Left to right “Yes Eye Can!”, “Kermit Says Hello” (love that name lol), “Happy Hour”

I recently found out that one of the local pharmacy chains here in Montreal carries the German brand Essence Cosmetics.  Essence is a line that has products ranging from eyeshadows, concealer, nail polishes, mascara, and the whole shebang. Best part is that everything is super affordable (each individual product retails for under $4, I think!).  The eyeshadows retail for $2.99 each but I found them for $2.49 at my Pharmaprix.  I know in the US you can find Essence products at most Ulta stores.

I first picked up the blue colour (“Happy Hour”) to try it out, because I couldn’t see how something so inexpensive could actually work properly.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the eyeshadow is of decent quality and pigmentation (view swatch below).  It seems, though, that the eyeshadows appear most pigmented when applied with a finger, instead of a brush.  Actually, there is almost no colour payoff when using a brush (I tried with an elf brush, which work fine for most shadows).  For me, this is isn’t much of an issue because I tend to apply most eyeshadows with my finger anyway for the very reason that I get a darker colour that way.

Left to right “Yes Eye Can!”/ “Kermit Says Hello”/ “Happy Hour”

I haven’t had any issues with chalkiness or powder fallout with the shadows.  I went to a different pharmacy after having bought the first eyeshadow and there I picked up the other two colours.  I got the green (“Kermit Says Hello”) because it reminded me of Nars “Shimmering Chartreuse.”  I got the purple-grey colour because purple is probably my favourite eyeshadow colour as it goes with almost anything and looks good on anyone.

I find they go on much, much darker when using an eyeshadow base underneath (such as a NYX jumbo eyeshadow pencil).

Left: Essence eyeshadow in Yes Eye Can! and NYX jumbo eyeshadow pencil in Pots & Pans. Right: Essence eyeshadow in Happy Hour and NYX jumbo eyeshadow pencil in Baby Blue

Outer swatches show the eyeshadows on their own, inner swatches show the eyeshadows with NYX eyeshadow pencil underneath

Another view with different lighting:

xx