Essence Lip Liners | Review & Swatches

If you love a good lip liner, and especially if you're on a budget, look no further.

These are the £1 (yes one English pound) each, and I have four here to show you.

Here's a lovely close up of my dry lips. From top left we have Satin Mauve, In The Nude, Honey Berry & Soft Berry.

Satin Mauve has quickly become an every day staple for me, it's just a really mauvey (hence the name, duh), soft pink, and works really nicely alone, over a lip balm or with a lipstick over top.

In The Nude is quite an orange - based nude, which I don't think is particularly flattering by itself on my skin as I have quite yellow undertones.

Honey Berry is a bright, blue-based pink/berry. I love this colour, and I think it will be so lovely in the Spring/Summer

Soft Berry is more of a brown based pinky/berry, which I love, and is really nice for this time of year.

I know the photos aren't the best, as I did them this morning, in my onesie with no other make up on, and dry, horrible lips.

But, I absolutely promise you that they are totally lovely, longwearing and obviously, very cheap.

Would definitely recommend :)

Thanks for reading!

Lou x



2 Budget Liquid Blushes

Oh hi!

Now I know a lot of people aren't very keen on cream blushes but bear (bare?) with me here, these two are worth a couple of minutes of your time.

As you can see from the swatches above, these are two completely different products, both in colour and consistency, and I love them both. 

If you are a cream blush fan- or even if you're not, but you're still a teeny bit curious- these are a couple of really good options at really low prices.

Firstly, we have the Make Up Revolution 'Vivid Blush Lacquer'  in Rush  which is this really really bright barbie pink here in the foreground. This is a very different product, and the blush actually gets squeezed out of the tube via a foundation- like pump. The consistency is fairly thick, quite moussey, but really easy to blend out - and you definitely need to blend this product as the pigment is really strong.

The second product is by Rimmel, it's their Stay Blushed Liquid Cheek Tint in 005 Apricot Glow. Compared to the MUR offering, this is a much thinner, more watery consistancy, much like a cream cleanser or something like that. Again, this is fairly pigmented, but easy to blend into the skin. I would say out of the two, this one may be slightly easier to blend.

Both products come in under £3 (I think I paid £1.50 for the MUR and £2.50 for the Rimmel), and wear-time is good on both.

I hope this was useful to all you cream blush novices out there - I know these are really summer-y colours but I have actually yet to find a winter-y shade of cream blush. Any reco's would be appreciated :)

Thanks for reading, over and out!

Lou xxx

Collection Lasting Colour Lipsticks

We all know how great the Lasting Perfection Concealer from Collection is- but what about their lipsticks? As it turns out, I have three, so I must like them enough to buy more, right?

From left to right I've got Scorned, Tea Rose and Sweet Tart.

I've had Sweet Tart the longest, hence why the bullet is all beaten up and gross, and I used to love this for a bright night-out lip back in the uni days. I haven't worn it so much recently, and I don't even know why- it's probably the melted shape of it that puts me off whenever I consider it.

Scorned was part of the Gothic Glam collection, which I'm not sure is still around, However, if it is, it's perfect for this time of year, especially for Halloween; a really deep dark aubergine purple.

The middle shade, Tea Rose, is a beautiful, wearable, warm pink which I bought most recently.
All three are creamy and pigmented, and I have to say I'm impressed with their lasting power. They aren't matte, so its not a stick-to-your-mouth job, but they definitely do a few hours nicely.
I'd recommend using a lip brush with these, especially the bright, bold shades as they can be messy to apply.

Overall, these are a steal at around £3 a pop, and a great formula to get a few more fun colours from, like Scorned and Sweet Tart. Check 'em out! :)


Thanks for reading!

