First impressions: new Catrice & Essence fall/ winter 2015

It’s that time of year again: Catrice and Essence have changed up their range again. Even though I thought at first that there wasn’t much that I would like, I have found a few bits that I thought were worth checking out. Since I want to have ample time before I fully review them, this post will not give any in depth reviews, but I have swatches for all products as well as a full face look with many of the products you can see in this blog post. I have already had a chance to try out most of these products a handful of times and that is why this blog post will give you and overview of what’s new and interesting (well, to me at least) and a first impression on them.

Both Essence and Catrice came out with some new eye shadow palettes. And if you watch this space, you know I like those! Essence updated their already existing All About… palettes, whereas Catrice added a new variation to their Absolute… range. Both brands also released a type of liquid lipstick (and the Essence ones only cost €2.59 a pop!). Essence also released a new mascara that peaked my interest, whereas Catrice released another new foundation and concealer that seemingly come in very light shades. Alright, on to the products!

Catrice Even Skin Tone Beautifying Foundation in 010 Even Vanilla €7.59

I had a chance to wear this a few times already. For one, this foundation is not as light as it seems to be at first glance. I have gotten a bit of a tan over my vacation so it’s a tad too light right now, but this will be too dark for me come winter. I think I will have to buy a shade lighter come winter time. There is one shade lighter than this (no. 005) and this foundation is somewhere between creamy and runny texture wise. I like the coverage it gives: a very buildable medium coverage. I don’t have many blemishes so my needs for a foundation aren’t very high, but I do have a bit of redness in my face as well as some melasma spots and this covers those up nicely. Staying power is alright if you use a good powder to blot the areas that get oily. On my de-hydrated/ combination skin it lasted a good 8 hours including a Body Balance class when I topped this up with the Catrice Nude Illusion powder. So yes, positive first impression so far!

Catrice Liquid Camouflage High Coverage Concealer 020 Light Beige €3.59

The concealer also looked a lot lighter in store than it turns out to be on my skin. This only comes in two shades: 010 Porcelain is the other shade. What I noticed with this concealer is that it oxidizes. If you look at the swatch where I have blended the concealer, you can see that the edges where the concealer has started to set are darker than the rest. So that is a downside for this product, but guess what: it goes perfectly with the shade of the foundation you can see above. It is still light enough for me, but just know that this changes color when you work it into your skin. Other than this, this is a fab concealer. It nicely covers dark circles and it didn’t crease on me. It has a slightly watery texture, is easy to blend and comes in two very light shade. Me likes!

Catrice Chocolate Nudes 010 Choc’let It Be eye shadow palette €4.99

Another change, another eye shadow palette Catrice must have thought. The idea is obviously stolen from Too Faced with their chocolate themed range, but do not expect a dupe for the Too Faced eye shadows. Instead, this palette is a very pretty basic eyeshadow palette that contains 3 matte shades and 3 shimmers. The shimmery highlight shade is very pretty in the inner corner, the matte one is a great brow bone shade. The next taupy brown shade is perfect for blending out the crease. The darker shimmer shade and the matte dark brown are great crease/ outer V/ lower lashline shades and the coppery/ caramel shade is the ideal all over lid shimmer shade. They swatch nicely, blend easily, are a tad soft like most Catrice shadows and it is a nice warm toned brown palette. It is not the most versatile, but for this price range I think it is a decent palette. Yes, I am liking this palette just like the Matt and the Rose editions of the same line.

Essence All about Nudes eye shadow palette 02 Nudes €3.99

I had completely forgotten these palettes were being revamped, but when I found them in store I couldn’t pass them up. The nude I initially wanted to leave behind, until I found the tester and swatched the bottom right corner shade: hello! This nude palette is very nude and more on the cool side of the specter. The first four shades, on the first row, have an almost matte finish. The next row doesn features 3 satin shades and a gorgeous taupe shimmer that is almost a glitter. There is a good variety between light and dark shades, but some of the shades in the bottom row seem very similar against my skin, so I doubt they will show up very distinct on my eye lids. This palette features some gorgeous highlight and crease shades as well which in my book makes this more versatile than the Catrice palette above. And that shimmer/ glitter taupe shade totally delivers! These shadows are buttery soft to boot, which makes me very exciting to be using this as the only palette in an eye look in the next few weeks.

 

Essence All About Bronze eye shadow palette 01 Bronze €3.99

Compared the Nudes palette above, this Bronze palette is a lot more warm toned. It features mostly shimmers: only one creamy highlight shade has a satin matte finish. Other than that the palette features a very shimmery pink highlight shade, a couple of shimmery browns, two different golds and a cooler toned dark brown. There are two shades that look very similar in this palette, just like in the Nudes palette. But just like the Nude palette, these eye shadows are buttery soft, swatch like a dream and have good color pay off on the eyes. This palette has slightly fewer variety and options between dark and light shades it seems at a glance, but I like that glittery pink shade. These shades aren’t revolutionary in any case, but make for a good affordable eye shadow palette with some great staple shades that would make any make up collection, big or small, a bit more complete.

