Bargain Alert! Essence of Beauty Brushes: Review

Essence of Beauty Brushes

Hello my dear readers! Have you had the opportunity to check out the "Essence of Beauty" line at your local CVS? If not, then you should!!! They have some fantastic brushes!

Now, please note, this is not the "essence" brand that I have blogged about before, but "Essence of Beauty". This brand is only carried at CVS and is a line of various beauty tools, brushes, and lotions/soaps, etc.

Here is what I have tried and like from this line:

The Kabuki Brush:

I *adore* this big fat kabuki!!! I must start out by commenting on how incredibly SOFT this brush is. Not quite as soft as Ecotools brushes (my barometer of softness)...but, *almost*! And, ecotools does not have a kabuki this large.

For powder application, I really prefer a BIG brush. The brush is quite size able with a very fat base. The brush head fluffs out much wider than the base and has a slight taper which I like for going around the "nooks and crannies" of the face.

This kabuki is fantastic for buffing in powder foundation. I use this daily with my beloved MAC Studio Fix powder (NC15). The denseness of the brush provides a flawless application of powder for fuller coverage.

The brush feels so good that I actually look forward to massaging my powder onto my face with this every morning, it feels so good! (lol..I know! Its those little things we enjoy, right!).

The packaging is a reusable plastic snap case...so, one could easily toss it back into its packaging if you wanted to travel with it. The price on this kabuki is approximately $10-$14 retail (depending on sales, etc).

Crease Brush Duo:

Wow! These brushes are such a FIND! And, so inexpensive!!! Two brushes come in this set. One larger and one smaller, both with dome shaped heads.

The larger of the two brushes, is hands-down, the best crease brush that I have used! The size and shape of the brush head is absolutely perfect for my eye size and shape. This makes crease work and blending effortless! It places the color precisely where I want it! Flawless!

The smaller brush is a mini-version of the larger one. I find it is best used for outer corner "v" shadow application. I love it!

I use both of these brushes, without fail when I do a shadow look with crease and outer "v" color. These brushes make color application so easy!

I highly recommend this set. For about $4? you can't go wrong here!

Smudger Brush:

Not a whole lot to say besides this is your basic sponge tipped smudge brush. But, I love it and use it to smudge out my eyeliner. :)

Total rave for these brushes! Check them out ya'll next time you are in CVS and waiting on a prescription! :)

Hope you enjoyed this review!!
Happy Halloween!!!
XOXO readers!
Pammy

Cheap Thrill: Essence Cosmetics (mini haul and review)

Looking for a "cheap thrill" makeup line? Check out Essence Cosmetics at your local Ulta store

I was soooo excited when I stumbled upon an Essence cosmetics display at my local Ulta a couple weeks ago. I believe this is a new line to Ulta (possibly within the past few months?). I am so excited that Essence is finally available in the USA!!!

Years ago a friend from makeupalley sent me some Essence cosmetics from Germany (an eyeliner and some shadows). Apparently, Essence has been a leading German cosmetics brand for many years (similar in quality and price to, say, Covergirl or Wet n Wild). The eyeliner that my MUA friend sent me (Kajal Pencil in the color 08 Teddy) quickly became my go-to eyeliner (that I reached for more than my MAC and Stila pencils). It was just the most perfect medium bronzy brown that applied and wore extremely well. So, needless to say, I used that eyeliner until it was so small I couldn't even sharpen it! I searched for a similar brown in other brands, but never quite found it. So, you can imagine my GLEE when I stumbled upon this Essence display at Ulta!!! AND...most of the cosmetics were 50% off, score! The line typically runs between the $1-$4 price point, which is great, but even better at 50% off! So, I grabbed my beloved brown Teddy Kajal liner, the mosaic powder, a few eye shadow quads, an eye shadow single, and two lip glosses. All the items together totalled to less than $10.

Check out my haul: Kajal pencil in Teddy, Quattro eyeshadow quads in Summer Love, and So Cool, XXXL Shine lip glosses in Super Girl and Glamour to Go, Mosaic Powder, and Eyeshadow single in Go All Girly

Thoughts on Essence Cosmetics:

-Inexpensive

-cute packaging, it is somewhat flimsy (but, hey, for the price, I am not complaining), but it the packaging looks very sleek

-Good quality for the price! I would compare to US brands Wet n' Wild or Covergirl

-nice selection of colors and products

-cant wait to try some other things from this line like the mascara (great MUA reviews) and the smokey eye kits (which contain a dark smoky shadow as well as a gel liner)

Preliminary review of products:

-Shadows are pigmented and apply and blend well (some are somewhat chalky, but generally a big LOVE here for the shadows). Great color selection. Tip: apply an eyeshadow base before shadows to help them adhere (I like the Mineral Shadow Primer by elf).

-Eyeliners: I have only tried the Teddy Brown Kajal liner...and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!! I will never buy an expensive eyeliner again. These pencils are perfect: creamy, blendable, and long lasting. And, what beautiful colors! Cant beat a $1 eyeliner that is high quality!!!

-Mosaic face powder: LOVE this one too! I swirl the colors together and apply as a bronzer with my EcoTools mini bronzer kabuki brush. It provides a subtle bronze glow to my face. There is a slight shimmer that is extremely wearable. You can also use an fan brush (i love the elf fan brush) to apply the cream/highlight color on the tops of your cheekbones for a highlight. It provides a beautiful finish for your face.

-Lipglosses: XXXL wand-style gloss: Nice texture, thick, yet not sticky and also moisturizing. The Super Girl color applies sheer and gives a nice pink glossy sheer color. The Glamour to Go color has a pigmented and metallic finish.

Cons:

-One of my shadow quads broke as soon as I opened the package, the pans were not glued in and came flying out and broke on my bathroom floor. I was able to return the product to ulta with no problem, but did not repurchase that particular color as I already had plenty of neutral quads from other brands. So, just a warning, open new products carefully and check the glue. If the pans hadn't shattered, then I would have probably just hot glued the pans back in myself.

-This may or may not be a con depending on how you feel about lipgloss scents. The lipglosses have a very fruity scent. I typically prefer no scent or a light vanilla or mint scent. So, this was a con for me. But, I will still continue to use and will likely purchase other shades despite the fruity scent.

Also, Essence has an online beauty forum that you might enjoy checking out: Essence Beauty Friends. It appears from browsing the Beauty Friends Board that the Europeans have much more selection! Lets hope that essence expands their US line!

Coming soon:

Stila travel palettes review

Brushlabs review

Art Opening/Girls' Night In!

*Updated to add swatches (per request):

This is the So Cool palette on the left and the Summer Love on the right

I underlined each palette with a Teddy Eye Kajal pencil

The colors show up really true-to-color on my *white* arm! LOL!