Review: W7 Lipstick in Coral Dream

I love a bargain, especially when it's cosmetics. One of my favourite items just now is lipstick, and I have been finding favour in many a budget brand recently - my current favourite lipsticks are a pillarbox red from MUA, and a creamy matte blush pink from Boots' Natural Collection. And now, I have a new favourite to add to the gang: Coral Dream from w7.

w7 is a bit of a hard brand to find; when I want items from them, such as the Prime Magic Camera Ready primer I love, I order from Amazon or eBay. But recently, I found a store in Glasgow which stocks pretty much the whole w7 range, as well as cosmetics from another Amazon favourite, Technic. So it's been my new favourite to pick up bargain items that are dupes of much higher-end pieces. For example, w7 are pretty well-known for their boxed blushers, which are very similar both in design and colour to those by Benefit, their Camera Ready primer, which is a great alternative to Smashbox's primer of the same name, and their nail varnishes, which rival Models' Own for colour and choice. The quality is excellent for the price, the range of products is great, and the options too are brilliant - the best bit for me is that everything comes in at under £5!

But onto the lipstick. I love a subtle coral lip, and invested in Barry M's infamous 54 lip paint to get a softly shimmering coral colour, flecked with gold, only to find that it dried my lips out, dragged on, and generally didn't show up very well at all. I've been on the lookout ever since for something of a similar colour, but a better quality, and I think I've found it in Coral Dream.

It's a soft coral colour, flecked with subtle gold, and is a great creamy texture. It glides on over the lips without any pulling or dragging, and the smooth formula goes straight over any dry bits on the lips and doesn't show them up at all. I wore this for six hours yesterday and my lips still felt moisturised, which is quite an achievement when you have dry lips like me! The colour payoff was really very good, and I found the colour to be quite builable as well. I also love the smell! It's a bit like Percy Pigs, very sweet and fruity.

So, for a casual, quick and easy budget buy, I seriously recommend one of these lipsticks. W7 do a whole range of corals, in a collection called, funnily enough, 'The Corals', meaning you can find the perfect shade for your skintone and the perfect look for your summer makeup. The best bit? This lipstick cost me just 99p... Are you sold yet?