Catrice Absolute Eye Colour 090 Bring Me Frosted Cake €2.89
Catrice Velvet Matt eye shadow 070 Princess Mattleine €3.99

I don’t think the light shade you see here is new in this range change, but I believe it was new last time and I had just failed to pick it up till now. I had been eyeballing it, but now I felt like bringing it along to the party. It is a pretty brow bone shade with a soft texture. It doesn’t have the best color pay off and has a slight sheen to it, but nevertheless I think this could make a good single shadow for when you use a palette that doesn’t have a good brow bone shade.

The darker shade is definitely brand new. It is a warm toned brown from the Velvet Matt range and these eyeshadows are also very soft and have a bit of a sheen to them as well. I thought this would make a great stand alone crease shade. It will look nice to blend out darker shades, or if you’re going for a more natural look in the crease itself. I think this could even be a good shade for all over the lid when all you want to wear is one shade of shadow and a bit of liner. Yes, both of these shades look very promising.

Essence Muli-Action mascara for volume, length and separation €2.59

Essence & Catrice mascaras never really interest me, but then I saw this and I thought I’d give it a try. The brush looked promising enough. It comes with plastic bristles that feather out towards the wand. It reminds me a bit of my favorite L’Oreal mascara. The packaging promises this mascara will lengthen and give volume and separation to your lashes. A very bold promise that I feel this mascara kind of delivers on. The formula of this mascara is quite dry: it is almost powdery. It is a good black color though. The brush is great for detailed work as the brush is very fine. However, the brush kind of tugs at my lashes. It is almost as if my lashes get caught in the wand. It is not the most pleasant feeling, but at least I didn’t lose any lashes in the process. The result is slightly longer looking, slightly fuller looking lashes. Separation is on point, but I do feel this mascara gives a very natural look. It’s pretty and it stays put (I had no problem with smudging throughout the day), but I like my mascaras a bit more volumizing and lengthening.

Essence Liquid Lipstick in 02 Beauty Secret, 05 Peach Party & 06 Make a Statement €2.59
Catrice Shine Appeal Fluid Lipstick 080 Rose, Would You…? €3.99

THE product I was most excited about: the liquid lipsticks for both brands. I was a bit let down by the Catrice range. These fluid lipsticks seems to have simply replaced their range of lipgloss, hence the Catrice one is more sheer and shinier. When I swatched a darker berry shade on my hand in the store, the color started to separate, which seemed odd. I went with a more natural shade to see what it would be like. I would rather compare this to a NYX buttergloss than to a true liquid lipstick though.

Now the Essence ones much better live up to the hype. They are still very glossy, but they pack a good amount of pigment and come in many neutral shades. I like my nude shade to be slightly glossy in any case, so this range is great from that perspective. They have a slightly sticky texture, which is why they stay put. I wore Make a Statement all day on Monday and had lunch and two cups of tea and still, color was visible. Naturally the shine had worn off by this time, but I am thinking that this new Essence lipstick may very well be a new drugstore gem.

Full face with many of the new products above

Now, a first impression blog post would be incomplete without seeing some of these products in action. So I decided to do a full on drugstore make up look incorporating as many products as I could. Here I am wearing the foundation, concealer, one of the lipsticks and 2 shades from every eye shadow palette. I also used the Essence mascara so you can see that. I kept the eye look fairly neutral so you could fully see the effect of the mascara as well as of the eye shadows.

I like the effect the foundation gives. It applies nicely and evenly and it gives my face a slightly airbrushed look (but I am also using a new camera that seems to have that effect as well). The shades for both the foundation and the concealer seem to be a good match and both cover my redness and dark circles to my satisfaction.

Products used:

NYX HD Eyeshadow primer
Catrice Eyebrow Set
Catrice Tinted Brow Gel
Catrice Defining Blush in 020 Rose Royce
Catrice Nude Illusion Loose Powder
L’Oreal GlamBronze Sun Radiance Trio Blondes
TBS Honey Bronzer
MUA Undress Your Skin Shimmer Highlighter

All other products mentioned above

Eye look with 2 shades from each palette

I used the matte cream highlight and the lightest matte brown from the Catrice Chocolate Nudes palette on my brow bone and in my crease respectively. I used the warm toned darkest brown from the Bronze palette all over the lid and the shimmery pink is in my inner corners. Lastly I used the darkest shade from the Nudes palette to darken up my crease and Outer V and I dabbed my finger into that stunning taupe shade and applied a bit on the center of my lid.

You can see that especially the Essence palettes have a great color pay off on the lid. This look was done in no time and took hardly any effort. Blending is easy and if you’re careful with your application you won’t need to do too much blending. Fall out seemed to be minimal, but I will have to try these palettes a bit more thoroughly before I can give a verdict on that.

Essence Liquid Lipstick in 06 Make a Statement

 Lastly, the lip colors. I only have one set of lips, so I can only show you one of them. I opted for Make a Statement: the color that appealed to me the most in the tube. As you can see it gives of a plenty of color and I think this shade is very flattering on me. It makes for a fresh faced look that goes nicely with neutral looks like these, or heavier looks. I am curious about the other two shades.

Which product(s) would most like to see in a full review?