On a recent trip to Ulta, I noticed a cute, colorful endcap stuffed to the brim with makeup and nail polish.   I had heard that Essence was coming to Ulta, but I never dreamed it would make it to my Ulta so soon!   Essence Cosmetics is a brand from Europe, specifically Germany.   Essence's products aren't tested on animals, though I don't see them on PETA's list of companies that don't test.  The products are made in a variety of places, including France (nail polish), Germany (eyeliner), Poland (eyeshadow), and PRC, the People's Republic of China (nail stamper.)

The prices are extremely low, so I couldn't resist!  I bought five nail polishes (US$0.99/ea.), an eyeshadow duo ($2.49), the nail polish stamping set ($2.99), and two eyeliners ($0.99 and $1.99.)  I had an Ulta coupon for $5 off, so with tax, this haul cost just over $9!

The polishes are a pretty good deal, since they're 0.1 fl oz/5ml for $0.99.  The bottles are small, but if you're looking for a color you aren't going to wear often, or you're afraid you'll get tired of the color pretty quickly, the smaller the bottle, the better.  The five nail polishes I bought were:

#19 VIP Appeal: This color is a beautiful cool-toned pink that's not too shockingly bright, but definitely not dull.  This color was incredibly, woefully thin.  I did four to five coats, so the finished product was darker on the nail versus in the bottle.  If you squint, you can see the slightest sliver of my nail tip through the polish.

#22 What Do U Think?: I think it's a pretty orange with a blush of pink, just enough to keep this polish from being pure orange.  I didn't get any decent non-flash pictures of this one, so you may have to take my word on that.   This polish also needed multiple coats, so it dried darker than the bottle color as well.

#27 No More Drama: This color is a cool-toned dark lavender that needed three coats to be opaque.  It dried noticeably darker than the bottle color.

#28 Plum Perfect: This was the first polish that stood out to me on the rack.  I'd call it a lovely raspberry/blackberry mix.  Only two coats were needed, and it dried slightly darker than the bottle color.

#24 Underwater: While all of the other colors were crèmes, this medium blue color is a shimmer.  The shimmer is frosty, so you will see some brushstrokes. I ended up with three coats of this one.  I didn't use basecoat under this color (or any of the others) when I swatched and wore it, so it did leave me with a blue tinge to my nail bed.

In these pictures, VIP Appeal is on my thumb, What Do U Think? is on my index finger, No More Drama is on my middle finger, Plum Perfect is on my ring finger, and Underwater is on my pinkie.  It looks like three out of the four pictures are the same, but I swear they're not.  I kinda like how they turned out similar though.

That last picture was with super duper uber flash, which I'm sure you already figured out.  I'm just here to confirm your suspicions.   Even though most of the crèmes were sheer, I don't think they qualify as jellies.  They don't have that juicy, squishy look of a jelly.  I think they're more flat and less dimensional, though still shiny.  If anyone happens to be interested in the makeup I purchased, please let me know and I'll swatch it.