Review: Essence - The Little X-Mas Factory LE

Hello! Are you feeling christmassy yet? I am slowly getting the in the mood and I have a special limited edition to help me with that! It's by Essence and it's called The Little X-mas Factory! I usually don't do christmas inspired blog posts before it's actually December or Christmas, but as this is limited edition and I am sure it will be sold out very fast, I think it's best if I show you what I liked from the collection and which products I really recommend! 

The Little X-Mas Factory  eyeshadow palette 01 north pole express delivery*

The palette from this collection got me really excited so I am gonna write about this one first! From first pr photos I knew I wanted to try this one, the design and the colour selection really called out to me. The mix of brown, dark rose shade, silvery, deep green and classic gold seemed perfect for Christmas time. The packaging is sleek and white, in the hands still feels massive and expensive. Inside you get 5 baked shades and a mirror.  The shape of the eyeshadows looks like melting icicles, super wintery! The selection of shades is good and all of them include small shimmer.  As I read they were baked eyeshadows I have expected super pigmented shadows. However in that aspect the palette dissapoints.I was able to swatch the shades well with fingers and transfer it to my hands, but it took more layering and when applied with the brush these get too easily overblended. When applied with a wet brush I can layer a bit more colour, however when I try to blend more shades  than one or two all melt together and they simply don't perform as well as I expected them. The green shadow dissapointed me most, because it looks gorgeous in the palette and on my fingers and hands as a swatch but once I try to blend it on my eyelids it looses the lovely intensity. I tried applying the shades with my fingers and that worked a bit more, but it's suitable just for super easy, one minute looks.

The Little X-Mas Factory liquid gold eyeliner 01 ho-ho-ho*

The liquid gold eyeliner surprised me the most! I must admit I really loved it from the first try and it's become one of my favourite pieces from the collection. It's classic golden and white packaging, nothing special about it. I watch golden eyeliners every year in the winter-y christmas-y collections, but I never buy one because I am sure I just won't use it enough to justify the purchase. However this one is pretty damn great! It doesn't contain any glitter, it's just eyeliner with satin finish. It's pure gold eyeliner, but not the warm old gold shade kind of eyeliner, this one is more cool toned. The pigmentation of this is good and doesn't dissapoint when layered on top of eyeshadows. The texture is watery, but not too runny. I usually need just one coat, but if I were to pair this with a deep blue, green or black eyeshadow I think I would need to apply two coats to really emphasize my liner. The tip is super thin which I love and I can create thin lines on my small eyes. It's easy to control the line and how thick I want to make it. It doesn't claim to have a waterproof formula, but I can not confirm that as I have not noticed any problems. It lasts well on me, a couple of hours minimum. I have to admit I did not wear it for more than 6 to 7 hours in a row, as I usually wore it for going out for coffee and such stuff.

The Little X-Mas Factory liptint 01 all i want for x-mas is you

Lip products are my jam, I love them, I am obsessed with them, I never leave my home without a couple of lippies in my bag. I really wanted to try this one as it promised to tint the lips and it looks like a nail polish as it has brush applicator. The packaging is cute with the lips on the top and the gentle cherry shade. You get 6,5 ml of product inside and it costs about 3 euros. It promises to leave a natural  fresh look and stains the lips in pink. I have tried this on various occassions and I just don't like  it. Sometimes it feels uncomfortably tingly on my lips, sometimes I don't feel it all. The formula is very runny and feels super light. The end result is like I never applied anything, no visible stain on my lips. I guess if you have super pale lips you might notice something, but on me this just didn't do anything. It also doesn't have any nourishing effects and I always apply a lip balm in less than half an hour after I applied this. Sorry, Essence, this one just doesn't do the job.  I have not included a swatch on my lips as it's just like my regular lips, though you can see a gentle stain on my hand.

The Little X-Mas Factory  super rich mini hand cream 01 holiday hugs... and ... 02 and mistletoe kisses

Hand creams are also one of my addictions. I like to indulge myself with them especially in winter time, even though I have enough of them for the next five years! I wanted to try these tow as badly as I wanted the eyeshadow palette, love at first sight. I bought both and was so proud of myself I managed to get them in Muller, as the limited edition stand there are usually ravaged. The golden one, 01 holiday hugs..., smells like vanilla and was my instant favourite! It has a light scent, but pleasant. The other one, 02 ... and mistletoe kisses, is slightly tinted, has a slight pink colouring and smells like cookies. To me the scent is too strong and too sweet, but the cream is still effective and I will use it up. I like they are small, 25 ml each, light and portable, perfect to take with you in your hand bag. The packaging is soft thou, meaning the pretty golden and pink part that contain the cream get crumpled easily. I know this is not a real problem, but beauty bloggers notice such things, as we want our cosmetics to stay pretty so we can photograph them! The texture of these is more runny than I expected, as they claim to be super rich and caring hand creams. Becasue the texture is not heavy and paste like, you can more easily spread the product and it sinks into the skin faster. On me they don't leavse any greasy feeling, they hydrate well and leave a scent. I still prefer the vanilla scented one!

Have you tried anything from the collection? Do you have any other recommendations?

Thanks for reading!

Love, UniqaPoly

**Products marked with * were sent to me for review purposes, the rest I have purchased myself. Reviews are always based on my own experinces with the products.