An Essence Haul | First Impressions & Swatches

I'd never taken an interest in Essence before this week. I just thought it was a cheap, childish brand, which is ridiculous because I like other brands with a similar price point. Anyway, since getting into wearing lip liner, I'd seen the Essence ones being spoken about a few times, so thought I'd pop into my local Wilkinson (Wilko) and have a look at the stand.

Everything above was £1-£4, which isn't bad at all. The packaging looks a little cheap, but I've seen far worse. The products also have that cheap smell to them, which doesn't bother me too much, but thought it was worth mentioning.

The reason for going to the stand in the first place was to pick up a lip liner or two. I ended up walking away with 06 Satin Mauve, which is a natural, muted pink shade. It's slightly harder in texture than the Rimmel Exaggerate ones, but this was £1 instead of £3.99. I read that they used to be softer, but Essence wanted to make them act more as a lip liner, which I get. I've used it once so far, and think it does the job perfectly well.

There were a lot of lipsticks, separated into different formulations. I went with two shades from the Long Lasting Nude range, which were £2.30 each. 03 Come Naturally is the cooler of the two, and is a mauvey shade. 05 Cool Nude is a pink toned nude. I like them a lot so far, but I think it's pretty hard to get a lipstick wrong. The formula doesn't feel any different to a normal lipstick, so I don't know where the 'long lasting' part comes into it, but they're creamy and comfortable on the lips.

Do the next lip products look familiar to you? The Liquid Lipsticks are £2.50 each, and are practically the same as the Maybelline Colour Elixir Lip Lacquers. I have 02 Beauty Secret, which is an everyday pink, and 06 Make A Statement, which I'd describe as being a daytime rosy red. Just like the Maybelline ones, they're a pigmented, balmy gloss. I like them, but I don't think they should have been called liquid lipsticks. They're not.

I barely wear eyeshadow, but the All About Nudes Eyeshadow Palette (£4) looked too pretty to pass up, and I thought my mum would appreciate it. I think it's a great little palette so far. The bottom champagne shade has a pearl finish, and the bottom taupe shade is shimmery, but the rest are satin. They're buttery soft and not chalky, and the pigment payoff isn't bad either. It's not mind blowing, but I think that's okay for these types of shades.

I also picked up an eyeshadow in 19 The Grammy Goes Glammy, which is a shimmery champagne, and was just £1. I don't think the shimmer is fine enough to be used as a highlight on the face, which is what I thought I could use it for at first, but they had a couple other similar shades. Like the eyeshadows in the palette, it's buttery soft.

Long Lasting Nude Lipstick in 05 Cool Nude, Long Lasting Nude Lipstick in 03 Come Naturally, Liquid Lipstick in 02 Beauty Secret, Liquid Lipstick in 06 Make A Statement, Lip Liner in 06 Satin Mauve, Eyeshadow in 19 The Grammy Goes Glammy, All About Nudes Eyeshadow Palette.

I don't know if any of these will become all time favourites, but I'm pleased with what I bought. I'm considering going back to the stand and trying a couple more things anyway, which says something!