You know me and my love for sheer, buttery lipsticks. Nine times out of ten, they're the ones I choose over the bolder options, purely out of convenience, and the ones I've been reaching for this winter are Essence's Sheer & Shine numbers. Well, I've been reaching for one of them, but more on that later. 

As always, let's start with the packaging. In my opinion the sheerness of it looks a bit cheap, but I love that each shade sports a differently coloured cap, which makes it very easy to find the shade you're looking for. I really do appreciate when companies do that, because there's nothing I hate more than having to flip around every single lipstick when I'm in a hurry. Speaking of cheapness... When I first saw these, I had a feeling the caps would start breaking and falling off after a while, but lo and behold, this is some high quality plastic we have over here! Even after four months, the packaging still feels sturdy and that satisfying click you hear when you close it hasn't disappeared either. 

To my disappointment, the formula is not exactly buttery or moisturizing, but it is by no means uncomfortable to wear or drying. If anything, I would describe it as a bit waxy. Sorry, that's as good as my explanation gets in this case. I really don't know what other word to use. Another thing I find hard to describe is the scent. It's almost that kind of an old lipstick kind of scent, but with a bit of vanilla thrown in? Sounds about right in my head. I can't say that I'm a fan, but I'm not a hater either. I'm... Switzerland. 

The result they give is exactly what the name suggests - they are sheer with a shiny finish, but they aren't too shiny. I would say they're almost frosty, as they do all contain glitter. Having said that, some of them have bigger particles, resulting in a full-blown frost effect, while others don't contain as much and come off creamier, which I prefer. Due to their sheerness, they're not long-lasting by any means. I have to re-apply them very frequently, but I'm personally not bothered by it, because most of my on-the-go lipsticks share the same quality and I guess I just got used to it by now.

My First Love

I currently have five different shades in my posession, but since two of them are very recent additions I haven't managed to photograph just yet, I'll be introducing you to my oldest three only today. Number one in the queue is '01 My First Love', which definitely wasn't my first or second or third love. It's that concealer type of a shade I've never been a fan of and I really can't imagine it suiting anyone to be completely honest. It's just way too light and way too frosty. The only time I wore it was when I took this photo and then it went straight to the 'get rid of it' pile. I just can't... Maybe I'll cut it up and use it to tone down some super bold colours whenever I decide to get creative again and mix up some new shades of lippies for myself. 

Sparkling Miracle

The second shade, '07 Sparkling Miracle', is a lot better, but it hasn't sweeped me off my feet either. It too contains a lot of glitter, so it's rather frosty, and comes off a lot lighter on my lips than it looks in the packaging. I expected  a berry shade, but it's more of a toned down fuchsia if you ask me. 

Hidden Secret

 And now the hidden secret... Get it, get it? I know, I'm lame. If you didn't get that, the shade is called '04 Hidden Secret', pretty much. I didn't expect to like it, because it looks very brown in the tube, but oh my lord! This is literally the perfect beigy nude for me. I love it so much I already got myself a backup! 

Have you tried any lipsticks from this collection yourself? I'd love to hear your thoughts in case you have. 

It's been two months since I last wrote a beauty review here or my blog, so I thought it would be time to finally write another one! Today I'll be talking about essence's liquid lipsticks. Liquid lipsticks have been all the rage for about a year now, with Bourjois and Anastasia Beverly Hills taking the centre stage, but I just couldn't justify spending my precious money on them, knowing I probably wouldn't wear them very often. I only tested out the ones available in my online store (it's in the job description), but that doesn't mean I didn't or don't want to try more. I mean, I'm a makeup addict after all!

I got really excited when I saw that essence was coming out with what it looked like a budget version of Bourjois liquid lipsticks, and luckily, I got my hands on two lovely, bold shades - 04 show off! and 06 make a statement. But before you get too excited, I need to let you know that these are not proper liquid lipsticks. At least not in my book. They aren't long-lasting and don't stain your lips, which are the two main characteristics of liquid lipsticks, so I think pigmented thick glosses would be a more appropriate way to describe them. 

