{Vanity on a Budget} Review: Essence Stay All Day Long Lasting Eyeshadow

Hello, my dear readers!

I am back again with another (Uh-oh, here it comes!) review!  Haha! I hope you haven't got tired of these yet, but, oh well! I've been enjoying making reviews lately of stuff I rave (and loathe!), so why not, right?

Today's review will feature the Essence Stay All Day Long Lasting Eyeshadow (whew! That was a handful!).

I forgot to take a photo of it with the price on. But, if my memory serves me correctly, this is 259.00php, or let's just round that off to 260php.

Anyway, before we proceed with the actual review, Essence is a UK drugstore brand. You can find Essence cosmetics in some SM Department Stores (well, now known as SM Store).

For a drugstore brand, Essence works really well for me! I've been wanting to have this eyeshadow for quite some time now, and finally got myself one along with my other Birthday Goodies which I blogged about about a month ago. Also, unlike some "so-called" drugstore brands which are priced really expensively, these have really affordable prices, and for me, I do get more than my money's worth. ;) Don't get me wrong, I do love other drugstore brands even if they are quite expensive, as long as they work for me. LoL!

Anyhoo...

I got this in the shade 09 For Fairies. I would describe it as a Rose Gold color with a gold undertone (or specks/shimmer to be more precise). But, even if it does have shimmer, it is very subtle! In fact, you can wear it alone without anything else in the daytime if you are really not into applying makeup. I got compliments from my cousin when she saw it, and she is not fond of shimmer. But, when she saw me wearing this, she said she likes it a lot. :D

Following are some more photos, followed by my Pros and Cons for the product.

A closer look. It has a dome shaped lid (sorry, i forgot to take a side view of it)

09 For Fairies. Contains 5.5g of product. Ingredients of the product are not listed, but it did indicate that this product contains Carmine for some people who may have a reaction to it.

 

Ugh! A really crappy photo, the true color did not show. But, here's to show you what the product looks like.

Applied with both a base and without. The lower, more shimmery one is without the base, and right on top (which is barely visible) has a base. 

My thoughts....

This works as a base on itself. In fact, I prefer to use it without a base as it patches up more when I have something underneath it. The gold specks/shimmer clumps up when I use it with an eyeshadow primer/base. So, I like to apply on by itself. Plus, based on the photo, I think the real "pretty" color showed up better without the base.

Pros:

• Stays on for most of the day! No base needed! It's a base in itself. LoL
• Worth the price. I only need a tiny amount to put on my lids. 
• I like the smell. It's a "nutty" smell, like hazelnuts or something. I really can't tell, all I know it smells like a yummy, smelling nut. :D

Cons:

• I got a dried up product (see photos below). :( Boo-hoo! And you can't even check it in-store because it's sealed. But, I remember quite well that the sample I tried out back then is of a squishy, creamy consistency, but this one I got is really solid. 
• And because it's dried up, I find it quite hard to apply. It takes a long time for me to "even" it out. Again, I blame it on a dried up product.

I attempted to take a lot of shots so you could see how dried up the product was. It literally has shrunk and a space can be seen at the side of the container, which is common in cream products.

Now, isn't that a bummer? 

Well, aside from the fact that it has dried up, I still really like it and I use it EVERY time I go out. You can put on any color on it anyway, so why not? Haha. And I plan to get some other colors since they are really good on-to-go eyeshadows!

Plus, I found a way to "melt it down" and make it workable at least every time I use it, which I will post next. This method of mine also works for dried up cream eyeshadows! :D Interested? Let me know in the comments below if you want to know how. 

Cheers!
Add it to your boards!