NOTD: Essence Colour & Go Nail Polish in Mellow Yellow!

Three (3) coats of Essence Mellow Yellow & One coat of Seche Vite Top Coat.

Three (3) coats of Essence Mellow Yellow & One coat of Seche Vite Top Coat.

Essence Colour & Go Nail Polish in Mellow Yellow is a cream formula pale yellow. It's a perfect summer statement color that will add a bright pop of color to any outfit.

I've always liked yellow nail polishes, but every time I end up purchasing yellow, I'm never satisfied with it. One thing I've learned about yellow polishes is that the more pastel they are, the better they look on my skintone. This particular polish is almost in between pastel yellow and yellow. I was hoping it would be a little more white toned, but I like it.

The formula of this polish was streak city with the first coat, but evened out by the second. With the second coat, 95% of the streaks were gone, but I opted for three coats for full opacity. 

I'll probably wear this polish only once more before summer is over, so it's not really a bad investment for 99 cents!

The lovely Lisa Eldridge sporting yellow nails in her Quick Pick-Me-Up video

Essence can be found at ULTA stores or online at ULTA.com.

ULTA Haul: Essence & Essie!

Essence Colour & Go Nail Polish - #57 Can't Cheat on Me

Essence Colour & Go Nail Polish - #50 Irreplaceable

Essence Colour & Go Nail Polish - #42 Dress for a Moment

Essence Colour & Go Nail Polish - #51 Mellow Yellow

Essie Nail Polish - #710 Van D'Go

Essence XXXL Nudes Lipgloss - #01 Pure Beauty

Essence Stay With Me Longlasting Lipgloss - #01 Me & My Ice Cream

READ MORE TO VIEW ADDITIONAL PHOTOS & SWATCHES!

From Left to right: Can't Cheat on Me, Irreplaceable, Dress for a Moment, Mellow Yellow

Ever since I first spotted Essence Cosmetics at ULTA, I became hooked on these little Colour & Go Nail Polishes. They are around 1/3 the average size of a standard nail polish (5 ml in comparison to 15 ml in a bottle of Essie) and they are sold for 99 cents each. Let's be totally honest - I will never finish a bottle of nail polish, no matter how much I like it. I get bored easily with shades, and I like to try new ones often. Essence launches new shades often, and they're always really trendy.

The small bottles are great because they aren't SO small (like Walmart's Bon Bon's), so you can actually use them a decent number of times before tossing. It has a good brush applicator and the colors are usually pretty opaque. The lasting power is average. As with any "lower end" nail polish, I recommend using a good top coat, such as Seche Vite to get the longest wear out of it.

Swatches from Left to right: Can't Cheat on Me, Irreplaceable, Dress for a Moment, Mellow Yellow

Can't Cheat on Me is a silver, fine shimmery holographic shade. It's a bit similar to Milani HD, but the glitter in Milani is larger. It doesn't scream holo, but it shines nicely in the sun.

Irreplaceable is a milky taupe with golden/green glitter particles. I'm not sure how flattering it will look on my nails, but I thought it was very pretty in the bottle.

Dress for a Moment is a pale, dirty lilac. It's a bit different than the other lilac nail polishes I have, as it has a slightly gray tint.

Mellow Yellow is a creamy, banana yellow. I was really hoping this color was going to be more of a white, pastel yellow - but it's still a nice to have for the summer. (Any recommendations on white-yellows?)

I apologize I wasn't able to swatch the colors on my actual nails, I've got a fairly fresh manicure with no chips yet and didn't want to ruin it. I'll have NOTD's with these shades soon!

Essence Stay With Me Longlasting Lipgloss - #01 Me & My Ice Cream

I'm not sure how new these glosses are to the Essence line, but when I saw Karen from Makeupandbeautyblog rant about them (I often refer to Karen - love that girl!) I figured one would be worth trying. All of the (6) shades in the range are very wearable, but my favorite was Me & My Ice Cream. I can't put my finger on it whether it's a warm or cool pink, but I think it leans more toward warm. It's not very strong in either category, so I think it's a pink that either undertone can wear. The color is sheer with one swipe, but is buildable. I'm not really sure how I like the applicator, it's a little odd in shape, but when applied, it does sort of "hug" the lips - kind of nice. The formula is really great, and I'd compare it to the MAC Cremesheen Glass formulas. It's not at all sticky or too watery. It's really creamy and moisturizing. After wearing it for about a half hour, my lips felt incredibly soft. (So soft though, they started peeling. For the future, I'll probably have to wear a lip balm under it to prevent my lips from constantly peeling.

Essence XXXL Nudes Lipgloss - #01 Pure Beauty

I love the formula of the XXXL Nude Lipglosses. I already own Nude Kiss and it's one of my favorites. I decided to try out another shade, so I picked Pure Beauty, a light peachy beige. The color reminds me a bit of NYX Whipped Round Lipgloss or MAC Boy Bait Cremesheen Glass (although I don't own it to compare side by side). The formula is fantastic - really moisturizing and pigmented. What I love the most is the sponge applicator. It's very long and flat, so it glides across the lips better than the standard sponge applicator and it picks up much more product. It's a great gloss to pair with any nude lipstick.

