Essence’s newest trend collection is Me & My Ice Cream, a pastel themed collection, perfect for Spring! It’s supposed to be out October, but stands have been popping up in Priceline stores already. First off, this collection contains a cream blush, Ice Bomb ($4.95). It’s a shimmery peachy coral colour – very pretty and flattering on me. The dome of the blush itself feels a bit squidgy, maybe because it’s an unusual shape. I love cream blushes, so this is going to get a workout this Spring!
There are also three baked eyeshadows ($4.95). These have a gorgeous marbled pattern. The shades (L-R) are Cone Head (purply gold), Icylicious (peachy gold) and Always in My Mint (green-gold).
They’re very pale, frosty colours. For me, they’re going to be highlight-only, but they’d be pretty on someone with lighter skin. They can also be used wet (with foiling medium) for a denser shimmer.
Lip-wise, it’s a bit boring – three lip balms, no tint ($3.50). But the lip balms themselves are gorgeous – check out the swirled pattern! (L-R): Ice, Ice Baby, Icylicious and Ben & Cherries.
Ice, Ice Baby has a delicious artificial grape scent, like Hubba Bubba gum. Icylicious smells like vanilla cream, which I always love. Ben & Cherries has a strong floral smell and is the only one I can’t stomach – it smells like VO5 leave-in conditioner, and I can’t deal with florals on my lips. They’re quite moisturising and work well as cuticle balms as well. The tub of shimmer pearls in the shade I-Cy U ($5.75) was the item I was most excited about. There’s talk of it being a cheap dupe of Guerlain’s Meteorites. It’s a multi-coloured illuminating product with a subtle fruity scent. I’m really looking forward to using these – it’s far less glittery than the other illuminators I own, which makes it much more useable for oily-faced me.
There’s also a pack of 15 mini hand wipes in the collection (with a name: I Scream Ice Cream, $2.25). These are super handy and have a strawberry ice cream scent. I love that the pack is small and lightweight!
Rainbow sprinkle nail stickers! ($3.50) These are literally caviar beads stick to clear nail stickers – I’ve always wanted to try caviar nails but couldn’t be bothered with the mess. These are a great way around it, though nail stickers always seem pricey to me for what they are.
Finally, the collection has 4 nail polishes ($2.95). Left to right: Icylicious, Ice, Ice Baby, Always in My Mint and Ben & Cherries. These are all very light pastels with subtle iridescent shimmer, and took about three coats to reach opacity.
I originally thought these would be dupes of the popular ulta3 Pretty Pastels collection from last year, but they’re actually very different – they’re paler, and the shimmer is more obvious. I took some comparison shots:
In my opinion, this is one of the best collections Essence has released so far. My top picks are the shimmer pearls and the cream blush (and the hand wipes – so handy!), but there’s sure to be something in here for everyone. The packaging isn’t the most durable or elegant, but with such budget-friendly prices, I’m confident in predicting that these will go flying off the shelves! This product was provided for editorial consideration, which did not affect my opinion. For more information, see Disclosure Policy.
What a pretty, pretty range! I feel so girly after reading this post! I desperately want to try the shimmer pearls so will keep an eye out in stores. Really great reviews, thanks!
Amy | Bubbles & Blush
I love how pastels are pretty without necessarily being pink!
I have a makeup-newbie question: what brush would be best for the shimmer pearls if I just want to use them on the top of my cheekbones? I get easily confused by brushes… so any advice would be great!
A tapered blush brush like this would work well I think: http://www.cosmeticsclub.com/p_images/275505_large.jpg
The main problem I’ve found is that it’s hard to get enough shimmer off the pearls if the brush is too soft – I’ve crushed up a few of the pearls in a separate container so I can pick it up better.
I’ll HAVE to try the pearls if they’re even close to my beloved Meteorites. I suspect they are a lot more shimmery, rather than glowy, from what I can see from your swatch.
They’re actually not that shimmery – it’s hard to capture the shimmer in the photo, if that’s an indication! I’m scared of chunky shimmer on my skin and these are awesome. And you can’t go wrong for $5.75 (unless you’re me and when you bought a backup this morning, the barcode refused to scan and you had to wait 10 minutes for the manager to find the paperwork in the back room).
Wow loving the pastel trend here!
I can’t wait to try out the pearls. I’ve always held a fascination with pearls whether they’re illuminators or bronzers.
I’ve always been a bit wary of pearls, because they seem weird to use! I’m really curious to see how they wear down though.
Oh this collection looks fabulous. Thanks for the review.
Hope you like it as much as I did 🙂
Ooh, thank you for the comparison!
No worries, it’s easy with swatch sticks!
This is such a cute collection! I want everything! This is a great post, I’ll definitely be picking up a couple of things from this collection.
The only things I don’t love are the eyeshadows, because the colours just don’t work on me, but the rest is great! I usually only have two things I want in an Essence collection, but I seriously considered picking up backups of the blush, wipes and balms today (I ended up just picking up extra pearls).
I do love a good pastel. Thanks for comparing them.
Makes me excited for Spring…
I can’t wait! As long as the teal stains are out of my nails by then, grr. That’s why I couldn’t swatch them 🙁
Weird, my Ben & Cherries lip balm had no scent. I think this is one of my favourite Essence collections so far 🙂
Wanna swap? 😛
I have been looking for a good cream blush (so so rare I have found weirdly) so I will picking this up for sure!
Definitely rare! I think I could count the number of cream blushes in Priceline on one hand.
I love this collection too! I was lucky enough to get full pick of the box before they were put out on display at my local Priceline 😀 The shimmer pearls are awesome as are the eyeshadows, I should have grabbed back ups when I had the chance!
I picked up a backup of the pearls, but then I realised they were going to last me til the Apocalypse!
what a nice collection, great for spring!
Yes, very Spring-y! I’ve been looking forward to pastel season again 🙂
Is it bad that the thing that I want the most are the hand wipes?!
Not at all! They’re awesome 🙂
I just bought some of this collection today (shimmer balls, caviar nails, mint eyeshadow and blush). I’m glad I didn’t get all three eyeshadows because they are so similar!
They are – maybe the subtle difference would be more noticeable if I swatched them on my eyes, maybe one shade will clash with my skin tone/eye colour? I don’t quite know enough about eyeshadow to tell!
This whole collection looks lovely thanks for this post really enjoyed it! Do you know anywhere to buy it online? LLx
Unfortunately not – Heat Group has an online store, but it’s not there 🙁
Hi there! would like to ask which store did u bought this collection as I’ve been looking for this on Priceline close to my place but they don’t have it. Please help. thanks. Mei from Casino NSW
I got this for review from Heat, but I’ve seen it in person in quite a few Sydney stores.