Essence Spring/Summer 2017 New Releases

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Season changes excite me for many different reasons. New clothes and new coffees being brought out are two main perks, but lets be honest, the one we all really care about is new makeup launches.

Essence is celebrating it’s 15^th birthday this year so are going all out on new launches. Spring/Summer 17 is the first major launch for them to celebrate “life in pink”. I’ve used a few Essence products before as I used to work round the corner from a Wilko.

Bloggers favourite Essence was first launched in Germany in 2002 and is now the worlds best selling colour cosmetic range in the low price segment in more than 80 countries worldwide!

Because of the hype around their birthday I was delighted to get what I felt was a party bag full of new products to try! They supplied everything needed to achieve a complete look apart from foundation.

Essence My Must Haves

The most exciting launch for me was the My Must haves. You can purchase an empty 4 or 8 colour palette and add from the 20 eyeshadows, 5 blushes and 3 lip powders. This is a must if you’re like me and love creating personalised palette combos.

I was sent a four colour palette and four shadows. Unfortunately two of the colours were the same so I ended up with an empty pan. That will soon be rectified as I loved the formula. The colours I had were: Peach Party- a beautiful shimmery golden peach, Raspberry Frosting -a shimmery/glittery mid tone pink and Black as a Berry- a gorgeous deep aubergine perfect for the outer V.

All three shadows were creamy and easy to blend and were nicely pigmented with little fall out. The range of colours seems very varied but it’s hard to see from the PR info if there are any matte shades. If there aren’t then this is something Essence should add ASAP as we all know the importance of matte shadows to blend. Find them here

Essence Blushplay Palettes

Still on the subject of palettes there are two new Blushplay sculpting blush palettes. These contain three shades that can individually be used to highlight, sculpt and define or mix and match for a bespoke look. They say these can be used for contouring but as they contain no “traditional” contour shades and are very pink based I personally won’t use these other than for blush and highlight.

The two options seem to be in a lighter and darker option. I was luckily sent the lighter option and on first glance the shimmery highlight and define and matte sculpt looked promising but the colour pay off was actually quite disappointing. The swatches I’ve taken were of several layers of built up colour.

Essence Cushion Eyeliner

After the disappointment of the Blushplay palette I tried the Cushion Eyeliner and Volume Stylist Lash Extension Mascara with some trepidation. The Cushion Eyeliner plays on the Asian trend where a sponge is soaked with the eyeliner to keep it from drying out as easily as a gel can do but with the high pigmentation.

I used my Real Techniques trusty silicone liner brush as I always use this as my benchmark brush when trying new products. I found it to be a true jet black liner and it’s nicely pigmented. I wasn’t able to get one whole line from one application so it took 2 swipes per eye. I had no smudging during the day and it removed easily using my Dermologica pre cleanse or Cleanse and Polish from Liz Earle. Find it here

Essence Volume Stylist Lash Extension Mascara

The Volume Stylist 18h mascara is one of three to be launched, the others being Curl and Hold and Lash Princess Sculpted Mascara. The Volume Stylist brush is my favourite kind of traditional bristled brush. It has a diamond shape to the brush to allow the lengthening fibres to apply evenly from root to tip. I had no problem with application and it compared quite favourably on application to my favourite mascaras which are either Better than Sex by Too faced or Lights Camera Lashes by Tarte, both of which are at least 5x the price.

Unfortunately I did encounter smudging halfway through the day but for the price I’d recommend trying as I do suffer from oily skin so can get mascara transfer. Find it here

Essence Shine Shine Shine Lip Gloss

There are also 13 new Shine Shine Shine lipglosses. These are extreme “wet look” glosses ranging from nudes to intensive shades. I was sent two of the more bold shades Runway, Your Way and Red Carpet Starlet. They feature a heart shaped wand to apply and were nicely pigmented so applied evenly in one coat.

Being a wet gloss they don’t last long on the lips but that is to be expected so I don’t see that as a negative as such, just a feature of glosses. Find them here

Essence Colour Boost High Pigment Nail Paints

Lastly in the range we have eleven new Colour Boost high pigment nail paints. They are all a highly pigmented one coat application and come in a range of colours from pastels to bolds. I tried Instant Match the blue of the group.

It certainly was opaque in one coat and didn’t need a second. It would be interesting to see if the paler shades are the same as lighter polishes can often be streaky on the first coat. I would always recommend a base and top coat especially for blues and reds as they are notorious for staining. Find them here

You can find the full range of Essence Makeup to order online here

Which products have caught your eye?