Left: Me & My Ice Cream, Right: Pure Beauty.

Essence is sold at ULTA stores & Online at Ulta.com.

That's about it for my ULTA Haul! I'm really happy with everything I purchased, and it was all so inexpensive. I know I didn't mention the Essie Nail Polish I purchased, but I'll post a NOTD with it this week. 

Have you tried any of these products? What are your favorite Essence products?

NOTD: Essence Colour & Go in #27 No More Drama!

Essence Colour & Go Nail Polish

#27 No More Drama

Two (2) coats, no top coat. Top: Indoors, no flash. Bottom: Indoors, flash.

Since I posted earlier in the week a NOTD with my new Essence (Ultimate Pink) Colour & Go Nail Polish, I figured I'd do another NOTD with the other color I own. "No More Drama"

"No More Drama" is basically lilac in a bottle. The formula is less opaque than "Ultimate Pink" and is a little sheer with one coat. With two coats my nails were completely opaque (except my thumb.. I smudged it a bit). Like I mentioned before, love the short applicator and thick brush for fast and precise application.

It's a little difficult for me to "pull off" pastel colors. The darker the polish is, the better it seems to suit my skintone. I've always liked pastel purple polishes.. but they never look right on me. They are always too pastel and look almost white on my nails. This is the perfect "pastel" purple and works great with my skintone. It's a great colour for Spring! It makes me think about Easter.. (which.. holy cow.. isn't too far away!!)

You can view all shades of Colour & Go Polishes on the ULTA website here.

Essence XXXL Nudes Lipgloss in 03 Nude Kiss!

Essence XXXL Nudes Lipgloss - 03 Nude Kiss

Product Description: Ultimate shine for your lips! The XXXL shine lipgloss pampers your lips without leaving behind a sticky feeling. Contains vitamin e and panthenol to prevent your lips from feeling dry. Available in eleven trendy shades.

Can be purchased at ULTA for $1.99 each.

Nude Kiss is a sheer, warm pink with very fine pinkish white glitter reflects. The formula is smooth and thin - no stickiness what so ever. It also isn't a gloss that just sits on my lips.. it actually feels somewhat moisturizing. It has a faint fragrance to it - kind of plasticy? But it doesn't bother me. I love the sponge applicator. It's a somewhat large, flat brush that coats your lips with one sweep.

(Lighting Conditions: Daytime, indoors with no flash)

Here are a couple of swatches on my lips. My lips are lined with Revlon Colorstay Lipliner in "Natural".

I'm so excited for Valentine's Day! I've been purchasing Valentine's chocolates from Walgreen's pretty frequently lately. I've been snacking on these York's all day long for the past few days.. lol

♥

NOTD: Essence Colour & Go in 08 Ultimate Pink!

Essence Colour & Go Nail Polish - Ultimate Pink

I got this nail polish yesterday at ULTA.. Essence has some really cute colors and they're only 99 cents each! I was temped to buy a taupe and a grey.. but I figured I own enough of those. I'm not sure how well these polishes wear.. I only have one other Essence polish that I puchased last summer. I think they're pretty average.. but I'll update this post and let you know when my nails start chipping.

The formula is very nice.. it's not too thick or thin. The color is opaque and the color dries pretty quickly. It says "1 second per nail".. which it's not exactly 1 second.. but it's around the same as an OPI polish. I applied a second coat within a minute and my nails didn't cake up or get nicked. I also really like the brush. It's not too long and it's pretty thick (not as thick as Rimmel Lasting Finish though) so it makes applying the nail polish very quick.

This is two coats, no top coat.

Essence Cosmetics - New to ULTA!

While browsing at ULTA yesterday, I noticed a new display of a brand called Essence. The Display had a bunch of pamphlets about the brand and their products (pictured below) Essence is a German brand (low end/drugstore brand) that is available to parts of Europe (The site says its available in Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Switzerland and Austria) and its now available in the US. Pretty cool!! Everything is pretty much under $5 and by the looks of it, its very girly and aims at a younger crowd. Maybe like Wet n Wild? I only purchased one baked eyeshadow and a brow pencil to try them out and decide whether I'd want to purchase more. Click here to view all of Essence's products on the ULTA website or click here to view the official website. Oh! & they don't test on animals. :)
 
 
 
I wore the shadow today on my eyes. I just took a bit (dry) and used it as an all over lid color. Its a very nice gold. It slightly started to fade, but overall it works pretty well. I'd purchase other shades since they're only $2.99. 
   
If you'd like me to take a swatch of the brow pencil, let me know. I haven't tried it out yet. They also had another new brand. I can't remember the name and I can't find any info on it. It is LA something. I thought it was LAColors but there is already a brand named that.. hmm confusing. Its a little more expensive than essence.. I would compare the prices to Milani (for example.. they had really pretty jars of eye dusts for $5.99 each) I really wanted to get a couple, but I'm going to wait till there is a sale on it. Any thoughts on the brand?