REVIEW: Essence Stay With Me Longlasting Lipgloss

(note: that's not a typo in the title! Essence made "longlasting" into one word.)

so here i am again with another lip product review because i can't get enough!!
i actually picked these up before the Revlon lipsticks, somewhere near the end of April? it was during a Shopper's Drug Mart event where if i spent > $5 on Essence products, i'll get 15x the points. oh and i believe in Canada, they are found only at Shopper's.
let me tell you how difficult it was to walk away with just two products! with the current prices of Essence products (i think everything is less than $5), one can easily justify the purchase.
i've heard fabulous things about this brand from Germany and was super excited to try their products. i want to try lipsticks next, as well as eye liners and concealers and and ... everything is just so cheap! ONLY in price though - so far, i find the quality amazing.

i picked up two of their Stay With Me Longlasting Lipgloss for $2.99 each. there is 4 mL of product in each tube. the shades listed on their website and the shades available in store were slightly different - the "new" stickers were also different so i'm guessing one is newer than the other.

top to bottom: Candy Bar, Deep Rose

i already decided on "Candy Bar" before i saw it on the shelf. i loved the coral orange color.
at first, i was hoping to get non-shimmery lipglosses but i changed my mind with "Deep Rose". this one isn't listed on the website so i didn't know it existed until i saw it there, being such a pretty pink. it's a light shimmery pink and i picked it up since hearing that these lipglosses were surprisingly pigmented, i wanted to see if this would be the first light pink to show up on my lips.

i have never encountered this type of applicator before! it's a sponge tip but it's shaped like a hourglass. this actually makes it easier to apply on the bottom lip, where you can just lay it flat and sweep it across. then, on your top lip, you just use the tip to get the corners. however, i find it a little awkward to use on the rest of my top lip since my lips are not very thin.

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since i bought these almost a month ago, these have been my go-to lipglosses. i am amazed by its pigmentation! i've never had lipglosses that were this pigmented! it's like lipstick but glossy! i love it. they also smell delicious, like candy.
i also wasn't really thinking when i decided to take these photos before blowdrying my hair because it will stick to the gloss. another downside is that layering the gloss doesn't mean adding more color since it will just slide the gloss around your lips. if you press your lips together after applying too much product, the lipgloss would look uneven and you would see the lipgloss separate from the top and bottom lip as you open your mouth. i am not sure if i explained that well enough. does anyone know what i mean? haha. the lipglosses aren't that long lasting either - i think many lipglosses tend to wipe off when you eat/drink anyway.
so other than that, this is probably my favorite lipgloss!

onto the swatches:

03 Candy Bar

i really like the color on my lips. it's a happy color on my lips that i can wear everyday.

08 Deep Rose

i think the color actually shows up pretty well on my lips considering it is a light pink.
note that under the name of the color, it says "contains carmine". i was a little scared to find out what it is since it looks like it was placed there as a warning. do you know what it is?
because it is actually common in cosmetics that require a red dye (check out wikipedia). apparently, it is also found in baby products and food (i.e.yogurt)!
carmine (also known as a bunch of other names, but what i've seen most often is Crimson Lake) comes from grounding up insects from South America and Mexico. these insects survive by living off cacti as parasites (source: EWG's Skin Deep Cosmetics Database). that does not sound very uh.. good to me. i knew that "Deep Rose" tasted stranger than "Candy Bar" but i didn't know it was because of this... there are regulations with its use since many people are allergic.
anyway, good thing to keep in mind when you make your next makeup purchase!

finally, some swatches on my arm:

if you noticed the puncture wounds on my wrist, don't worry - my boyfriend's mom recently got a puppy and  she is quite the biter. seriously, she likes to chomp down on random places. i was walking around in the kitchen once and she decided to try to bite the back of my knee! so weird. i hope she gets over this phase soon. i can't take any more holes in my skin.

anyway - back to the Essence lipgloss: great color payoff and glossy. definitely worth the price! just be careful if you are allergic to carmine to avoid certain shades. actually, it is just a great idea in general to do a little research beforehand to find out the ingredients in the product.

so have you tried Essence lipglosses? or any other Esssence products? i'm excited to get my hands on a few more!