Essence Class of 2013 Collection

Essence celebrated everyone going back to school with a special limited collection called class of 2013. Filled with products that are easy to apply and fuss free during the day, this collection is a dream. I tried a few of the things from the collection and today I have the swatches and my judgement on these items.

First up, the eyeshadow pencils. Quick and easy, these can also be used as eyeliner. Just 'sketch' the colors onto your eyelid and blend immediately with a brush or your fingers. And when I say immediately, I mean immediately. Because once these have dried.. they. don't. budge. Seriously, they dry and stay the way they've dried until you take them off. The pigmentation leaves a bit to be desired, though. I needed to sketch them a few times before I got the swatch below.

From left to right: Want to be my freshman? / School's out forever / Blues of being cool

Next we have the lip tints. Tiny tubes of liquid that stain the skin of your lips and leave a subtle tint to them. The pink hardly shows up, both on light skin nor on my lips. But the red is a really pretty subtle wash of color to your lips. It gives them a nice juicy red tint. They last a really long time and don't need product maintenance during the day. However, they are quite drying, so I recommend using a lip balm over this to moisturize your pucker.

From left to right: Alpha Better Gamma (+ blended) / Ready for rush week (+blended)

Ready for rush week on my lips.

Lastly, the nail polishes. I tried, I really tried, to do a post without nail polish for a change but the majority of this collection is made of nail polish. So, that justifies it doesn't it? Anyway, these nail polishes are the standard essence formula. Nice pigmentation and they dry rapidly. I picked up the two colors pictured above, because the other ones looked too similar to polishes I already own. 

The coral pinky color is 'Alpha Better Gamma' and the darker taupe brown with blue and silver iridescent shimmer is 'School's out forever'. 

The essence class of 2013 collection is available now, it is however, a limited edition. So get it while it's hot!