As mentioned, they are very pigmented. One swipe is more than enough. In fact, I would keep away from adding extra layers and rubbing your lips together too much, as the product doesn't really settle and tends to move around and gather in certain areas when there's too much of it on your lips.

The gloss isn't too sticky and has a comfortable waxy smooth finish, but as with all heavy lip formulas, it tends to wear off unevenly, with the product disappearing from the middle of your lips first and leaving a line inside the edges. I don't see it as a huge problem, though, because the fact that it doesn't stain your lips means that you can quickly touch it up. When it comes to staying power, I would say it's average, lasting a couple of hours before the gloss wears off. 

Packaging is not something I normally pay a lot of attention to, but I just have to mention it this time. I think it's freakin' amazing. Not only is it functional, showing through the actual shade of the product, but it's also inceredibly sleek for such a cheap product. Essence have really been stepping up their game recently when it comes to their lip products, don't you think so? 

I was lucky enough to get my hands on some new essence products recently, and thought it would be fun to try them out for the very first time on camera. Since half of my makeup collection consists of essence products anyway, it was not hard to throw in some old goodies as well and turn this get ready with me video into a one-brand-only makeup tutorial. The mini reviews I give are obviously just my initial thoughts, but you can expect a whole bunch of detailed blog posts with swatches in days to come, once I properly test out the products. The photos are already taken, so fear not, they're definitely coming. I told you you won't be able to get rid of me just yet... ;)

For the past few years, there has been an explosion of different nail polish finishes. Companies keep coming out with new, innovative twist be it sand, matte, leather, magnetic, gel... we have it all. Believe it or not, I haven't tried a whole lot of them. Of course, I couldn't avoid the matte craze when it was the cool new thing on the market a few years ago, but being disappointed with the result, the numerous releases to follow just didn't particularly excite me. Apart from the cracking nail polish. Oh, those were the days! 

When I first saw this Latex Matt number from Essence, I thought it was just another matte nail polish with a fancy new name, but I might have been wrong. It does seem matte when you first start applying it, but once it dries, it definitely doesn't look like a regular matte nail polish. I wouldn't necessarily say it looks like latex, but it sure looks like my shiny black faux leather jacket from Primark. And guess what? I like it. It doesn't accentuate my nail ridges and looks kinda chic. I just wish it wouldn't start chipping after a day. 

How are you feeling about the effect nail polishes? Which ones have you tried and loved? Or hated for that matter. I would love to hear your thoughts! 

Do you remember me talking about the new nail polishes from Essence's The Pastels range a few weeks ago? Today I have two more bottled goodies to show you! They belong to the other recent range of theirs called The Nudes. 

Unlike The Pastels nail polishes, which are matte, these have a creamy, glossy finish - my fave! '07 Hope for Love' is a darker pink shade. It applies like a dream, requires two coats and has an average staying power. The only problem is that it doesn't look best with my skintone, so I might be passing this one on to someone else. 

'05 Pure Soul', on the other hand, is here to stay. A light pink nude with a suble, barely visible irridescent shimmer will definitely be repacing my beloved Essie Fiji, which I have sadly just ran out of. Thankfully, there was no streakiness going on when I was applyin it, but it did require two to three coats. You should also know that it is not completely opaque. Even after three coats, my nail tips were still slightly visible, but since it is a classy, almost french mani type of a nude shade, it personally doesn't bother me. Have you tried any of The Nudes yourself? Are there any other shades I should check out?

I think it's safe to say spring finally arrived to London and I have no complaints whatsoever. There's no such thing as too much sunshine. Am I right, ladies? But you know what else I love about spring? The fact that pastel shades are everywhere. Unfortunatelly, all my cute pastel spring clothes had to stay back home when I moved to London thanks to zero luggage space, but I did manage to squeeze in a few pastel nail polishes. The ones I'll be talking about today aren't the ones that I brought with me, but they are pastel! 

