Review: TreStiQue Essential 8 Set

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Full disclaimer: This post is NOT sponsored. Yup, I spent the $150 on this set and this is my honest review after 1.5 weeks of use. Am I poor and full of regrets? Read on the find out!

TreStiQue ads had been popping up all over my Facebook newsfeed. And the Facebook algorithm knew exactly how to pull me into their content. Ads portraying a woman on the go who wants to quickly apply or touch up her make up with a tiny cylinder pouch of make-up complete with – hold up – brushes in the make-up packaging?! 

I travel a lot for work and I recently went on a month long trip to India and South East Asia. I decided to bring all the essentials for a low-key glam look. No lashes, lash glues, etc. I even paired down my beloved red lipstick collection down to the essential 2 with some nudes mixed in. Even still, my make up case was HUGE, weighed 2 pounds, was bulky AF and a total PITA.

So when I saw TreStiQue’s essential 8 set, I was both: Take my money! and Please Be Worth It!

The Essential 8 set retails for $175 (but I used a coupon and got it for $148). The company also has a ‘Try Before You Buy” policy where they won’t charge your card until you’ve kept the product for 30 days. I thought – why not? If I ended up keeping the set, that’s roughly $18 per product which is pretty good. I need a make up set for both traveling for work when I don’t care if I look really glammed up and also for when I go to Physical Therapy in the mornings (I go 3 times a week) so I’m not constantly switching my make up from bag to bag.

The Essential 8 Set markets itself as a complete make up collection with the following items:

• Tinted Face Stick
• Concealer Crayon
• Shadow Crayon 
• Eye Pencil
• Brow Pencil
• Bronzer Stick or Highlighter Stick
• Blush Stick
• Lip Crayon
• Carrying Case 

I recently received a mini version of the highlighter in my Sephora Play! box and really liked the formula, so I felt pretty positive about the rest of the set before trying everything. But I’ll preface this review by saying that it would be unfair to rate this product as a whole. Some products are hit or miss, so below I’ve rated the products individually.

The Claim

12 hour long lasting formula, easy application with built in brushes/sponges for on-the-go applications and touch ups.

Packaging

Rating: 10/10

This is by far one of the best beauty packing systems I have ever seen. Phenomenal. ‘Nuff said. Each product feels heavy but not too heavy. Like good quality heavy. The best part is that the case enclosures are magnetic. They make a nice sounding ‘click’ as they close and give me piece of mind the tops won’t come loose and smear make up everywhere while jostling in my bag. Each product has either a blending brush (blush, contour) or sponge (foundation, eye liner, eyeshadow) except for the lipstick which has a balm on the other end and the brow pencil which has a brow cream/brush on the other end.

Tinted Face Stick

Rating: 7/10

All of the products are sheer with buildable coverage, but this is the sheerest of the sheer. I bought the lightest color and luckily it matched my skin very well.   

The Good:

The formula is very moisturizing and felt light on the skin. IIt blended out very well and after 3-5 minutes I felt like the formula ‘set’ and became a little powdery but in a good way – it really meshed well with my skin and I liked the look. There is a healthy amount of product in the full-size version. The formula did not oxodize (amen!).   

The Bad:

I wish there was a hair more coverage. My skin has some red patches first thing in the morning and especially after working out in PT and I had to use a good amount of product to get to a point where I felt my tone was even.  It was also difficult to blend the product out with the sponge applicator provided (was I supposed to wet the sponge first? Or use it dry? I tried both, neither worked that great.)

I used my trusty foundation brush to blend it out which worked really well. Fingers (as shown in ads) also worked better than the sponge provided. The other issue I have with this formula is the staying power – I would say it lasts 3-5 hours while I’m at work (in an office) before it breaks up like no one’s business. This is even after using a setting spray. I also wish it had some SPF as it would cover another step of my daily make up routine.

Concealer Crayon

Rating: 4/10

There is nothing horrible nor amazing about the concealer. It’s on the sheer side but definitely build able. It gets the job done but I still myself missing my favorites. I also wish the product size was thicker (it’s about the size of a #2 pencil) because I like to apply a lot under my eyes and I find that I just draw a lot of thin lines over my face.

Shadow Crayon

Rating: 10/10

LOVE this eye shadow, it is amazing! The color: beautiful. The coverage: super awesome. It DOES NOT CREASE and is incredibly easy to apply. I just draw it on my eye lid and dab with the sponge and it has great staying power. It looks the same after a 10 hour day at work as when I first applied it. I also find myself using this product during my normal routine. I will be buying more colors of this.

Eye Pencil

Rating: 1/10

Ugh. Where to start? I had high expectations when I swatched this on my hand. Super creamy and great coverage. Unfortunately I cannot apply this product at all. It tugs and I end up drawing uneven lines all over my eyelids. When I did a good enough job applying it it somehow had fallout and smeared below my lower lash line even after applying a setting spray. I tried this guy twice before relocating him to my ‘Eh Product Graveyard’ bin below my bathroom sink. 

Brow Pencil

Rating: 10/10

Love it – the liner does not crumble and the setting gel is a nice color for lighter hair. Two thumbs up!

Bronzer Stick

Rating: 9/10

The color works well for fair skin and it is SUPER bendable. No awkward brown lines here! I find myself using this bronzer in my daily make up (not just on-the-go). It loses a star because the brush end is difficult to use (too small and not long enough IMO).

Blush Stick

Rating: 9/10

Um, can you say PIGMENTATION? The color is a gorgeous peachy coral and has a lot of – you guessed it – pigment. One swipe is often good enough for me. It also blends very well and holds up well after a bunch of hours. Loses 1 star because the brush it comes with is kind of difficult to use and in stick form I have a little difficulty in getting it exactly where I like my blush.

Lip Crayon

Rating: 10/10

Love. This. Product. My lips have been recently dry and ravaged by matte liquid lipsticks so it felt extra good when I applied the lip crayon which is super creamy and gorgeously pigmented. The fig color is perfect for fall. I’ve been using a gel mattifier when I want to rock a true matte lip but I mostly have been using the balm end over it which helps smooth out the color and looks super classic. Staying power is OK considering this isn’t a liquid lipstick. Will last after coffee – will not last through a Chipotle burrito.

Overall

The Good:

Though my reviews across all products are mixed, the good products outweigh the blech ones. This set really does apply quickly and is compact, perfect on the go. The formulations are all sheer and blend out beautifully and are buildable – they give me a no-make-up make up look. Pigmentation across the board is stellar.

The Bad:

Not wild about the brush/sponge applicators on the larger face products (eyes and lips are great though!), I often just bring an extra brush or use my fingers to blend them out. The Tinted Face Stick needs to some work (staying power and a bit more coverage) and I think they should add some kind of translucent face powder product to the mix so I can set everything just a hair better. Also wish the Tinted Face Stick had some SPF since it is also a moisturizer.

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