My Beauty Bargain Obsession: Essence Cosmetics

For a long time, Essence Cosmetics has been my beauty bargain obsession. In the past, I had to go overseas to get them. Finally, Essence Cosmetics became available in the United States and online. Savvy beauty fans are aware that these clever, trendy and affordable cosmetics offer a chance to get a literal seasonal haul of high performance, quality, trendy products and still have some money left over for something else, like a trendy statement necklace, a scarf, strappy sandals, a cute hat, bangle bracelets…..

The point is, none of these products cost a lot of money, but they pack a BIG beauty punch. The photo above shows just a sampling of the Essence Cosmetics for Spring 2016, including some exclusives for TARGET stores. Refer to this photo of the samples I received, for most of the actual products!

Essence Sheer and Shine Lipstick ($2.99) are made in Italy. These luxuriously silky, sheer lipsticks in sheer lip cases add lots of shine and build-able color. That’s not to say that they don’t have color. There are 9 shades from light to fairly deep. I loved ” #09 I Feel Pretty,” *far right in the photo), a medium rose that looks, well…”pretty” and adds two shades of deeper flush pink to lips. If your lips are very dry, Sheer and Shine is a great way to add color even when your lips are dry, flaky or damaged.

Look in the middle of my photo, above, and you’ll see two Essence XXXL Shine Lipsticks ($2.49) While most of the colors are represented in the color chart above, there is one missing: “#36 Popping Pink” which as you can see, is one sensationally hot pink lipgloss. Don’t be afraid to try it as it’s build-able, and These glosses are all-out super-shiny, silky, sensual and sexy on your lips. if you didn’t know the price, you’d think they were a lot more.

essence cosmetics liquid lipstick colors

Essence Cosmetics Liquid Lipstick ($3.49) is one of my new loves. This clever lip product has the creamy, opaque coverage of a lipstick with the moisturizing shine of a gloss. The wanded tube is contoured so it fits your lips and you can make a more precise line or fill in perfectly. There are six, shiny, non-sticky shades. While I’m not personally a nude lip fan, “#03 Almost Real” has a nude that has just enough pink so your lips don’t look “eggy/fleshy.” These are also silky and really look great even on less than perfect lips.

EYE Love These Products!

Essence Cosmetics help make eyes the window to your soul, with A Smokey 2 in 2 Kohl Liner, Extreme Volume Waterproof Mascara, and new shades of Mono Powder Eyeshadows.

You can be so creative with a creamy, blend-able, Kohl pencil. Essence Cosmetics Smoky 2 in 1 Kohl Liner ($3.49) is so smooth, you can slide this highly pigmented liner pencil on and make a sleek cat eye, or blend it out for whatever look you want. Use the very pointed tip as a precise eyeliner, rotate to the side of the cone to swipe on color for smokey eyes. The very pointed cone shape supposedly eliminates the need for a sharpener. I would assume if you used it enough you might diminish that shape, but for under $3.50, I’d just get another one.

Essence Cosmetics Eyeshadows ($1.99) have always been some of my favorites, There are so many different kinds, from matte to metallic, to multi-colored and they’re so inexpensive you can grab a handful and not feel guilty if you don’t use the color all the time. For Spring. I’ve included a few shades in my photo above. The top color in the trio is a classic matte brown called “Triple Choc” the color of milk chocolate It’s a color that works well on every skin tone in every season.

It’s a little difficult to see the colors of the other two, but they’re trendy super-shimmers: “The Grammy goes Glammy” is champagne gold and “Rosie Flamingo” is a stunning light pink that makes eyes look modern, but not “red.” Grab a handful of Essence eyeshadows in highly pigmented matte, shimmer, and metallic. Mix, blend, have fun with them. They’re long-lasting and finely-milled and pigmented enough to slide on with a fingertip (but use a brush or sponge for more precise results).

Essence Cosmetics I Love Extreme Volume Mascara Waterproof ($4.99) can be seen in my photo, dressed up in a bright blue tube with hot pink letters. It’s a BIG tube, too! This popular Essence Cosmetics Extreme volume formula is now available in a waterproof version. It’s also Ophthalmologically tested so your won’t find your eyes irritated, as the large fiber brush separates and coats each lash and makes your lashes, seriously volumized. You can spend more for a mascara, but that doesn’t mean you get more!

How to Make Your Face WOW! ($9.99) Is at the top middle of my photo. It features the cutest carboard case with interior mirror and bright graphics, plus four rectangles of powder blush, highlighter and bronser. There’s a really bright hot pink blush, a super peach blush that’s on the orange side, a light bronzer called “Sun Date” and a shimmery highlighter. Like all of the adorable palettes, there are two DIY cards slipped behind the mirror so you can find new ways to use this quartet of cuties, in case you can’t figure it out for yourself or you just need more inspiration.