Essence recently came out with quite a few new nail polish shades, and I got lucky enough to try some out. Today I have two nail polishes from 'The Pastels' range to share with you - 'So Lucky', which is the green one, and a lovely peachy shade called 'I'm So Fluffy'. Both of them have a very unique, shimmery matte finish, which requires three coats for full opacity. As most matte nail polishes, they dry super quickly and have an average, a few days long staying power. I myself am more of a creamy, glossy kind of gal, but if you're looking to add a few unique matte shades to your collection, these are definitely the ones to check out. Or you can just throw a glossy top coat over them and voila! Now, where's my Seche Vite?

Kylie Jenner and her nude lips. She definitely brought back a trend that took the beauty world by storm. I myself have never been a fan of true nudes on me, because they simply don't suit me, but I've definitely grown to love slightly darker neutral shades as of recently. I'm not sure if these can be even classified as nudes, but they're my version of nude, so this is what I'm going to call them. 

Essence 'Natural Beauty' Longlasting Lipstick: This one is my old favourite. I've repurchased it two times already and I feel like I'll be repurchasing it until I die. It's the perfect on-the-go shade with a slight pink undertone that seems to go great together with every single makeup look I wear. It has a permanent place in my handbag, not only because of its 'my lips but better' shade, but also because it's extremely comfortable to wear due to its creaminess. 

Milani 'Nude' Color Statement Lip Liner: Telling you that I'm obsessed with this product right now is probably an understatement. I've been wearing it ALL THE TIME during the past month. It's just perfect and I'm so glad I have it in my possesion. I almost gave up on the search for the perfect nude lip liner, as I could never find the shade I was looking for. I hate how pretty much all of them are either full on pink or brown, but this one is right there in the middle. Love! So, we've established that the shade is awsome. How about the formula, you ask? It's flippin' amazing as well. It feels creamy but looks matte, so you get the best of both worlds - comfort and staying power. 

NYX 'Tack' Color Lip Balm: I wasn't sure about this one when I first got it (I won it in a giveaway), because it looked burgundy in the tube, but once I applied it on my lips, I knew that it was a keeper straight away. A lip balm consistency makes sure your lips are nice and moisturized during the cold months, while the pigmentation leaves you with a nice dark pop of neutral colour. You can apply one coat if you want it to look suble or layer it up for a stronger effect. I personally also love wearing it over the Milani lip liner. Match made in heaven! 

How are you feeling about the nude lip trend that is currently going on? Love it or hate it? What are your favourite nudes? 

It's no secret that Essence is one of my all time favourite drugstore brands. I've been using their products for ages and have tried plenty of them, so I hought I would share the selection of my top 5 with you today. I'm really glad that the brand was launched in the UK as well recently, as I can't imagine my life on the island without some of their gems. Find out which in the video below! 

My friend and a fellow blogger Laura put up a photo of an awesome minimalistic manicure on her Instagram a few days ago, and I fell in love with it right away. As you do, a few hours later, I was already copying her. For the base, I used Orly's 'Kiss the Bride', a nail polish I've been wearing all summer long. It's usually reserved for my toes, but recently I've been wearing it on my fingernails as well, since all my nails broke and it seems like nude is the only shade that looks ok on me right now. It actually reminds me a lot of Essie's Fiji, which is similar in colour and consistency. You need two to three coats to get it completely opaque and it also lasts for a decent amount of time before it starts chipping. The only thing that annoys me is the brush, because it's on the thinner side. I prefer the likes of Essie, Sally Hansen and Essence. Speaking of Essence, the black nail polish I used to make the dots is called 'Black is Back'. How are you feeling about this mani?

Meet my current favourite mascara. Essence's I Love Extreme Crazy Volume Mascara is hands down one of my best make-up finds and proves that lower priced products should never be underestimated. Priced at about three euros, this is the cheapest mascara I've ever tried. I think that a great deal of drugstore mascaras perform wonderful, which is why I've never had the need to get my hands on any high end ones, but I had no idea that the cheapest of them all would end up stealing my heart.

