New in by essence: Water Kiss Glossy Lip Colours! You may have seen me mention them in my essence Fall Winter 2017 Collection – PR Haul video from a few weeks ago – I was so interested in the texture of these lip products that I felt they warranted a full review.

For North Americans, the essence Water Kisses seem to be an essencemakeup.com exclusive item as I haven’t seen them in stores nor on ulta.com. There are six shades in the range, although only three are depicted in this post. The Water Kiss Glossy Lip Colours have a “super-light, medium-coverage gloss [that] glides on easily, creating an aqua-like sensation on the lips without bleeding or feathering.”

When I first swatched them on my hand I was taken aback – they felt so, SO liquid and just… WET! And yet, they weren’t slopping around on my hand so I had some confidence that they would stay put on my lips. There is a very faint raw/frozen berry scent when you sniff the tube, but I didn’t find it had much taste on my lips.

Swatched out, you can see there’s plenty of pigment in the essence Water Kisses. These are more medium to full coverage, but you will get a hint of your own lip colour peeking through at times.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about these Water Kisses is that while it goes on very fluid and and has that wet-look shine – that particular consistency eventually goes away. As you can see in the middle of each swatch shot, the formula becomes more of a satin finish once it’s had a little bit of time to dry down.

My favourite shade out of the three I tried – this is Deep Sea Love. It’s a beautiful juicy, vibrant red.

Aquatic Chic is a deep raspberry.

Perhaps the most surprising to me, I was impressed with just how much I liked Ocean Girl on my complexion. This is definitely not the kind of shade I gravitate towards, but I really like this one!

Final Thoughts

Although the essence Water Kisses claim to be a “glossy lip colour”, I’d have to argue and say that fundamentally, while they do go on very wet and slick, they don’t actually stay that way. Once they dry down they look far more matte/satin – which is fine by me since the finish is beautiful. However, since they’re billed as a glossy lip colour, I thought it was worth pointing out that that texture will not stick around on your lips. When they dried down, I expected them to either stain or become transferproof – they did neither of those. Which is great for easy removal, but it also means be careful where you put your lips!

Aside from the changing finish of the product, the texture is wonderful and it does stay put on the lips. As with all lip products, I did test these with a primer (I have to guys, I’m not going to work without lip primer on and watching my lipstick gravitate up my lip crevices towards my nose), and these didn’t travel outside my lip line (which I have seen some lip products do despite the primer!). In fact, the edge was very, very similar to the sharpness that you can achieve with a matte liquid lipstick. Super impressed!

Between the texture, colours, longevity and comfort… the essence Water Kisses are a good solid buy… and they’re only $4.99 USD on essencemakeup.com!

The products featured in this post were given to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.