Favourite Lip Products & Swatches

These are a few of my favourite lip products:

As you will see from this list, my favourite colours of any lip product are nudes and mauve shades. Occasionally, I will wear dark purple or red but I never wear pink or coral shades! These products are my favourite based on shade and formula.

[(from left to right) Essence Lip Liner, Max Factor Lip Liner, NYX Liquid Lingerie, Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker, Body Shop Matte Lip Liquid, Maybelline Lipstick 930, Nars Lip Pencil, Rimmel Lipstick 128, Freedom Lipstick Dark Paradise]

1. Essence Lip Liner - 06 Satin Mauve - £1.00
   - I love the shade of this lip liner and it's great quality. It's not the smoothest lip liner to apply (compared to some more expensive liners) but it's not scratchy at all. It is very pigmented and long-lasting and can be used on it's own to create a matte lip look or with other products as a liner. For the price and the shade, it's great! You can find Essence in the UK in Wilko stores or online. A lot of their stuff is amazing quality so definitely worth trying if you haven't!

2. Max Factor Color Elixir Lip Liner - 02 Pink Petal - £4.99 
   - This is a lovely nude shade and it is great quality. I use it as a lip liner with lipsticks or liquid lipstick products or I use it on it's own to create a long lasting lipstick. It is very creamy, pigmented and soft to apply to the lips. This is a lovely colour for pale skin and is not pink as the name suggests. It goes really well paired with the Maybelline Matte Lipstick in 930 Nude Embrace. There are 6 shades in this range and they are great value for money.

3. NYX Lip Lingerie Liquid Lipstick - 03 Lace Detail - £6.50
  - This liquid lipstick dries fully matte very quickly but isn't sticky or too drying. The shade is great for pale skin and it has great lasting power. Even just swatching it on my arm, it was hard to get off with a make up wipe! It is definitely transfer proof and it's great quality. The applicator is flat and long which makes it easy for precise application. However, you only get 4ml of product, which is half the amount of the Body Shop liquid lipstick I talk about below and costs less. However, I love the colour range - there are 24 various nude shades in the range, which means everyone can find one to suit their skin tone and preferences.

4. Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Lip Gloss - Bare Enough - £9.00
 - This is a must have product for me if you like the tingly lip plumping lip glosses. I'm not actually a fan of lip glosses because I often find them too sticky and wet. But these ones, I use while I'm applying the rest of my make up to plump up my lips before a night out and sometimes I will wear them over the top of other lipsticks as they are quite transparent. They are super tingly so if you're not a fan of that, you won't like these! I do feel as if they make my lips plumper and I personally like the feeling - once you get used to it! The tingle does wear off after an hour or so. I have one other shade of this, which is a shimmery shade so I prefer this one for wearing out. You get 7ml of product in these and they currently come in 10 shades.

5. The Body Shop Matte Lip Liquid - Windsor Rose 032 - £6.00
 - I don't feel like these liquid lipsticks are not raved about as much as they should be! They have a mousse formula, like the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams and don't dry down fully matte but they are very comfortable on the lips and still last a long time. They do have quite a strong scent, which is sweet and fruity and some people may not like. You get 8ml of product in these liquid lipsticks (which is more than many of them!) and they currently come in 12 shades.

6. Maybelline Color Sensational Matte Lipstick - 930 Nude Embrace - £6.99 
 - This is one of my go to everyday lipsticks, as I mentioned in my drugstore favourites blog post. It is a lovely pale shade which has a beige undertone. It is a true nude shade, instead of having a pink or peach undertone. I love the formula of these lipsticks, they are super creamy and smooth to apply but they are very matte when they are on. I have a few different shades of this lipstick but this shade is definitely my favourite. I don't find that they have a scent to them at all, which some people may prefer.

7. Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil - Cruella - £20.00
  - So as you will be able to see in the photo, I only have the mini version of this pencil along with another shade. This product is great for precise application, it's not a pencil as such, more of a thin crayon, as I'm sure you can see from the photo. This is very pigmented and applies smoothly onto the lips. You don't need more than one coat of this. I really like this shade because it is a true deep red, as opposed to a pinky red which I feel like a lot of them are.

8. Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick - 128 Starry Eyed - £4.99
   - If you haven't tried any of the Rimmel lipsticks before, you are missing out! Rimmel make some of the best lipsticks I've tried - they are always creamy, pigmented and they smell amazing! If you don't like scented products, you might not like them. Another favourite shade of mine is Heather Shimmer but this one is equally good. It is super pigmented and only needs one coat to achieve a full colour. They are also relatively long lasting.

9. Freedom Pro Lipstick - Dark Paradise - £1.00
   - I don't think you can purchase this particular lipstick on it's own - I bought it in a set of 5 from Superdrug for £5 called the 'Freedom Vamp Noir Lipstick Collection'. I love the colour of this lipstick, as it is such a vivid purple but with a blue undertone as opposed to a pink / magenta undertone. The actual formula of this lipstick is nice and creamy, however, it does take a few layers to get the colour to be vivid as it lacks pigmentation slightly. It's not a bad lipstick at all for £1 and I love the colour too much not to include it in this blog post.

10. Carmex Moisturising Vanilla Lip Balm SPF15 - £3.25
   - Other than the Nivea Lip Butters that I mentioned in my last blog post (Drugstore Must Haves) this is my favourite lip balm. It has a thick, kind of gel texture and you don't need to use a lot! It isn't sticky or dry and it really does moisturise your lips. This lip balm is clear when you apply it and it lasts a long time. I wouldn't say it is overly vanilla scented and it does tingle a little bit on your lips, kind of like it has menthol in it, which I've found with other Carmex products too. It's definitely one of my favourite lip products on the market.

Let me know if you've tried any of these or have any other suggestions - especially nude liquid lipsticks!

Sarah (aka. Pale Princess) x