Taming the Brows: Prestige Cosmetics Clear Brow Gel and Essence Eyebrow Stylist Set Reviews and Pictures

I have caterpillar brows. They're dark, they're big, and they are unashamedly there. Keeping my brows groomed is a sisyphean task, but plucking (like, every other day, gawd) helps keep them relatively well-behaved. After reading that brows and mascara are the two most important parts of a beauty routine on more than one blog, I figured I should maybe try and do something to further polish my brows. I looked for clear mascara at the drugstore, but had no luck, until one day, during a Prestige sale, I happened upon their clear brow gel, which I of course promptly snatched up. After using it for a couple days, I realized that, big and bold though my brows may be, they could use a little filling in in some places, so I picked up the Essence Eyebrow Stylist Set for ~$3 at Fred Meyer, since I figured the two matte shadows included were bound to be workable.

Prestige Cosmetics Clear Brow Gel

Essence Eyebrow Stylist Set

Some Random Polish Swatches

I'm not wearing polish on my nails for the time being while I use Nailtiques on them to try and make them not suck, but I have some swatches from before my self-imposed polish absence that I don't care enough about to write individual posts for, but that I would nonetheless like to be able to get off my computer, so I figured I would just throw them at you! And use a really long sentence to do so!

Essence Where Is The Party?

How it looks in the bottle most
of the time

The name of this polish makes me laugh, because you would never hear it said like that (except by ESL speakers, which I would guess the namers of this polish are, since Essence is a German company). It sounds so formal! So funny how little things like not contracting sounds so weird (even though I wrote that sentence, I was still momentarily confused by the status of "sounds". I've clearly spent too much time linguisting...).

And how it looks in the bottle at an angle!

How it looks in head-on light

Crazy color shift!

Anyways. Linguistic entertainment aside, this is a pretty cool polish. It was the first duochrome I got, though I've actually yet to wear it as a full mani. It's a purple-green duochrome, and shifts from being a rich purple head-on to being a softer grey-purple that shifts to green in different light. It's got a slightly frosty finish, so you do have to be a bit careful about applying, but it's not really high-maintenance. It's a little thick, too, so you have to let it dry between coats if you ever want it to fully dry, but for a buck, I can't complain! I think this was 3 coats, but it's been awhile, so I'm not sure. You can get Essence at Ulta and Fred Meyer, as far as I know, though there may be other retailers, and from drugstores in Germany (and possibly elsewhere in Europe?).

30 Days Makeup Challenge: Day 3

For an overview of this series, see here!

Favorite everyday lip?
I've long had an obsession with finding my perfect MLBB shade (see entries under "HG Lip Search" for examples...), so I have several options for nice everyday lip color.

Left to right, one swipe each: Tarte Dazzled LipSurgence pencil, Jordana Sweet Strawberry Easyshine, Essence Fairytale lipstick, Revlon Sugar Plum Lip Butter, Revlon Berry Smoothie Lip Butter

My current favorite is Revlon Sugar Plum Lip Butter (second from right in picture above), as I find it gives me a really natural, subtle lip with plenty of moisture that I don't have to reapply every 30 minutes, but I also really like the others, too!

What about you?

Essence Holographics.Com LE Nail Polish in Prism@tic White Review and Swatches

Essence came out with a "holographic" collection (scare quotes because the products were not, in fact, actually holographic, but rather duo/multichrome, a distinction apparently lost on the German brand) a few months ago, and I happened to come across a small display of some of the products in Ulta a few weeks ago.  I decided to only pick up one polish, Prism@tic White (stupid name, guys), that I thought I could use for wintry-themed nails and to layer over other polishes.  I decided to wear it over black to start with, because I knew its duochromeness would show up better over a dark polish.

Essence Prism@tic White

Essence Stay With Me Longlasting Lipgloss in Kiss Kiss Kiss Review and Swatches

Essence has almost made a lipgloss girl out of me.  After seeing more swatches of their Stay With Me longlasting gloss (for review and swatches of Berry Me and Candy Bar, see here), I added one more to my collection: sheer red Kiss Kiss Kiss.

