Essence

About Essence:

• Affordable cosmetics with a range of colors
• No animal testing!

Essence is a brand that I often see a lot of swatches of and wish I could try, but don't have access to without annoying shipping costs. My first experience with Essence was great, and I still need to post about it. I took part in an Australian beauty swap and the lovely lady whom I was paired with sent me this stay with me lip gloss called "me & my ice cream". It's this beautiful baby pink. I'll do a review of it tomorrow.

Anyway - the company generously mailed me an adorable notebook (that I do not have a photo of, bad blogger!) and two nail polishes.



(left) Wanna be your Sunshine and (right) walk on air.

On the Bottle:

Nail polish with flat brush-quick dry: trendy nailstyle within seconds!

I'm currently hanging out at my mom's for the next few days so I do not have my nifty editing program to crop and brighten the photos up a bit. No big deal, the swatches aren't atrocious by any means but they haven't really been cleaned up. Oh well..I do suppose it's a testament to my photography skills and what needs to improve. I also left my macro attachment so this is as close as I could get to these gorgeous colors. Could I BE anymore unprepared? With that being said, I'll have...more than one photo of each color.

First up? Blue me Away. In the bottle it looks a smidge darker. On the nail it's a fantastic cobalt blue, something I do not own! It goes on great in two coats and dries in about 5 minutes. These are "colour & go" polishes so they're supposed to dry..quickly. This color did. I love it, it's so...hanging-out-in-my-polka-dot bikini-while-my-boyfriend-surfs.





Next? Wanna be your Sunshine.

First, I love the name. It's adorable. Yes, I DO want to be your sunshine! In the bottle the color is a banana yellow, with a slight golden shimmer to it. On the nail the shimmer becomes much more prominent. Application is that of a typical yellow. A huge pain. Use three thin coats and you'll have an easier time. This color didn't dry as fast as "Walk on Air" did. The combination of a difficult color in general and more coats left me with wet nails after about 10 minutes. It's not a huge deal, and I'm guessing with a different top coat (I used julep's fast dry..never again) you might get a quicker dry time. The color is beautiful and cheery - perfect for summer. The golden shimmer really adds another dimension that helps this color come alive. You'll want to enlarge the photos to get a better grasp on the color and see the shimmer.





Final Verdict:

Great colors, decent formula, and they're very affordable, too. The brush is fantastic. Stiff but flexible, no spare hairs and just the right size for my nail. I will be buying more colors and letting you guys know how that goes! According to the essence website you can buy these at Fred Meyer, Ulta, and H-E-B in the states. In Canada you can buy them at Shopper's Drug Mart and Pharmaprix.

Here is the link to the ulta page with Essence nail polish! .49-.99 cents! I plan on buying No More Drama, You Belong to Me, Choose Me, Let's Get Lost (um, one of my favorite songs ever, by Elliott Smith!) and High Spirits. And A Lovely Secret..and Gleam in Blue..and Wake up..

These colors were provided to me by Essence. My opinions are only influenced by how hungry I am..and currently I have WAY too much sugar pumping through my system I feel like my teeth are going to pop out of my mouth at any moment. ;)