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Wilkinson is my new favourite. Honestly, it's so cheap and cheerful that it's hard not to fall in love with the place.

If you're not familiar, Wilko's sells lot's of knick-knacks from homeware to stationary to cleaning products, and they also happen to be the only place I know of that I can easily get hold of Essence beauty products. Essence is a European brand that I've heard great things about and are also very vocal about being 100% against animal testing. So naturally I went to town on the beauty stand.

extra long lasting eyeliner - £1.50

The first thing I picked up was a new felt tip liner. I am gutted to report that I have somehow somewhere lost my Bobbi Brown Ink liner, so I've been on the look out for a cheap alternative to soften the £20 blow (sob). Their Extra Long Lasting Eyeliner Pen stays true to its name and is a pain to remove once it has set. The product formula is quite watery and for this reason it doesn't give the blackest of black lines. But when shaken well it gives a nice sheen finish and a semi-precise point to a wing, as you can hopefully see below.

Essence sell two different types of lip liner - a dry pencil which gives a matte lip, and a Long Lasting range that is quite the opposite and really creamy. I've tried the colour Plum Cake of the latter formula and decided to test out another shade. Girl Next Door is a really wearable and comfortable pink-nude with a hint of mauve. This is a great colour to finish off any look effortlessly without looking too draining against pale skin. I've been on a bit of a lipliner hype recently and have been wearing this constantly for the past couple of weeks.

longlasting lipliner in 'girl next door' - £1.50

The real stars of the show from my purchases are the two eyeshadow palettes I picked up. New to Essence, there were 4 or 5 variations in the All About... range. I picked up the two most appealing palettes for my complexion, which were All About Nudes and All About Bronze. There were also sets consisting of rose, grey & vintage toned shades on offer too.

all about bronze palette - £4.00

The formula of these shadows is just a dream. They are very soft, almost bouncy in consistency with really nice pigmentation. The bronze shades above swatch best on the lid and are all very warm and shimmery with a feel similar to Lorac shadows - I would probably go as far to say that they feel somehow higher quality.

The nude palette gives you 6 satin finish warm-to-neutral shades, and two shimmers. I have been obsessed with using this colour selection for everyday wear, and have been swapping it out for my Naked Basics palette due to the similar colours but difference in finish. The packaging isn't much to rave about, but at £4 the quality of the formulas alone makes it a complete steal.

simple eye look with all about nudes palette

Short but sweet mini-haul over, I have to say that the low prices and high quality means I'll most definitely be visiting the Essence stand again, and I shall most probably be leaving with a basket full of makeup. It's inevitable. Why fight it.