Essence Vintage District Trend Edition

 

'Cool hippy attitude meets bohemian chic and street style' is what the budget cosmetics brand essence says about their new trend edition. Filled with eyeshadows, nail polishes, nail art kits,gel eyeliners and a downright divine blush. This trend edition is one that really makes my blood flow faster. And it hasn't done that for a special collection in a long, long time. 

Hitting the shelves mid-february I knew I had to check out the stores every single day to see if they had stocked the displays with the gorgeous things that this collection was going to offer. I had seen some collection previews over on other Dutch beautyblogs. 

First up are the nail polishes. This collection came with four colors. A dusty old-pink, a grey with a light shimmer, an old peach and a nice vibrant turquoise.

EUR 1,89 each

I bought myself two out of the four polishes. Mostly because I couldn't justify buying two colors that I own really similar colors too. The turquoise/blue color is called 'shopping @ portobello road' and the dirty/murky peach is called 'vintage peach' I can't wait to apply these colors. I think the peach is either going to be super ugly or amazing. I'll have to see it against my skin to judge properly.

Something that has recently been added to the essence collection are special 'nail art kits'. Small zip-loc bags with different kind of glitter, flakes and pearls. In this trend edition the brand put two different nail art sets in.

EUR 2,59 each

Top: Something g-old something new Bottom: designer for a day

These sets have really cute stuff inside. Different kinds of glitter, pearls for a caviar or studded nail art look, gems and even some gold leaf. I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of these kits.  

But the real and total stunner of this collection is the multicolor blush. Oh boy am I in love with this things. It's a gorgeous warm peach color and the gold mixed in provides such a wonderful sheen to your skin. Sadly, the gold is just an overspray, so it will have disappeared after a few swipes of your blush brush. 

EUR 3,39

How incredibly gorgeous is this thing? I am telling you, YOU NEED THIS! Shopaholics of the world unite and make sure that if you can, add this to your collection. Everyone needs a gorgeous blush like this. And for that price!

The essence Vintage District collection is in stores right now, so rush while you can.

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!

Essie Bikini So Teeny Collection

Essie is an American salon nail polish brand that's been around since 1981. They're the expert on fun fresh colors, in my opinion. And they certainly don't stray from that with their Summer 2012 collection titled 'Bikini  So Teeny'. The collection holds six fresh shades that are all limited edition. 

- bikini so teeny is a sparkling cornflower blue

- cascade cool is a creamy, sweet dusty pink

- all tied up is a rustic bronze with subtle golden shimmer

- off the shoulder is bold, hot pink

- fear of desire is a bright orange crush

- mojito madness is a fun-loving lime green

images and shade discriptions from essie.com

I myself own the shade 'off the shoulder', the shade spoke to me most when I stood in front of the overwhelming display filled with polishes. I wanted to buy them all, but I contained myself and purchased just one. 

'offthe shoulder' is a nice enough hot pink. It's isn't exactly spectacular, and it certainly isn't bland. I really enjoy this polish. It covers pretty well in just one coat, but I applied two for good measure and a completely even coverage. The essie nail polish brush is pretty darn huge, using it on my tiny pinky nail was almost impossible to apply neatly. The polish spreads nice and streak free, and it dries to a nice smooth shiny cream finish. 

As I said, not the most spectacular pink I have seen, but it is the first one like this in my collection. A perfect color for a nice fresh and fun summer manicure. So let the sun shine!

China Glaze Capitol Colours Collection: Review and Swatches

About mid-march China Glaze released their Capitol Colours collection in collaboration with Lionsgate. The collection was inspired by the books and as a promotion for the (now released) the Hunger Games movie. At first there was a little drama with the naming when previously released names were changed. 

Also, any connection to the twelve districts were denied. But all us clever beauties/hunger games nerds out there figured it out soon enough. And we see a definite connection between the districts. Below is a list of the entire collection, along with a list of the polishes belonging to each district.

