent mascara, there are a few things that this leaves me wanting.  For one, I don't think this has quite the lengthing power that some other mascaras on the market have, including Diorshow.  Yes, there is great volume and separation of the lashes, but the length leaves a little to be desired.  The color isn't quite as intense a black as some others, either.  Personally, I find that a really deep, intense, black mascara can really enhance the lashes and eyes, regardless of how thick or long they are. 

Overall, I really can't complain too much about the mascara.  I've been using this for two weeks and haven't switched back to any other tubes in my collection.  The pricepoint is unbelievable - there aren't even any other drugstore brands that come close to the $3.99 price tag this day and age.  The product wears well all day and doesn't flake or smear.  For a simple, not over the top dramatic mascara, this one is definitely worth a try!

Here are a few pictures of the essence haul I got at Ulta a few weeks ago.  I've been using the mascara for a while now, so I'll review that one in an upcoming post.  Today I wanted to show you the XXXL Shine lip gloss and the Crystal glitter eyeliner.

The eyeliner in Dazzling Silver is a mixture of irridescent glitter and silver glitter.  These are not large chunks, and actually apply quite sparingly, which I find to be a huge bonus.  This gives you the flexability of adding a little or a lot of glitz to your look.  The brush (pictured above) is a fine, synthetic hair.  The consistency of the formula isn't runny by any means, but isn't thick either.  If you click and look at the larger image above, you'll notice that there isn't anything chunky or gloppy, so this makes application a breeze.  Sorry I didn't take a closeup of the tube so you could see the glitter - I completely forgot!

I purchased the XXXL Shine lipgloss in Bubble Babe, which is a sheer powder pink with silver shimmer.  There really isn't any pigmentation to the gloss itself, its only the shimmer that has the color.  This is a great gloss for just a lot of shine on natural lips, or to add some shimmer and shine to a lipstick. 

The applicator is an elongated doe-foot.  I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of it, just because it's a bit ackward for me to use.  I actually prefer a brush to a doe foot. 

The swatches are above - lipgloss to the right and glitter eyeliner to the left.  I find that the eyeliner is great on top of black just to add some shimmer.  I applied two coats of each - can see the shimmer in both the gloss and the sparkles? 

I'll say that the price of the items in the essence line are really quite reasonable.  If memory serves, they ran from $0.99-$4.99 a piece, depending on the item. 

Talk about a bonanza!  There were so many bright and shiny colors on this display I didn't know what to do!  And, the prices...talk about a steal!  The nail polish run at $0.99 a piece, and I think the most expensive thing I saw were some of the eyeshadows and quads which ran around $2.99-$3.99.  This display was full of fun stuff to try out - there were over 15 colors of nail polish, liquid eyeliners, pencil eyeliners, glitter eyeliners, eyeshadows, baked shadows, eyeshadow quads, approximately 4-5 different types of mascara (from volumizing to length, to both!), foundations, blushes...*phew*...the list goes on!

Now, obviously since I haven't tried this brand, I had to pick up some things to play around with.  I chose a glitter eyeliner, lipgloss, and mascara.  I am anxious to give them a try, and will post about them here shortly.  The mascara reminded me of the DiorShow tube, so I'm hoping that is a prelude of things to come (at a fraction of the price!).

Have any of you lovelies tried this brand essence?  If so, I'd love to hear!