To be honest, I'm not a person who likes -and moreover, able to wear makeups. I don't know whether because of my limited skill (and the urge to learn which never come) or I don't feel confident since I don't have perfect skin to show off in the first place. But, anyway, my aunties just came from Netherlands and they gave pack of makeups #ohno. I wanted to say "thanks but no thanks" but replied "cool" in the end. Yes, I can take this as my very first kit by the way.

Let's start with three eyeshadows from essence as for now, an unknown brand for me since it's not available yet in Indonesia when I did searching while ago.

Product Description
Name: Mono Eyeshadow by Essence
Brand: Essence
Net.: 0.08 oz (2,5 gr)
Price: around  $2.49 (reference)
Website: here


The advertisement write them as Mono Eyeshadows with a high pigmentation guarantee a colorful start to the season. whether shimmering, matte, metallic, or even holographic, the essence shades create unique effects on your eyes and give your final look an extra special touch (source).

The Packaging

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Perhaps you've seen from the pictures -just like the brand name: "mono eyeshadow", the form comes as a single palette with one color each. With its circular form, I find it's quiet easy to handle also pretty convenient to open the case. The overall case-design is truly simple, doesn't have too much details on edge or pictures at the front cover -only words instead. But the floral swirl carved on the eyeshadow is lovely, actually I just don't want to use it forever (aw yeah, my first eyeshadow!). I couldn't inform whether it comes with the brush since those are gifts.

The Ingredients

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No ingredients written on the palette but I find a website that clearly state the general ingredients for each product. However depends on each color, I assume there are some different ingredients added.

Talc, Mica, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Dimethicone, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Myristyl Myristate, Tridecyl Trimellitate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Silica, Isopropyl Myristate, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Linoleic Acid, Tocopheryl Acetate, Retinyl Palmitate, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, Butylparaben, Isobutylparaben, Ci 77499 (Iron Oxides), Ci 77891 (Titanium Dioxide). (Source)

Okay, so you found paraben written there, as I've ever mentioned on my previous post that paraben is mainly used to prevent bacteria to reproduce in majority skincare/makeup products, as a result those products could last longer for years (2 years max.). Of course, the amount of paraben used is believed to be under certain regulation that I think we shouldn't worry. But, still some people 's skin give bad reaction toward paraben so this is really something you should concern since I'm doing good -for now, with paraben, although they're not my friends from many ways.

Swatches

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I have three colors here and I do really sure that these are good to make a smokey eyes, everyone.

04 BLACK GODDESS

Black goddess is my favourite, it has sparkling effect, well I could say: glitter. Also, it has a deep black color which could sharpen my eye-look.

14 IRRESISTIBLE
Metallic Effect, my another favourite color. Definitely a must when I'm about to attend a night occasion, glamour-look and elegant effect.


So here are their swatches on my bare brown skin:

Final Look

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I'm not good with makeup, for now. So please forgive me for the bad and not so good looking picture you got there. I used all the three colors on my eyes, without eyeliner and mascara so you can get the real look. All I could say that these three colors make a good gradient effect for smokey eyes. Too bad I already have large eyes so I don't have the guts to go with smokey.


Conclusion about these eyeshadows:

(+) Applies smoothly
(+) Blends easily - good for making gradient color
(+) Cheap!
(+) Great color options (you can check their websites for more colors)
(+) Highly pigmented
(+) Long lasting
(+) Silky texture
(+) Easy to remove/clean

(-) Cheap-looking / too simple compact case
(-) Smudges or Flakes when you don't put it properly
(-) Not available in Indonesia
So, anyone ever use essence make ups too?

Thank you for reading and see you!