Sunday 11 December 2011

Essence Vampire's Love Collection

Essence is a superbly affordable European beauty brand that I recently chanced across. For this winter, they've released a Vampire's Love collection, well-timed to coincide with the Breaking Dawn movie.

The Shimmer Powder 01 Lil' Vampire is a pale beige highlighting powder with tiny, ultra-fine gold sparkles. The beige shade pretty much disappears into my skin without adding any colour, but the gold sparkles dance ever so prettily in the sunlight. This costs just 4.75 Swiss francs (about S$7).


Of the five nailpolishes in the collection, I picked up #1 Gold Old Buffy and #5 Catch Me If You Can (black with silver flakes). Made in France, these were CHF2.95 each for 10ml.

#1 Gold Old Buffy is a wonderfully murky black with tarnished gold flakes. It seems to be the most popular shade in the collection amongst European bloggers like Witoxicity, Parokeets and Love, Varnish, Chocolate & more.

This is two coats over Essence Allround Talent Nail Perfector and topped off with Essence Quick Dry topcoat. After four days of wear, there is only very minor tipwear. The formula was smooth and easy to work with, although it definitely requires more than one coat.

The Blush Gelee was the piece that drew me into the collection. The jelly blush gives a lovely pinkish-red flush to the cheeks. Made in Poland, it is a breeze to apply and blend. The effect is subtle, much like Becca's popular Beach Tints, but for a fraction of the price of the latter. The cooling, non-oily texture reminded me of a MAC cheek tint that came in a clear squeeze tube some years ago.



The Vampire's Love Collection is quite nicely done and I would have picked up more items, like the two lip stains but unfortunately, the products were unsealed and looked like they had been tested at the shop where I found the collection. I don't know where it can be purchased online but if you happen to be travelling in Europe, it's well worth checking out.

7 comments:

sawpo said...

I've seen this brand at Watsons in Malaysia, guess that's the closest we can get :)

LauraLeia said...

Essence is really hard to find in Watsons Malaysia; only a few branches carry it. :( I asked them when the Vampire's Love collection would arrive and they didn't even know about the brand! Guess I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled, because I'm dying to get the Blush Gelee!

Haru said...

hi LauraLeia,
Wow, didn't know that the brand was available in Malaysia too. Hope you find the Vampire's Love collection soon! The blush gelee is a nifty product, quite fool-proof and so affordable too.

birkinbagbeauty said...

Essence really can have some hits.
Also, their new nailpolish seems to be really promising, like those Nfu Oh sparkle ones...so pretty: I hope they're released soon
(ps. If you want me to purchase something for you (the sealed ones) just let me know)

Haru said...

Thanks for the kind offer! I purchased one nailpolish from their regular line and quite liked it as well, though their top coat wasn't as good as Seche Vite.

Anonymous said...

Essence is now available at Watsons Ngee Ann City! Thrilled when i saw it today ^^

ehoo said...

It was available in m'sia jb watson few moths ago.but seem like seldom restock