I bought the Essence XXXL Lip Gloss Matt effect on my last visit to Douglas a couple of weeks ago. I have many shades of red lipstick in my makeup collection, even a matte one, the Sephora Cream Lip Stain in 01 so I am familiar with how red matte lipsticks look on me.  I wanted to try this because I've seen it swatched over the internet and I was particularly intrigued by the idea of a lip gloss with a matte effect. Really?

The color is the classic intense red, not a boring shade at all, but a very vivid one. The formula is very cooperative and easy to work with. If you expect to find a lip gloss inside, you're wrong. This is more like a liquid lipstick, like the Sephora Cream Lip Stain and nothing like a lip gloss. On the tube it says that it's a Lip Gloss with a matte effect so I expected it to look matte and intense. The finish is not matte at all and that was disappointing because this never dries to a matte finish, no matter how long I wait. The final result is creamy and luminous, not matte as I would have wanted to be.

The texture is not sticky, but velvety smooth and the application is a dream due to the creamy formula. The applicator this comes with is flat but not very precise, so applying it perfectly takes more time than expected. The staying power is pretty decent, it lasted on me for a good couple of hours. Due to the creamy formula, it doesn't dry out the lips but I usually use a lip balm under any lipstick or lip liner.

The coverage is average, it's not fully opaque at first application so you need to apply more of it in order to get the full coverage. This may be the issue with this product: if you apply one coat the coverage is sheer but the effect is matte, if you apply more of it in order to get full coverage the effect is more like one of a creamy lipstick and has a lot of shine. I guess you can't have it all at that price ($3).
The packaging is simple, nothing fancy, nothing special, a long transparent tube with a black cap. Mine seems to have a problem because I have to pull really hard to take out the applicator from the tube. The shade selection is very limited, there are only a few of them in this range but I must confess I'd like to try them all. Despite the 'not matte at all' effect, I like how this looks, glossy and nice.

Have  a great day!