Essence & Catrice Superman & Wonder Woman Sisterlove Collection Overview
By Maychiri's Thoughts - May 01, 2025
Hi!
Let's take a look at one of the newest LEs from both Catrice and Essence, because it is a shared collection!
Then, they started using Disney animals like Dumbo, Bambi, Scar etc. But there's not an infinite amount of them, either. So why not go back to the roots, and use Mickey and co., along with Winnie the Pooh? Now, that's a vast majority of Disney characters used up... what could they switch over to after this?
Well, a subsidiary of Disney of course! I'm talking about Pixar, of course! The most recent Disney-themed Sisterlove collection was themed around Finding Dory and UP, so I expect to see more of Pixar's classics represented in the future (wonder what a Wall-E themed collection would look like?). But take a look at the title again... that's not Disney at all!
It seems that Cosnova (parent company of Essence & Catrice) has, at some point, struck a deal with DC Comics - or, more precisely - Warner Bros. Discovery. I was already surprised last year when they released a Batman-character-themed LE called "Madly Colourful", featuring the evil duo Harley Quinn and the Joker. And now, seeing this collection, it all makes sense. So it seems that there will be a Disney themed LE and a DC Comics themed LE, alternating between the two.
I am honestly not excited about the prospect of getting DC themed LEs because I have never been huge on DC. I've always been a Marvel lady; indeed, I could tell you so many obscure facts about the past and present characters of the MCU, but for DC? Yeah, I'm drawing a blank. I only know the basics about some of their most famous characters. If this were a Marvel themed LE then... hoo boy... I would be jumping out of my seat with excitement! Actually, now that I think about it, why isn't it Marvel? They are a subsidiary of Disney, after all and Cosnova still seems to have a deal with them...? Shame, would've loved an Iron Man/War Machine (or Ironheart) LE.
As you might have already guessed by the title of this post, this newest DC themed LE features the classics! I guess this is the good side after having villains the last time.
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| Source: Action Comics Vol 1 #1000 cover art |
His colour scheme and general appearance has a lot of potential for bold, vibrant makeup products, we will see what Essence have cooked up, since Superman is their half of this LE.
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| Source: Wonder Woman Vol 1 #800 cover art |
I am so excited about the golds - this will surely be an opulent, glittery collection! I hope they focus on the gold, though silver would also be nice. So will this be an LE worthy of the title of Princess of Themyscira? Side note: to hell with that name, I literally cannot pronounce it haha!
And here it is! Both sides of the LE!
Let's start with Essence, first. Oh... wait, what? What's with all the pink? Since when is this a Superman colour? Now, again, I don't know much about him, but I am pretty sure pink isn't a colour that is very representative of him. Hmm. Though it does make for some awesome contrast with the blue!
The Superman LE is a more balanced one than Wonder Woman; it has a balanced number of products for each category (face/eyes/lips/misc). It is also quite colourful, at least as far as packaging goes.
For the face, there is a good amount of products, though some of them are... questionable, at best. Highlighter sticks that are far too dark for anyone lighter than medium skintone? Really? Also colour-changing stuff again? I am so done with that "trend"; half the time it is barely visible anyways. So they go and make a blue colour-changing jelly blush... there is so much wrong with that. Blue (I get it, it changes into pink but still)? Jelly? I can already see how it applies patchy... and a silicone brush? What, so that you don't dip your fingers into the blush and make it change colour? I mean, useful, but... who asked for that kind of blush?
Then, a marbled face powder that is most definitely going to be too pink and/or too dark for me. I never understood the "pink face/undereye powder" trend. Either it looks exactly the same as clear powder or it's too pink and then your entire face looks unnaturally rosy.
Hair and body mist? Could be useful if it doesn't smell like tutti-frutti vape liquid. Now, this is going to be a hot take: I don't like tacky, grippy, face primers. I hate the way that feels on my skin. I know, I know, tackiness is important because it allows foundations to stick to something and last longer. But, personally, I just really don't like 'em. Oh, also, this grippy primer is blue... hope it dries down clear.
