Okay, so after seeing the Essence Emporium for myself, I can say 3 things that have become frequent complaints in the past half an hour and ways around them.
1 - The emporium IS offering more than just the 10k Emerald chromas. If they're all you can see, come back in an hour or two, or follow step 2.
2 - you can still purchase chromas via their respective skin pages (for example, if you own a Sentinel skin, click on the skin, then the chromas, then the chroma you want, and select to purchase with BE). It will be slow but it can and does work.
3 - All chromas this sale are half price! Chromas this time around are 1000 BE each as opposed to 2000 like normal. I don't know if the 50% off deal also applies to the other stuff you can buy. EDIT - it does not. All other event stuff is normal price, including the 10k BE exclusive Chromas.
Hope this helps anyone who's worried about the Emporium so far!