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I have here some of the new Essence Autumn/Winter releases for 2016/17.

Essence Autumn/Winter

It’s safe to say Essence have been kicking ass of late and are constantly upping their game with their releases. So, I thought I would bring you through some of the products that are going to be hitting stands soon in the Essence Autumn/Winter Collection.

I’ll start with some of the eye products.

essence cosmetics

We have ‘The Metals’ single eyeshadows.

These come in six colours. I have the shade ‘Frozen Toffee’ to show you here.

These will cost €3.10.

Eye contouring is playing a big part in the Essence Autumn/Winter Collection. We have the Contouring Eyeshadow Set.These are available in 4 colour combos. I have the shade 01 ‘Mauve Meets Marshmallows’ here.

They cost €3.10

There’s a Contouring Eye Pencil too. Essence say it can be used as a liner, eyeshadow or highlighter, and it’s available in two shades. One for darker skin tones, and there’s one for lighter which I have here. It’s called 01 ‘Caramel Meets Frosting’.

They cost €3.10.

There is six shades of the new Extreme Lasting Eye Pencil.

I have the colour 05 ‘Rockin’ Taupe’.

These are said to be waterproof and ultra longlasting. They cost €2.50.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Duo Stylist Eyeliner Pen has a ball-shaped felt tip for creating dots and lines on the eyes.

It costs €3.10.

There is three new mascaras in the Essence Autumn/Winter Collection. I have two of them here to show you.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll XXXL Volume mascara that has long and short fibers within the formula.

And, the False Lashes Mascara Dramatic Volume Unlimited.

All three mascaras are priced at €3.50.

Up next we have lip products. There’s a bundle to choose from including lip balms and plumping lip glosses.

We also have Matt Matt Matt lipsticks.

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These come in a total of seven colours. The shades I have here are 07 ‘Purple Power’. And, 02 ‘Perfect Match’.

These retail for €2.90, not bad at all!

Essence have also jumped on the matte lipgloss bandwagon with these Matt Matt Matt Longlasting Lipgloss.

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There will be five colours in these. I have here 03 ‘Girl Of Today’. And, 01 ‘LA Vie Est Belle’.

They again cost €2.90.

There’s BB beauty balm Lipglosses that contain vitamin E and shea butter with a subtle hint of colour. There will be five shades in this range. I have 05 ‘Heartbreaker’.

The retail price for these is €2.50.

The final lip product I have is the Essence 2 in 1 lipstick & liner. These are also part of the Matt Matt Matt range and come in three colours. I have the shade 02 ‘Make Some Noise’ here.

You are supposed to be able to define your lip line with these aswell as apply full on colour. They cost €3.10.

The Essence Autumn/Winter Collection has all new face products included too.

There’s the Camouflage 2 in 1 makeup & concealer. This claims to offer long lasting high coverage and provide a matte, flawless finish.

This is the shade 10 ‘Ivory’, there is a total of three to choose from.

The price is €4.80.

Here we have the Get Picture Ready Long Lasting Compact Makeup.

You get a mirror and a sponge inside the compact and the cream to powder texture is meant to be great for on the go. It comes in four shades. This one is in 10 ‘Mat Ivory’. And, it will set you back €4.95.

We have a Get Picture Ready brightening concealer too. Essence say it has light reflecting pigments to help diminish under eye circles. You apply to product with the ball shaped sponge applicator. It comes in two shades. This one is 10 ‘Ivory’, and it costs €3.80.

We also have a Light Up Your Face Luminizer Palette with three highlight shades.

It costs €4.95.

There is three Satin Touch Blushes for Autumn/Winter. This is in the shade 10 ‘Satin Coral’.

These will cost €3.10.

Last but not least we have an abundance of new nail products.

essence nail polish

I am a big of The Gel nail polishes so I’m delighted to see Essence adding to the shade range.

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I believe these cost €1.99.

The nail care products range from €2.10-2.50 and even includes hand cream and nail stencils!

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Phew, so there you have it. Some of the products to expect to see from the Essence Autumn/Winter releases. 🙂 Anything tickle your fancy?

You can see them all listed on the Essence website here.

PS. Shout out to Rosie for all the help with taking the pictures in the garden 🙂

xxx

 

 

 

Urban Decay have finally released their collaboration palette with Gwen Stefani. I couldn’t resist, I needed it in my life. The Urban Decay marketing team are geniuses 🙂

I picked my Urban Decay Gwen Stefani in Debenhams. It will set you back €46. They have it on the website with free shipping here, if you like what you see 🙂

urban decay gwen stefani

The palette contains a mixture of neutral matte, satin and shimmery shades for the most part, with a couple of more intense colours for good measure. I think it’s a good mixture. As a Urban Decay fan I have alot of their palettes, so I’m used to them having some crazy colour combos within them. I think the Gwen palette gives good practical but still really pretty colour choices. You get 15 shades in total which is pretty decent for the price. They are soft and pigmented as you would expect from the brand. I love all the names she gave them too. If you’re a Gwen fan since her old school No Doubt days (like myself) you will get all the references she makes with them.

