Kitted Out

I went to do some makeup explorations yesterday to find more cheap and cheerful bits and bobs to use on my Beauty on Your Budget makeup course. I have been fascinated by German brand Essence for some time now. For a pharmacy brand it is very comprehensive, very up to date with their shades and very, very reasonable. Ridiculously reasonable in fact! Considering the brutal Irish financial budget cuts yesterday will leave us all rather worse off, I reckon that so many of us will be looking to trim down their beauty expenditure so I'm looking forward to getting this course going in the new year and brands like Essence will flourish as long as people know how to use their products.

So, back to my explorations; I couldn't resist the Smokey Eyes Set in shade 01 which is a dead ringer for the Ligne de Chanel that I posted about last week, but at the amazing price of €2.99. It comprises of a gel liner on one side and a charcoal shadow with a slight shimmer on the other side. It contains a nifty little brush to apply them too. Now, I found that the best way to build an intense look is to cover the eye lid with the gel side; it's quite creamy so is very easy to work with. Blend it into the socket with your fingers for a soft, diffused look. Then add a layer of the dry shadow all over the gel layer. This sets the colour and keeps it in place. I was very impressed with it - it gives a great look and is impossible to beat price-wise.

The second kit that grabbed my attention was the Eyebrow Styling Kit. Most of the budget brands tend not to have such a kit, so I was happy to see the attention to detail in this little beaut! It contains two tones of highly pigmented brow shadow, a little slanted brush for precise application and to top it all off; you get three eyebrow stencils. Now, I wouldn't advice using the stencils to apply the colour, as you should only colour in what hair you have. But they are good guides for shaping your brows - just hold over the hair, fill in the shape very strongly with colour, remove the stencil and pluck away the hairs that are not coloured outside the stencils shape.

Price wise, I think it's €1.99, (I lost the receipt) but it's definitely under €3.

I will be definitely reviewing the range further; mascaras and eye shadows are next on the list!

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