The mascara comes with a big plastic wand, which might be a little bit hard to handle at first. I'm quite used to big wands, so I personally didn't have any problems with maneuvering, but if you are a little bit clumsy when it comes to mascara application, it might be hard for you to reach the inner corners. Having said that, the wand does have some bristles at the very top, which can be very handy.

The initial formula is somewhere between wet and dry, but I would consider it more on the dry side since the mascara dries out really fast. You definitely need to follow the thee month rule with this one and throw it away, because I started experiencing a lot of flaky fall out after a couple of months. The flakes just ruin your makeup, because they get smudged all over the face and you can quickly start to look like you've just climbed out of a chimney, so listen to me and throw it away when it's time. Luckily, it's cheap, so you can always purchase a new one.


Excluding the drying out annoyance, the formula is pretty fab. It doesn't make your eyelashes stick together, adds a bit of length, holds the curl, and provides some volume. Unfortunatelly, not extreme crazy volume, like the name suggests, but it gives a great everyday definition. You can see how it looks like on my naturally completely straight and therefore hardly visible lashes in the photo above. I didn't use an eyelash curler this time like I normally do.

I Love Extreme Crazy Volume Mascara is not groundbreaking, but it ticks all the boxes when it comes to my daily mascara requirements. And the fact that it costs only three euros is just an added bonus! I'll not be running to the store to repurchase it right away, because I have two other highly praised mascaras in my drawer that I need to try out first, but I'm 100% certain we will meet again soon. Have you tried this mascara yourself? What are your thoughts?

For a person who is convinced that blue nail polish doesn't suit her, I have far too many of them. A few months ago, I went through the so called blue period. Whenever I saw a blue nail polish shade, it landed in my shopping cart. But when it actually came to me wearing them, well, let's just say that it never happened. There were always other shades that won me over, so my blues have been patiently sitting on the shelf, waiting for me to start feeling sorry for them. About a month ago, it finally happened. I put them in line and started wearing them, one by one. Unfortunatelly, I'm still not feeling most of the shades - pastels are of course an exception - but if we overlook my 'blue nail polish doesn't suit me' idea, they are far too pretty on their own to not share them with you. I'm sure at least some of them will catch your attention. 

The first 'blue' I have to show to you is Essence's 'If I Were a Boy'. I took the advantage of today's sunny weather and snapped some photos of it outside with my new camera. Yay for spring! Anyway, back to the nail polish. I have to say, I was very impressed with the formula. I only needed one thick coat to get it opaque, but I ended up putting on two. Why did I think that was necessary? I have no idea. I guess I did it out of habit. Luckily, the mani looked good even with two coats. There was no streakiness in sight, even though the application might seem a bit wonky when you take a close look at the photo. I swear, it's not this nail polish's fault. Blame it on the crappy old top coat I've splattered on top. I regretted the deision right away, but at that point, it was too late to fix the mess... 

Since I don't know what else to say about this nail polish other than it's great, I shall end this post here. Let me know how you like the shade and if you feel a bit weird wearing certain nail polish colours on your nails as well. Oh, and one more thing! Would you mabye be interested in me doing a blog sale? I'll be moving all my make-up into another room in about a month (more on that later), and I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity for me to go through my beauty stash and give the products that don't get the love that they deserve from me a new home. 

January has come to an end, so you know what this means. It's time for new favourites videos! Today I have the beauty one for you, and surprisingly, it's not extremely long. Since I spent most of January in my bed recovering from a nasty cold or at a doctor's office trying to get my knee sorted out, I haven't been wearing much make-up, so I only have five product to talk about this month. You can find the list of products mentioned here in the description box. 

I've been avoiding cream blushes like nobody's business, because I always had a feeling that they would go on patchy and too pigmented and that I wouldn't be able to blend them out nicely. But then I tried Essence's 'Run, run, Rudoplh!' blush stick from their Happy Holidays collection and all my fears vanished into thin air. 

