e.l.f. Essential Ex-tra Lip Gloss {Review}

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Overview

Rating: 4/5 stars ★★★★☆
Price Tag: $2 USD
Shades Available: 7 shades
Weight: 0.09oz/2.5g
Where to Buy: In stores like Target; online at eyeslipsface.com

I bought all original six shades of the Ex-tra Lip Gloss as soon as they came out. A girl can never have enough lip gloss, I suppose.

These glosses feel like a throwback to Urban Decay’s discontinued Pocket Rocket Lip Gloss. Those were also guy/boyfriend themed and had similar problems, except the e.l.f. Essential Ex-tra Lip Glosses are missing the half naked guys on the lid. Bummer.

Packaging

I really dislike this packaging. There are several adequate types of packaging e.l.f. uses for their lip glosses and they chose to go with the clunky, overly large round plastic tubes. I really dislike clunky, round plastic tubes. I would have preferred e.l.f. to use the same square packaging as the Essential Shimmer Gloss. The packaging for the Ex-tra glosses was previously used for the limited edition Plumping Lip Gloss, albeit with a black lid.

e.l.f. Essential Ex-tra Lip Gloss and the LE Essential Plumping Lip Gloss

Also, the e.l.f. logo and product name have already rubbed off on most off the tubes. You would expect companies to want their branding to persist on their products. On the bottom of each tube is a small silver sticker containing the shade name.

Bottom of the lip glosses

The most interesting aspect of the Ex-tra Lip Glosses is the applicator. In a departure from previous products, the glosses use a paddle applicator. I haven’t seen an applicator like this before. It works surprisingly well.

Close up of the paddle applicator

Unfortunately, the paddle for one of my glosses pulled off the wand the first time I used it and remains stuck inside the tube. This has me worried that the other application paddles will likewise pop off in the future.

Formulation

The formula for the glosses is moisturizing, but not sticky, but there’s also a heaviness to them. It’s probably due to the heavy oils like cocoa seed butter, grape seed oil, sunflower oil, and avocado oil mixed with polybutene and mineral oil.

On the down side, the Ex-tra Lip Glosses aren’t particularly long lasting and I find myself reapplying often. The moisturizing feeling also disappears quickly as well.

These white caps are difficult to photograph…

Another annoyance is that several of the light shades emphasize the lines in my lips. I really can’t stand when lip glosses do this so I rarely wear those shades. You’re best off exfoliating your lips before using the glosses to minimize any imperfections.

On the other hand, the pigmentation is fantastic. I don’t think I’ve every used a lip gloss that applied so opaquely.

Shades

All of these shades are very bright colors that show up very well against the skin.

They all have a modicum of shimmer, with the exception of Brett, it’s barely noticeable.

Swatches of the Ex-tra Lip Glosses

Most of the shades have a light, odd candy flavor, but some have a very pronounced fruity scent. Definitely reminiscent of the Urban Decay Pocket Rocket glosses and their yummy, over-powering Creme Brulee flavor that everyone (rightfully) hated.

Though not a necessity for all shades, I still recommend exfoliating your lips prior to application, as well as utilizing a reverse lip liner to minimize bleeding and smearing.

Brian [Pearl]

A baby pink with lavender undertones. As light shades are wont to do, Brian emphasizes the lines in your lips. It’s a very pale color and I find it’s even too light for me.

Joe [Pearl]

A peachy pink shade. This is one of the worst offenders for exaggerating the lines in the lip. It’s a pity because it was one if the colors I was looking forward to using most.

Marc [Pearl]

A darker, more neutral version of Brian. Fortunately, this shade does not emphasize the lines in your lips anywhere as badly as the aforementioned shades. No one should really notice unless they are very close.

Despite Marc having slightly cool undertones, this is one of my favorite shades of the bunch. It’s almost a MLBB shade for me.

Scott [Pearl]

The neutral of the group and also the ill fated gloss that lost it’s applicator paddle. Which is too bad because I think I’d use it a lot more. While not as bad as the lightest two glosses, Scott slightly emphasizes the lines in your lips.

Michael [Pearl]

A berry shade that is like a darker version of Marc. Looks are deceiving because this shade is very bright and applies much darker than it should. You rarely expect such pigmentation in a gloss. It’s at the far end of the spectrum for shades I can wear.

Brett [Metallic]

The darkest of the bunch, not to mention the brightest. Truly an incredible color, though probably not the best fit light skin tones. This is a difficult shade to describe. In the tube it’s sort of like a dark coral with blue undertones. On the lips it’s a bright red leaning towards pink.

Brett is best used with reverse lip liner, because it will bleed and smear otherwise. I’ve found the e.l.f. Studio Lip Lock to be adequate for such a task.

This shade has a pronounced, artificial fruity flavor.

Update: I should also add that Brett stains your mouth like the dickens.

Images

Final Thoughts

Pros: Vibrant shades, good neutrals, moisturizing formula
Cons: A few shades emphasize lines in lips, product needs frequent reapplication, a couple of shades have bad scents, contains mineral oil, applicator tips/lids are flimsy and can detach

The Ex-tra Lip Glosses are moisturizing and super pigmented, but I’m not thrilled with the quickly fading formula—or their flimsy applicators. I also abhor glosses that emphasize lip lines. Overall, I consider them an above average product.

So, I’m kind of on the fence. The glosses aren’t bad, per se, but they’re not amazingly awesome either, like the Essential Jumbo Lip Gloss Sticks I love (reviewed here).

They’re not a bad deal at $2. I would recommend buying one or two shades first to try them out. Or wait for a half off sale.