Essence & Catrice Lipliners in 9 Shades

Imagine you have way too much lipsticks and shades are starting to repeat. What would a lip junkie do? Either start buying lip balms or lip pencils. That's what clearly happened to me, along with the trend of outlined lips. My lip pencil relationship was never strong so I wanted to save a few bucks if I won't go along with new lip pencils. Wrong. Lip pencils are still not a necessity in my every day routine but I love to prolong wear time and change up a repeated lipstick here and there. Basically, lip pencils are saving my Project Make A Dent (read here) since I want to use up 3 lipsticks but slowly getting bored of the same shades. Obviously, lip pencils can spice up your lip stash, securely trace slippery lipstick and extend the wear of your most creamiest product. The most affordable Essence & Catrice lip liners do the job...beyond my initial expectations.

Essence Lipliner (1g for 1,19€)

These Essence lip liners are the parents of all. They've been around for years and years but I can't seem to remember why they didn't caught my attention earlier. With standard sharpening style, product is always creamy. Formula is non-drying and you could easily wear them individually. I love them, they're super affordable and creamy but not so effective in longevity department. They are great for achieving darker nude look and last around the same time as average lipstick (3-4 hours). Lipliner Satin Mauve is a true mauve, perfect for pairing with Essence lipstick 03 Come Naturally (review here). Lipliner Soft Berry is a darker mauve-brown-taupe and pairs great with lighter Mac Faux (review here), Rimmel Vintage Pink or other mid-tone berry shades. They are both a must have if you're digging entire ''dark nude'' trend.

06 Satin Mauve

05 Soft Berry

Essence Longlasting Lipliner (0,23g for 1,49€)

Oh...these are my new best friends, I absolutely adore Essence Longlasting lipliners. They are super creamy yet matte and easily individually wearable. Beautiful consistency, longevity, full opacity and design are worth the price.You can easily ''sharpen'' them with the small plastic on the bottom of lipliner. What breaks my heart is mechanism and the amount. Mechanism can break easily while there's only 0,23g of product. Yes, it's a small amount but who finishes lipliners in the first place? When you'll finish one, you'll probably get tired of the color anyway or won't be bothered with small price of 1,49€. My personal favourite is Lovely Frappuccino ever since Memento Mori called it a MAC Soar Lip Liner dupe. It's indeed a darker warm nude with less grey than previous Satin Mauve. Goes well with every nude lipstick. Also, Yummy Berry is a lovely companion for MAC Flat Out Fabulous but slightly warmer/pinker with less purple tones. If you'll like this, then you will die after trying MAC Flat Out Fabulous. Plum Cake is slightly greyer than Satin Mauve, perfect for taupe lips with purple hints. Basically, you need them. I'm already planning to pick a few more.

05 Lovely Frappuccino

07 Plum Cake

03 Yummy Berry

Catrice Ultimate Stay Lip Liner (0,3g for 2,49€)

While I adore this unique greyish purple-mauve of Mauve me, Tender!, I hate the formula. Texture is somehow sticky, uneven yet really drying. Actually these kind of properties make the lipstick last longer but they're not suitable for individual wear. What bothers me the most is it's breakability. Swatching this, I had to throw out at least 4 chunks of lip liner. I'm left with only a half of centimetre and I used it approximately 4 times. Dry formula and inconvenient twist up mechanism are not a good match. I suggest you picking up Essence lip liners or normal Catrice Longlasting Lip Pencils. Still, I might forgive the formula because it matches with MAC Up the Amp perfectly and it's such a unique shade (purchased it because of Mateja's Beauty Blog post). I just need to be careful with application.

Mauve Me, Tender!

Catrice Longlasting Lip Pencil (0,78g for 2,29€)

Catrice Longlasting Lip Pencils are okay for the price. I much more prefer Essence lip liners but Catrice has some interesting bolder shades. What you can't find in Essence assortment, it's most likely Catrice will have it. They have a drier formula and are waterproof. Lipstick lasts a few hours more with this little babies. With unusual color selection I even managed to find red shades I actually like. Berryson Ford is a lovely deeper red with raspberry notes. Cherry Prince could be a great alternative to MAC Cherry Lip Liner due to light, pinkish hues. I bought Cherry Prince to match up my MAC Relentlessly Red but it's a bit too red and dark. Basically, it's a lovely vibrant cherry shade. Sweet Auberginia helps to extend longevity for my berry lipsticks but it's pretty uneven on it's own. Still, I like to outline my lips to secure darker colors. I like them all, they usually last over 5 hours if not more.

030 Berryson Ford

130 Cherry Prince

140 Sweet Auberginia

All in all, you don't need to spend loads of money for a good lip liner. Essence and Catrice cover all my needs so I'll stick with these affordable little gems. I suggest picking up every range I mentioned with exception of Catrice Ultimate Stay Lip Liner. They are all a good value, highly pigmented and still creamy. For a longlasting effect stick with Catrice Longlasting Lip Pencil but for individual use or mixing try Essence Lipliners and Essence Longlasting Lipliners. 

What is your favourite shade? I'm sure you own at least a color or two from Essence.