This cream blush is seriously amazing. Even though it's super pigmented, it blends out like a dream. I am using Real Techniques' Stippling Brush to pick up the colour from the stick, and then I just dab it on my cheeks and blend it out. It goes on very smoothly and I don't experience any problems with patchiness. It is actually way better than my powder blushes and works beautifully on my dry skin. 

But the formula is not the only thing I love about this blush. The shade itself is pretty fabulous too. It looks very terrifying when you see it in the stick or swatch it on your arm, but once it is blended out, it looks perfect. Especially for this time of the year. I'd never thought red shade would suit me, but it somehow looks just right, and I always get compliments whenever I wear it. This particular blush also contains tiny glitters that add a beautiful shine to your face, so you don't even need to use a highlighter with this one. 

In case you want to see how it looks like on my face, you can check out any of my 'The Ultimate Christmas Tag' videos. I just love it! How about you? Do you like the look of it? Has it maybe made its way into your makeup collection as well? Ohh, and please let me know if you have any favourite cream blushes that you would recommend to me, because I'm hooked and would love to try out a few other ones now. I have my eyes on the Illamasqua cream blushes... I've heard they're pretty amazing. 

A few days ago, I finally managed to try out Essence's 'Let It Snow!' snowflake topper from their 'Happy Holidays' collection. This was one of the products I became most excited about at the Essence event I attended a few months ago, but after seeing a bunch of negative reviews, I somehow lost interest in trying it out as soon as possible. 

The nail polish looks super pretty and Christmassy in the bottle, just like a snow globe, but I have to agree with other bloggers who say that the application is not the most enjoying. You can still achieve a nice look with all those tiny multi-colored glitters and white flakes, but it takes you ages, because you literally have to scoop out every single flake and place them on your nails one by one. So, yeah, I don't know whether I'll be wearing this topper a lot, but I definitely know that I'll keep looking at it a lot, haha. I mean, c'mon, isn't it the cutest?!

P.S. The nail polish I've used as a base is '347' from Kiko. I've reviewed it here, and here you can see me wearing it with the world's most amazing gold leaf topper. I'm obsessed with that combo!

Ohh, one more thing! I'll soon be revealing my secret project, but while you are waiting for my announcement, I thought we could play a little game. Leave me a comment down below letting me know what you think my secret project is, and if you guess it, you might be the winner of a secret surprise package. :)

Girls, I think I found a dupe for China Glaze's Sweet Hook nail polish that I featured in my last wishlist. I don't have the China Glaze one, so I can't say this for sure, but Essence's Hello Marshmallow! looks pretty similar to me. Hello Marshmallow is a really pretty lilac shade with a pink undertone, which is sadly not really visible in the photos, but it definitely is in real life. In the bottle, I can notice a bunch of blue and pink tiny little glitters, but they are not visible when you put the nail polish on your nails. Also, in these photos, the nail polish looks very similar to Essie's St Lucia Lilac that I blogged about here, but when you compare them side by side, they look quite different. The Essie one is a lot more muted and has a grayish undertone, while the Essence one is more pinky and vibrant. 

Guess who finally managed to upload the haul video I've been promising you to put up for the last two weeks? Sorry it took me so long, but as you probably already know, I got sick and lost my voice, so I couldn't film for more than a week. Also, I hope you don't mind long videos, because this one is super long. Like half an hour long. Sorry! But you know, I kind of picked up a lot of products at the event, so I couldn't make it any shorter. Oopsie! Let me know if you end up watching it and whether or not you've made it until the end. :D

I don't know if you remember, but somewhen last year, the blogosphere went crazy for the gold leaf top coat that OPI came out with as a part of their Skyfall Collection. I really liked the look of it but when I found out about the price, which I think was about 40€, I knew that the nail polish would never become a part of my nail polish collection. Now, a year later, Essence luckily came out with an incredible dupe for just a little over 2€ and I was determined to hunt down a bottle for myself. I went to six different drugstores in hopes of getting a hold of it, but I had no luck. It was sold out everywhere and right when I was about to give up, I saw it at the Essence & Catrice blogger event I attended last week. Needless to say, it quickly made its way into my 'shopping' bag, and today, it finally made an appearance on my nails. I'm obsessed. You can see how it looks like in the photo below, where I'm wearing it over the Kiko nail polish I blogged about here. So, who else is obsessed with this topper?

