I went to ULTA the other day and I saw two Essence palettes that were not with the display - they were literally just chillin' on the shelf with no signage or anything. Side note: I just checked the website and it says NEW! It's also being added to Essence permanent collection! I saw this, put it down, then picked it back up and thought hmm, this palette is really cute! I'm such a palette junkie so I had to add this baby to my collection. Also, that little sliver of a highlight? Pretty much the main reason I got it. I've never seen a white/gold highlight like that at the drugstore!
So let's dive in! It looks like this palette is a collaboration. The front of the packaging "beauty blogger secrets" on the front and the inside potion says Serena from beautylab.nl. To be honest, I had never heard of her before. Serena is a dutch beauty blogger/YouTuber. I checked out her pages and she has over 230K subscribers on YouTube! I believe this is also one of the few drugstore beauty collabs I have seen, besides the ULTA/Miss Jen Fabulous palette.
This palette was $10.00 at ULTA and I had buy 2 get 1 free so I got the I <3 Colour Intensifying Eyeshadow Base and another Lash Princess Mascara (totally needed a backup of this!). The packaging is moroccan inspired and has a cute shaped mirror on the inside. It's super lightweight too!
It comes with 1 "Honey Glow Highlighter", 2 Eyeshadows "Cinnamon" and "Sandalwood" and a glowing bronzer.
BOTTOM: Essence Honey Glow
TOP: NARs Albatross
The Honey Glow Highlighter is seriously beautiful, you guys. I was most excited for this and was no let down. It's a white base with gold/yellow shine. This color is my favorite shade of highlight. I wore it today and couldn't stop looking at my highlight in the mirror! It's also a dupe for NARs Albatross which was one of my first thoughts when I saw it. Honey Glow may be slightly more yellow. Essence should totally make this into a permanent, full size highlighter!
The two eyeshadow shades are decent! They aren't the most pigmented (typical for mattes) but they're soft. I wore 'Cinnamon' today for a light warm wash of color in my crease. Sandalwood is a nice matte brown! I really wish they didn't take up a spot in the palette for the brush - I would have loved another eyeshadow in there - maybe a shimmer.
BOTTOM 3: Each stripe swatched alone
TOP 2: All the colors swiped together
The glowing bronzer is gorgeous! I actually wore it as a blush today and had a nice glow on my cheeks. It's really soft with nice pigmentation. You could also each "stripe" alone as highlighters or eyeshadows ! When you mix them together, you get a lovely rose gold color. This is supposed to be a dupe for the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick but I have never tried that before!
Overall, I think this palette is a great drugstore find and I love that it is a blogger collaboration. Essence makes great quality products at an affordable price which I truly appreciate! The fact that there are TWO dupes in here for high end products makes it worth its weight alone! I would definitely pick up this palette if you see it at your ULTA store! xoxo
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