Essence Soft Contouring Lipliner | Review

Essence as a brand has wowed me for the last year after trying out their nail polish, lipstick and lip liners. I was drawn to this brand because of its affordability and the Internet rave, especially on YouTube. As an overall brand, I highly recommend this for amateurs in makeup like me and students who have a lower budget to spend on makeup. The lipliners will be my main discussion in this post. The lip pencils are worth every single penny. The quality of the liners is amazing. They come in various tones of colour. 

Before I explain further, 08 Red Blush is named as a lipliner, whereas 08 Big Proposal and 09 Going Steady are named as soft contouring lip liners. I am not exactly sure if Essence changes the packaging or discontinues the lipliner series, but the soft contouring line is just as good. What I realized in the store was only soft contouring that is available now. The entire soft contouring line consists of only a neutral colour. The lip liner range is more on the red tones.

For the lipliner range, I picked up 08 Red Blush as a first try to Essence lip liner. I quickly fell in love with the product, and I wanted to own more of the range. However, when I decided to get the second one, only the soft contouring range was available. I picked up 2 of the range.

08 Big Proposal is a soft muted pink colour which is suitable for an everyday look. Going steady is in maroon brown colour which shows some maturity. Red blush is in a berry pink tone for a flush of health.

The pencils come with a cap that protects the tip. The cap is sturdy and does not open up easily, but with just a slight pull pressure, the lid can easily pull off. The packaging comes in a glossy film wrapped around the pencil with embossed silver wording. It is lightweight and easily carried around in a purse or makeup bag. Size of a pencil but slightly shorter.

I use this lip pencil not only to line my lips but also to colour my entire lips. The soft texture makes the application glide smoothly onto the lips. The colour is intense and opaque, covering the full lips with just a few strokes and filling in. This pencil can last quite a while as it is firm and does not easily break when in use. This pencil can easily be sharpened using a standard stationary sharpener.  The texture of the product is more on the creamy side than powdery.

Interestingly, after the application on the lips, the colour appears matte. The staying power of the lip pencil on the lips is about 6-7 hours without any food but water. However, if you do eat, it will fade off on the inner part of the lips, but the colour remains on the outer part. [This is the case if you use the lip pencil alone without other product on]. I am unsure of the longevity if used with other products as I've only tested using it alone. 

My favourite colour amongst the 3 has to be 08 Big Proposal because the colour is versatile for everyday use and I love its shade of pink is not too vibrant and dark. As a drugstore product, these lip pencils are a must-try as the quality is amazing. 

A pencil only cost me about RM8-9. If you want to try out different colours of lip products at the same time, start with these as they are affordable and you can switch easily to another one. 

This is also a product whereby you can test out different colours and choose the colours that suit your skin tone the most- making it easy for you to beautify your ultimate lip colour in other lip products.

Hope you find this insightful and do let me know your opinion once you tried it! Have a great day ahead x

All photos by Prisc

Prisc

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