Essence Cosmetics - All About Candies & All About Nude Eyeshadows (Review & Swatches)

Continuing on with my Essence haul, I'll share with you the All About Candies Eyeshadow palette, which is a collection of soft pastels, creamy to the touch and featuring a rainbow assortment of shades.

 I also picked up the All About Nude Eyeshadow palette which is a nice dupe for the Wet N Wild Melrose at Night palette that was a very coveted Fall 2014 Limited Edition product (you can see my post about that collection here).

Essence All About Candies Eyeshadows

Essence All About Candies Eyeshadows - Swatches (no primer)

The All About Candies Eyeshadow Palette swatches very beautifully, except the peach, pink and purple shade seem to swatch exactly the same. I'm most impressed with the yellow, blue and green shades, which are very unique and really do wear well over primer for 6-8 hours without fading. These palettes are only $4.99 so I wasn't expecting anything amazing out of the shadows, but I was very pleasantly surprised! I wouldn't recommend this palette if you're looking for 6 unique pastels, but you will receive 4 different identifiable shades, in my opinion. 

Essence All About Nude Eyeshadows

Essence All About Nude Eyeshadows - Swatches (no primer)

The All About Nude Eyeshadow Palette was extremely impressive, out of the whole bunch I only found one dud, and that is the 2nd shade in the top row - this color is poorly pigmented (probably due to its matte nature) and basically just won't show up on my skin at all. The shimmers are all very distinct colors, I especially love the dupe for MAC's Sketch which is the final swatch and the rightmost shadow in the bottom row of the palette. This palette can give you either a romantic look or a vampy look, depending on which colors you apply and the level of intensity you apply them with.  I highly recommend this palette.

Overall, I think these palettes are very good quality, in terms of their value for the price. They are soft and buttery and easy to apply on the eye, as well as having good lasting power (especially if you use them over a primer). I think your happiness with these palettes is probably going to be related to the color selection - you will definitely enjoy these palettes if you wear the one you choose!

Z Palette: to buy or not to buy?

I wrote last week that I had ordered my very first Z palette to house all of my old depotted eyeshadows from various brands that don't fit into a regular-sized palette (which usually holds 16mm eyeshadows). So I decided to embark on this little journey to make my own customized palette of random blushes and eyeshadows that I had laying around. When you are finished, your collection will look like this (but less beat-up than mine because some of my products are really used up and abused):

What you'll need for this project:

• depotted eyeshadows/blushes (if you don't know how to do this, check back to my depotting entry where I tell you how to)
• labels
• adhesive magnets (from an art store or department store)
• scissors
• Z palette or any magnetic palette that's empty and fits any size pans
• rubbing alcohol
• scrubbing sponge

Firstly, you will want to dab a scrubbing sponge into rubbing alcohol and make sure you take the excess glue off of the back of your depotted eyeshadow pan. This will make the whole process a lot less messy and keep your palette looking clean. Take your depotted eyeshadows/blushes and cut a label to write the name of the product, the company that made it and the color for your reference. Unstick the adhesive peel from the magnet and place it on the back of your eyeshadow so that you have reference if you run out of a certain color you love and need to go back and get some more. If you really don't care what the color or product is then just skip this step.

Tools you will need

Then you can cut out a magnet that measures the size of your pan, so place the pan on top of the adhesive magnet and stick it on. Cut around the pan with your scissors or an exacto knife so that you have a perfectly sized magnet. This magnet goes on top of the label to make sure your eyeshadow is securely in the pan. Some pans are magnetized and do not need to have magnets placed on their backs. It is easy to remove the magnetic adhesive strip by hand so if you need name-reference, you can simply do that and re-apply it. If you choose to put your label on the outermost side and sandwich the magnet between the label and the pan, you may not have as good of a grip and your shadows may move.

You can make a separate little paper sheet insert that you can stick to the window of the palette that acts as a guide to your colors. I chose not to do this because I don't use these colors extremely often and will certainly not re-purchase these brands when I can get my hands on MAC and Urban Decay shadows. I have NYX, L'Oreal, Maybelline, Estee Lauder, Lancome, Trish McEvoy, and Clinique products in my Z palette. Most of my stuff is from random gifts with purchases and drug-store buys when I was first starting out with makeup.

My first Z palette!

The last step is simply organizing your pans and popping them in the Z palette however you'd like! I like the concept of the Z palette because you can see everything you have inside, but the problem is that I thought they would be bigger. It turns out the Z palette PRO ($28) and the Z palette regular ($20) palettes only differ by half an inch in width and a very minuscule amount in depth. The depth is important to me so I opted for the PRO palette because I'm putting blushes and mineralized shadows in my next one. But if you're only going to put small eyeshadows, I suggest going for the regular one, as it is $8 cheaper. You can purchase them on Amazon, which is what I did and they arrive in approximately 3 business days. I like the fact that I can now stack all of my eyeshadows and blushes with my other palettes rather than investing in tons of those little Rubbermaid drawers to put them in. When you put things away like this, you risk not seeing all your products for long periods of time and purchasing items even though you already have some at home (but you don't remember because you haven't seen them in awhile). I don't like rifling through my single eyeshadows for a particular color I'm looking for, so this is going to make my morning makeup routine a lot simpler. I suggest buying these if you're a big fan of makeup and have an enormous collection like I do. I'm thrilled with the way I can see all of my colors so I know what to reach for! I give them a 9/10, only because I want more and I think they can be even bigger to fit larger products!

