A Little Essence Skincare And Makeup Haul

Essence Cosmetics are one of the more affordable drugstore brands that I used to buy from quite often. However, over the past few years, I’ve been buying less makeup due to not wearing it as much and I’ve been opting for more mid to high-end brands when it comes to skincare which you can read more about here. But whilst I was browsing Just My Look a few months ago, I decided to pick up some new products from Essence as they had quite a few things in stock that had caught my eye. I picked up a mixture of both makeup and skincare and I thought I would do a post about what I picked up along with my overall thoughts as I definitely feel like they’ve upped their game over the past few years and obviously with the cost of living and everything seemingly going up in price, I definitely think more people are going to be opting for more affordable beauty brands to save some money.

Hydro Hero 05 Natural Ivory and Blooms Lip and Cheek Stick 01 Live Life in Full Bloom

First up is the Hydro Hero 24hr Hydrating Tinted Cream SPF15 (£3.95) which I thought sounded nice for the summertime. I definitely prefer a lighter coverage when it comes to base makeup these days. Unfortunately, they only seem to have 3 shades available which is a shame. I chose the lightest available shade which is 05 Natural Ivory and I can only just get away with wearing it. The product itself is nice and gives you a fresh dewy base. So even though the shade range lets it down for me, I think I would repurchase it. 

The Blooms Lip & Cheek Stick 01 Live Life in Full Bloom (£2.99) only comes in one shade which looks quite bright, however, it blends out nicely and gives you a healthy-looking, rosy glow. I also think the pastel packaging is cute too. I wish they had more shades available as I do really like the formula and how it looks. 

I have quite sensitive skin when it comes to hair removal so I just had to pick up the After Shape Cooling & Calming Brow Roller (£2.75) to see if it really works and guess what? It does! It’s now a must-have when I pluck or wax my brows as it reduces any redness and little bumps that I usually get.

Magic All in One Face Cream

The Magic All In One Face Cream (£3.95) claims to be skin tone adapting, however as you can see from the photo above, it doesn’t seem to be working for me. I’m very pale and this looks orange on me and although it only offers sheer coverage, I can’t get it to work for my skin tone. To be fair any ‘skin tone adapting’ creams I’ve tried over the years always come out too orange on my skin. It’s a shame as it does actually blur and smooth out your skin really well and it would be ideal for ‘no makeup' makeup kind of days. If you can make it work for your skin tone, you’ll probably like it, but for me, it’s a no. 

I was definitely drawn into buying the Daily Drop of Energy Ampoule Face Serum (£3.95) because of the packaging, like the blusher, I just think it’s so cute. The product itself smells orange-y like most Vitamin C products but it’s not a strong smell and it’s very lightweight in terms of its formula. It also doesn’t feel super tacky after application which is good as I tend to find Vitamin C leaves your skin quite sticky which isn’t ideal and can be quite off-putting. 

I also received the Hello Good Stuff Cica Face Cream (£3.79) for free as there was an offer available when I placed my order where if you spent over X amount, you got the face cream for free. I’ve only used it maybe twice so far and it’s nice and soothing on your skin. I can see people who struggle with sensitive skin really liking it. I did however forget to include it in the photos and I didn't realise until after I started editing the photos (oops).

Another moisturiser I picked up is the Hello Good Stuff Milky Face Moisturiser (£4.49) which contains Turmeric, Oat Water and Allantoin which provide soothing and hydrating properties. It’s really lightweight and almost watery (in a good way!) which is ideal for my oilier skin type so I will 100% be repurchasing this again. It even comes in a glass bottle which makes it seem fancier considering it's less than a fiver.

Lastly is the Hello Good Stuff Calming Face Mask (£3.95) which is described as a refreshing jelly mask and it’s made with Cucumber Water and 95% natural ingredients. I’ve found this to be nice to use during the hot weather to soothe and cool my skin and it’s also good if your skin is a little sensitive because it really does settle everything down. The instructions say to only leave it on for 2-3 minutes but I tend to leave it on for about 10 minutes to really soothe and cool my skin. 

Have you tried anything from Essence Cosmetics lately? 

I definitely want to pick up some more things when I repurchase some of my faves from my little haul from earlier this year. 

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