Essence All Eyes on Me Multi-Effect Mascara in Soft Black Review and Swatches

I've spoken before of my dislike of mascara, but I've recently found myself wishing I had a cheap, easy mascara for those rare times when I want to do a full eye and look super done-up.  So what's a beauty-addicted blogger to do?  Research and purchase, of course!  My obsession with Essence is still on-going, so I started my research with them.  Imagine my delight when I read positive reviews for their super-cheap $1.99 mascara!  At that price point, I don't even feeling bad knowing most of it will go bad before I get around to using it.  I've worn it some the past few days so I could let you all know if this is the answer to all your unaired mascara prayers, and hark!  Here are my thoughts.

Essence Colour and Go Quick-Drying Nail Polish in Space Queen Review and Swatches

It's hard to argue with $0.99 for a mini bottle of nail polish, so I didn't even try.  I was wanting a sparkly polish that I could layer with others, and figured this Essence would be a good place to start (in spite of the order in which I am reviewing them, I got this polish before any of the Sinful polishes).

Space Queen

Essence Gel Eyeliner in Midnight in Paris Review and Swatches

I'd never worn gel eyeliners before I got this one from Essence.  For one thing, they're generally more expensive than other types of eyeliners; for another, I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull off the application.  After Karen from Makeup and Beauty Blog gave a rave review to the Essence gel eyeliner, though, I added it to my mental list of things to get, and after successfully refraining from buying it for awhile, I finally caved.  I was torn about which color to get, but ended up deciding on the basic black Midnight in Paris, since I don't have any other black eyeliners that I like (the Wet N Wild one I got I was not a fan of).  Though I usually choose to do dark colored eyeliner (green, blue, purple, brown), there are times I want the nice bold line that only black liner can give (these times usually overlap with when I want to wear mascara!).

Essence Lipstick in Fairytale Review and Swatches

My search for an HG (Holy Grail) MLBB (my lips but better) lip product, which has been somewhat documented under the tag "HG Lip Search," is my longest-running makeup obsession.  I've come close, but have yet to succeed in finding that one lipstick/balm/gloss to end all others.  My requirements, after many years of honing, are as follows:

1) Must be cheap.  This is why I've never tried Fresh Sugar, even though it seems right up my alley.
2) Must be pinky-mauvey-rosey-berry.  Nothing too cool (no lavender-pinks––made that mistake once, and even my brother commented that I looked like a corpse), nothing too warm (ixnay on the ickbray, thank you), and nothing too nude (brown lips on me are even worse than purple).
3) Must be semi-sheer.  I want something I can apply without fuss, that complements my lip color but doesn't compete with it, and that can go with many different looks.
4) Must look natural.  That's the whole point of MLBB, at least for me.  This means nothing obvious (see #3 above), and preferably nothing with obvious shimmer or (shudder) glitter.
5) Must make my lips look better than they would on their own.  Obviously.  But matte lipsticks often fail in this respect, as do many lipstains (some reviews on the latter to come, talk about horror stories).

Okay, now that that's been established, time to turn to our next contender in the fight for the title of HG MLBB: Essence's Fairytale.

Essence Fairytale (and very sad-/ooking nails)

Essence Stay With Me Longlasting Lipgloss in Berry Me! and Candy Bar Review and Swatches

I've mentioned before that I tend to loathe lipgloss.  I hate it when it feels tacky and sticky, not least because my hair sticks to it like glue, and I despise how it tends to wear away unevenly in no time.  But there are some things about gloss that I like, such as how creamy it can feel, and how the shine makes my lips look full and luscious (not that I really need it, but it's fun anyways!).  Dudes tend to dislike gloss because of its tendency to transfer on contact (*wink wink*), but 1) I don't wear makeup for dudes, so I don't really care what they think, and 2) the only dude whose thoughts I would consider is across the country, so I'm pretty sure he doesn't give a fig.  I was recently inspired to try lipgloss again because of a post from Karen at Makeup and Beauty Blog on Essence's Stay With Me Longlasting lipgloss, whose tiny price tag ($2.29!), availability (at Fred Meyer, which is actually a store we have in Eugene), and pretty colors all appealed to me.  The fact that she said they weren't sticky was a bonus, but the real draw for me was that they're made by Essence, a beauty brand from Germany that I discovered when living in Berlin last summer, and whose products I'd been unable to find here.

Essence Stay With Me lipgloss in Candy Bar (top) and Berry Me! (bottom)