I've used essence a couple times since. About a month ago I stripped off the old optimum gloss coat from my car, and applied two layers of Cquartz UK and one layer SIC. SIC is slicker and is advertised as having better water spot resistance. Something I had issues with using gloss coat. It's also a standalone but I've seen a few people use this combo and my car was the perfect candidate to test it out.
Polished off old coating with scholl S20 black paired with a neo spider pad.(will use S30 next time). I had used optimum hyper seal as a dry aid every wash, and wanted to make sure everything was gone before using essence.
Then followed up with essence and a gloss pad. Results as seen are great. Essence finished nicely, it even cleaned up the tired PPF on my bumper which I was planning to replace next season.
Passenger door after using essence
First bit of sunlight after curing for 24 hours in the garage.
How it the coating reacts with light rain
Few more photos from polishing
https://imgur.com/a/OilkUfA
Finished shots
https://imgur.com/a/UsuXcAo