New Catrice & Essence make up

YAY for working pictures! Because that means I can show you some of the new items Essence & Catrice added to their collection. In case you didn’t know: budget brands Essence & Catrice revamp their selection every 6 months. Old products are out and new ones are in. And it just so happened to be that I was at my local drugstore right after they stocked all these new beauties including some limited edition items. So with all the choice and time in the world I was able to browse the recent additions to my heart’s desire and decided: I just got back to work, I need an end of summer/ get back to work present for myself. I splurged and bought whatever I deemed worth trying.

I snazzed up 6 eyeshadows, 4 nail polishes, 3 eye pencils and 4 lip products. One of the lipsticks isn’t even Catrice or Essence, but Maybelline, but they had a discount I couldn’t refuse and the color just grabbed me. Here are some close ups of the products and I’ll give you my first impression.

Eyeshadow

Top: Essence Me & My Icecream Limited Edition 02 Icylicious & 03 Always in my Mint

Middle: Catrice Liquid Metal eyeshadow in 040 Under Treasure, 010 Look me in the Ice

Bottom: Essence Metal Glam eyeshadow in 02 Coffee to Glow &  05 Chocolate Jewelry

Swatches

Left to right: Catrice Liquid Metal eyeshadow in 040 Under Treasure, 010 Look me in the Ice,  Essence Metal Glam eyeshadow in 02 Coffee to Glow &  05 Chocolate Jewelry, Essence Me & My Icecream Limited Edition 02 Icylicious & 03 Always in my Mint

Impression:

The Me & My Ice Cream eyeshadows are nicely pigmented and super shimmery. They are two very pretty pastel colors that go on smoothly and will do for any muted eye look.

The other two Essence eyeshadows from the newly released Metal Glam line are impressive. My camera didn’t capture it but these babies shimmer like I have never seem before and as you can see: they are highly pigmented. A bit crumbly as you can see from the swatch. For some reason my camera makes these two colors look identical on the swatch, but they really are two different eyeshadows with two different color. My camera simply chose not to show it.

Than last but not least the rather disappointing Liquid Metal duo. These shadows could have been so much more pigmented! They still work though and I feel they apply better with a brush. Super shimmery (the white one makes a mean inner corner highlight) and with the sheerer texture very versatile and still wearable. Perhaps if they would show up on your lids like they do in the pan that you might end up looking like a disco ball.

Lips

Maybelline Super Stay 14 hr lipstick in 510 Non-Stop Red

Essence longlasting lipstick in 03 Dare to Wear

Catrice Pure Shine Colour Lip Balm in 050 Cherry-ty

Essence Me & My Ice Cream Lip Balm in 03 Ben & Cherries

Eye pencils

Essence Stay No Matter What Eye pencil & shadow in 06 Green Garden, 08 Chocolate Brownie, 03 Twinkling Turquoise.

Swatches

Maybelline Super Stay 14 hr lipstick in 510 Non-Stop Red, Essence longlasting lipstick in 03 Dare to Wear, Catrice Pure Shine Colour Lip Balm in 050 Cherry-ty, Essence Me & My Ice Cream Lip Balm in 03 Ben & Cherries, Essence Stay No Matter What Eye pencil & shadow in 03 Twinkling Turquoise, 08 Chocolate Brownie, 06 Green Garden.

Impression:

If I’d tell you these two lipsticks are my favorite recent purchases, I’m sure you’d believe me. Hello color! The Maybelline lipstick is a vivid pinky red that will liven up any make up look. The cherry red lipstick by Essence hits it right on the mark. It’s bright, bold, yet still wearable.

The two lipbalms are just that lipbalms. I’d have liked the Catrice pencil to be more pigmented though. This will probably not show up on my lips at all, but I’m hoping it will be one of those “my lips but better” cases. The other one is just clear, but I really just had to have it because of the swirly. Inside, I’m just still a big kid.

The shadow sticks are nice. The brown one is the most pigmented, but it’s also the darkest color. I also pressed a little harder: when I swatched the green & blue one again later they looked a lot better than in this picture. These will be great under eyeshadow as a base color. I’m sure I’d wear these as eyeshadow too, for the lazy days, but only if these blend well and I haven’t tried that yet.

Nail polish & Swatches

Essence Colour & Go 122 Chic Reloaded

Essence Colour & Go 165 Here’s my Number Sparkle Sand Effect

Essence Nail Are Special Effect Topper 17 Only Purple Matters

Catrice Ultimate Nail Lacquer 45 Kitch me if you Can

Impression:

So that first polish isn’t new to the collection but it was new to me. I’d never seen it before and the awesome duochrome hue was irresistible. Good coverage and great color for fall.

I didn’t know Essence was coming out with a sand effect polish and so I was pleasantly surprised. They had two other colors: a baby pink and a red, but since I already have those colors in a sand texture from other brands I decided to go with the granite color instead. Needs 2 coats.

The two top coats I’m not so sure about yet. Upon further inspection (i.e. the swatch) and comparing it to other nail polishes I already own these two are very similar. The purple one closely resembles an older polish by Essence that is no longer available (it is the Essence Nail Art Twin in Troy) and the Catrice one is almost exactly like a Barry M polish my friend Alison got me when she was here over summer.

Did you purchase any of the new products from the Essence & Catrice collections?