Cookies and Cream has an entire collection, but I just got the Essence Cookies & Cream Shimmer Pearls to sample.This is a little jar of shimmer pearls (you can see it in my photo lower left hand side). It’s a cute and travel-friendly plastic jar, and inside are three different colors of shimmery powder “pearls” in pink, golden-beige and peach. Most of the pearls in my jar seemed to be beige and peach, with just a few of the brighter pink ones. The highlighter is subtle, not that shimmery, except in very bright sunlight so you can wear it in the daytime and not feel overly “done.” You can use it in the Summer to highlight a (hopefully faux) tan, too.

Essence Say No To ($2.99) Concealer pencils that do so much more, because they are travel-friendly and color-correcting. Who could fail to say “yes!” to these?! I like the blend-able texture and the fact that these are re-tractable. You can see them on the far left middle of my photo. Green neutralizes redness, beige hides general imperfections, and rose to hides dark circles. Love these!

Exclusive to Target! The full collection of Essence cosmetics will now be available at 500 Target stores across the USA as well as online at Target.com, retailing from $.99 to $9.99. There will also be some Target Exclusives. I’ve selected some of my favorites to share with you:

Three Pretty Palettes for Eyes, Face, Brows: These are just $9.99 each: How to Make Bright Eyes Make-Up Box; How to Make Brows Wow Make-Up Box and the How to Make Your Face Glow Make-Up Box.

Eyes illuminated! The How To make Eyes Bright Box has 6 satin and shimmery shades to create luminescent eyes including shades of vanilla, pinks, and beige. The make-up box has 2 easy-to-follow, step-by-step instruction cards, a mirror, and an applicator. Be sure to pull out the two little instructions cards behind the mirror with a glamorous and a daytime look.

The How to Make Your Face Glow Makeup Box contains a silky bronzer, shimmering highlighter, and soft blush to contour, highlight or glow. You also get a little blush brush which is great for purse or travel. The make-up box has 2 easy-to-follow, and 2 step-by-step instruction cards behind the mirror.

The How to Make Brows Wow kit has 3 eyebrow powders you can mix and match, 1 highlighter powder, a dual-ended applicator, tweezers and how-to instructions (behind the mirror). We love this little set because it’s easy to use and works for everyone.

Two fabulous foundation options: Essence Soft Touch Mousse Make-up and Essence pure Nude Make-Up. One feels luxuriously silky, the other is just so travel-friendly.

The Essence Soft Touch Mousse Make-up ($4.99) I love the texture of this foundation, but a heavy glass jar with a screw cap is not travel-friendly. Worse, I really loathe having to stick my fingers (or use a spatula) to get product out of the jar (contamination and dirty fingers/fingernails) so it didn’t win me much love…at first. However, it was easy to love the creamy foundation offering a lightweight, non-sticky, blendable and build-able feel in a medium opaque formula that lasts a long time.

Yes, I really liked it once it was on my skin. For just $4.99 I can’t fault anything but the glass jar. There are six shades and none are seriously dark (the deepest is #07 Matt Almond) and so the most challenging part of selecting this one is getting the right shade. I tried #04 Matt Ivory which was a bit “pink” in tone, but it blended well into my fair to medium skin.

On the other side there’s this 1 oz. travel-friendly, sealed, plastic pump tube of Pure Nude Make-Up($4.99). this one is only available in three shades, so color limits might be an issue, and it’s semi-matte, but if you can find a shade similar to your light to medium skin tone you can blend this one out easily.

The Lightest, Pure Beige #10 had a pink-ish tone but it was quite light. Pure Sand #20 actually worked best on my light/medium skin, but it was more yellow so not a perfect match. Pure Honey #30 was still fairly light (more for medium-toned skin and a better tone for my skin but too dark). When it came to the retractable Pen Concealer ($3.49) however, Pure Honey seemed to be the best choice. The take-away? Try it on with a sample (or someone else’s) before you buy. Still, at these prices, they’re not major investments. If you find the right color choices, they’re a steal!

Two Trendy Ombre Powder Blushes ($3.99 each) : “Heat Wave” features apricot and coral, while “Pinky Flow” has a light and medium pink.

The stock photo below makes both of these blushes look brighter than they really are — they’re bright but sheer and buildable. if you want just a tiny bit of blush, just use a light touch and a soft, big blush brush and you’ll find that your Winter weary skin pops with color. If you are into a tan (faux or real) later on this Summer, both these blushes will be very flattering.

Beauty Bargain Obsession @EssenceMakeup, #EssenceCosmetics