"Windows" Shopping (14/12/11) - Essence

Today's "Windows Shopping" is going to be dedicated to the wonderful world of Essence Cosmetics.

Truthfully, my first ever encounter with Essence was way back in April '11, when I encountered an Essence stand whilst visiting my father in Tirana, Albania. I was looking for some pastel colours, and I immediately pounced on a couple of polishes from their Multi Dimension XXL Shine collection:

This is a lovely minty-green polish (Replay)

I had also bought this milky lilac polish (Found My Love)

 Since I love trying out nail art, but have an unfortunately unsteady hand, I bought this nifty little nail polish corrector

Finally, I bought this purple eye pencil (Touch of Glam) from the Long Lasting line, as I was starting my love of coloured eye liners

That was about all I heard about Essence until recently, when I started following Boffism's blog, and noticed that a lot of her cosmetics were from this "forgotten" brand. The only problem was that working between 7:30 - 17:15 every weekday, and super-busy weekends, and a very poorly-supplied Pharmacy-next-door, meant that my cosmetics-shopping was mostly done during my boring lunch breaks, and the only brands that were available on campus were Rimmel, Max Factor, Revlon, Maybelline and Gabrini - all of which I have bought some item or another from. This changed, however, upon the opening of a health-food-and-other-amazing-shit store at the beginning of October.

The first time I walked in, my eyes immediately locked on something that would change my cosmetic life, forever.... (OK, as I wrote that I actually imagined it written in Star Wars-type writing and floating into space, but whatever...) There, in all it's glory, and smack-dab in the back of this miraculous shop, was an Essence stand! I couldn't believe it! I ran right up and ended up buying the following amazing items:

colour&go nail varnish in Gold Rush - an amazing gold polish that can be both sheer or opaque, depending on how many coats you put on. My preferred amount is 2 coats, and these "fast-drying" polishes actually dry quickly! Also, their size and price are perfect for someone like me who loves to experiment with colour, as they're small and inexpensive, so any purchase which was not a real hit would not take ages to run out.

colour&go nail varnish in Make It Golden (left) and Blue Addicted - these two came out a few weeks ago, just in time for the Christmas season... I cannot tell you the screams of my inner 14-year-old when I saw these 2 gems... I obviously bought them and have since tried both on in different ways. So far I've layered Make It Golden over Max Factor's Wine Red, which is a shimmery rich red colour, and I've put Blue Addicted over Gabrini's Silver polish... I loved them both, but I've got to buy a new top coat as my current one (from Max Factor) isn't any good... (any suggestions...?)

Nail hardening, strawberry scented nail polish remover - I've only ever tried Gabrini's scented polish removers (one in Citrus, and one in Strawberry/Vanilla) and all I can say is I actually preferred the normal remover smell... This one is a bit of an improvement, though the odour is still a bit over-powering, but otherwise it removes polish really well...!

Long Lasting eye pencil in Cool Down (left) and I Have a Green - after the success of the previously-bought Touch Of Glam, I knew that Essence coloured liners were the best ones in terms of product and price. Also, these ones are retractable, which I prefer over sharpened pencils, as I always seem to have the worst luck at sharpening my pencils (not just cosmetic ones) and go from full-size to pint-size in just one sharpening session. The colours are beautiful, with Cool down being a lovely middle-blue (not too dark, not too bright) and I Have a Green being more on the turquoise/emerald green side, which I adore!

Mono Eye-shadow in Happy Hour - Anyone who knows me, knows that I <3 colourful eye make-up, and have a collection in a variety of colours from greens, to purples, to pinks to browns. The dominant brand in my eye-shadow box is Deborah, as they have great mono shadow colours with great pay-off and a reasonable price, and I've also got a couple of Revlon monos, as they also give great colour pay-off, even though they're a bit more pricey... However, whenever I'm going to need a new colour, I'm going to be turning to Essence from now on. I bought this pale blue colour and loved it when I used it! :)

I <3 Stage Eyeshadow base - I'd been looking for a good eye-shadow primer/base for a while, but never seemed to find any among the other drugstore brands. Then Essence came along and solved all of my pre-shadow worries. I first bought the mini-version of this when they got it on campus, and have found it a great addition to my morning routine! It brightens my eyes and helps shadow to stay on longer - which is always a plus. I've therefore just bought the full-sized version of it - at less than 3euros might I add!

Pink cosmetic sharpener - As I've mentioned before, I'm a bit of a disaster when it comes to cosmetic pencils that need sharpening. I usually manage to find retractable pencils, but sometimes it's not always an option, so - much to my chagrin - I end up buying sharpened pencils. I used to use this cheap sharpened which I had got free with some teen magazine or another, and was a real pain to use when it came to sharpening my favourite liners. This one has so far been a huge improvement, as I gave it a thorough test-drive yesterday, sharpening a total of 6 eye and lip pencils, with all of them remaining intact (apart from a bit of sharpening, of course).

That's all (for now) from my end! If you've ever tried Essence and would like to recommend any of their other products, please do!

Cheryl

 xXx

Oh My, How Time Does Fly...

Hey again readers!

Here it is again... December 1st... A day that always manages to bring to me both joy and a sense of how fast time flies... It seems like just yesterday that I was at my grandparents' home on Christmas eve opening presents with my cousins, or at school dressed as Mary and rehearsing for the third grade nativity play, or Christmas shopping with my mum and sisters during my last winter holidays at secondary school, or preparing rehearsals for the Savio College Christmas Pageant when I was 19... And now, here I am, at the ripe old age of 22, still as crazy about Christmas as ever

Each December seems to take ages to arrive, but once it does, be careful not to blink, or you'll miss it... I don't know whether it's all the holidays December brings with it, the fact that everyone's rushing around doing everything at twice the normal speed because "we're all just so busy", the abnormal amount of food and alcohol we process during the various lunches/dinners/parties for Christmas and New Year's, or just the fact that, as Mr. Andy Williams so aptly puts it, "It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

As a treat this year, I'm trying out something totally new - I'm co-writing a Christmas song with the Divine Sinners - a Gozitan band who I've become quite a fan of and who have written some really funky/different songs. I've always wanted to write a Christmas song, and I couldn't have found better people to write it with! I'm really looking forward to release the final product, but for now, it's still in the early stages, so wish us luck! (And, in the meantime, check out their divine YouTube channel and give their songs a listen...)

I hope you're all having a busy December! :)

Cheryl

 xXx