A Merry Berry Christmas

I have said it before, but the limited edition collections from essence are a bit of a hit and miss for me. Some are mesmerising, while others are a bit "meh". The 2015 Christmas collection from them, however, is simply stunning.

As you can see I bought most of the collection. From the moment I saw the first picture of this collection on Twitter, I just knew it was going to fly off the shelves. I think I bought everything except the eyeshadows.

Lipsticks

I have been pleasantly surprised by essence lipsticks in the past, and this time is no exception. There are three shades in the Merry Berry collection: 01 Let's the berry tales begin, 02, Pink & Perfect, and 03 Red rocks (from left to right in the bottom photo). Number 01 is a purple plum shade and looks very vampy. Number 02 is a very dark pink, and number 03 is a dark red-pink colour. All three colours are more suited to winter, but can be pulled off in summer nonetheless.

The lipsticks are extremely creamy and pigmented. They don't last the whole day, but fade evenly and reapplying doesn't leave me with gross lips. Even though the finish is matte, the texture is comfortable and doesn't dry out my lips, yay! All in all these are a fabulous buy if you're looking for some punchy lipsticks.

Nail polishes

For most people, these are the stars of the show. I mean, just look at the cute bottles with the gold lettering and the domed lids! There are four colour polishes and one glittery top coat. The colours are (from left to right): 01 The masked ball, 02 Purple with purpose, 03 Pink & perfect, 04 Red rocks, and 01 I love my golden pumps. Number 01 is a very dark blue purple and I think it would look great paired with the "Let's the berry tales begin" lipstick. Numbers 02 and 03 are dark purples: 02 is a gorgeous bright shimmery purple, whereas 03 is more of a reddish purple (the name also corresponds to that of one of the lipsticks). Number 04 is a beautiful dark pink and also corresponds to one of the lipsticks. The glittery top coat is a clear polish with different sized gold glitter which looks gorgeous painted over any of the previous nail polishes.

The brushes are quite big and the polishes are very creamy. One coat left me with opaque nails which is an odd find in such a cheap drugstore brand. I love the colours but my favourites are the bright purple (number 02) and the dark pink (04).

Scented gold dust powder - 01 I love my golden pumps

I have to admit, I bought this solely for the bottle. How cute is the little golden "potion" bottle with the old-fashioned perfume pump?! One pump releases a puff of fine golden shimmer. I'm not one for body glitter, but this is quite fine and can be subtle if you are light-handed.

Hair fragrance (mist) - 01 I love my golden pumps

Apparently hair mists are going to be the next craze. This bottle contains very fine glitter and smells like vanilla. Whenever I'm wearing this the husband sniffs my hair and tells me I smell nice, so I suppose you can say it's husband-approved!

Highlighter - 01 I love my golden pumps

This highlighter is just gorgeous. The compact is the standard essence blush-bronzer-highlighter packaging but the highlighter itself is gorgeous... Lots of little embossed stars make up the highlighter which is a beautiful subtle shimmery gold. It's not incredibly pigmented so you can't go overboard and end up looking like a disco ball.

I bought the collection at Dischem, but I know Clicks stores also stock it. I bought mine more than a month ago and I'm still seeing it in stores, so there's still time to grab a few stocking fillers!

Until next time!

Hildegarde

xoxo