Color Theory: My Eyes & which Color?

Ever wander through aisles of eyeshadows in Sephora and wonder which color would look best on you? Do you spend painstaking time staring blankly at the wall of eyeshadows only to come home and find that the color you picked doesn't look good on you? Wonder no more! Here is a comprehensive list of colors that will look great, look yours up by iris color! Colors that are always out of the question are red and yellow, these two colors will make you look like you have pink-eye or jaundice, so regardless of your iris shade, stay away from these.


Brown-eyed beauties
If you're in this category, you're pretty lucky... not just because this is also my color, but because you can get away with wearing a lot of different options. Purple, violet and mauves are by far the best looking on this color because they just make your eyes stand out and have an understated elegance. As with all colors, don't choose something that is extremely saturated, or if you do, make sure you apply it little by little. Anyone can look like a clown even using the colors that are best suited for them if they go overboard with pigmentation. Another great alternative is metal colors - golds, coppers, bronzes, and even silver all look wonderful. If you want a warmer look, you would stick to the gold, copper and bronze, but if you want a smokey, colder look, opt for silver and pewter-tones. Green and blue can work, if done in the right way, otherwise they tend to look a little out of place and will bring out redness in your eye. Consider using green and blue eyeliner or opting for more washed-out versions of the colors, or maybe pairing up these shades with browns along the contour of your eye. If you contour your eye with the same color as your iris, you can pretty much pull off any of these colors. Very pale vanilla and ivory tones work well as highlighters. You should wear black or mauve mascara as the mauve is a naturally enhancing tone for brown eyes.


Striking hazel
Good on you, if you have this color, you must be pretty smug about yourself, and if you're not, you should be. This color is absolutely breathtaking and your makeup should reflect the beauty of it rather than detract from it. Don't use any colors that compete with the color of your eyes (so if you have a hint of a color and you can see it in your eye, do not use an eyeshadow that appears to be that color). Apricot and pink are great highlighting tones that bring out the light in your eyes. You can use light jewel-tones, champagne, mauve, and green colors to accentuate your eye color. Try to stay away from extremely black eye-liner because it will overpower your eyes and create stark contrast, you should use brown eye-liner and consider lining your eyes with mauve or green, as well. Dark brown and black mascara are the best choices for you, as they will make your eyes pop and make your lashes look like they go on for days!


Gorgeous green
Green eyes look vibrant and alive, they are the color of all things natural and support earthy-colored makeup. Various kinds of browns, such as chocolate, or wood tones enhance your eye color naturally. Your eyeshadow should be the background of the picture you are trying to paint with your eyes as the focal point. Choose colors that will not detract from the natural beauty of your color. Dark greens work well because they will not compete with your lighter-toned eyes, metallics such as copper or gold can look very elegant and sultry with your eyes. Apricots and taupes work well and will bring out the color in your eyes, as well as deeper purples and plumes to create a luxurious, glamour-filled look. You should wear dark brown eyeliner if you have vivid green eyes, but if the green is more subtle, you can opt for black to make the color pop. You can also choose to wear green eyeliner as a continuation of your natural eye hue. You can wear purple, dark brown or black mascara, this is really a matter of preference, you will look great in either. Highlight colors should be light apricots, champagne, and vanillas. You should stay away from blues because they will compete with your eye color and make your green eyes pale in comparison (because the eyeshadow is likely to be a more potent pigment than your eyes). You may look great or awful in pink, so I suggest trying a light frosty shade and if you think it looks good, then work your way to a more saturated pink.


Bodacious blues
Last, but definitely not least, the eye color that is considered the highest echelon of beauty, born of the nordic gods of olden times: blue eyes. Almost all hues of brown will complement blue eyes, except for copper because of the red-tones that will compete with your own color. You have very many options because a wide array of colors tend to look great on your eyes. All neutrals will look great, plumes and purples, and metallics will give you much opportunity to play with eyeshadows and combinations. You can wear blue eyeshadow to accentuate the color in your eyes, as long as if your eyes are greyish blue, you pick out the blues that tend to have that similar slate tone, but if your eyes are bright blue, you should wear colors that remind you of the ocean, such as aqua, sea-foam, and sky blues. You can wear eyeliner in purples, blues, brown and black, but try not to go for the blackest black because it can overpower your eyes. Try to stay away from green tones because it will compete with your eye color, detracting from the natural beauty of your eye color. You can highlight your eyes with gold, cream, vanilla, ivory and almost any of the lightest colors. Mascara can be worn in purple, blue, brown, dark brown, and black.