Essence

Essence Juicy Bomb Party Limited Edition Overview

By Maychiri's Thoughts - June 07, 2025

Hey - guess what? It's time for the limited edition I hinted at in my previous post!
 
 
This is the Essence Juicy Bomb Party Limited Edition!
 
 
 
"The new essence Juicy Bomb Party Trend Edition is here – bright, juicy & simply bomb![sic] 
Look forward to brand new Juicy Bomb lip products with a sweet, fruity fragrance, a glossy finish & a mega shine effect. 🍋🍒🍉🍓"
- Essence, www.essence.eu
 
 
So... an LE exclusively focused on the ever popular Juicy Bomb lip gloss? A bit random I must admit, but it's for sure fun! And isn't that one of the most important aspects of makeup, to have fun? This LE is gonna fit right in with the hot weather right now, with all the tropical fruit scents and bright colours. 
 
 
Source: www.essence.eu
 
Of course, the focus is on the eponymous lip gloss, but that ain't all! This is a medium-sized limited edition for Essence & Catrice standards, featuring a whopping 8 products! Some filler, yes, but most of it is perfectly usable. There's nothing for the eyes, which is a missed opportunity to make some, idk, glittery eyeshadow toppers maybe? Or colourful liners? As for "makeup" makeup, there's 4 products, with the remaining 4 being accessories or body products. And because most of the items are glossy/semi-sheer, this makes the entire LE super inclusive, unlike Catrice's Desert Dune LE (and the following LE from Essence, but that will come soon). So, if I wanted to, I could absolutely use all of these products on my very pale skin, yay! Or people with very dark skin can use them as well, no problem. Also, releasing that rainbow lipgloss right around June (aka "pride month") is a clever move.
 
 
 
 
You know, let's NOT start with the lips, that would be boring. Let's instead start with the face, which should be simple and easy, with only one product: a jelly blush, in two shades.
 
 
Well, this probably isn't for my skin, and that makes me kinda sad, as the shade 01/Cassis Crush looks so cute! So, these are, as the name implies, jelly blushes. They are described as having a gel-like, refreshing formula, with added squalane for skin care (indeed, squalane is the first ingredient). These blushes being gel-like is my worry; I have used a jelly blush once and it pilled like crazy, and even cream blushes tend to look patchy on me and pill. This formula definitely looks like it might be a bit iffy from the photos. The blushes seem to not be extremely pigmented, which, you know, is actually a good thing. You don't want them to be poorly pigmented, but you also don't want them to be so pigmented that using/blending them becomes an issue. 
 
 
So I guess these are buildable? They are also glossy, which, eh, I personally would prefer a matte blush, but I see why this kind of glossy finish could be useful. That pink colour especially might look like a natural flush with that gloss!
 
 
As for colours, there are two: a pink/berry colour and a coral shade. IF they are not extremely pigmented, then both of these colours would be usable on pale skintones. Otherwise, they look like they'd be awesome on light and medium skintones. Oh, they also smell like cassis (01/Cassis Crush) and peach (02/Peach Passion) - how yummy!
 
 
 
 
Next, let's move on to the body products! I want to save the best for last, I am not ignoring the star of this LE, don't worry. There's two products for this category: a shower gel and a body mist, in 3 different scent profiles.
 
 
 
 
Huh, a shower gel! Cannot recall the last time I saw a shower gel as part of an Essence LE, so to me, this seems a bit random. It definitely reads as filler, albeit useful filler; at the end of the day, we all shower so a shower gel is bound to be useful. Featuring a tropical fruity scent, this goes well with the rest of the LE. But these kinds of scents can very quickly become way too strong and cause nausea. Hopefully, it is not that intense and synthetic-smelling. 
 
 
 
 
 
They may say various fluff about this shower gel "[leaving] your skin feeling soft and revitalized", but, looking at the ingredients list, it is nothing special, so I'd bet that it leaves your skin in the same condition as most other shower gels. Meh. If it smelled like, say, watermelon, I'd be down for this but as it stands, I will pass.
 
