Ballerina Backstage by essence

This months essence collection focuses on a ballet vibe, with cute shade names and pops of pale pink colour. I picked up a few key items including the 3 lipglosses and the bronze eye souffle, but somehow managed to miss the gorgeous cheek souffle that is also on offer. Fear not, I managed to nab it once I realised my mistake, and will pop it on the blog soon.

The essence eye souffle in pas des copper is a stunner, no doubt about it. I didn't have high hopes and to be honest bought this for the hell of it, but once I swatched it my expectations grew.

The jar feels nice and sturdy, and I love the font they've chosen to adore the lids of this collection.

A golden shimmery deep brown shade that is far too pretty.

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Cute shade names!

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Wear Your Litle Tutu is a pale pink that makes my lips look icy. It has silver shimmer running throughout, and is pretty sticky on but less so than a MAC Dazzleglass.

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On Your Gracile Tiptoe is the coral orange offering from the Ballerina Backstage collection, and also contains shimmer and is quite a sticky formulation.

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Do A Floating Pirouette is such a pretty purple toned raspberry shade, and is of the same formulation as the other glosses.

I adore the little touches that essence has put into this collection, the lace detail and shoe images on the tubing is a really sweet idea. I personally don't mind having sticky glosses in my collection (I adore Dazzleglasses, though Chris doesn't) so I quite like these. The icy effect of Wear Your Little Tutu is something that surprised me but I am happy to have this in my collection, but I think the real must have from the collection is the pas des copper eye souffle, just an amazing texture and wearable shade.

The prices in this collection sit around the $3-6AUD mark, and are available in Australia from Target stores.

Have you picked up anything from this collection?

What do you think of Essence?

Vampire's Love

The last monthly release from Essence saw them leap onto the vampire trend with vigour. I don't mind the odd True Blood episode or Twilight tune out, but I'm definitely not in the 'vampire obsessed' category. I still fell for this collection, however, and think the execution tread the line between vampy and cute perfectly.

The Vampire's Love line is limited edition, and contains a range of polishes, two lipstains, one blush gelee, shimmer powder, lash thickener, perfume and an eyeshadow palette. I was a good girl and only chose a few items.

Only 5 things, see how restrained I was! (I have since gone back to get more...) I am planning on doing in depth reviews on some of these, but thought I'd post my initial thoughts now so if you were interested you could pick the pieces, as they are limited edition and will be gone soon.

Six gorgeous shadows for $7.50 AUD? It was an easy decision, and I think the shade selection in 'Love at First Bite' leaves room for wearable daytime looks as well as smokier night ones. I'll be doing a look with this palette soon, and more swatches.

This 'Bloody Mary' blush gelee gives a red flush to cheeks, and is sort of like the jelly version of Benefit's Benetint, but much more affordable. I love that the packaging is clear, I think it looks really cool. From memory it was around the $3 mark.

 I assumed that the two lip stains in the Vampires Love range were going to have slant tip applicators as the tube is squeezy, but I was delighted to see a doe foot inside! Best of both worlds, I am a happy little vampire girl and love the 'True Love' shade that I chose. As you can see from the above image, it really does 'stain', that was my attempt at rubbing away the swatch with a wipe.

To really appreciate how amazing these polishes are, you need to see them in person. Photos will never do them justice, especially Gold Old Buffy, which is officially the prettiest polish I own. Captivating, can't stop staring at it and I'm not even a dark nail lover.

Overall I think I did well with this collection, I went back to buy the speckled grey/white polish as I couldn't stop thinking about it. I think they pulled this theme off really well, and I appreciate the range of vampy influence they drew from (Buffy, Sparkly aka Twilight, darkness motifs, myths like Bloody Mary)

I'm very happy with my choices, what do you think of them? Did you pick anything up from the Vampire's Love collection?

What's In My Travel Makeup Bag?

I mentioned in my sad sack post last week that I was spending the weekend away with my family, and thought I'd take advantage with a 'what's in my bag' post! My parents have a tradition where they hire a big ol' bus and around 20 couples hop on and head away on a weekend full of adventure. This was the third time Chris and I went along, and we had heaps of fun relaxing and I even won a few cheeky bets at the TAB. Here is what I took away with me for the two night vacay!

