Review: Essence LE Made To Sparkle Highlighting & Transforming Prismatic Palette

Essence new Limited Edition is called Made To Sparkle and it's already available in stores. I browsed through the collection, but decided to only get the palette since it looked interesting and I'm always up for buying something new to my collection. The collection features a lot of sparkly products for eyes, face and nails. It's very sparkly themed. 


It's called Essence Made To Sparkle Highlighting & Transforming Prismatic Palette and it's for eyes, cheeks and lips. They've named it 01 Don't Let Anyone Ever Dull Your Sparkle.

It comes in a plastic black packaging with transparent lid. It also has cute gold diamond design on it. It's a bit flimsy, but I expect that for the price.

In it is 7.7 grams of product and it costs 3.29€.


In the palette are four shades. They look more boring in the pan than on the skin. It's basically a collection of fours shades with fine shimmer that can be used as eyeshadows, highlighter, highlighting blush or a topper over lipsticks. 



1 - light shimmery yellow gold shade
2 - light white base with lavender blue sheen
3 - light white base with pink sheen
4 - light mint green with golden sheen

All of these have a shimmery look to them, although you can't see any actual shimmer in it. It's very finely milled and just gives you a lovely sheen. Most of these shades are sheer and can as such be applied over other shades. I feel like the gold shade is the only one that can look really opaque when build up.

Gold is a stunning highlighter shade for light warm skin tone. I actually really like it for that, because it's pigmented, but has no visible shimmer, just a lovely sheen. It also looks gorgeous in the inner corner of the eye.

Lavender blue is great applied over eyeshadow or even colorful lipsticks. I like wearing pink as a highlighter or a topper over pink colored blush. It gives it lovely sheen.

Green is the only shade that isn't really wearable as a highlighter. I would only wear this as an eyeshadow topper or maybe over very dark lipsticks for a fun twist.

Formula is not dry, but also not really wet. It's in between and applies easily. Pigmentation is OK, but it's more of a sheerer formula and you have to really build it up, if you want it to look opaque. I see these more for the skin or as a sheen on top of other shades. If you'll be using it on the lid, I advise you to apply it with fingers, because the brush doesn't really pick up much of that color. 

They are not really long lasting on top of other eyeshadows. They last well in the inner corner of eyes and as highlighters, but on the eyes and lips they just don't look that vibrant and obviously fade a bit through the day. Pink and gold last very well as highlighters, especially if you apply a few more coats. 


I especially like the gold shade as a face highlighter. Here is a comparison with two others. Gold shade from Essence is yellow based gold. Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Moonstone is more champagne colored. It doesn't have that yellow tone to it. theBalm Mary-Lou Manizer is more peach based and slightly darker. 

I have to say that these shades with sheen look much prettier in real life. The color and sheen gets lost on the photos, keep that in mind. Here are some of the looks I created with this palette

Pink shade I used on the center of the lid over a basic matte brown base. I also applied it in the inner corner. It gives off a much more visible pink shine in real life. 




Lips: Avon Mark Liquid Lip Lacquer Matte in Flushed and Passion It


The blue color also looks much more vibrant in real life and you almost can't see that cool blue sheen on the photos. I also used it on the center of the lid and inner corners.



Lips: L.O.V. LIPaffair Matte Guilty Conscience


I applied green color over a matte brown base. This one applies sheerer for something that look very vibrant in the pan. In the inner corners I used gold shade. I also applied gold shade as a highlighter all over my face. Pink and blue color I applied over a mauve brown liquid lipstick to give it a bit of sheen, but it's actually not even that visible in real life. 




Lips: Revlon Ultra HD Matte Lipcolor in Forever + pink and blue shade




I think this is a fun all around palette to have for when you want some sparkle on your eyes, cheeks or even lips. It's not as pigmented as I thought it would be, but the sheerer formula actually looks better as a topper and over the skin. Colors look especially nice as a blush toppers or highlighters. On the eyes they fade quicker and don't look as vibrant. The same goes with lipsticks, since the pigment gets absorbed by the lipstick. If you like something different with fun sheen or are looking for fun highlighting shades, these could be for you. I am most impressed with the gold shade which I love as a highlighter. I also like blue and pink in the inner corners for something slightly more colorful. Green is more of a specific taste color and I might not get that much use out of it. 

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