 
 
The other body product is a body mist, another filler (in my opinion). Full disclosure: I missed it having other scents at first - oops! The 3 scents are: 01/Viva Vanilla, 02/Caramel Crush, 03/Lychee Lagoon. Oof, all three sound extremely saccharine. Look, I love me some vanilla and sweet perfumes, but this sounds too sweet even for me. Though, preteens are going to love it, I just know that. I know I would have been obsessed with this type of scent back when I was like 10. And judging by how popular Sol de Janeiro is with that age-group, yeah, they will love this.
 
 
Side note: Essence doesn't say which scents are where in the scent pyramid, so I will assume that the first one is the top note, second one the heart note, and the third one a base note. This may be wrong, but without any description, it's the only way to make sense of these body sprays. 
 
 
 
 
So, the first one: 01/Viva Vanilla, belonging to a fruity/floral scent family. Described as having a blend of sweet vanilla, sugared violet, and juicy plum notes. Oh god, violet is known to develop a strongly plasticy kind of scent on some skin types, which, when combined with plum and sweet vanilla. Ugh, that sounds nauseatingly sweet. I will definitely skip this one! I don't want any additional nausea, no thanks!
 

 
 
 
The second one, 02/Caramel Crush, is of a gourmand scent family, it seems. It combines notes of sweet caramel, toasty almond and creamy pistachio. Of course it has pistachio, smh. Everything has to have pistachio these days. Anyways, so you'll basically smell like a Dubai cake? Just picturing the smell, I can already see the salty sweet notes of caramel mixing weirdly with the burnt intense notes of toasted almonds. That might be way too intense. Like, for real. And then there's pistachio, which often smells somewhat plasticy... oh god, I hope this doesn't smell like burnt plastic! In any case, a smell perfect for kids.
 
 
 
 
And the last one, 03/Lychee Lagoon. This one is a fruity/fresh type of scent. It has notes of juicy lychee, pink pitaya, and sea salt. Honestly, were it not for the (typically) sickeningly sweet smell of lychee, this one would be the most interesting one. Pitaya has a very sugary sweet kind of smell which has the potential to create a very summery kind of smell when combine with sea salt. I am picturing something broadly similar to Furla Unica, but then, there's also lychee, which just smells soapy and way too saccharine. Shame, it had potential, but the lychee ruins it.
 
 
 
Do note that, despite Essence claiming that these last all day, at the end of the day, these are just body sprays, not even EdT or EdP. So the likelihood of them lasting any longer than maybe 1-2 h tops is small, though they may be very intense initially. It's just the nature of them being body sprays.
 
 
 
 
 
Okay, and the final category before the stars: accessories. There are three accessories, a makeup bag, a set of makeup sponges, and a set of wristbands and a headband. Useful for sure, but again, filler for the most part.
 
 
 
Okay, what is with all the makeup bags coming out recently from both Essence and Catrice??? Is every LE going to have their own makeup bag? Because this is just too much plastic for a planet that is already drowning in both plastic and microplastic. Anyways, this bag is sooo kitschy and gaudy. Perfect for kids I guess. The bright yellow and magenta is... a choice. The colours don't necessarily clash, they are just way too intense, which makes my eyes hurt when I look at the bag for too long. The text is way too giant so it just looks cheap. And at its core, it's just a magenta clear plastic bag. Way too ugly for me, let's  move on.
 
 
 
The way more useful item is the headband/wristbands set. If you look at any of my reviews of face masks, you'll notice that I am always wearing headbands. I have a LOT of hair, and it gets everywhere so I need to keep it out of the way and a hairband is a simple and cute solution. I should also use wristbands because all of my shirts/tops always end up being wet to the elbows while I wash my face... but the ones I currently have need to be mended. I just need to practice my sewing before I am confident enough to fix them.
 
 
So when I saw this set, it brought a smile to my face. Not only is it useful, it is also so very cute - and without it being bunny or cat ears! That's what these headbands usually are - that, or bows. But this is a giant pineapple, haha! That's funny! It would 100% look ridiculous, I kinda want it! I wonder if the 'leaves' of the pineapple have wires in them or if they are floppy? It would be fun if they are wired so that you could arrange them in different positions. The theme here is pineapples, so the set is yellow & green. The wristbands are pure yellow, so if you wore them with the headband, only the top of your head would be green - just like a pineapple! 
 