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I took it all in this large structured purple makeup case which my Dad bought me for Christmas last year (from Avon). Though it doesn't keep everything extremely neat, it fits a whole lot and it nice and sturdy so I don't have to stress about things breaking. I kept my toiletries (toothpaste, deodorant etc) in a separate Clinique bag so they wouldn't ruin the good stuff if anything were to happen;) As I said to Chris the other day, take/ruin anything but leave the makeup!
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I brought along my Inglot palettes as they have the perfect mixture of colours that I regularly use. One is filled with neutrals with a peach and a navy, and the other is my bright palette to mix in with it. I have a detailed post coming up on these two, I'm in love with them. I also brought along my MAC paintpot in Painterly (use it every single day under every shadow!) and my two favourite stand alone shadows- MAC Mink & Sable and a champagne shade from Sportsgirl.
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My base products were kept simple with my Dove Tinted Moisturiser for everyday, and Bourjois Healthymix Serum for night when I want a little more coverage. I set both of these with my Maybelline Dream Matte Powder, which goes everywhere with me nowadays.
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I took along a selection of brushes that I use everyday, a mixture of brands from Beautylicious (airplane bought) Napoleon Perdis and Royal and Langnickel. There are some eye brushes, a blush brush, an eyebrow brush, stippling brush, powder brush and a concealer one that I actually use to apply my highlighter.
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My favourite part of any makeup bag-the blushes! I was such a good girl and only took 3 (technically 4 I suppose) and 1 highlighter. I chose my #1 NYX Peach blush, my Kit Cosmetics Cream Blush duo in Pretty Cheeky and The Face Shop me:ex blush in PK103. The highlighter was my beloved Models Prefer Highlighter in Glitz & Glamour!
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For fragrance I decided to take along some samples to use up as well as my Travalo filled with Lancome Tresor in Love. The samples were Empress by Sean John (which I could barely smell) and Lancome Tresor Midnight Rose which I received in my latest Lust Have It sample box. These were enough to keep me smelling sweet all weekend and were great to take along in my handbag as well.
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I knew I wouldn't be bothered with intense cleansing or masks after late nights out so kept it simple by taking my shu uemura cleansing oil and some face wipes. I like to throw the cleansing oil on my face before I hop in the shower and emulsify and rinse it there, it makes my skin feel incredibly clean. For eyes I had Clinique High Impact for daytime, Bloom Lash Out mascara for night, with my Face of Australia liquid liner for the Saturday night event.
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 For hair I took this Kerastase sample which I didn't end up using, but thought I might do if I got the frizzies. I recently bought this little eyebrow kit from a Japanese store ($2.80) and pair it with my Ardell brow set. I need to get my brows tinted again at Benefit, I can really tell the difference now it's faded.
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Why I took a nail polish I will never know, I barely had time to brush my hair not to mention paint my nails! But this Sportsgirl All Nighter-Fighter undereye brightener came in handy as both Chris and I woke on Sunday with huge dark circles! 
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I always like to have a range of lip goodies on hand wherever I go, and the weekend away was no exception! I'm really into glosses at the moment, especially my MAC Dazzleglasses, so the first thing I popped into my bag was Baby Sparks. My Australis Show Stopper gloss stick in Fairy Floss was something fun to change it up, and Clinique's Citrus Rose was thrown in just in case I wanted to rock a red lip. The Essence lip stain is something I'm reviewing on the blog soon, and I love to wear it under a gloss for a long lasting look. Jack Black's Vanilla and Lavender balm is a no brainer, and the fuzz covered Maybelline Color Sensational lipstick is a new shade from them called Coral Pop! I can't leave my Nars glosses behind so it's perfect that they are pint sized- these shades are Babe and Turkish Delight. Last but not least is my MAC lipstick of the moment in Plumful, which I got for a steal at the Estee Lauder staff shop. The other lip product I took but was AWOL when these pictures were taken was Nars Pure Matte Lipstick in Carthage. Plenty of choice, as you can see!
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I changed up my makeup quite a bit over the course of the weekend when we would go from shopping along the main street to lunch at a nice restaurant to the Saturday night function where I rocked Nars Carthage and a slick of liquid liner. The best thing about interstate travel by car/bus is that you can pack as much as you like without guilt!
What did you think of my makeup bag?
Did I take anything you like the look of?

Flower Power and Flowerkissed!

It's a well-known fact that Essence is at the top of my all-time favourite cosmetic brand list, so it's no surprise that I've fallen in love with their latest collection!

An appropriately themed spring collection, Blossoms shines with a range of fresh goodies, including two-toned eyeshadows, pastel polishes, a fragrance, powder and two glosses. I chose to take a few pieces home when I spotted them at my local Target store, and thought I'd show them to you today.
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The Blossoms  range is full of pretty products, and the one that stood out to me most was the Multi Colour Powder in 01 Flower Power. Flower Power is an intricately designed daisy patterned powder made up of shades of bronze, pale pink, coral pink with and creamy beige. Slight shimmer runs throughout all of the flowers, with the beige and coral pink containing the most visible shimmer.
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Though I probably didn't 'need' a multi colour powder, it was was too pretty to pass up. It adds a bit of light to your face when you use it, I sometimes dust it all over my face but generally use it as a sheer highlight on cheekbones and along the bridge of my nose. It isn't very pigmented, so looks nice on top of other blushes to give a bit of dimension, too. This powder retails for $5.95AUD and contains 10g.

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The other item I picked up from the collection was the lipgloss in 01 Flowerkissed, which is a candy scented pink gloss in a fun dark musky pink shade.
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It is quite opaque and more pigmented than a lot of the glosses I own,slightly less pigmented when compared to something like the Revlon Colourburst glosses. Long-lasting and not sticky in the slightest, I think you'd be crazy to miss this one.
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It is a long slim tube with a doe foot applicator inside and some beautiful fresh white flowers printed on the outside of the tube. The attention to detail is a testament to the company and their effort amazes me when I see their tiny (and I mean tiny!) price tags.
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This is one of two lipgloss shades available in the collection and retails for a mere $3.50AUD for 4ml. I also grabbed one of the duo eyeshadows but will not review it here as I haven't used it yet.
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The Essence range is now available at Target stores Australia wide, and selected Priceline stores. I am unsure of where this is available internationally, please let me know if you know. Hop onto the Essence AU facebook page to find product images and new release notifications!