Lou x

The £1.50 brush you all need

You would never think to look in Primark for make-up brushes, would you? However, having previously had a lot of luck with a mini powder brush back in my teenage days, I took a chance with this £1.50 small flat-topped stippling brush and I'm actually really impressed with it.
To give you an idea of size, here is my face:

It's absolutely perfect for blending cream blushes, bronzers or highlighters, and is soft and wash-able at the same time.
I love it so much that I might have to buy (a few) more.

Thanks for reading!

Lou x

2 Budget Gloss options

I am having a real lip gloss moment at the moment, which is inconvenient, because most of the world seems obsessed with the matte-est of matte lips. 

I just find gloss really easy to wack on and trust that it won't crack or crumble off in a really really unattractive way, which is my main fear with anything matte.

I also don't really have it in me to buy a high-end lipgloss (except the Clarins Lip Perfecters which are the bomb.com), so I set about finding a couple of bargain-ous highstreet options. These are the two I have been using over the last few weeks, both with a ridiculous price tag, so I thought Id share them with you.

First of all, this is the XXL nude (??) Lipgloss from Essence in the shade Soft Almond. This was something amazing like £1.90 from Wilko's, and I really like the formula, which is more wet gel rather than sticky? If ya know what I mean. Lovely stuff. Lasting power isn't great, but its lipgloss, what do you expect? It's not pigmented either, just adding a gloss of nude to the lips, really easy for every day. I personally think this a great find, and such a bargain. I do remember looking at the other colours and seeing a lot of glitter, so I'm not sure if I'll be going back for seconds, but it depends on the shades.

Lip Boss from Barry M. First of all, I think I love the name? I started off thinking it was a bit stupid, but I think I've warmed to the idea. I also think the packaging is really quite nice, its pretty solid and hefty. The colour looks neon- bright in the tube but it really isn't all that bad.

As you can see here, its more a wash of warm peach. Pretty inoffensive and pretty, probably more suited for summer but oh well. I remember this being £3.50, which is a pretty good deal. The downside to this product is the smell- which is something like really cheap oranges. I really hate it.

Between the two, I would say the Essence one is my favourite, colour and formula wise, and for the price you really cant complain.

Thanks for reading!

Lou x

Primark Does... Lips

The inner snob in me shivers a little a bit about putting something from Primark on my mouth. What if a small snotty child has sucked it or stuck it up it's nose or something? The grotesque possibilities are endless.
Snobbery aside, I bought these two lip products from Primark recently, and firstly, I'd like to comment that the packaging is actually fairly sleek looking. If you didn't know it was Primark, I think you'd be a little impressed, right?

Swatch- wise, this is the Matte Crayon in the shade 06. I have been pleasantly impressed with this product so far. I'm not hugely into matte lips at the moment, I'm more for the glossy, natural look as I have fairly small lips and I find the fresher- looking finishes just look...fresher on me. Ya get me? Anyway. It is smooth and thick feeling going onto the lips- not in a bad way- creamy drying down to a nice, even smooth finish. The key word here is 'dry', which is definitely does end up. BUT, not in an uncomfortable way. I found wear time to be surprisingly good on this, and instead of cracking or flaking (one reason I am wary of matte lips, even thought I love them), this tends to do a more stain-like fade on the lips.

The second swatch, and the photo below, is the lipliner used all over the lips.

It is a very creamy formula, really easy to apply, and definitely comparable to the Rimmel Exaggerate lip liners.

With the lip crayon added over the top, it makes the colour a little pinker and lighter, but the two definitely work colour-wise together. However, I'm not one for a thick, matte lip- as mentioned- so I don't think I would wear them together like this. Separately, they have a very similar creamy feeling which dries down to a comfortable matte.

The third swatch is Rimmel's East End Snob, which I added to compare the colours. It's pretty close to the lipliner, put a little pinker than the crayon, which is slightly more peach.

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with these two products from Primark, you definitely can't go wrong for such a good price tag. Out of the two, I would recommend the lip liner, because it was £1 and a really nice staple pink/mauve colour.

Thanks for reading!
Lou x