Anyone who has ever read my blog (or follows me on Instagram) will know that I am a huge fan of the makeup brand Essence. When I still lived in South Africa, I bought the Essence Advent Calendar for a few years but when I move to Poland I struggled to find it. This year, I ordered it online and I was so excited when it arrived. I had not bought the Essence Advent Calendar in 3 years so I had very high hopes. What did I think? Well read on to find out.
The packaging was super cute, and pretty compact which was nice. However, I had 2 small issues with the packaging. The calendar is made up of 3 separate trays that you pull out to find each day. It is a lovely concept, except that there is nothing between the three trays, so when you take one of the trays out, the rest of them fall down. My second issue was that it was pretty difficult to open some of the boxes which meant that I had to be super gentle not to break the packaging (I was super careful and this still happened). Pros of the packaging? Each day had a cute little quote to do with the product inside, and the packaging of the individual products was absolutely adorable!
Packaging aside, let’s move onto the actual products that were in the Essence Advent Calendar.
Day 1: Luminous Blush
I do like the Essence blushes so I am excited to try this one. It is a beautiful shade, although it does not seem to have a shade name. It is also quite dark so I worry that it might be a bit too dark for me.
Day 2: Lip Scrub
A great product to have and something that I would never think to buy. I am excited to try this just because I don’t think that I have ever used a lip scrub before.
Day 3: Eyeshadow Base
I have never had an eyeshadow base before so I am excited to try it. However, this really is not a full size product. I feel like this is a mini and probably won’t last very long.
Day 4: Nail Stickers
These are really cute but I have not been too impressed with the longevity of Essence nail stickers before. Hopefully these ones are better.
Day 5: Lipstick
This lipstick is semi-matte which will be interesting to try. The shade is really pretty but again, there is no shade name.
Day 6: Mirror
This is very cute and a really good size for travelling. I love that it comes in this cute gold sleeve as well which will keep it protected and clean.
Day 7: Brow Spoolie
The design on this brush is gorgeous! Who doesn’t like gold glitter?! I don’t often use a brush like this, but it is a good addition.
Day 8: Mini Nail Primer
It says in the name that this is a mini product which I hate that they do. I do love using Essence nail polishes but I wish they would give us a full size one; at least for something that you should use every time you do your nails.
Day 9: I Heart Extreme Volume Mascara
This is one of my favourite mascaras ever! I have spoken about my love for it on more than one occasion. I haven’t used it in a while, because I have been trying out other mascaras, so I am excited to try it again and see if I still love it as much!
Day 10: Precise Concealer Sponges
These are really cute and I love that you get two of them. The colours are gorgeous. I have quite a few of these floating around and I don’t often use them, but they do come in handy sometimes!
Day 11: Moisturising Hand Mask
What I love about this is that you can use it as a hand cream or you can use it as a hand mask. I have a load of hand creams so I think this will be used strictly as a mask.
Day 12: Kajal Eyeliner Pencil (black)
I don’t really wear eyeliner anymore but I love this one. I have used this one before and I really like it. You do need a sharpener though because this one does not wind up.
Day 13: Face Jewellery
To be honest, I am disappointed with these. Where would I even wear these? Perhaps I’ll be brave and try them one day but I can’t say that there was any excitement when I opened up this day.
Day 14: Eyeshadow Blender
This brush has the same pattern as the previous one which I love. I currently use a blending brush from Essence and I love it but it has seen better days, so I am excited to try this one!
Day 15: Mini Nail Polish
No surprise that this nail polish doesn’t have a shade name. However, like I previously mentioned, I do like Essence nail polishes and this colour looks pretty so I am excited to try it.
Day 16: Glitter Nail File
How do I feel about this one? Meh. I mean it’s pretty but I am not the biggest fan of this style of nail file and it is only one sided so it’s not going to last that long.
Day 17: Juicy Bomb Shiny Lipgloss
This one actually has a name. This is in the shade 1, Proud Pitaya. Honestly this brings back childhood memories. I used to love gloss like this. It does smell good, so let’s see how it wears.
Day 18: Hair Ties
These are cute and they seem stretchy which is good for my hair. I won’t be able to decide how much I like them until I have worn them for a while though, that is the real test.
Day 19: Eyeshadow Shader
I love that they have made the brushes all the same. This eyeshadow brush is a little smaller than what I currently use, but Essence do make good makeup brushes so I am sure that I’ll find a good use for this!
Day 20: Caring Lip Balm
I love lip balm and I’m always happy to try out new ones. I’ll have to try this for a while before I can decide how I feel about it, but it’s a pretty good gift to put into the calendar.
Day 21: Lash Curler
I have never owned one of these before and I have also never used one. They terrify me if I am honest. However, now that I have one, I might as well give it a try. I love that this one is so compact because it will be easy to travel with.
Day 22: Mini Nail Primer
Apparently I got two of these. I only realised when I came to write this post. Was this a mistake?! Okay, so apparently this was a mistake. You were supposed to get a Mini Fix and Gloss Top Coat but I never got that. So, that is a little annoying but it is what it is I suppose.
Day 23: Brush Cleansing Tool
This is very cute and very useful so I think that it is a good addition to the calendar. I already have one of these that is bigger so I don’t know how much I will use this one, but I like having a spare.
Day 24: Highlighter
There is no shade name for this one but the colour does look pretty. It might be a bit dark for me, but I will test it out and see. If it is too dark then I guess I’ll be using it as eyeshadow!
I was a bit disappointed that the final day of the Advent Calendar didn’t have anything special in it. In previous years, there has been a whole eyeshadow palette. This year there was a single highlighter.
Overall Thoughts:
The packaging was beautiful but not entirely practical. There were some nice treats and some that I could have gone without. I do feel like thy could have put more makeup in it instead of the other bits and bobs.
Is it worth the money?
If you look at the total cost and what you get in the calendar then yes. The calendar cost €24,95. I added up what I could find online and the total was around €30. There were some things that I could not find online so the total amount is more than that. However, there are also things that I got that I would never have bought myself.
Will I buy another Essence Advent Calendar next year?
Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t think that this is their best Advent Calendar and I was a bit disappointed. I might be tempted to try a new brand this year. Did you try any beauty Advent Calendars? Which one should I look at buying next year? Let me know in the comments!
If you would like to compare this Essence Advent Calendar to ones from previous years, then you can do so right here: 2016 Part 1 2016 Part 2 2017
I also disliked the packaging, it wasn’t as practical as I expected it to be. My favorites are mascara, brushes which are gorgeous and lip balm and also hand cream. The rest was meh… Don’t know how I feel about it.. I’ll definitely think about buying it next year
btw, the photos are gorgeous!
Thank you so much! I was very excited for the mascara! I used it to make sure I still love it…and I do! Also, yes! The brushes were so pretty!