What up, people! Let’s talk about some affordable makeup today. I’ve been low-key obsessed with Essence for the past little while. I mean, this is only like my third post about them in the last couple months.
I’ve already reviewed the Essence All About Bronze Eye Shadow Palette and the Liquid and Sheer & Shine Lipsticks, and SPOILER ALERT! I love them both.
Next up, a couple of the Essence Makeup Boxes — How To Make Your Face Glow, and How To Make Bright Eyes ($9.99 each at Target). I have lots to say about these, so let’s get started, shall we?
My favorite of the two, by far, is the How To Make Your Face Glow Makeup Box. It’s got a blush, bronzer, and highlighter, and it also comes with cute little instruction cards to teach you where to place the products. That’s always nice for beginners!
I am OBSESSED with the blush, and I would totally spend the $9.99 just to get it by itself.
You know how when a blush is just the most perfect color for you in the world and it makes your face look so bright and awake? I feel like this one does that for me!
To be honest, the highlighter and bronzer in the box are kind of chunky and glittery. I think the highlighter is decent, but in harsh light, all you see is the glitter. 🙁 And the bronzer can look pretty if you dust it over the top of another bronzer…but I’m not sure that’s worth the time.
But, like I said, the blush is great enough to make up for the “eh”-ness of the other powders.
The other Essence makeup box I’ve recently tried is called How To Make Bright Eyes, and it’s also $9.99 at Target.
First, I love the idea of this palette. I think bright eyes are so flattering, and they’re extra fun this time of year.
As you can probably see in the picture of my eyeball, the shadows really don’t deliver. From the pic, it almost looks like I didn’t use any shadow at all, which makes me so sad, because the other Essence shadows I’ve tried have been amazing!
So, I think rather than going for this particular palette, I’d recommend one of the “All About” palettes I reviewed in this other post here instead. That one is so amazing, and it’s such a great price!
Basically, the How To Make Bright Eyes shadows end up being really chalky with poor pigmentation, and the colors look almost the same on my eyes. Even the darkest one, which looks like it should be a taupe, turns into a glittery, chalky mess on my eyes. In this look I used a matte brown from another palette (which ends up being all you can see), then the shimmery shades all over the lid, and they just slipped right off my eye.
Even though I don’t think either of these two makeup boxes from Essence are revolutionary, I think Essence makes some great stuff! You wouldn’t want someone to judge you as a person just because you have a piece of broccoli in your teeth, right? Well, these are just a piece of broccoli in Essence’s teeth.
Have you ever tried anything from Essence before? What did you think?
Judy says
I have quite a few Essence products (love their Trend editions!) and I use the all about bronze palette you mentioned a lot.
But.. I literally threw that palette away yesterday. The blush couldn’t save it for me unfortunately.
Erin says
I’m not sure I could use such a tiny blush palette!
Chris25 says
I see what you mean about it not delivering. That’s too bad because they look pretty in the packaging.
Maren says
What did you use for your lashes in that close-up?
Yen says
What color lipstick are you wearing? Who makes it? It’s gorgeous and looks really stunning on you.
LindaLibraLoca says
I have a few essence products I enjoy and I had quite a few misses in the past as well. It is trial and error, but at that price point that doesn’t hurt too much.
Kiss & Make-up says
Heck yeah, for the price you pay Essence definitely makes nice stuff.