Show a dye liberally applied to lid in essence — here? (9)
I believe the answer is:
eyeshadow
'here?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how they can define each other.
'show a dye liberally applied to lid in essence' is the wordplay.
'liberally' is an anagram indicator.
'applied to' says to put letters next to each other.
'lid in' suggests taking the first letters (in a down clue, the first letter is the lid or top).
The initial letter of 'essence' is 'e'.
'show'+'a'+'dye'='showadye'
'showadye' is an anagram of 'yeshadow'.
'yeshadow' put after 'e' is 'EYESHADOW'.
(Other definitions for eyeshadow that I've seen before include "part of make-up" , "cosmetic" , "beauty aid" , "Face application" , "application to viewers" .)