Essence Eyeshadow Duo - All Time Favorite

If you are a long time follower of this blog (it's almost 3-years old!) or just happen to flip through my entire archive, you would notice I have gotten considerably less eye makeup items for the year of 2010. It's just not for me...You know, eye makeups, unlike lip gloss or blushes, looks funny when your face/foundation is undone (Well, I also gave up finding the perfect foundation altogether) and it's considerable trickier to put on when you have mono lid (if there is fold, it's hooded anyway so I might as well call it mono-lid)...

Anyway, I have come to realized that, lip and cheek product are fun enough to play with and I would also have a little break from wrinkle around eye areas since I am leaving that part alone.So why am I reviewing my "All Time Favorite" eyeshadow? Well...although I (somewhat) gave up eyeshadow (more like give up buying news ones all the time) ,I can still kind of play with what my friend has, right?

Essence Duo in "All Time Favorite"is one of the first eyeshadow I get to play with from the budget brand. It comes with a clear slide-out case with little floral pattern on the plain-Jane-but-not-flimsy compact.On the back of the compact, there is also a little instruction in three languages and eye-chart to show you how to use the colors.

In the US market, most of the cheaper makeup brands, like NYC, ELF and Wet n Wild, have their manufaturer set in China (sometime they will call it Made in PRC to confuse you)  but Essence cosmetics are either made in Germany(some of their mascara, eyeliner and blush), Poland (like this eyeshadow duo) and their nail polish are made in France. Yes, they do have some eyeshadow quads that are made in China (they even put the label on the front...almost as if it's a warning o_O) and I somehow assume that those are not as good as those European ones...

Shame on me.

The Essence duo comes with two quarter-sized pans. The lighter shade is slightly bigger.There is a shimmering medium-light taupe brown and a shimmering off-white.

I find the texture of the Essence eyeshadow fairly easy to work with, they are firmly pressed (no flying dust!) but still easy to grab. The pigmentation and texture are also quite decent. The off white looks a bit boring in the pan but I do like the multi-color iridescence it has and that natural sheen (it looks natural once you blend it out a bit) it creates.

A little look (obviously the eye belongs to the owner of the duo, my friend) of the day created by the duo:A pale pink cream shadow from Revlon Passion Fusion quad as a base, off white on entire lid, taupe brown on the bottom half of lid (under crease) and a deep plummy purple from Milani Wild Violet eyeshadow quad smudged along the lash line (Stila line-and-smudge brush is the bomb!).

Despite the simplicity of the procedure (actually that's all I can handle at the moment), I think the look ended up rather nice and if you are fan of neutrals, this eyeshadow could make a happy and contributing member in your collection.