 

Now onto the good part, the eye shadows in action 🙂

The top row:

We have ‘Blonde’, the lightest shade in the palette.

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‘Bathwater’ (one of my favourite No Doubt songs :).

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‘Skimp’.

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‘Steady’.

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‘Punk’.

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Then the second line of shadows:

‘Baby’.

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‘Anaheim’.

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‘Stark’.

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‘Zone’.

urban decay swatch

‘Serious’.

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And finally the third line of shadow and where most of the crazier colours lie:

‘Pop’.

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‘Harajuku’.

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‘Danger’.

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‘1987’.

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And ‘Blackout’, a matte black is always a welcome addition to a palette for me.

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I struggled to part with the money for the Gwen palette so close to Christmas for myself I have to admit. The guilt has subsided now however and I’m so glad I did. She’s just so darn pretty. I love everything the colour choices, the packaging everything! And there’s also an added bonus with it. You get samples of the lipsticks Gwen will be releasing with Urban Decay too. Score!

urban decay gwen lipstick

The packaging of the lippies looks amazing in the picture may I add 🙂

 

So we have ‘Rocksteady’.

beauty blog irelandA pinky red lipstick with a cream formula.

 

It wouldn’t be Gwen without a matte red. So this is a mega-matte (according to Urban Decay) and it’s called ‘714’.

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‘Ex-Girlfriend’ is a sheer neutral brown shade.

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Then, finally we have ‘Firebird’ an awesome bright purple hot pink shade with a cream finish.

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I think it’s safe to say the Gwen palette for Urban Decay is a hit with me 🙂

Have you picked it up? Or is it on your Christmas wish list?

Let me know.

xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautynook Top Cream Shadow Stick Picks

I use cream shadow pencils, sticks whatever you want to call them alot in my day to day makeup routine. Formulas have gotten so great nowadays that you can use them as shadow on their own and they don’t budge (for the most part) throughout the day. Or you can layer them under shadows to intensify them or increase their longevity too. They come in very handy.

So I compiled some my favourite brands for this post to show you some of the ones I love using and that I have tried and tested.

First up is the posh ones of the group.

By Terry Ombre Blackstar

These are the By Terry Ombre Blackstar. These are so very nice and so very posh with their €30 price tag. They are so creamy, pigmented and easy to blend though and they last all day on the lids. You can literally just throw one of these all over your lids, blend the edges and you’ve got yourself a really lovely eye look.

I have two shades…so far 🙂

5 Misty Rock 4 Bronze Moon

5 Misty Rock (on top) 4 Bronze Moon (bottom)

I have a couple of brands that I just have one offering from, but I wanted to include them because I pick them up regularly.

Rimmel Scandaleyes shadow stick

The Rimmel Scandaleyes. I love this shade under gold or creamy coloured shadows. It’s a great neutral shade to have in your collection. They come in an alot of different shades though. This is 002 Bulletproof Beige.

Rimmel Scandaleyes Bulletproof BeigeI bought one of the new Bourjois Colorband sticks not too long ago in Boots.

Bourjois Colorband Eyeshadow & Liner

This shade 05 Mauve Baroque is a great more affordable dupe for the By Terry Ombre Blackstar in Misty Rock. These stay put on the lid too, no messing about. You need to work quickly with them once it’s on it’s on!

Bourjois Colorband Mauve Baroque

Bourjois Colorband Mauve Baroque

 

The Kiko Longlasting Shadow Sticks are new in my makeup collection, but I picked them up because I’d read so much positivity about them in the blogging and You Tube world. You have to order online if you’re in Ireland which is a pain but the shipping is really good, as are the sticks themselves 🙂

I got three shades 05 (another dupe for the By Terry Ombre Blackstar, do you see a theme forming?), 10 a sparkly blue green shade and 10 an electric blue.

Kiko Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadow

These are just awesome, simple as that. Creamy, smooth ,vibrant, longlasting, and come in a plethora of colours to suit everyone, and they are so reasonable priced too. More will find their way home to me soon, I’m sure of it.

Kiko Longlasting Shadow Sticks 05,11,10

05, 11,10

A couple of Wet n Wild picks up next.

