substance vs essence

substance and essence both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
substance	Yes	No	No	No
essence	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, essence is a hyponym of substance; that is, essence is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than substance:

substance: the real physical matter of which a person or thing consists
essence: any substance possessing to a high degree the predominant properties of a plant or drug or other natural product from which it is extracted

As nouns, substance and essence are synonyms defined as:

substance and essence: the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience

Other synonyms of substance include center, centre, core, gist, heart, heart and soul, inwardness, kernel, marrow, meat, nitty-gritty, nub, pith, sum.

substance (noun)	essence (noun)
the real physical matter of which a person or thing consists	a toiletry that emits and diffuses a fragrant odor
a particular kind or species of matter with uniform properties	the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience
the property of holding together and retaining its shape	the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work
the idea that is intended	any substance possessing to a high degree the predominant properties of a plant or drug or other natural product from which it is extracted
the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience
content communicating a message; what something is about
considerable capital (wealth or income)
material of a particular kind or constitution