 
The material is most likely a polyester blend, like most of these fluffy headbands/wristbands. This material absorbs water quite nicely, which helps prevent getting your sleeves all wet. 4 eur... hmm, will have to think about this.
  
 
 
And the last accessory is a set of makeup sponges. Because the shape of various fruits lends itself well to makeup sponges, so it only makes sense. Not the first fruit-themed makeup sponges obviously (I still have that old I ❤ Revolution set of a pineapple and strawberry sponge!), and they don't look like they are of very high quality either. They are lacking the details that the fruit has. Look, I know this simplifies the production and, by extension, makes them cheaper to produce, but they truly do look cheap. Like, look at that strawberry in particular. The stem is flat and cut sharply, it doesn't even look like those are leaves, and the strawberry itself doesn't have those tiny little seeds. 
 
 
As a comparison, the IHR one has little divots all over to represent those seeds, so it can be done. Similarly, the lemon is missing its pitted skin texture. It's like, B- for effort, but... it's just not what it should be. I don't know how good these sponges are actually, of course, but I don't even want to try them when they look so half-assed, sorry. 
 
 
 
 
 
Ah, finally! The focus of this whole LE: lips! For the lips, there are 3 distinct products: a lip oil (in 4 flavours/shades), a jumbo lip gloss, and the fan-favourite Juicy Bomb lip gloss in 5 limited-edition shades/flavours.
 
 
 
I want to check out the lip oil first, as that is what I use most often. Isn't it sooo adorable!? Look how small and cute it is! 
 
 
There are 4 flavours: 01/Peach Perfect, 02/Watermelon Wonders, 03/Marvellous Mango, 04/Adorable Apple. Hmm, 3 out of those 4 sound absolutely delicious! I am only iffy about the mango, purely because the extreme sweetness and tropical flavour of mango can make me sick sometimes. Being lip oils, these are naturally quite glossy, so you could use them in place of a lip gloss on bare lips for some extra lip care. It seems to me that these are super subtle in therms of colour, wonder if any of the 4 would actually look different on the lips? It could be that only 02/Watermelon Wonders pops. But colour isn't the main point here, it is hydration! And for that, there is jojoba oil, meadowfoam seed oil, vitamin E and hyaluronic acid. Uh, not the most nourishing lip oil ever, but it should help, at least. It should be good enough before bed, which is when I use lip oils mostly.
 
 
I am most interested in shade 04/Adorable Apple, hope I can find it! Because I am really curious! 
 
 
 
 
 
Now, let's supersize thing with this jumbo Juicy Bomb lip gloss! Because bigger is always better - or so they say! But why the lichee scent/flavour? [ETA: apparently, because that is the best-selling flavour.] If this was the pitaya flavour, oh man, I would buy this so quickly! This is your standard Juicy Bomb, just in an XL size. So, if you've used any Juicy Bomb before, you'll know what it's like. Basically, a super slick and comfy lip gloss with extreme glossiness and zero tackiness.
 
 
 

 
 
And let's finish by returning to the regular size with these new Juicy Bombs. Like I said for the jumbo version, these are mostly your usual Juicy Bombs. It has taken quite a few years to finally start using Juicy Bombs but once I did, I understood why these are a fan-favourite. In fact, the Juicy Bomb may well be Essence's hero product, one fans keep coming to despite there being other lipglosses. I constantly see preteens checking these out, but they aren't just for kids - oh no! These are awesome lipglosses actually; non-sticky, hydrating, mega glossy and just so, so comfy! And so yummy that I want to just eat it! 
 
 
 
 
There's already quite a few shades/flavours out there already, but the 5 new ones for this LE are: 01/Bubblegum Bliss, 02/Luminous Lime, 03/Pretty Pitaya, 04/Kiwi Kisses, 05/Strawberry Sprinkles. I forgot to say this earlier, but note that every single shade has alliteration - kudos to Essence for coming up with so many of them! They are quite clever here and there, aside from just sounding cute!
 