The three polishes in bold are the ones that I purchases and swatched later in this post.

District 1 - Luxury: Luxe & Lush
District 2 - Masonry: Stone Cold
District 3 - Technology: Riveting
District 4 - Fishing: Hook & Line
District 5 - Power: Electrify
District 6 - Transportation: Fast Track
District 7 - Lumber: Mahogany Magic
District 8 - Textiles: Dress Me Up
District 9 - Grain - Harvest Moon
District 10 - Livestock: Foie Gras
District 11 - Agriculture: Agro
Districht 12 - Mining: Smoke & Ashes

First up is Stone Cold, which is the color for district 2 Masonry. Stone Cold is a gorgeous dark grey matte color packed with silver specks. It applies perfectly opaque in just one coat. Normally mattes seem to look a little streaky, but not Stone Cold. I adore this! It dries quite fast, so if you want more than two coats (which I tend to do out of habit) act fast.

Then we have Riveting. It's for district 3 Technology. The application was a little tricky for me, because this is the first jelly polish I have ever used, and it was a little thin. So that will take some practice before that applies perfectly. 

But that doesn't take away from the fact that this polish is an absolute WONDER! It is an amazingly pigmented orange jelly with tons and tons of tiny gold and orange specks in it. It's super shiny and I love it to bits. It covers perfectly in two thin coats. 

Last, but definitely not least is Electrify, which is for district 5 Power. Electrify is a clear base packed with yellow gold and red glitter. The gold is definitely more noticeable on your nails, but the red shows up pretty good in pictures. On my nails you see from left to right 3 coats - 2 coats - 1 coat. I think this will look fabulous over a bright orange red color, or even over Riveting. I'll have to try that at some point.

I purchased my China Glaze polishes from the Dutch webshop Boozyshop where they retail for  €6,95 per 14 ml bottle. They are also available at Ulta, Sally's Beauty Supply, and multiple online stores. Prices may vary.

I definitely think checking out this collection is worthwhile! I love  three colors that I got. And I just found out there's a wholesale place in my city where they sell China Glaze as well, so I might go and check that out to see if I can get some more bottles.

MAC Viva Glam Nicki Minaj review + swatches

MAC comes out with a new Viva Glam every year, and this year Nicki Minaj and Ricky Martin produced two lip products of which all revenue will be going to the MAC Aids foundation. Buying lipstick for a good cause, now that's what I call a nice job!

I picked up the MAC Viva Glam Nicki today, when I arrived at the counter all the artists were busy applying the lipstick on themselves. And they helped me like the super nice dolls they always are. I was already quite certain I wanted to purchase this baby, but wanted to try it on either way. If it was truly terrible on me, I would've left it there at the counter.

But, lucky me, the lipstick looked great on me. And soon the artists were crowded around me ooh-ing and ahh-ing over my lipstick, my outfit and my shoes (more on that later). I purchased the lipstick (and after decades of wanting it, the 217 brush as well) and left the counter to go catch my bus back home.

MAC Viva Glam Nicki is described as a 'bright yellow pink', though on some skintones and in the tube it seems to hang a bit more towards coral. Anyway, I love the color. Please excuse my skin, I didn't wear any makeup today except for the lipstick.

The formula is a satin, same as my much loved Pink Nouveau lipstick. It glides onto the lips perfectly but can feel a bit drying after some time. So carrying a moisturizer or a lipbalm is key.

It's a color that is a little tricky to combine. So I suggest keeping the skin and eyes pretty basic, maybe just some subtle liner. Really let the lips do the talking. And I'd suggest wearing a simplistic outfit as well. Try to stay away from bold colors, unless you are going for a color blocking look.

MAC Viva Glam Nicki is really pretty. But I wouldn't call it all that special. So if your not into bright yellow-ish pink lipsticks, I'd leave this one at the counter/store. I however really like it and I'm sure I'll get plenty of wear out of it.

MAC Viva Glam Nicki is available now for €18 at all MAC sales points.