Essence Stay All Day Long Lasting Eyeshadow - Review

I really like Essence. Almost everything I've tried from them has been pretty awesome at an insanely good price. I found an extremely empty display in my local Fred Meyer some time ago, and picked up one of their Stay All Day eyeshadows, in "Steel the Show."

I believe there were 4 - 5 different shades of this product, judging from the display. Of course, this shadow was the last one that hadn't been molested in some way. If I recall correctly, I paid around $3.

Packaged in a clear plastic jar, with a bubbled-screw top, these shadows look somewhat unimpressive. But, looks are deceiving.

"Steel the Show" is a taupe-tinged silver. It's not a color I would normally use, however, it looks great under any grey shadow I own. And, like Essence claims - it wears extremely well. Over UDPP, I can go 12+ hours without fading or creasing, when set with a powder shadow.

I found the texture of these to be interesting. They're very smooth, and very light. They're not tacky feeling at all. At first swatch, I was totally skeptical about how well they would work - I mean, it's so smooth feeling that my finger glides over it. I blend with my fingers, and can say it doesn't blend as nicely as I wish it would, but that's okay. I haven't found a cream shadow yet that blends well and provides the wear time that Stay All Day does.

I haven't seen any other colors or displays with this product at my Fred Meyer, and haven't checked my local Ulta.If you happen upon these, however, I'd grab them.

Essence Gel Eyeliner London Baby - Review

I have to own up to the fact that I let Makeupalley's message boards carry me away sometimes. Whenever people post raves about a product, I start feeling that my life will not be complete without it. Rarely, however, have I found whatever that item is to be the be-all-end-all product I thought it would be. Usually, it's a mediocre product for me, or just doesn't suit my skin type or coloring. Sometimes, however, the product is really all they promised. This is one of those products. Kind of.

I picked up this liner at the same time I got the Stay with Me gloss I reviewed here. MUA had been just raving about how life-changing this liner is that when I saw it, I swear, it was a shiny bauble and I was a crazed crow, snatching it up and running to the cash register.

Ulta's website says:

It's ultra-smooth gel formula allows an accurate application similar to liquid eyeliner. The range offers various effects, such as matte or shimmering. Simply dip the special Essence Gel Eyeliner Brush into the pot and effortlessly paint a perfect quick drying line. You're left with an ultra long-lasting, smudge and waterproof look! Available in three colors.

The bolded sentence above is what bothers me. Only 3 colors. Black, purple, and this grey-taupe color. That's it. Give me brown, gold, green, something more than 3. These are new, so I can hope they come out with more, which I hope they do. I also would like someone at Essence to grab a clue and seal their products, because out of the 3 jars my Fred Meyer had out, 2 had been molested. Since I'm fairly certain Essence has to eat that loss, it'd behoove them to invest in a shrink wrap system.

London Baby is a shimmery, deep charcoal with the slightest hint of brown, making it a taupe shade. On my lash line, it might as well be grey. It's very pretty. It looks pigmented, but I've found that it doesn't really apply in a pigmented fashion. I usually have to go over the liner at least once to achieve opacity. Not a huge deal, but it's worth mentioning. The shimmer appears to be multi-colored, and is very fine. It's enough to soften the liner, but it's not going to really pop.


The texture of this is interesting. It's very... airy, I suppose. It's really easy for me to get too much product on my brush, and thus need to remove some before I go to apply it. Again, not a huge deal. I wonder if the texture affects the way the liner applies, though.


One thing I can attest to is how long these wear: All. Day. Seriously. My "all day" at this moment in time runs from about 4:00 AM - 6:00 PM or so, maybe a smidge more, if I'm feeling particularly lazy. These retail for $3.49, and wear as well as my Fluidlines and Long Wear Gel liners. They remove easily, as well, which is very nice. 


I am impressed by the product, but I like the idea of being able to buy someone and not have to wonder if someone's stuck their finger in it. I'm almost positive that the MAC SA's at Nordstrom don't stick their fingers in the Fluidlines when they're bored. Almost. But, what about those tween-age girls who seem to be confused about whether it's okay to sample a product before buying it at the drugstore? Please carefully check your liner before you buy it! I know I have!

Essence Stay With Me Longlasting Lipgloss - Review

One day, I went a little crazy at my local Fred Meyer and bought a bunch of Essence stuff, because it's cheap. Being able to pick up 4 things for less than $20 feels pretty good when you're pining away for one things that's over $40, you know? I fell in love with the color of this gloss, and for $2.29, I figured "Why not?" (I should know by now there's plenty of reasons why not to buy yet another gloss, but that's between me, myself, and I). I selected Candy Bar, a bright coral with a pink bent. This is a non-shimmery, non-glittery gloss.

According to Essence:

the name of this lipgloss could not be more appropriate: if you try it once, you'll never want to give it up again! the color-intensive texture is so wonderfully creamy and durable – without leaving a sticky feeling behind, that it's simply irresistible. the special shape of the precision applicator allows an effortless application.

These glosses come in a somewhat short, fat tube. The doe-foot/sponge applicator is interesting, because it's curvy. Really. It has an hourglass shape to it, and I'm not sure if that's a purely style-driven choice, or if there's a benefit to this style of applicator. It applies nicely, perhaps a little too thick in some areas, due to the pigmentation. In some ways, the packaging is sort of childlike, but with a price point of less than $5 for almost anything in the line, I'm probably not their target demographic. Which leads me to my next point - these don't come sealed. Very little, actually, is sold sealed. So, I had to check each tube to find one that I was positive hadn't been tested. It took 3 tubes before I found one. That's a big problem to me.

Honestly, I just liked the color of this gloss. I wasn't expecting much for my money, so I was pleasantly surprised. It does last longer than I thought it would, and it's not really sticky. For example, I applied this gloss this morning at about 4:00 (yes, 4:00 AM... ugh). I almost immediately ate breakfast, brushed my teeth, and went to work.. I could still "feel" the gloss at 10:00 AM. It felt thin, but I could tell I had applied it, and that it was still on my lips, after all of the other things I had done. It leaves a slight stain on the lips, as well - on me it's a gorgeous pink-peach. The stain lasts all day, too. It was still on my lips at 4:30 PM.... 12 and half hours after a single application!

The texture, as mentioned previously, is pretty nice - it's not very sticky. It's also not gritty (which makes sense, of course, since it's not shimmery in any way). I really like thick, cushy feeling glosses, and this is not one of those - it's sort of thin, but thick enough to feel rather nice, if that makes sense.

The range of colors this gloss is available in is rather small. A total of seven shades are available, ranging from a berry to a nude, however, if I recall correctly, the nude looked sort of dark in the tube. The only color that really appealed to me was Candy Bar. I wonder if Essence plans to release more shades? Then again, I'd rather they invest the money in sealing their products. Both of those gripes in mind, I don't know if I'll repurchase. It's hard to want to buy something that could easily be tampered with.