Disclaimer: Products featured were provided for review.
Happy Saturday everyone, hope you all have something fun planned for this weekend! Today I have a review of a few items from Essence's new Russian Matryoshka doll inspired makeup/nail polish collection called the Kalinka Beauty Collection! To see some swatches and my reviews, click......Essence Kalinka Beauty Mono Eyeshadow in "01 From Russia with Love" & "02 Babushka Me" ($2.49 CAD):
What it promises:
-Creamy Texture
-High impact pigmententation
Pigmentation and Texture:
From Russia with Love is a pale peach with a semi-matte satin-y finish; it has good pigmentation but the formulation is not very buttery and creamy and should be used with a primer.
Babushka Me is a shimmery warm taupe. The texture of this one feels a lot smoother compared to From Russia with Love, but the pigmentation is not as rich as I would have preferred.
Overall:
The formulation and pigmentation of these two are not overly impressive but the price is very reasonable.
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| Swatched on bare skin. Left: From Russia with Love; right: Babushka Me |
What it promises:
-High pigmentation
-Long lasting color
-Subtle shimmer
Pigmentation and formulation:
Meet Me @ Red Square is a simple red lipstick/lipgloss duo. The product is meant to be applied with a lip brush (see below). The pigmentation of the lipstick is decent and the lipgloss is only lightly tinted. The lipstick is a bit thin in terms of formulation; it has more of a lip stain feel. The gloss, on the other hand, is quite rich but it's not sticky. Despite the description, neither of the duo contains any shimmer.
Longevity:
The lipstick doesn't cling to the lips much so it transfers easily, the same is true for the gloss. But with no eating or drinking, both will stay on the lips for at least three hours.
Overall:
I think this is a very cute lip duo in a classic red, it's definitely worth picking up if you are just getting into makeup!
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| Middle: Lipstick worn alone; bottom: lipgloss worn over lipstick. |
Included in the collection is a nifty little lip brush. For only two dollars, this is a very good lip brush. The bristles are very soft and did not shed one bit. It's a comparatively thick lip brush so it is very good at picking up products. It applied the lipstick and lip gloss very precisely (I used it for the swatches above).
Green Scene is a gorgeous dusty robin egg blue with an incredibly formulation. Self leveling and opaque, this pigmented polish was a simple two coater with absolutely zero hassle, I was really impressed by it (it was 100 times better than Julep's Dianna)! If you only picking up one item from the collection, this is the one!
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| Two coats, no top coat. |
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| Two coats, no top coat. |
Availability:
This collection is available at Shoppers Drug Mart and PharmaPrix in Canada starting March.
P.S Julie, my fellow Canadian Beauty Bloggers pal reviewed some of the other products from the collection, check out her review and swatches here!
