WHAT'S INSIDE?
The Eyebrow Designer comes in five shades including,
- 01 Black Eyebrow Designer 1g
- 02 Dark Brown Eyebrow Designer 1g
- 04 Blonde Eyebrow Designer 1g
- 05 Soft Blonde Eyebrow Designer 1g
- 07 Dark Chocolate Eyebrow Designer 1g WHAT DOES IT DO AND WHO IS IT FOR?
The Essence Designer Eyebrow is a brow pencil with a brush that's for anyone and everyone to help give definition and shape or to fill in sparse brows.
PRICE
The Essence Eyebrow Pencil retails for £1.50.
PACKAGING
Each brow pencil is simply packaged in the colour of the pencil and comes with a handy brush within the top to help with grooming and blending out.
HOW TO USE
As I mentioned above you can use this in two ways to either define the brows or to fill in any gaps you may have. I usually use the brush to groom my brows first then I define them by drawing in the shape I want to achieve as well as using the pencil to add tiny hair strokes in the areas that need a little more fullness. Lastly, you can use the brush again to blend out any harsh lines and you can even pop this in your handbag for on the go touch ups.
LONGEVITY
With regards to how long-wearing they are, I would say the colour lasts a majority of the day just like any other brow pencil, however, if you want to ensure your brows are completely bulletproof, then I would go in with a little brow powder over the top and then something like the Essence Make Me Brow Eyebrow Gel Mascara to finish and set everything into place.
The shelf life of the pencils is 36 months once opened.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This is a lovely simple eyebrow pencil for the price if you want something that's easy, fuss-free and travel-friendly. I love the fact that all the shades have a nice colour pay off without looking too harsh and you can even use two shades if you want to do more of an ombre brow as there is definitely a shade to suit most hair colours. As with any brow pencil, this does need sharpening to maintain the perfect point for drawing in the hairs but overall the Designer Eyebrow Pencil is ideal for any beginner out there who wants something that is affordable, easy to use and compact.
I award the Essence Designer Eyebrow Pencil a 4.3 out of 5
*These products were sent to me but as always all opinions are my own.
I've tried a fair few mascara's here on the blog and I have to admit I'm a bit of a sucker for a new mascara that claims to do everything my naked lashes can't do! Essence is a brand I've really been enjoying lately and I recently came across this new mascara combo called For-Bidden Volume consisting of a normal voluminous mascara and lash top coat with fibers for added volume, so here's my thoughts.
Price
The original For-Bidden Volume Mascara retails for a super affordable £3 for 12ml of product and the For-Bidden Volume Top Coat is £3.80 for 10 ml. There is also a third edition to theFor-Bidden family called For-Bidden Volume Rebel, which has all red packaging, this is supposed to add even more volume than the original if you like that intense lash look. All of the mascara's come in black only and are available from Wilko online and in store.
Packaging
Both mascara's come in simple black and red packaging with the only difference being the top coat has a red wand.
The original mascara has a lovely long brush head which is tapered at the top.
The top coat mascara has more of a long thin brush head to add even more thickness..
Application
The aim of this mascara is to add volume as per the name, without the clumping. This for me was quite a dry formula and I would say it actually gave me more length than volume. The top coat contains tiny black fibers inside to help you achieve that false lash effect and it can also be used on top of any mascara, not just this one. I applied this over the top of the original mascara as I felt my lashes did need more volume and yes this did help, but overall I didn't see any dramatic difference while using this lash combo.
Longevity
Both mascara's stayed really well throughout the day without any transfer or flakiness, which is always a bonus.
Overall Thoughts
Overall these mascara's didn't do anything majorly dramatic that would make me
want to buy them again. Both mascara's were a great price and don't get me wrong I
love Essence as a brand, but really the original mascara didn't give me any
volume just a little bit of length which was disappointing. I did however
like the top coat as this had more of a wet consistency and I have since tried
this on top of other mascara's and it has helped give me that false lash effect
I always crave. So if you have a not so good mascara that needs using up, it
may be worth paying the £3.80 for the top coat to add on top, but with regards
to the original version, I think there is defiantly better voluminious
mascara's out there.
I award the Essence For-Bidden Volume Mascara and Top Coat 3 out 5
Now that we are in the height of Summer, I wanted to chat about everything Bronzers and specifically Drugstore ones. I've searched high and low to find you the 10 Best Drugstore Bronzers that are all under £15, I also had to add in a sneaky 11th bronzer at the end if you live in the US or if your visiting soon.
NYX Matte Bronzer
1. NYX Matte Bronzer £7 - This silky smooth, matte bronzer comes in an amazing five shades. I have this in medium, as this colour is great for building up a natural looking tan, that's not to in your face. It's also the perfect shade for contouring too.
