Review: Essence - Midnight Masquerade LE

Hello! One of the Essence limited editions that came out in the past month was also the one called Midnight Masquerade! I have tried  two products from the collection, the duo ombre lipstick in shade 02 Bloody Marry Me and also effect eyeshadow in shade 02 Spooktacular night! Here are my impressions of the duo!

This is one of the darkest collections of the year by Essence and it was released  a bit before Halloween, however I was a bit late to the party and didn't get to post about these sooner. However the products I have tried out are not just Halloween themed and can be used on a daily basis, so therefore call for a short review.

The duo ombre lipstick intrigued me from the start. It comes in a plastic packaging and has two sides. One side includes matte lipgloss, 7ml, and the other one  black lipstick in pencil form for contour, 2,6 grams. The matte lipgloss is in a gorgeous shade, that's a mix between a berry shade and a more deep burgundy violet shade. It looks quite vampy and dark, especially combined with the dark black lipstick.

To create the ombre effect you can first apply the black lipstick all around the lips, just as you would a lip pencil. Than you fill in the lips with the matte lipgloss. You start from the middle of the lips, to create a lighter shade in the middle and than go all the way to the black line. I tend to cover the black line a bit and mix the two shades together to make a more subtle ombre, otherwise it looks too stark just having a black liner around your lips. If you feel like you can't achieve a nice ombre finish just using the product, you can always help yourself with a lip brush and really blend the shades together around the edges. 

The packaging is plastic, but still strong and doesn't break easily. The design is pretty, vampy and dark, I really  like that it fits so well with the whole limited edition theme. Both sides of the duo ombre lipstick are easily opened and closed, they are sturdy and won't reopen in your purse, making them perfect to carry around. The matte lipgloss has a classic doe foot applicator, to me it is small enough to create a nice ombre look.

The black lipstick has a nice conical shape and can be applied very easily. If you feel like you are creating a thicker line than you wanted you can easily just take a lip brush or an eyeliner brush, apply the black lipstick to the brush and than line your lips. It does stay put once applied and doesn't move much. However I would recommend you take some extra time while applying this black lipstick, just to avoid any smudges as it takes forever to clean it up. It can be layered up and I find the pigmentation to be good. The texture is smooth and glides on easily, however to create more sharp edges I do need to use a lip liner and fix them. 

The matte lipgloss also has good pigmentation. The shade in the packaging looks more deep wine red, but in real life it looks more berry - deep wine shadde with strong violet undertone. The doe foot applicator is easy to use and I can get a nice even layer of the gloos on my lips. The only problem I have with this is that it does dry out my lips a bit too much and also emphasizes all the dry patches. You really need to scrub your lips well and get them super ready otherwise this will look patchy. The texture itself is smooth and I need just two very thin layers to get the shade fully opaque. On the lips, mixed with the black liner the shade looks a lot more violet. You can wear it on it's own as well and it still looks more violet than from the packaging. 

Both sides have light textures, which I count as a big plus. Even layered up this still feels light on the lips. Both of these fade away lightly and evenly, the also don't bleed through the lip line. The ombre lips lasts on me for about two hours, maybe a bit more. If you are eating or drinking you should carry this with you so you can refresh the look as it does transfer a bit. It does not irritate my lips, but it also doesn't hydrate them. It's more on the drying side, but it's not too bad. I will probably wear this on it's own, just the gloss side, as the shade is really fall appropriate.

The eyeshadows in the collection didn't get much attention from me until I saw this beautiful shade in person! I have only one, shade 02 Spooktacular night. I was impressed by the eyeshadow much more than the duo ombre lipstick, even though I am quite a lipstick junkie! It's certainly not the usual Essence eyeshadow. 

The packaging is plastic, usual Essence. The shade looks like a deep brown with fine golden shimmer at first, but it's actually a shade that transforms up  a bit which makes it perfect for creating different looks. It has black and mettalic pigments in it and can be easily built up. You can apply the shade dry or wet, the dry application shows a bit darker shade, the black dark pigments are more visible and the shade doesn't look as brown at all. If you apply the shade wet the shimmer really pops out and to me the shade looks more brown- bronzy. Still, the difference is not too big if you apply dry or wet. The best way to apply this shade and get full opacity is to dab it on rather than smudge it or blend it too much. If I apply this shade with circular motions and sort of blend it onto the lid I get  a wash of dark brown, almost black shade, which can be used as a good base, but is not really the real shade. My first impression was this is more of a matt black eyeshadow with copper shimmer exactly beacuse I applied it with more circular motions. If I dab it on, the shade looks more brown-bronzy and more opaque. In both cases the colour is intense. The texture is silky, easy to blend, but there is some fallout. 

You will need a good primer under the eyeshadow, as on it's own it doesn't work so well. It just leaves a light grey veil on the lids, so you do need to apply an eyeshadow primer. If you do not dab the shade on you will loose the glitter part, which in my opinion makes the shade special. Try not to blend it too much or the shimmer will be blended away and you will be left with dark brown, blackish matte shade, which is definitely not why you would buy this eyeshadow. 

Lasting power with the primer is decent, a couple of hours of wear without any problems. The eyeshadow doesn't crease and if applied carefully, with dabbing motions, the pigment and the shimmer stay put on the lids and don't transfer under the eye or in the crease. 

Some of you may be dissapointed by this eyeshadow as it does require more work to get it right than usual. It's not opaque enough to be a matte black eyeshadow and it's not exactly a metallic shade with foliate effect. If you use black eyeshadow as base and layer this on top with a wet brush you will get a more intense effect, but I get not everyone wants to invest so much time in one eyeshadow. However, to me this shade is soo pretty, I feel like it's worth the extra trouble of getting it just right.

Hope this review was helpful to you!

Thanks for reading!

Love, UniqaPoly

**PR product. My opinion is based on my own experiences with the products.