Imported treats and local sweets

Essence Cosmetics Launch in the United States
by Jessica M

As any true cosmetics devotee knows, makeup thrills can happen at any kind of retail location, on every price level. Sometimes it’s a pleasure to “cave” on a hard-to-find product with luxurious packaging and a designer logo, and sometimes the “aha!” moment comes from an impulse purchase at the drugstore. Annie and Cavewoman have always inspired me to look high and low for rave-worthy makeup, so I’m happy to be able to report back to Blogdorf about Essence Cosmetics.


Essence Cosmetics has been around since 2001: it was founded in Germany, it spread to more than thirty countries in the global market,and it has just arrived in the United States. Most of the products are made in Europe, and the company is known for offering high quality formulas and on-trend colors at very low prices. In the States, every item is priced under five dollars. I recently had a chance to see and sample the line at a get-together hosted by Essence in New York, at the uptown location of Magnolia Bakery. (Yes, home of the famous cupcakes!)

Essence’s product displays are definitely eye-catching: they’re crammed with all the colors of the rainbow, and they’re decorated with big pictures of Bratz-like girls. Once you look past the bright colors and cartoony imagery, however, you’ll notice some very clever,high-performing products. The selection being brought to the States—it’s being sold at Ulta stores and Ulta.com--includes color cosmetics for eyes, lips, and face, nail polishes and nail art accessories, and a few makeup tools.

In addition to the permanent product line, Essence releases limited edition collections several times a year. They recently offered a“Moonlight” collection inspired by the “Twilight” books and movies; it won’t be available in the U.S., unfortunately, but I couldn’t resist taking a photo for Annie, who introduced me to “Twilight.”


The first limited edition collection to be released in the States will be “Surfer Babe,” due out in June.

I’ve had the chance to sample a few products, so I’ll be back in a few days with reviews of my favorite picks from Essence Cosmetics.

Have you ever tried anything from Essence? Feel free to comment!

Photos by Jessica M.