I've been meaning to publish a post about the Essence & Catrice blogger event I attended last week quite a few days ago, but I got really sick and lost my voice, so I couldn't film a haul video that I promised you to include in this post. Unfortunatelly, I'm still sick and still haven't gotten my voice back, so I decided to publish the post about the event today, and film the haul video as soon as I feel and sound better. 

Now back to the event. The Essence & Catrice blogger event was actually the first event I was invited to as a blogger and will always have a very special place in my heart. It more that exceeded my expectiations and I doubt that I will have an opportunity to attend an event as fabulous as this one ever again. As far as I know, this was the first (beauty) blogger-only event in Slovenia, and let me tell you, the people who organized it definitely know how to make beauty bloggers feel special. 

The event was held at G Super Club, which is a part of G Design Hotel located in our capital city - Ljubljana. My camera was stuggling with taking good photos inside, so I suggest you to check out some shots of the beautiful location here. When we arrived at the hotel (me being all sweaty because of the horrible humid weather), we were greeted with pink champagne and invited to take a look around the room, which was filled with makeup! There were regular and limited edition stands of Catrice and Essence products everywhere you looked and I felt like I died and went to make-up heaven! 

After we took a stroll around the room and snapped some photos, we were invited to sit down and were greeted by the Slovenian brand manager, director of our distributing company and Cosnova PR manager, who came all the way from Germany and told us a few interesting things about the brands and upcoming trends through a short and sweet presentation. We were also one of the first and few people who got to see Essence's upcoming Christmas collection before the public reveal, which was really exciting. I managed to pick up a few items from this collection as well, and I can't wait to show you the swatches. I'm especially excited about the top coat that looks like a snow globe! The best idea ever. 

Once the presentation was over, we went back to browse through the stands and socialize, when all of a sudden we were told that we can take home ANYTHING we want. Yes, anything. For free. Do you know how hearing these words felt after being on a forced spending ban for the past two months?! At first I couldn't even process the information and was just standing there looking very confused, haha. But then when I stopped feeling like a thief, I started picking up products that caught my eye or were recommended to me by other bloggers. I got a lot of fabulous stuff, and I can't wait to show them all to you in my haul video and future posts here on my blog. Ohh, and I even managed to pick up  Essence's Gold Topper from the Metal Glam collection I've been searching for everywhere for the past few weeks. I went to six different drugstores, but it was sold out everywhere, so you can only imagine how excited I was to see it at the event!

With all those beauty products around us, I feel like we didn't care about food and drinks at all, but look how cute even the food looked, especially the mini cakes with Essence's logo on them! 

As I have said, the event was the bomb! We were all overwhelmed by the organizers' generosity, but all those free products were only a cherry on top. They really made us feel like princesses and the whole experience was just incredible. I really liked how I could finally browse through all of their products in peace, because when I go to a drugstore, a lot of limited edition products are already sold out and there are always so many people around the stands that it's really hard to take a good look at everything. 

One of best parts of the whole experience was also finally meeting other Slovenian beauty bloggers in person. We are always chatting a lot via social networks and comments, and I sometimes feel like I've known them for ages, so it was really nice getting to know them in person as well. They are all super lovely and I can't wait to see them again soon, at another event or at a little self-organized get together. :)

You can check out their blogs here: Ivana Thinks Pink, Lovely Little Lux-uries, Moonchild Beauty Blog, Taya - My Little Beauty World, Cherry Colors, Tinna's Pink Place,  Gejba - Parokeets, Anna. BeautyBlog, Passing Fancy. In case I forgot anyone, please let me know! :D

P.S. What the hell is going on with my boots in the last photo?! Apparently, they don't want to be twins anymore...