So I know you’ve all been wanting to know what happened at the Essence Make Up party in Cologne and here it is! So the back story of this goes that the wonderful, lovely and all round amazing Mary from Strike A Pose was chosen by Essence to be one of four beauty bloggers to create a palette and a nail polish for one of Essences Trend Editions (think limited edition ranges). When she announced it I was so happy for her (like it could not happen to a nicer person!). I was sad too though as us UK dwellers can only get Essence at Wilko’s who don’t stock the trend editions, booooo.So skip forward a few months and Mary announced because they had done so well they were being made part of the main range!! And that there would be a party to celebrate on Cologne. All you had to do was comment on her Instagram photo to enter to go. I was so happy for her I was actually the first one to comment (and no I didn’t just comment FIRST! Like one of those people). Skip forward to Mary announcing I had won a pair of tickets. Basically you had to be a UK resident to enter and lots of people commenting lived in Germany, yay for the UK!
I then learned The lovely Kariss was going to be going too, and then that Hayley who I hadn’t met before (but I won tickets to Fusion festival on her blog last year- yes I am a lucky so and so!) and she had decided to take one of my faves Rachel! It was turning into quite the blogger trip! So I ignored please from Mr E and Lucinda took up my offer of my plus one.
We stayed at the Art’otel and we had a yellow windowed room (made me feel a bit queasy tbh and we had to open the door fully in the day to let in natural light) but other than that it was lovely, big and the shower was the best one I’ve ever seen. And view was amazing! The party was there too and there was a number of sections to the afternoon/evening most of them being surprises.
Our first surprise was learning about the pallettes from the bloggers themselves. We went around in teams as the other 3 bloggers also had their competition winners with them too. Our tables were laid out with the most beautiful pastel brushes from Essence so we could play about with the pallettes as we learnt and chatted and learnt about them.
Mary from Strike A Pose– Shape and Shadows Eye Contouring Pallette
- This is all about defining your brows, and contouring the eye. It also has a mini spoolie and eyebrow brush which is just life. It has three matte brown shades, one shimmer brown, a highlight and a wax. I’ve been using the highlight on my brown bone ever since I’ve had it as its amazing. I’m also fond of the darker brown (Bridgette Brown) shade to line and define my eyes. The others I’ve used for an nice brown toned smokey eye for work with the Hazel Grace shade worked through my brows.
- The inspiration behind the palette was a multi purpose eyebrow/eyeshadow palette and one that encompassed a trend so contouring it was! The names were all based on old school Hollywood actresses
Serena from Beautylab– The Glow Must Go On Bronzing and Highlighting Palette
- This was inspired by her trips to Morocco and has all the warm colours you’d see over there, the design of the palette is even Arabian influenced.
- Serena is a big fan of bronzing and wanted a bronzer that a lot of skin tones could use so created a three shade block as the centre piece of the pallette. Each can be used on its own or swirled with the softest ever Kabuki brush to give a lovely buildable bronze. It also has a highlighter to finish off the cheeks and two eyeshadows, the terracotta coloured one is immense and is my favourite shade in all the palettes.
- Serena is the number one beauty blogger in The Netherlands and we also got the chance to ask her more questions including how she got into blogging and her tips for going full time. Her main advice was to set a goal and then go for it 100%. She was super lovely and inspiring to chat to!
Palmira from Beauty Palmira– Vintage Rose Eye Palette
- This theme was all about the eyes, and meeting her I could see why. Her eye make up was superb!! She was one of the two bloggers that are based in Germany and her Instagram account is just to die for!
- In this palette there are 5 eyeshadows, an eyeliner and yes, you guessed it, a highlighter! Now I’m not moaning I love me a good inner eye highlight and if I had only one of these palettes then I’d expect something to highlight with!
Diana from dfashion– Touch Up to Go! One-for-All Palette
- Diana’s palette was last up. It’s all about an all in one pallete and the centre of it all is the wax. This can be used with either of the cheek colours to create a lip stain, with the brown eyeshadow to create a brow gel or to line the eyes
- She wanted a go to palette that could be taken anywhere and I think she did pretty well with it!
There’s also a nail varnish to match each palette and I love Mary’s matte mink colour one
After all that we had time to get ready for the evening, where we had been told to wear white or neon clothes- not that great for the beautiful BBQ we had on the hotels terrace by the Rhine! Luckily I didn’t spill any of the sushi or BBQ on me phew! I was obsessed with the pineapple decor too it was just too cute!
The next part was so much fun, we got to build our own palettes! So here’s my Lucy Loves Beauty Blogger Secrets Palette! Not quite as beautiful as the real things but I chose some lovely shades even if I do say so myself!
Finally the party was on, no surprises was that it was a UV party which we’d guessed from the dress code! There was a UV photo booth that me and the girls took full use of, and uv painting station (I did not take advantage of that- nothing was getting on my lovely new ASOS dress!) and we danced the night away!
I had such a lovely time so thank you Essence! I’d also like to know if you’ve tried Essence before and if so what’s your fave item from them!