Regular readers of the blog will know how much I rate budget makeup brand essence (you can find my previous posts here).

It has been a while since I tried anything new from essence but I was recently sent three shades from their Velvet Matte lipstick range and wanted to share my thoughts on the blog.

Firstly these lipsticks are an absolute bargain at £2.30 each (available from Wilkinson stores and online at Wilko.com). I firmly believe that what essence save on fancy packaging they pour in to product quality.

And that’s not to say these lipsticks look terrible, quite the opposite. I like the minimalistic design and lightweight casing, but it’s the performance of these lipsticks that truly won me over. Soft and luxurious feeling with amazing lasting power- I popped one of these on for work the other day, around 8am and it was still going post lunch, somewhere around 2pm which far exceeds many lipsticks I regularly wear. These give intense colour and a great matte finishing without drying out the lips, again, something many more expensive brands can’t quite pull off. The shades I was sent are typical of what I would usually pick (although they were sent at random) but the entire range caters for all tastes with 12 colours in total.

From left to right- Shade 10 (greedy coffee), Shade 01 (donuts go nut), Shade 04 (hungry pink)

The lipsticks are also suitable for vegans and available now! Have you tried anything from essence recently? I’m really far behind on their new launches so let me know what I’m missing.

Products sent to me for blog consideration, I was under no obligation to post.