 
 
 
Wait... pitaya???? PITAYA???? I NEED THAT ONE. Ahem, I need to calm down. It's just that the regular version of the pitaya-flavoured Juicy Bomb is so delicious that I have a hard time resisting just licking it off. Anyways, I have to say, I am not too enthused by most of these flavours. I can already see hating some of them because they are nauseatingly sweet. But a kiwi flavour is quite interesting! 
 
 
Now, flavour isn't the only thing distinguishing each of these shades, they also have various textures and special-effects. 
 
 
 
 
In order, 01/Bubblegum Bliss has a "rainbow radiance" to it... whatever that means??? Wait, is it actually rainbow coloured inside? Very LGBTQIA+, I like that inclusivity! And just perfect for June, is it not? But of course it has to be bubblegum flavour, eugh. I hate that flavour, I have always hated it, ever since I was a child. 
 
 
 
 
 
02/Luminous Lime is... wait, why is it pink? Limes aren't pink? So, this shade is one of those gimmicky pH-reacting lip glosses. Well, I shouldn't say 'gimmicky' because that does actually work, but it's overblown. Like, every time I try that effect out, I am like "that's it?", so I just think it's time for it to go. Officially. Only, this lip gloss is like an unholy spawn of two things that shouldn't be in a lip gloss: pH-reacting and huge glitter. What the? Why??? The glitter literally looks like huge pieces of plastic, that looks like it could cut your lips. And don't get me started on ingesting all that microplastic, ewww. Way to ruin a perfectly good lip gloss.
 
 
 
03/Pretty Pitaya is the best one! I am sure! It has to be! Not only is it free from all that crap like pH-reacting and glitter, it also tastes like pitayas, which is a dream! I have a pitaya-flavoured standard Juicy Bomb, so I can tell you that this probably tastes the same: super sweet but not nauseatingly, it's like a fruity, a bit oriental kind of sweetness and very refreshing. Ahh, and the soft pink colour is so gorgeous! I must try to acquire this one!
 
 
 
 
 
04/Kiwi Kisses is an interesting one. They say it has a colour-changing effect, but I am unsure whether this means simply that it reacts to pH or whether it actually changes from one colour to another over time without caring about pH. I am gonna guess it is pH-reacting, just without the glitter, to set it apart from shade 02/Luminous Lime. Eh, not interested in this effect, but I am highly intrigued in the scent/flavour. I cannot think of another lip product at the top of my head that smelled like kiwis. 
 
 
 
 
05/Strawberry Sprinkles is the very last one. And sprinkles is the right word to use - ew, my god, that huge glitter. So, this is like 02/Luminous Lime, only without the pH-reacting effect. I am quite frankly disgusted with this glitter, and it's such a shame because this is the strawberry-flavoured one and I adore strawberries. :/ Ah well. I mean, what the hell is even that glitter? Circular pieces of plastic on the lips without any colour... yaaay just what I wanted... sarcasm obvs. Like, how can this look good? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
So, we have come to the end of this fun and festive LE! All about the fabulous Juicy Bomb lip gloss - this is a good example of how to expand one product in a few different ones while keeping the same core theming. The theming being fruits and cute.
 
 
Source: www.essence.eu
 
I must say, I did not have a whole LE themed around Juicy Bomb on my 2025 bingo card but weirder things have happened this year. But it's all so fun and the theming is so on point. Everything is bright and vibrant and fit for a summer party. As soon as I saw this LE, I knew it would have new Juicy Bomb lip gloss variants - they throw these in many other LEs as well - but what I did not expect to see is a jelly blush. Is this Essence testing out a new product by launching it in an LE first? Could be! Could very well be! There's some grade-A filler here as well, but most of it is useful. Gaudy yes, but useful. 
 
 
If you thought that I would skip this LE - nope! This is like a guilty pleasure; like, I just can't resist the call of some of these items. Like the body mist. Do I need it when I have a ton of EdPs and EdTs? Will it smell good? Both answers are likely... no? But I just am dying to smell it. And you can never have too many lip glosses, so I will be buying a few of the products from this LE. 
 
 
I actually cannot wait - hope I find them soon! Such a fun LE, I just love it!
 
 
 
 
Now, I bid thee farewell!
 
 
 
 
See you soon!
 
 
    Maja 
  
 

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