Essence Lip Liner
By Lauren Kelly, Assistant Editor
I’m someone who has never really used lip liners, because in my mind they always seem so expensive that I’d rather just buy another lipstick. Or they only work with certain colours, so they don’t seem versatile. This might possibly be informed by me being suckered into buying a purple one from MAC that I’ve used a whopping two times, however.
This meant that I was very intrigued when I received the recommendation to try out Essence’s Lip Liner. After doing research on the product, and reading many of its overwhelmingly positive reviews, I picked up “Red Blush” and “Cute Pink.” The most popular colours online seemed to be “Satin Mauve” and “Soft Berry,” two very pretty and muted options, which were unfortunately (and understandably) completely sold out. “Red Blush” is a deep, pink-toned red that will be very useful under winter’s red lip looks, while “Cute Pink” lives up to its name, going on as a very pretty, medium pink, which makes it more wearable for everyday looks and perfect for spring. Most of the other available colours are fairly neutral, save for the bold orange-red “Femme Fatale.”
After testing “Red Blush” both on its own and with red lipstick over it, I’m very happy with the product. After an initial failed attempt on dry lips, I applied some balm and let it sit. This extra moisture made a big difference with the product’s application, and I found it to be very creamy and easy to use. I found very little pulling when I was filling in my lips, and the product went on evenly with a good amount of pigment. The lip liner can be used to line the lips and create a crisp edge to prevent lipstick feathering, but it can also be worn as a full lip either on its own or under another lip product to increase wear-time.
I found that on its own, the product looked almost natural on the lips, since lip lines were still visible instead of being smoothed over with heavier lipstick or gloss—and the product has a fairly matte application. This gave my lips a less heavy appearance than some lip products tend to, even though they were a deep red. It also greatly increased the pigmentation of the lip crayon I tested over it, as well as the wear time, as I only had to reapply once through the day. These products have definitely converted me to lip liner, and I’ll be hunting down some of the more neutral colours later on.
You can find Essence products at Shoppers Drug Mart, and the lip liners cost $1.99 each.
