Gressa is a company that produce high-end luxury products, with a price tag to match. They temper this by using excellent ingredients and beautiful, high quality packaging.

I bought 2 lip boosts, Regal and Lavish and received samples of Bare and Radiant from the Find Your Match Light-Medium sample kit. I will post a separate blog for the Minimalist Foundation.

I’ve since swatched the rest of their range (except for a couple of shades they’ve added since then). You can find that post here:

Gressa Lip Boost Swatches – The Entire Range

They describe their Lip Boosts as:

‘Light, non-sticky and moisturizing, it feels like a balm yet looks like a gloss.’

Most ingredients are listed as certified organic, but on their website I haven’t found official certification. They say their products are free of silicones, preservatives, and anything that is harmful for your health. From reading their ingredients I believe they are vegan and cruelty free.

You can use them for 12 months after opening before they expire.

Each lip boost is $29 US for 0.24oz or 7ml. At the time of conversion I paid approximately $38.50 AUS. They ship to Australia for $20 US. Beautiful Because are an Australian online beauty store that now stock Gressa.  They have free shipping for orders over $50 AUS and ship to a limited list of overseas countries. The cost is dependent on weight.

Ingredients:

Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, *Butyrospermum (Shea) parkii Butter, Magnifera Indica (Mango) Butter, *Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, *Seabuckthorn Seed Oil, Ubiquinone (CoEnzyme Q10),Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Extract, Tocopherol (Vitamin E) Non-GMO, Mica, Iron Oxides. *CERTIFIED ORGANIC

All the full size Lip Boosts come in dark glass pots with screw top lids. The pot looks black but in the sun they have a deep blue tinge. The label with information, shade name and logo is stuck on the top. (They’ve since updated their packaging, with rose gold lids!)

It has an extremely sweet scent. It took me a while to work it out, but it reminds me of Cocoa Pops. Keep in mind that I have an extremely sensitive sense of smell, so I don’t think it would be overpowering for the average person. I personally don’t love it, only because it is strong and I get whiffs of it hours later.

They’re so smooth and balmy. It’s light, even with a few layers. It has a slight sheen and a thicker layer will give you a gloss finish. It has more slip with more layers.

Use a makeup brush, or your clean finger. While I find it more precise to use a brush, you do need warmth to help it spread. The deeper into the pot you go, you might find it hard to pick up product with your finger, especially if you have long nails.

The first layer is sheer, but will give you a hint of pigment. The texture will allow you to sheer it out to barely there tint. The more you build it up, the more dense the pigment becomes but it’s not completely opaque.

Swatches:

Regal, Lavish, Bare & Radiant

Regal

‘Suitable for a queen. A deep dark plum, warm and voluptuous’

In the pot Regal looks like a mid plum, with no shimmer.

One layer of this looks slightly more plummy on my lips than shown here. It enhances my natural lip colour beautifully and it takes a few layers for it to show its deeper plum tones. It has a sheen and feels very moisturizing with a bit of slip. Wearing 3 layers doesn’t make it too thick, but it does feel a lot more like a gloss. I use this as a blush now too and I love it for that.

Lavish

‘Sheer, sexy, and sultry. Luxurious, velvety, plum’

Again this applies sheer and builds up to a red on me. The sheen and shimmer in this looks amazing on and wears quite glossy with more applied. It appears as a warm red, and the shimmer is hardly detectable, even in person. I find that this one stains quite a lot more than Regal.

Lavish looks quite shimmery and looks like a deep maroon in the pot.

Bare

‘Sheer, nude, and sexy, Your lips but better’

This one can be built up to quite a muted pink. It reminds me so much my old pointe shoes. Even though it’s light, it has enough warmth to not completely wash me out. It feels creamy. I tried with 3 layers but it doesn’t build up the opacity as noticeably as the other colours.

In the pot Bare has no discernible shimmer and is a muted nude pink.

Radiant

‘Bright, glowing and lustrous. Modern, timeless, seductive and playful’

Radiant has shimmer and looks hot purple.

Lightly applied this is wearable, as the bright purple tones aren’t too stark. I found that this was by far the hardest product to apply, as it’s not as creamy. It does have the most pigment though. Multiple layers give you a hot purple statement lip. It doesn’t have the same emollient slip as the others do, unless you build it up. This colour is probably the closest to an opaque lipstick. It also stains the most and is the most difficult to remove.

PROS:

• Comfortable, not too heavy
• Moisturizing
• Can be worn different ways, for different impact
• Ingredients are great
• Colours are beautiful
• Packaging is sturdy and classy.
• Darker colors will leave a stain

CONS:

• The scent is very strong for me
• Lavish and Regal end up looking quite similar on me
• Radiant does not have the same texture and moisturizing feel as the others
• Higher price tag
• Packaging is not functional for when you are out and about.

Final Word:

This is the product you want to splurge on, if you like classy packaging and simple and easy colour to apply. The ingredients are fantastic and are great for moisturizing your lips. If you like the scent of sweet chocolate, then you’ll enjoy it as well. I like Regal and Lavish the best as they are wearable reds that aren’t too much of a statement unless you want them too be. As mentioned before I also use Regal as a blush when a want a pop of colour that isn’t pink. Wearing the colour on my cheeks and lips brightens my face as long as I don’t use too much.

Product descriptions and information taken from their official website.

Updated 25/10/2019