Essence Blush Play

The new Essence products were already featured in a first impressions video a few weeks ago, but those were just first impressions. Usually when I try products for a while longer I will truly be able to tell how I feel about a product. Also, there is only so much make up you can try on in one go and that meant that I wasn’t able to show all of the products on my face in that video. Which is why I am bringing you a full review of the new Essence Blush Play Sculpting Blush Palette today.

Essence Blush Play sculpting blush palette Play it Peach

In total Essence does 2 of these palettes. I have the peach toned version, but this also comes in a pink tone. I thought that for spring summer the peach variety would be best and it also had shades that appealed to me most. Especially since this is a supposed to be a do-it-all palette with a one-stop-shop for your blush, contour and highlight. It retails for €3.99 at local drugstores in Europe.

The Packaging

Let’s not beat about the bush: I don’t like this packaging. It is flimsy, it is cheap and it looks that way too. To me, this mostly looks more like children’s make up than anything else. Of course Essence is geared towards a younger clientele, so that explains why, but that doesn’t mean that the packaging has to be this cheap.

The Colors

My main reason for option for Play it Peach was the color scheme. It is much more of a coral tone with lots of pink, which makes this a very wearable peach toned palette. It’s not too orange, nor too pink: a good in between. Moreover, out of the two palettes available, I felt that this palette was the only one of which the ‘sculpt’ shade might actually do some sculpting.

Highlight

The highlight shade in the palette is a light glowy peach tone. It isn’t overly glittery and not too intense as far as highlights go. This is a good subtle everyday highlight.

Sculpt

The shade that intrigued me the most was the sculpt shade. I already said it in my video: I don’t think this does much sculpting at all. It’s more of a nontour than a contour if you’d ask me. It isn’t pigmented or dark enough to truly make a difference and it’s too dark to work as a blush on me.

Define

The final shade, define, is a peachy coral shade that appear fully matte in the pan, but has a hint of scene in it when swatched. This shade is a tad powdery when apply with a brush, but it has a nice pigmentation and is easily blended out. Just a good everyday blush.

The Swatches

Highlight – Sculpt – Define

As you can see, the swatches are okay, but no more than that. The sculpt shade is almost sheer and is the least pigmented of the three. The highlight is pretty, but I have many highlights that are similar in a single pan: it’s not a very stand out shade. The same goes for the blush shade. It’s pretty, but nothing mindblowingly different from what is already out there.

The Application

Sculpt – Highlight
Blush – Blended together

Since the texture of these is quite powdery when you apply them with a brush, it can be easy to pick up too much or make a mess. As you can see the sculpt shade looks quite patchy and is barely noticeable, even on my fair skin. The highlight is nice, but applied to the face it seems to lose the warm peachy glow and appears more cool toned. The blush shade nicely ties everything together. Because that is definitely a good thing about this palette: the shades work together very well.

full face

Full face this gives a nice and wearable peachy cheek look. This is a great palette for everyday or for people who aren’t into wearing tons of make up. Also, if you don’t have much make up yet, than this might be for you as it does give you a three-in-one product that you can get a lot of use out of if this is your first blush to own.

The Conclusion

I’m just not wowed by this product. It is okay: it performs fairly well on the face, the colors are pretty, but it’s something that’s already been done before. Since I have a large make up collection, this doesn’t really do much to add anything new or exciting to it. However, this definitely isn’t a bad product. And for the price point, this is an affordable palette that can get the job done.

What is your favorite blush palette?