Essence Long Lasting Lipsticks

It took a while, but Essence finally released a regular lipstick range. So far they only had lipsticks that are more of a hybrid between a lip balm and a lipstick. However, they had a few proper lipsticks in their trend editions, like the two shades in Home, Sweet Home TE which were fantastic quality. So I was excited to see a whole range and I must admit the shades are really nice.
Just a heads up, there is a ton of pictures following. Also if you want to see pictures of lipsticks taken outside, I did a preview post here. 

Starting with the formula, it is different than the Home, Sweet Home LE's lipsticks. It is very creamy, feels very lightweight and doesn't tug on the lips during application, however, it is not completely opaque. I wouldn't say it's moisturising due to the lightness of the formula, but it doesn't dry out the lips nor does it cling to dry patches. I'd say it's decent for the price. The lipsticks have a very faint typical chemical lipstick scent. Actually, I can't really smell it unless I really put my nose to the lipstick. Honestly, I hoped they'd have that lovely fruity scent the LE versions had, but it's fine. 

The packaging is much better made than their previous lipsticks and they finally fit in the tube - well done for that Essence! With previous versions I have to be so careful how I put the lid on, otherwise I'd smash the top of the lipstick, especially when they're new. I like the uniform matte black packaging with the coloured middle part. It's a design I wouldn't be embarrassed to show around, unlike their previous ones that look like little girl's toys. The twist up mechanism works fine and the lid stays firmly shut.

Let's focus on individual shades:

01 Coral Calling

Coral Calling is a light-medium nude coral. I have a feeling it'll be a very popular colour because it's a very wearable shade that goes with everything. For a light shade the pigmentation is great. Staying power is decent, about 3 hours. A lot of the colour wears off in the first hour hours or so, but there is a slight stain left. All shades fade evenly.

 02 All You Need is Red

All You Need is Red is an orange based red. I find it least pigmented out of the three which is odd, since it's the darkest. You can see from the swatch it's not super pigmented and I compared it to MUA 13, which costs 1£, and it's a lot more pigmented. 13 is completely opaque with 1 swipe, while I had to do at least three swipes to get a nice level of colour going with 02. Staying power is best out of the three. It stayed on my lips for about 4 hours, but again as with Coral Calling a lot of the colour wears off gradually in the first few hours, but this shades stains the lips more than the other two and you're left with slightly reddish lips for several hours (actually the stain is quite hard to get off without a remover).

08 Colour Crush

Colour Crush is a bright medium bubblegum pink. I didn't expect it to look so cool toned on me and it might look more neutral on someone else. I have no dupes, nor similar shades in my collection, hence why no comparison swatches. I experienced the least amount of staying power with this shade, about an hour or two. Most of the colour wears of quickly, but the lips stay tinted rosy for a few hours.

And a few comparisons:

02 is closest to MUA 13, but a lot less pigmented. As I mentioned above, here is one swipe of MUA 13 and three of All You Need is Red. Almost Famous is a red from their other line of lipsticks and is a lot more transparent. Berry Me Home is more opaque, but closest in pigmentation to 02. Mac Lady Danger is more orange.

Colour-wise 02 is between Floral Glam and Silky Red. Obviously, lip creams are a lot more pigmented.

Dating Coral and 53M are both very close to Coral Calling, the difference is more in textures. L'Oreal's is a transparent shade and Manhattan is a richly pigmented lip cream.

They are nice lipsticks for the price, however, there are more pigmented lipsticks on the market that are even cheaper. Essence delivered a nice shade range with nice nudes, reds, pinks and a coral, however, none of the shades are my favourites. Staying power is average, but much, much better than their previous line of lipsticks. It's a nice line of lipsticks for those who wish to start using lipsticks or want to experiment with colour, but I am a bit disappointed that the formula is not the same as of Berry me Home. Essence long lasting lipsticks cost 2.49€.

Have a great day!

Please, forgive the half face photos. I hope you don't mind them, but I looked so desperately sad on every photo I took and I just couldn't bring myself to post them. It's a compromise and better than nothing, I guess.