Ever since Essence cosmetics became available at certain Watsons outlets, their products have become a lot more accessible. It’s a great alternative because their products are generally cheaper than other drugstore brands.

I’ve had this Smokey Eyes Set for a few months now and I thought it was about time I dragged it out of storage. The packaging very much reflects the price but the clear plastic case is good for easy identification of colours if you have more than one of these.

Each set comes with a powder eyeshadow and cream eyeliner in complementing shades. There are 4 sets on the Ulta website but I’ve only seen 3 sets here which are Punk Vibe 02, Purple Maniac 03 and Show Off 04 which is the shade I purchased.

There are application instructions on the reverse of the case. The cream eyeliner is to be applied first with the brush portion of the dual-ended applicator in the case followed by the powder eyeshadow with the sponge portion of the applicator.

The eyeliner brush was okay for applying eyeliner but it could be better. this isn’t a brush I’d use on a daily basis or even on a regular basis simply because it doesn’t feel like a quality brush but then again, it’s the kind of brush you’d expect to find on a set with this price. In any case, the eyeliner isn’t dark enough so when I applied the powder eyeshadow on my crease, it ended up looking like one shade. I ended up using the cream eyeliner as a base for the powder eyeshadow in order to intensify the colour.

Out of the 3 sets available, I liked this set the best because this can create the true smokey eye, in my opinion. It’s akin to a gunmetal grey shade which doesn’t look too out of place if used during the day. Even without the cream eyeliner as a base, the powder eyeshadow goes on quite smoothly but there is some fall-out when it’s applied with the sponge. Not fantastic quality but okay for the price, I guess.

The combined eyeshadow and eyeliner are 3g and retails at RM8.90, available at Cocicoci Jalan Bukit Bintang and MidValley as well as selected Watsons outlets.