Wet n wild Idol Eyes Creme Shadow Pencil

If you are a regular round these parts you’ll know I am a huge fan of this affordable brand. These are their Idol Eyes Creme Shadow Pencil. So ridiculously affordable and lovely base for shadow to help them stick around and help the colour become more vibrant too. These come in loads of colours, soft, but not as pigmented as maybe some of the others on the market. For the price though they are pretty great 🙂 I have two:

Wet n Wild Idol Eyes Graphite Techno

E133 Techno (on top) E135 Graphite (on bottom)

I left the probably most well known ones until last.

Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencils

These are of course the Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencils. Apologies as mine have seen better days, they aren’t very photogenic. That doesn’t mean they’re not good at their job though. These things are brilliant! I’ve been buying Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencils a long time, I use to have to buy them on eBay from America, but thank god Ireland now finally has gotten its act together and we are starting to see Nyx in pharmacies more and more. Wohoo! These literally come in all of the colour of the rainbow and more. They come in different finishes too,  some are matte some are more shimmery or sparkly. They are stupid pigmented and last well on the eyes. I have even used these on my water line and they last really well inside the eye too. I know Milk is such a cult shade now. It’s a matte, opaque white, if you are wanting vivid colours to stand out, you need Milk in your life believe me!

I have six in my collection, I’ve had more in the past but where they’re gone I don’t know 🙁

Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencils

In Order 603 Pots & Pans, 615 Slate, 612 Gold, 617 Iced Mocha, 624A Rocky Mountain Green and 604 Milk

There you have it, if you are in the market for some new cream shadow sticks, I hope I’ve helped a little showing you some of my favourites. I tried to pick some from all spectrum’s of the market to suit everyone. I honestly get so much use from all of these little beauties. Writing this blog post has just made me want to buy more 🙂

xxx

Urban Decay Ten 24 7 Glide On Pencil Set

I bought this set completely on a whim when I was late night “window” shopping on Debenhams. They had 10% off and I had a fiver on my store card burning a hole in my purse…how could I resist? 🙂

This is the Urban Decay Ten 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil Set, it’s a bit of a mouthful I know. I am a big fan of Urban Decay I went through a phase of collecting their palettes, I have kinda put a stop to that…for now. Their eye pencils are some of the best I have used to date so when I saw this and the colour range, I just knew it had to be mine.

This is just fresh from the couriers hands and I have already fallen in love with it, so I just had to swatch them and show you the loveliness the box contains.

First up, you get a full sized  “Perversion” pencil.

Urban Decay PerversionPerversion

This is a gorgeous soft matte black pencil.

Then the set contains 9 smaller pencils (they are more than half the size of Perversion though so don’t let the size put you off, it’s pretty decent).

The second pencil is “Voodoo”.

Urban Decay VodooVoodoo

This is a bright purple with some shimmer running through it.

Third up we have “Stargazer”.

Urban Decay StargazerStargazer

This a very yellow shimmery gold pencil. I have never owned a colour quite like it.

Fourth, is “Mugshot”Urban Decay Mugshot

Mugshot

This is a very wearable shimmery bronzed colour.

Fifth up we have “Smokeout”

Urban Decay SmokeoutSmokeout

This is a blackened brown shade. I think it will be perfect for creating a dark smokey eye, probably why they named it Smokeout :).

Sixth in the line up is “Gonzo”.

Urban Decay GonzoGonzo

I think this is going to be one of my favourites of the set. I already own “Electric” from Urban Decay which is a very similar colour, bit “Gonzo” is so much brighter.

Seventh is “Faint”.

Urban Decay FaintFaint

This is a classic matte taupe colour, it will be a fab base for a brown look.

Eighth is “Vacancy”.

Urban Decay VacancyVacancy

This a greener version of “Gonzo”. This will be a waterline colour for me I’m sure.

Ninth is “Moonspoon”.

Urban Decay MoonspoonMoonspoon

This is a grey shimmery colour with so many uses. Liner,lid and waterline alike I think.

And then finally number ten “Glitter Rock”.

Urban Decay Glitter RockGlitter Rock

A lovely shimmery warm toned brown, you cannot go wrong with a colour like this in your collection.

As well as the liners, you also get a pencil sharpener in this set, very handy indeed!

Urban Decay SharpenerUrban Decay

On a side note, this sharpener fits NYX Jumbo pencils in it…just a bit of added information for you 🙂

I am so happy I bought this set. The colours are all super pigmented creamy,blendable and once set long lasting. I am a huge makeup fan so these are being added to an already pretty full collection of eye liner pencils, but I can see myself getting alot of use out of them.

If you are only getting into makeup and starting a collection, these would be a great investment too as this sets contains all the colours you would need to get you going. Overall a great buy and a great one to add to the Christmas list 🙂 It will set you back €40, but keep an eye out for discounts and discount codes, you might get a bargain, I did!

As always, thanks for reading, it means the absolute world.

Gemma

xxx