If you love make-up, you'll know the pain that comes with it being a rather expensive obsession. And if you're anything like me, you've probably spent a fair bit of time hunting down cheaper dupes for your favourite products in a bid to save money.
Charlotte Tilbury is one of the beauty companies many people love, but the brand's prices aren't always as kind to your wallet as you might like. Fans of the iconic Pillow Talk range have recently been rejoicing though as they claim budget supermarket Aldi has a dupe for the original £26 lipstick.
Aldi's very own Lacura make-up range already featured a number of popular products, including foundation and mascara, but they've recently expanded the collection and launched a new Perfectly Nude lipstick, lip liner and lip gloss, all for just £2.99 each.
With the cost of living crisis ongoing, I decided to give the lipstick a try to see if I would be willing to permanently swap my higher-end products for something cheaper and I was also curious as to whether it was worth the hype it's been getting online - with TikTok users hailing the lipstick as "excellent" and encouraging people to "run" to Aldi immediately.
First Impressions
For £2.99, the packaging is great, the pink box it comes in is cute and the triangular lipstick tube itself is modern and playful - it doesn't look overly cheap, which is a nice bonus.
When you open it up, the Perfectly Nude lipstick has a very artificial chocolatey scent, which you'll either love or hate. For me, it was a bit much, but once applied I couldn't really notice it anymore and it thankfully it only has a very minimal taste if you lick your lips.
It applies nicely, but isn't as lightweight and buttery as more expensive lip products. It's a very matte lipstick and is a little chalky in texture, so it doesn't provide any real moisture and my lips felt quite dry, quite quickly.
That said, the biggest selling point of this lipstick for me is the colour. The shade looked great and it stayed on really well throughout the day.
I tested the product for a day at work in London, this involved travelling on the Tube several times, drinking copious amounts of tea, eating lunch, office snacks and then dinner in the evening, and also a shopping trip to John Lewis and Waitrose in Canary Wharf.
In total I wore the lipstick for just over 10 hours and I have to say I was pretty gobsmacked that it was still on my lips when I went to remove my make-up at bedtime - and that's without reapplying it at all during the day.
I think it's fair to say you could treat this product as more of a lip stain than a lipstick as the colour lasts so well.
The only real downside to the whole thing was the dryness of my lips as they felt quite rough and uncomfortable after a few hours and were in a very sad state by the evening. I ended up doing a lip scrub and lip mask treatment after removing my make-up in a bid to bring them back to life.
However, if you're someone who takes really good care of your lips in general and are constantly wearing lip balm, then this might not be such an issue for you.
Final thoughts
I don't own the Pillow Talk lipstick, so I can't compare the two, but colleagues in the office who do have it were impressed by the similarities in terms of the shade and I felt the colour really suited me.
Aldi's Perfectly Nude lipstick lasted all day at work and through the trials and tribulations of travelling about London - which as we all know is no picnic.
I'm definitely impressed by its durability and will be wearing it again in future - I'm wearing it right now as I type this - however, I probably wouldn't wear it for as many hours unless I'd suitably prepped my lips with a balm or treatment beforehand, as the dryness wasn't a pleasant experience and the chapped look isn't a winner.
For £2.99 this product is an absolute bargain though and I'd recommend trying it out for yourself as it proves you can achieve a glam make-up look no matter your budget.
Will you be giving Aldi's new Lacura make-up range a go? Let us know in the comments below.
