I Need To Stop Buying Lip Products

Honestly. You know those storage holders which fit 24 lipsticks in? I have three of those just for the shades I can't bear to put away, and I've just had to order a fourth. Three said 'wow, you have a lot of lip products', whereas four says 'you may have a problem'. Butttt, there’s so many shades, so many finishes, so many formulas. I never used to wear nudes or lip liners, so the last few months have seen me exploring those areas, opening up so many more buying opportunities. The ones in this post kind of reflect that.

I wouldn’t have bought the Rimmel lipsticks if there wasn’t a stand where I work. They were simply impulse purchases on my lunch break. We have the shade Retro Red 53 from the new Kate Moss Red vs Nude collection, which is celebrating 15 years of collaboration. This is a deep, berry red. Then there’s another Kate Moss Lasting Finish lipstick in the shade Rossetto 03. It’s a nude which isn’t too pink, or too orange.

I travelled up to Exeter with my parents last week because my dad was getting a new tattoo. While he was doing so, my mum and I went shopping. When we popped into Boots and I saw the NYX stand, I let out a little sound of surprise and excitement. We spent a good amount of time swatching the products, but because I’ve already bought a lot from the brand in the last couple of months, and I knew I really should calm down on the lip product front, I left with just one Soft Matte Lip Cream. I used to love the shade Milan, and the Collection Cream Puffs, which are a similar product, but haven’t used them in so long. I picked up the shade Cannes 19, which is a terracotta colour. I don’t really have anything like this in my collection actually. The other shades I have in this colour family are brighter and more peachy.

On the same day, I also bought the Essence Long Lasting Lip Liner in Girl Next Door 08 from Wilko. You can only buy these in store, but my local doesn’t have a big enough stand to stock them, so I was very happy to find them up there. The shade I wanted was actually out of stock, and I thought this was far too brown at first, but decided to give it a try for £1.50. I love this product. I have some photos of me wearing it at the bottom of this post. Forgive the fact that they're poor quality and taken from my Twitter. I like wearing it on its own, sandwiched between two layers of lip balm so it’s not too drying. I’ve been using potted lip balm so it doesn’t disturb the colour, like a stick would do.

I love NYX, I love lip liners, and I love nudes, so the NYX Retractable Lip Liner in Nude 10 is a winner. It’s very similar in shade to the NYX Slide On Lip Pencil in Nude Suede Shoes, but I’ve been using this over that one because it doesn’t need sharpening.

Rimmel Kate Lasting Finish Lipstick in Retro Red 53, Rimmel Kate Lasting Finish Lipstick in Rossetto 03, NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Cannes 19, NYX Retractable Lip Liner in Nude 10, and Essence Long Lasting Lip Liner in Girl Next Door 08.

Essence Long Lasting Lip Liner in Girl Next Door 08.

Another Collection of Essence Purchases

I posted an Essence haul just last month (here), and although I said I may pop back to the stand for a couple more things, I didn't expect to buy enough to warrant another post. But here we are.

I really, really didn't need another mascara, but wanted to try the I Love Extreme Crazy Volume Mascara (£2.80) because of the high ratings. At £2.80, I thought I may as well.

I already own two lipsticks from the nude range, but found the Long Lasting Lipstick in 06 Barely There (£2.30), and had to add it to my collection. The other two I have from Essence are pink and mauve based, whereas this is more brown, so it's completely warranted.

I picked up another Lip Liner (£1), this time in 05 Soft Berry, because I quite liked the Satin Mauve one I bought last time.

I was also a fan of the Liquid Lipsticks (£2.50), even though I wouldn't go as far to say they're liquid lipsticks. Like the Maybelline Colour Elixir Lip Lacquers, they're pigmented, balmy glosses. The shade above is 04 Show Off, which is a bright, summer red.

Finally, I opted for the Long Lasting Eye Pencil in 25 Say Hi Light (£1.50). I absolutely love this pencil, and have already bought another. If you'd like to see my review of it, click here.

This affordable brand has really impressed me, and I like that they regularly bring out new releases to keep up with the trends. They have a range of gel-like nail polishes, and have recently brought out eyebrow pomades as well. It's certainly a brand I'm going to keep an eye on.

The Best Nude Pencil For Pale Complexions (And It's Only £1.50)

Nude eyeliners are not only great for applying to your waterline and making your eyes appear bigger and brighter, but they make for great blemish concealers as well. It's best to wipe them after use, or have separate pencils for each task, for sanitary reasons, but it really is worth it. 

I've been using Rimmel's Scandal Eyes Waterproof Kohl Eyeliner in Nude (second swatch) and Look Beauty's (remember this brand?) Long-Last Liner Eye Brightener (third swatch) for a while now. They look incredibly orange on my incredibly pale arm, but they're really not that bad on my face.

Still, I've found a pencil much better in the last couple of weeks, and it's from the brand Essence. The Essence Long Lasting Eye Pencil in Say Hi Light is just £1.50, and is lighter in shade. This makes my eyes look brighter, and conceals my blemishes more than the other two. It's creamy and pigmented, but what has impressed me the most is how long lasting it really is. It stays on my waterline all day, and when it came to removing the swatches above, it was the last one standing. To top it all off, it's mechanical, so you don't need to sharpen it.

I've already bought another because I know it's going to get a lot of use, and I'm always worried brands will discontinue my favourite products!

Essence products can be found at Wilko, online and in store. If you've yet to check them out, I'd recommend you do so. You never know, you may end up finding an all time favourite, costing you just the loose change in your pocket.

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!