L'Oreal Glam Bronze La Terra
2. L'Oreal Glam Bronze La Terra £12.99 - This ginormous sized bronzer contains 18g of product and is great for both the face and body. This is a shimmery bronzer and it does swatch a little orange on the fingers, but don't let that put you off as it blends out beautifully to give you that gorgeous, non-orange, sunkissed glow. This is also perfect to take on holiday to dust over the face and decollate to enhance your holiday tan.
Maybelline Bricks Bronzer
3. Maybelline Bricks Bronzer £7.99 - This bronzer is a great two in one as not only does it have a lovely matte, natural looking bronzer, but it also includes a gorgeous shimmery peach highlighter too, that can be worn alone on the cheeks or as a blush topper. I was kindly sent this from Maybelline in the shade blonde which is ideal for paler skin, although I do think medium skin tones can get away with this shade too.
L'Oreal Glam Bronze Cushion de Soleil
4. L'Oreal Glam Bronze Cushion De Soleil £14.99 - This is one of my favourite discoveries so far this year. I love this because it blends out perfectly to give you that gorgeous dewy glow, which is non orange and natural. I also think this is a wonderful holiday make-up staple, if it's too hot to wear foundation or if your going for cream products only on the face.
NYC Sunny Bronzer
5. NYC Sunny Bronzer £4.29 on Amazon* and £1.99 in Superdrug - This cult drugstore favourite is fantastically affordable, matte, natural looking and it blends out really nicely too. What more could you ask for from a drugstore bronzer!
Revolution Vivid Baked Bronzer
6. Revolution Vivid Baked Bronzer in Ready to Go £4 - I couldn't not feature a Makeup Revolution Bronzer as the quality of these is amazing. I particularly love the shade Ready to Go as it's a great holiday bronzer to give you that wonderful sunkissed glow. I also find that baked products tend to last for ever too.
Bourjois Chocolate Bronzer
7. Bourjois Delice De Poudre £7.99 - I have to be honest, when I first reviewed this bronzer I hated it, it didn't blend out well, the colour was too orange and overall it just wasn't working for my pale skin, but having nearly come to the end of pan, I have changed my mind completely! The more I used this, the more I made it work for my skin tone and in the end it became one of my favourite bronzers to use on a daily basis. I have this in 51 and although this is one of the lighter shades, this is pretty pigmented and intense. That being said I think this is perfect for medium to dark skin tones and is best used with a large powder brush dusted all over the high points of the face and blended out well, it also smells delicious too! In the pan the bronzer does have tiny flecks of gold but don't be alarmed as this comes off as a more semi matte finish when applies to the face.
Rimmel Natural Bronzer
8. Rimmel Natural Bronzer in Sunlight 21 £5.99 - Another cult drugstore favourite, this very simple packaged bronzer is ideal for that all over natural glow, it also has an SPF 15 and is waterproof too and it's not a bad price point either.
Soap & Glory Solar Powder
9. Soap & Glory Solar Powder in Bronzo £11 - This only come in one colour, but there is two shades that make up the pan and when mixed together they give you a lovely matte bronzed look to the skin, you can also use the darker shade to do a little light contouring too.
Essence Sun Club Matte Bronzing Powder
10. Essence Sun Club Matt Bronzing Powder in Lighter Skin £4(available in Wilko instore) - Not only is this bronzer huge, it's amazingly affordable too! The lighter shade is of course great if you have paler skin, but it's also fantastic for building up colour, if you do decide you need a little more warmth to the face. Overall this natural looking, matte bronzer is the star of the show for me!
Physicians Formula BB Bronzer
11. Physicians Formula Bronze Booster $14.95(around £11) - Ok so I couldn't not talk about this cheeky 11th Bronzer as it's just too good not to give it a mention! I did a review on this a while back and oh my this is such a fantastic bronzer as it applies matte, has an SPF of 20 and it blends out beautifully onto the skin. So if you live in the US or your visiting soon, I would definitely recommend taking a look at this beautiful bronzer.
Essence Lipliner in In The Nude, Satin Mauve & Soft Berry
Just recently Essence is a brand I've been delving into heavily as it's not only affordable, but it has some pretty neat dupes for a lot of the iconic and limited edition high-end products out there.
One of my latest finds is the Essence Lipliners, these little gems are only £1 and they come in a wonderful selection of wearable shades too. I picked up three colours that are total dupes for three premium lip products and of course I had to share them with all my girls who are on a budget or who just love a good dupe!
Essence In the Nude
Essence In the Nude - This soft nude shade has a slight brown undertone and is very comparable to the Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk.
Essence Satin Mauve
Essence Satin Mauve - If you haven't been able to get your hands on MAC Whirl lipliner made famous by Kylie Jenner, then this gorgeous medium mauve is the perfect dupe but at a fraction of the price.
Essence Soft Berry
Essence Soft Berry - This stunning deep berry brown is such a great shade for Autumn, it's also a total dupe for MAC Hot Chocolate from the Vibe Tribe Collection which was released this Summer.