But there is one item I am very excited for: the powder puff! Remind you of anything? I couldn't even say how long I've had the Real Techniques Miracle 2-In-1 sponge on my wishlist, it's been there for AGES! But the Essence version of it is less than half the price, so if it is at least roughly as good as what people claim RT's sponge is, I will be very happy! That will go straight into my cart! Cannot wait to try it!
Eye product selection is mediocre, but there are two large eyeshadow palettes! I'm gonna pretend the eye pencils don't exist. I have a personal vendetta against goddamn duochrome and stuff like that, especially after the fiasco of the eye pencils in the Catrice 2024 Advent Calendar. I just hate duochrome and hope it soon disappears and stops being a trend because 85% of the time, it doesn't work right!
The palettes have a VERY tacky and gaudy outer design. My god, that's just kitsch. It's one of those effect that changes the picture depending on how you rotate it. The giant Superman face just bothers me. And thing is - what do the colours in either palette have in common with Superman at all? I guess the light green in the 02 variant could be kryptonite but the rest? Yeah, there's nothing that says 'Superman' here. It's just one basic neutral palette and one warmer, more colourful palette. Don't get me wrong - the 01 variant is gorgeous! Those are exactly the type of browns and mauves I adore, but the outer design is just so off-putting so I doubt I'll get this. Shame.
Lip products consist mostly of lip care, with just two lip stains... oh god. If there's one thing I despise in lip products, it's lip stains. And the colours they used aren't even good - orange and magenta? And it's a jelly lip stain? Uhhh nope!
Lip mask, lip oil roll-on, fine. Nothing too special although the design is sure fun! Fun little bubbles in the lip oil! Also a lip scrub that has... blue specks in it? I think that sugar is enough, no need to add little blue balls into the mix. None of these is something I particularly desire, tbh.
But the lip gloss? Yes, yes, it's blue and colour-changing... but it's also got a lil cape! Awww! Omg! So adorable! Will I hate the stain these pH reacting things leave? Very likely yes, but it's just too cute not to get!
And all that's left is random crap. How else am I supposed to call this? Nail stickers are cool I guess but, idk, they don't seem very exciting here. Pimple patches are very useful... if they stick properly, which most don't. So, even tough this is made for my type of skin I likely won't get this. Makeup bag is really whatever, especially with that tacky design. And the price? Sheesh! The hair clips are mega cute. I might get them, I've been on a hair decoration kick lately. Or maybe not, they are very... bright. Who knows.
So overall, a very uninspired collection tbh. Like, you cannot call it 'Superman' and then not use most of the colours representing him. There is blue here, but if I didn't know, I wouldn't be able to say: "Oh this is a Superman collection".
OKAY! Now, time for Catrice! Oh, now these colours represent Wonder Woman much better! The first colours I noticed were gold and deep blue - perfect! This is literally mostly gold, actually. I don't mind this! However, there is a definite focus on the face here, and most of the colours seem kinda dark for pale skin.
Like, look at the face products. What here is actually appropriate for pale skin? The luminizer face drops are not something I would buy anyways (my skin hates liquid highlighters, blushes and bronzers/contouring), but this is strictly for medium-to-darker skin. As is the shimmer body oil. And the bronzer stick. And the 'magic' highlighter. I get it, my skintone couldn't be a bronzed Amazon goddess even if it tried, it's just too light, but still. It kinda hurts seeing 90% of the face products be so dark. Even the bronzer sticks (which to me look more like contouring sticks because they are cool-toned but whatever), which is a shame because I would have liked to try them out. The blush duos are nice; I like the pink variant, which would probably be light enough for my skin, but I kinda feel like this colour would look weird on me. The other one is just too dark, even as bronzer.. The highlighter is something I am so not interested in; these kinds of highlighters that have multiple colours usually result in a slightly odd colour when you mix them all and it's usually extremely difficult to avoid mixing them because the pan is never large enough.
