New In From Essence Cosmetics!

Hey beaut's!

If you've been reading my blog for a while now you'll know that I'm a bit of a Essence Cosmetics addict, I absolutely love their products because not only are they all so affordable but the quality is actually very good too - I literally cant get enough of their lip products and nail polishes, their so so good! Anyway...recently Essence launched some fab new bit's for Spring/Summer and I've been testing a few out over the last month or so and I'm actually pretty shook!!

Let's start with the Shine Last & Go nail polishes, now as I said before I love the Essence nail polishes but this range has a new quick dry gel formula which is literally to die for, the gel finish gives you that hard wearing, glossy 'salon-esk' finish and the fact their quick drying is heaven for me because I hate waiting for my nail polish to dry! Theres also a whopping 50 shades to choose from which is literally insane, and at £1.60 a bottle you really cant go wrong!

Essence now have a Lip Ritual Collection to keep our pouts looking and feeling fresh, three products within this collection are the Ritual Balms, theres a Nourishing Balm with Rice Oil which nourishes and pampers the lips intensively, a Moisturising Balm with Cherry Blossom Extract which revitalises and provides a huge dose of moisture and theres a Repairing Balm with Ginkgo Leaf Extract which regenerates the lips and makes them feel supple. My favourite is the Moisturising Balm because it makes my lips look and feel so juicy, it smells lush and it's pink which is always a winner for me, and at £2.00 they really are a bargain!

I'm a sucker for eyeshadow palettes so I was so excited when I saw Essence had some new ones I could play with. The City of Palettes collection features four stunning eyeshadow palettes which are just £7.00 each, I have the G'Day Sydney Palette which contains nine warm toned shades with a pop of blue and green thrown in for good measure and the Hello New York Palette which again contains nine shades but this one has more cool-toned shades to play with! Both eyeshadow palettes have a mixture of matte and shimmer shades, the pigmentation is good for budget eyeshadow palettes, but I will say some shade do need a bit of building up but overall I really like them! 

Theres also a new face palette called 'Hey Cheeks' (£6.00) which contains 6 shades - theres 1 highlighter, 3 blushes and 2 bronzer's. Now this palette I absolutely love, all 3 of the blushes are gorgeous and blend out beautifully, the matte bronzer is lush and really warms up my pasty face and I actually like to use the glittery bronzer as an eyeshadow - I do love a muilt-use product! The only shade that's a little lack-luster for me is the highlighter, it's quite subtle which is great if you don't like something super bright but I like my highlighter to really glow, that being said I LOVE this palette and it's not left my makeup bag since I got it!

Now you know how much I love a winged liner look so it didn't take me long to put the Essence Dip Eyeliner (£2.50) through it's paces, this one has a super firm tip making it so easy to create precise line and wings with the sharpest flick at the end, arhhh it's amazing! It's super inky black, dries down matte and because it has a waterproof formula it lasts all day long!

The final product I've been putting to the test is the Insta Perfect Liquid Highlighter in the shade Gold Addiction. I love a liquid highlighter because their so versatile, you can use it as a glowy primer before foundation, you can mix it in with your foundation for a dewy finish, you can mix it with body butters or you can just use it as a regular highlighter to make your cheekbones pop! 

All Essence products are available from Wilko stores or online HERE

*This post contains gifted items, all opinions are my own!

Essence 'You Better Work Range' Reviewed!

Hey beaut's!

If you've been reading my blog for a while now you'll know that I'm a huge fan of Essence Cosmetics, it's so affordable and actually very good quality  - I literally swoon at their lippies and nail polishes, their so so good! Anyway... recently Essence have launched a gym-proof range named 'You Better Work!' full of everything you need to keep your makeup looking it's best and staying put even in a sweaty gym during your workout or on a mega hot Summers day!

If your anything like me then you don't like to leave the house without a slick of mascara on your lashes and a bit of tinted moisturiser on your face at least, so I was really looking forward to giving the You Better Work Volume & Curl Mascara* a whirl a long with the Tinted Day Cream in Light*. Mascara's have to pass a lot of tests for me, I like something super long lasting that wont transfer, smudge, run or flake and I like plenty of length, volume and curl and Essence have literally answered all of my mascara prayers with their Volume & Curl Mascara. This stuff stays put like nothing else and builds up beautifully, and even though it's waterproof it isn't tough to remove with my cleanser at the end of the day, yassss! 

The Tinted Day Cream (£3.80) is actually very good, it has a light-weight formula as you'd expect with a light coverage but some how it makes my skin look super healthy and is perfect for that 'no makeup look', it has a nice matte finish as well so it keeps shine and sweat at bay and it also features a UV filter to keep your skin protected in the sun which is always a bonus! I can see myself using this loads in the Spring/Summer months that's for sure!

Setting sprays are absolutely huge right now and I bloody love a good setting spray to make me look all glowy and dewy however the You Better Work Fixing Spray* (£3.00) is actually mystifying so I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it at first. The spray itself is very refreshing and cooling so I can see why this little beauty would come in handy at the gym and whens it's hot, and if you like a matte finish then I cant recommend this enough as it really does set your base makeup and keep shine at bay, but for me right now I do prefer something more dewy but definitely in Summer I'll be reaching for this a lot when I want to look matte and not a sweaty mess lol!

Finally I've been giving the Eye Primer* (£2.80) from the collection a whirl! I've found a little bit of this goes a long way, you literally need the smallest amount to get a nice base for your eyeshadow to blend on top of! I've actually found that this particular primer works really well with eyeshadow crayons, it really keeps the creamy formula in place without creasing which is something I've previously struggled with!

