Review: Essence LE Merry Berry (highlighter, gold powder, nail polish, top coat)

Hey Beauties!

This year Christmas came early. Seems so. Essence came out with this Limited Edition called Merry Berry. It was available at the beginning of November and it's still, although it's a very sought for collection so it's probably sold out in most places. For Slovenians wait for it to come to DM, Tuš Drogerija and Beauty World. Might already be available, I can't say. 

I have to say I was a bit surprised to see Christmas collection out so early, but I still grabbed a few products, because I couldn't resist cute packaging. It's been a long time since collection sparked so much interested in me. 


I couldn't resist cute nail polish packaging. The tops reminded me of Christmas tree decorations plus you know I love everything gold. I got the shade 03 Pink&Perfect. This shade interested me the most, because I found it unique enough to try. It's like a berry pink shade. It's definitely a very wearable shade, which is a nice twist on classic red. It can also easily pass as an autumnal shade. 

It costs 1.49€ and you get 8 ml of it.

Size of the cap top is big enough so you can easily hold it during application and it's a stunning decoration for your vanity. Gold writing is just how I like it.



The formula is creamy and pigmented really well, although I always use two coats. One thicker coat would cover the nail as well. The brush is standard and of good quality.



I was most excited about Top Coat. On the promo photos it looked very similar to top coat from one of their previous Limited Editions called Metal Glam and I was right. I googled some photos of Metal Glam and compared them to this one from Merry Berry and it looks exactly the same to me. I was so happy, because I missed out on the other one, so I bought two of these, you know, just in case I loose one?! 

It comes in a equality stunning packaging with gold writing, which is really hard to read, because of the gold particles in it. It's called 01 I Love My Golden Pumps

The price for it is 2.19€ (although I got it for 1.99€ in Austria - sneaky sneaky!) and you get also 8 ml of it.



It's a clear nail polish and it contains gold irregular particles. They are just the right size to fit on the nail and give you beautiful sparkly effect. What I really like is the fact that one application gives you a lot of gold particles. I hate when you have to literally scoop for some glitter with other glittery nail polishes. No such problem here. 

What more can I say, if you didn't get Metal Glam Top Coat, you need this one. Trust me, it will make every manicure look so much prettier. 





I also really looked forward to trying out highlighter powder in the shade 01 I Love My Golden Pumps, because I secretly hoped it would also resemble highlighter from Metal Glam collection, which is to this day the best drugstore highlighter I own. Sadly, it's not the same.

It costs 3.59€ and in it is 9 grams of product.

It comes in transparent plastic packaging typical for Essence. Highlighter has an embossed 3D star design. It's super pretty, but it will come off when you start using it.




It looks very champagne colored in the pan, but once you swatch it, it's more of a light gold shade. It's really light, so great for fair skin tones, which is rare to find (especially gold). It has a very shiny sheen to it and among the pigment you can detect small shimmer, which seems to be multi-colored. It's definitely very pretty.


When I compared it to Essence Metal Glam 01 Gold Digger highlighter, I immediately saw that Metal Glam is slightly more yellow tone and a lot starker/shimmery. It's definitely a lot more metallic and gives you huge shine - very noticeable. It's also a lot more pigmented, because you need less of it to make it seen.

In that aspect Merry Berry is more subtle and would be better for those of you who don't like the shine to be seen from space. 

I also compared it to The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer, which is very similar to Metal Glam. The shade of it it's darker and even more yellow/orange based. It's like Metal Glam more pigmented and shinier. 


The last product is one of those purchases that you buy only for the sake of packaging. It's called Scented Gold Dust Powder in 01 I Love My Golden Pumps. I'm not huge on vintage stuff, but I adore this vintage looking perfume bottle. It's gold (hell yeah!), shiny and has purple knitted mesh atomizer bulb. I wish I had a perfume like this, but I'll make do with this pretty bottle of gold dust.

It costs 3.79€ and it doesn't say how much is in it. It's actually a fairly small bottle, I imagined it bigger.



Design of it is super pretty. Mesh atomizer bulb is dressed into a knitted dark purple pattern. The top has transparent lid which actually falls off, it's just there to put it over, but it doesn't stay on if you move the bottle, which is a bit annoying. Praises for Essence on making such a cute vintage looking packaging on a budget.


You can unscrew the top off and maybe pour perfume into it once it's empty?! I think I'll do this, if I ever use up the gold dust. I actually opened it to get a clearer idea of how the powder looks like. It's very yellow toned loose powder with multi-colored shimmer particle, although on the skin it looks like a very yellow toned gold shimmer. Once you spray it on your skin you'll only see shimmer.  

It smells so good! It's like a sweet powdery vanilla scent. Very classic but sophisticated because of the powdery scent. I wish I had a perfume that smelled the same.

I can't say how long lasting the dust is, because I'm afraid to use it. It seems like there isn't a lot in it and I don't want to use it up. Maybe I'll abuse it for some fancier festive occasions.




I am very positively surprised by this Limited Edition. Essence knows how to make visually very pleasing designs which lure you into buying everything from the collection. I like that they made a purple pink inspired Christmas collection instead of typical red, but I would still love to see some red lipstick. Nail polishes are so cute and a really nice gift. Top coat is a must have if you don't have anything similar. Highlighter is for those of you who are fair toned and love some shine but not too much and scented gold dust is a must have vintage vanity piece. Well done Essence!


19 comments

  1. Šminka in lak na zadnji sliki.... božansko! :)

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  2. Tale je bila res ena najboljših Essence kolekcij zadnje čase. Prekjut pakiranje in prekjut izdelki. Hvala ti še enkrat, da si vzela vse izdelke zame. :D

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    1. Se strinjam. Res so se potrudili :) Ma ni za kaj ;)

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  3. Super objava s čudovitimi fotkami ! <3 Jaz sem si šparala denar in sem si privoščla kar celo kolekcijo :) ful sem navdušena nad lakci pa prahec je ful lep na koži pa še prečudovito diši.

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    1. Hvala :) Je kar celotna kolekcija čudovita, res je. Jaz sem vzela sicer samo nekaj kosov, ker vem da drugih ne bi toliko uporabljala :). Prah ful dobro diši. Jaz bi imela tak parfum :D

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  4. waw ful lep make up. Res ti paše...pa nohti so prekrasni <3

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  5. In my opinion, this is one of their prettiest packaging yet...especially the nail polishes...

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    1. I would agree. They really did an amazing job. I love that vintage perfume bottle inspired powder. Gorgeous for the price :).

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  6. Merry Berry is a nice collection, I'm waiting for it here. I think I need that top coat and the highlighter, it looks really nice.

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    1. It's really pretty, Essence has done a great job. I hope you get everything ;). Top coat is definitely a must have :).

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  7. I am obsessed with everything about this post from the photography and nail polishes to beautiful look you created at the end - so gorgeous! :) x

    www.marfmallow.com

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  8. Oh, my.. These look tempting... Thanks for the review.
    Girl's Temptations

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  9. Waw, tale kolekcija je pa res čudovita!! 😍

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  10. Ohh.. Za to kolekcijo mi je pa res žal da sem jo zamudila :( ful kjut pakiranja, še posebej lakov :)) <3 pa ta gold dust zgleda pravljičen, pa kaka embalaža <3

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    1. Saj še nisi zamudila. Ziher bo še v dmih pa Tuš drogeriji ;)

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