Glow setting spray is something I am not touching with a ten-foot pole. I tried that once and looked like a golden oil slick. No thank you, my skin is naturally 'glowy' enough, and by that I mean greasy. I don't need extra glow on top of that.
And the under eye brightener? All I'll say is read my review of the under eye brightener from the Catrice 2024 Advent Calendar. These things are stupid and don't work. I never understood why people are so hyped for them...
The eye products are more exciting to me than the Superman collection, and it's all got to do with those gorgeous palettes. Aside from them, there's also false eyelashes... that are cluster eyelashes. I don't have the time to glue each one of them separately, and knowing my clumsiness, I would just lose them within a day anyways. It's cool that they are preglued though.
I liked the Glam & Doll mascaras I tried, but they weren't spectacular. They tend to be good mascaras though, worth the money, so if you need a volumising mascara, this Wonder Woman variety could be a good pick. I don't need a mascara right now, though.
Now, onto those simply beautiful eyeshadow palettes! Both are, to me, very Wonder Woman colour-coded, unlike the Superman palettes. Though variant 010 is literally perfectly Wonder Woman! Full of golden shades and cooler toned mauves, and including the iconic deep blue in the form of a cake liner. These cake liners in Catrice palettes have been slightly hit-or-miss I've heard, but no matter the quality, at least it is a colour tied to Wonder Woman. I had the pleasure of swatching this variant on my arm in a shop recently and, my god, all the colours are to die for! Yes, it is slightly more costly, but I am NOT going to pass this palette up - no way! I gotta have my golds! Variant 020 is much warmer and slightly darker. It is full of warm rosy, red colours. Not my vibe personally, but it is still a stunning palette. Oh, and plus, they don't have that hideously kitschy outer design! It's just a classy Wonder Woman logo, much better!
The lips are not too interesting. There's just a 'Magic' lip balm (lots of "magic" stuff here, eh?), and a shimmer lip glaze. If I didn't already have 2368 lipglosses, the lip glazes would be interesting to me. Particularly shade 020, that one looks juicy and vibrant! I am on the fence about the lip balm. Do I need another lip balm? Nahhh... but this one has such an interesting design at the tip. And after swatching shade 020, I grew to love it. So I may buy this... perhaps.
And lastly, random s**t. But this time - more useful! Two brushes that are going to be super useful with the blush and under eye brightener! Not me reading 'concealer brush' and the wondering why they put a concealer brush with no concealer. Catrice brushes have been very good quality historically, but I am just not in the mood for more brushes currently. Body tattoos??? I guess?? I love the tribal design, too bad I am just too pale for this colour. Otherwise, I might have tried them. Like a nice band going along or around the arm? Sound cool! ...And another make up bag because I guess it has to match Essence's half. But this bag is much prettier. This serves elegance, unlike that gaudy Superman bag.
Now this is more like it! This is how you represent a character tastefully, while still retaining the colours most associated with them. See, when I look at this collection - without knowing it is Wonder Woman - I see 'bronzed Amazonian goddess. And is that not what Wonder Woman is, basically? But the addition of blues and reds makes it less generic. I actually really, really love this collection, it's just sad that I am too light for it. That said, it is awesome that most of this LE is suitable for dark/very dark skin. I know that dark skinned people have probably just as hard of a time finding suitable makeup like us pale skins, so it's great that they have a collection made for them, so to say. Technically, this seems more meant for tanned, Mediterranean-summer, skintones, but hey. A plus for representation, even if it is not in my direction!
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| Source: Wonder Woman #7 cover art |
PHEW! That's it!
I am both disappointed and excited for these collections. For how much the Superman collection was a let-down, that's how much the Wonder Woman one was a positive surprise. So it's obvious which one I prefer, haha! The one that's represented by a woman, of course /s. If I had to describe them simply, I would say that the Superman collection is for teens, while the Wonder Woman collection is for adults.
I have my list of items I am interested in, now I jyst have to wait for places like Notino or BIPA to get them.
I hope you enjoyed reading this overview of the newest Essence & Catrice LEs! Until the next new drop... or the next batch of reviews!
See you soon!
Maja
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