Who Makes it Better? Essence vs. Catrice

It's no secret that brands Essence and Catrice are owned by the same company. Catrice is like a big sister to Essence – Essence is designed for younger ladies, girls in middle and high school, and Catrice is designed for women. Of course that doesn’t mean that only a certain aged girl/women can buy a certain brand. By now you probably all noticed that Essence and Catrice often release the same type of products, just in a different design. Because I have some of the products of the same type from both brands I decided to compare them today and to tell you, which one I like better.

I want to stress out that this is my personal opinion and yours can differ, because it can happen that you have different experience with product than I.

Eyeshadow base

Essence I Love Stage vs. Catrice Prime and Fine

Essence eyeshadow base is on the market for a longer period of time, while Catrice released new Prime and Fine base recently. I’m saying new, because there was a base with the same name before, but frankly, it was crappy and I’m glad Catrice listened to costumers and made it better. Essence base contains 4 g and it’s a nude, a bit orangey, creamy eyeshadow base with quite nice coverage. It applies easy and evenly on eyes, and also eyeshadows blend nicely over it and look intense. It was my favourite for a long time, but lately I started to notice that eyeshadows started to crease on my eyes after few hours, which didn’t happen before, so I have no idea what happened, because I have normal lids and creasing happened only if eyeshadows were bad. On the other hand Catrice contains 5 g of product and it is sheer base, but the same as Essence easy to apply and blend on lids (the old one was impossible to apply evenly). Eyeshadows stick to it nicely, look intense and blend without any problem. They look intense even after many hours of wear and don’t crease. I have to give Catrice credit for this change and admit them that they did a very good job with this base.

Winner: Catrice

Highlighting pencil

Catrice Made to Stay Inside Eye highlighting pen vs. Essence Big Bright Eyes 01 Highlight it ... Nude

Catrice was the first highlighting pencil in my collection. It was so praised in the beauty world that I had to try it myself. It has a twist up mechanism and there 0,3 g of product in the packaging. While so many people like it, I have to say I’m rather disappointed by it. It’s such a hard pencil and so hard to apply on waterline, especially if I’m doing darker look and eyeshadow ends up on it. I have to clean waterline and then apply it to get any colour payoff out of it. It’s a matte beige pencil and I have to admit it that once its applied it doesn’t move, since it’s waterproof (even when I swatch it it sets in a second and it’s impossible to smudge it), but unfortunately that doesn’t convince me to fell in love with it. On the other hand Essence released jumbo highlighting pencils in few shades. I got 01 Nude, which is a nude shimmery shade. It’s a pencil that you have to sharpen and it’s not as convenient as Catrice one, but it’s softer, creamier and easier to apply on waterline. It also blends nicely. It’s so nicely pigmented that one pull is enough for full coverage on waterline, even if there’s plenty of eyeshadow that fell there during application. Despite its soft texture and non-waterproof nature it last for quite some time on waterline. Essence pencil contains 1,41 g, which makes it more affordable than Catrice.

Winner: Essence

Lipsticks

Lipsticks are another type of products I’m not really sure I should compare here. Although I do like Essence Lognlasting lipstick collection a lot, because they released few of my favourite shades to wear (Natural Beauty, Adorable Matt), there’s no chance that these would beat Catrice Ultimate Colour lipsticks, which are usually very pigmented and last for quite some time on lips.

Winner: Catrice

Lipliners

Essence Long lasting lipliners vs. Catrice Ultimate Stay lipliners

Lipliners with swirl up system are a novelty by both brands, and while by my opinion Essence did it great, Catrice should put more effort into the texture and improve it in the future. Essence lipliners contain 0,3 g and they are creamy, pigmented, easy to apply, feel pleasant on lips and don’t dry them out. Catrice lipliners also contain 0,3 g and their texture is harder, very fragile and drier on the lips. Because of the fragile nature lipliner is hard to apply nicely and evenly on lips, although the pigmentation is good. Also, it brakes fast, which is the reason I only have one third of liner left, although I used it only few times.

Winner: Essence

Blushes

I’m not really sure if comparing blushes is on place, because by my opinion Essence and Catrice blushes quite differ. Catrice has Defining Blushes, a collection of matte shades, Multicolour Blushes, a collection of blushes that have more different shades, and Illuminating Blushes, a collection of shimmery shade, while Essence has Silky Touch, a collection of shimmery shades, Blush Up!, a collection of gradient blushes, and Soo Blush!, a collection of cream to powder blushes. But despite the difference Catrice made my favourite blushes, and if anyone would ask me which drugstore blushes I’d recommend I’d say Catrice.

Winner: Catrice

Eyebrow palette

Essence How to Make Brows Wow vs. Catrice Eye Brow Set

I never liked brow products from Essence until they didn’t release How to Make Brows Wow palette. The shade Love Brunettes is a perfect match for my strangely shaped eyebrows and I personally like bold eyebrows, although some people might hate them. On the other hand Catrice makes great eyebrow products. The palette with two eyeshadows is great as well, although the darker shade is way too dark and the light shade can be match for many girls. Its advantage is also that brightest shade doesn’t have too brown or orange undertone as both brighter shades in Essence palette have.

Winner: Hmmm ... both.

Nail polish

In latest assortment change both brands released nail polishes with new formula alike to gel formula, which also brought better, easier to work with brushes for both brands. I have to admit I went crazier by Essence with new polishes, because I already own 12 shades, while I bought only one shade from Catrice. But the main reason is that Catrice didn’t make enough interesting shades that I already don’t have in my stash.

Winner: Both did well.

Concealer

Essence Stay All Day 16h longlasting concealer vs. Catrice Velvet Finish

I’m comparing these two, because they work pretty much the same on me. Both brands released shade light enough to match my skin tone, have middle coverage, blend easy and on my skin they cover blemishes well and also work great on under eye are. The main difference between these two is in the formula – Catrice has drier formula than Essence, which means that it can feel dry under the eyes, so moisturizing this area well before applying makeup is a must for me. The difference is also in the packaging. While Essence has a very sturdy packaging, the lid on Catrice's concealer broke very fast and it pours out a bit where the lid and the packaging stick together.

Winner: Essence

Mascara

I haven’t tried many types of mascara from Catrice, but those that I did didn’t impress me at all. They are good to achieve a natural look, but that’s not what I’m searching for. Essence has few flops in their assortment as well, but on the other hand they released the best mascaras for low price. I’m talking about I Love Extreme and Lash Princess mascaras that are holy grail mascaras of many people and also mine.

Winner: Essence

Limited Edition

When it comes to limited edition collection I’ve been always a bigger fan of Essence collections. Their LE’s are funnier, more exciting and usually trendier, while Catrice usually focus more on runway. But when you follow both brands for many years you notice that they repeat themselves quite a lot.

Winner: Essence 

Overall, I like both brands, because they are good drugstore brands and each of them released few gems that I couldn’t live without, but my favourite brands is still Catrice. Now, please, share with me, if you tried any of these products and what do you think of them. Do you agree or disagree with me= Have you tried any other similar type of product from both brands I didn’t mention here and which brand made a better impression? Thank you for reading!