All Essence products are available from Wilko stores or online HERE.

*This post contains gifted press samples, all opinions are my own!

Glowing Skin On A Budget With Essence!

Hey beaut's!

It's Summer, it's super hot and it's time to ready, set glowww! You cant beat glowy makeup during the Summer months can you and Essence have made it very easy for us to glow this season with their super affordable glow-worthy products!

Glow To Go Highlighter Palette* £4.50

If your after a radiant sun-kissed look then look no further because this little palette has two highlighting shades and two bronzer shades that will do just that! All four powders within the palette are metallics, the first two are highlighting shades going from a yellow gold to a classic champagne then theres two bronzer shades the first being a warm toned glowy bronze and then the second is a stunning rose gold which I think works better as an eyeshadow or highlighter personally! The texture of the shades is slightly firmer than I'm used to with a metallic but they all pick up on the brush well and blend with ease revealed a blinding glow, all of the shades do contain some ever so slight shimmers but nothing too OTT! If you want to be a bronzed goddess then this palette will definitely be for you, if I was going on holiday this would be a definite 'must pack' for me because using these shades on freshly tanned skin would look so beaut!

Glow To Go Illuminating Setting Spray* £3.30

Setting spray is pretty much a makeup essential especially during these super hot summer days that we are having in the UK right now, and when I saw that Essence had launched an illuminating setting spray I was chuffed to bits, I just love to glow! The spray itself is really good and does keep my makeup set into place a lot longer than if I didn't use it at all, it leaves a pinky radiant finish to the skin which isn't glittery more holographic which I'm obsessed with! The only thing I will say is you must give the bottle a very good shake before use and hold it at arms length as you spray, if you don't your left with highlighter splats across your face rather than a radiant mist! The spray also smells divine, really fresh and light! 

Holo Wow! Dewy Lip Shine in Scarab Wings* £2.80

The Essence Dewy Lip Shines can literally transform any lip look, they have a glossy 

 light-reflecting, holographic shine which look awesome worn on it's own or over your favourite lippie! The shade I have is Scarab Wings which is a translucent purple with thousands of blue, green and yellow glitters suspended within it, it's so pretty!

Holo Wow! Prisma Jumbo Eye Pencil in My Little Fairy* £2.80

I have so much love for eyeshadow sticks because their so quick and easy to use, you can simply scribble the colour on your eyelids and either use your finger or a brush to blend the colour out and your ready to go! Essence have a new selection of jumbo eyeshadow sticks in their Holo Wow collection, I have the shade My Little Fairy which is a baby blue shade with a holographic pink shift to it, it's so nice! These work well as an eyeshadow base, as eyeliner liner or as I said before you can just wear them alone to as a pop of colour to your lids! One major plus I noticed with this was just how well it lasted, it doesn't claim to be waterproof but it doesn't budge with water or soap and it takes a good makeup remover to get this bad boy off so bare that in mind!

3D Dewy Look Stick £3.50* and Holo Wow Sparkle Stick* £3.50

The 3D Dewy Look Stick is unlike anything I've ever tried before, it's a wet-look balm that emphasis's the cheekbones without any glitter or shimmer particles, instead you just look naturally dewy! The balm itself is enriched shea butter which pampers the skin whilst you wear it and it isn't heavy, thick or sticky in the slightest, I think it looks great on the eyes too if your going for that super trendy wet look to the eye. The Holo Wow Sparkle Stick is literally my new favourite thing to highlight with, it has a cream formulation which blends in beautifully and again isn't sticky at all. What I love the most is how pretty it looks on the skin, it has a glowy pink shift with minute gold sparkles - perfect for jazzing up those cheekbones on the daily or for festivals, my swatch does it no justice at all! 

All Essence products are available from Wilko stores or online HERE.

Essence 'The Gel' Base and Top Coat Review

Hey beaut's!

I love my nails to look like I've just walked out of the salon all glossy and perfect, well lets face it who doesn't, but sadly I don't have the time or the dollar to keep going and getting my nails done, however recently I discovered a gorgeous little duo by the budget friendly brand Essence that gives any of my manicures a salon look but in the comfort of my own home and what's even better is that it doesn't break the bank either!

The Essence Gel Base and Top Coats have really changed my nail polish game, which is really saying something because usually I'm not at all bothered with base and top coats if I'm honest but these two work so well together! The Essence Gel Base Coat* applies evenly smoothing everything out on my natural nails creating the perfect base for my chosen nail polish shade to go over, and despite being gel based these beauties don't need an LED or UV lamp making them so quick and easy to use. The Essence Gel Top Coat* is really what had me blown away, again it applies evenly without any bubbling or streaking and it dries in no time at all, I'm talking less than 60 seconds. What I love so much is that the top coat leaves a gorgeous glossy shine to my nails exactly like what I'd get if I had Shellac done on my nails in a salon and the durability and lasting power is incredible, I'm really heavy handed at work, in general and at home doing housework and washing up and my nails stayed chip free for 7 days, in fact I just had wear and tear right at the very tips of my nails and that's it, the main bulk of my nail was fine, I'm honestly shook! 

I also noticed that my nails feel a lot more hard wearing and stronger and the fact these are just £2.50 each is insane to me, their just so good. I would suggest using the two together though and not skipping a step, I have a feeling if I used the top coat without the base coat the lasting ability and durability wouldn't be as good but together they are dreamy!

You can find the Essence 'The Gel' Base and Top Coat for £2.50 each instore or on line at Wilko HERE.