Are lip balms the new status symbol?
Lip balms used to belong in the pile of 'necessary but unsexy' beauty products. The hydrating power of old-school salves such as ChapStick, Vaseline and Aquaphor was never called into question – just their no-frills, medicinal packaging.
There was no carefully choreographed TikTok tutorial for how to apply them. You simply nudged the tube out from behind your infinitely more glamorous Mac lipstick – and slathered it on, letting the waxy formula take care of the rest.
These days the lip balm landscape looks very different. For starters, the subject has exploded on TikTok with search terms such as ‘lip balm truth behind the trend’ and ‘this is how much lip balm is left’ – a twist on empties – accumulating 90 million and 4.4 million posts respectively.
As visually pleasing as they are nourishing, lip balms have also become the beauty world's new status symbol. Many boast double-digit price tags, costing considerably more than hard-working pharmacy staples, and drum up the same viral hype previously reserved for Louis Vuitton's latest designer bag drop.
Beauty editors speak in reverent whispers about the Dior Addict Lip Glow as they swivel up the buttery bullet. While Laneige and Tatcha introduced us to ‘lip masks’ the consistency of set honey, that moonlight as cushioning balms.
Social feeds are flooded with videos of softly tinted balms being smooshed over lip liner for a ‘your-lips-but-better’ afterglow. These have a Goldilocks type of just-rightness. They don't feel as formal as wearing an actual lipstick but they also don't feel as gummy as gloss.
The fashion pack's favourite Rhode Peptide Lip Tint is even housed in a matching phone case. It's the kind of alchemy that Instagram eats up. I should know. The lip-tint-in-phone-case is one of the biggest conversation starters whenever I whip it out in a bar or on the bus.
So why the balm boom? One reason could be the ‘skinification’ of just about everything in beauty right now – and, make no mistake, viral lip balms take their job of hydrating your lips very seriously.
Rather than petroleum, lip balm formulas are now led by luxe-feeling botanical waxes, butters and oils, such as mango and plum kernel in Sisley's best-selling Nutritive Lip Balm; a cool £66.
Others are laced with peptides, ceramides, probiotics, vitamin E – all ingredients normally found in your face serums – which are like catnip for beauty buffs.
Lip balms also have the same chic yet easy-to-wear appeal as a white tee and barrel jeans. They are for the girls who don't want to do a full beat of makeup. And if they make you experiment, all the better, says Hailey Bieber. “A makeup artist put the Peptide Lip Treatment onto my eye as a gloss to create a wet look,” she told me, illustrating her point.
Those that taste and smell of actual fruit or your favourite caffeine fix are the real reason sales of lip treatments are up 179% year on year at Space NK, says head of skincare Shannon Monteith.
“Demand doesn't seem to be plateauing,” she told GLAMOUR. “It is fed by a stream of new or limited edition flavours such as the Glossier Black Cherry Dotcom or Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm in Iced Coffee.”
It's not hard to see why. Skincare routines are serious business. But a flash of peppy colour, a nostalgic scent and luxe packaging turns a mundane task into something we actually look forward to.
Viral lip balms have become the humble beauty brag. They're fun, they're frivolous but more importantly, whipping out the shiny laminated tube is like joining a secret – and very desirable – club.
For more from Fiona Embleton, GLAMOUR's Associate Beauty Director, follow her on @fiembleton.
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The lovechild of a coloured lipgloss and skin-loving balm, the Peptide Lip Tint is infused with shea butter and peptides – ingredients also found in Rhode skincare – and currently comes in four shades: Espresso, Raspberry Jelly, Toast and Ribbon.
Infused with minerals, hyaluronic acid and shea butter, Laneige famously brought K-Beauty's lip sleeping masks to the masses. This cocooning balm forms a protective film over the lips to lock in hydration while our favourite Berry flavour conditions lips with raspberry, strawberry, cranberry and blueberry extracts.
Swap out your pharmacy balm for a similarly hydrating experience – except this time the shea butter, jojoba, avocado oil and olive oil are delivered to the lips via a futuristic, curvilinear metal case. Like every piece in the Byredo makeup collection, this lip balm is chic, tactile and like a piece of modern art.
Your lips don't contain any oil glands, making the skin here thinner and more sensitive than elsewhere on your body. Trust Chanel to treat it with the same rejuvenating hero - red camellia extract - as the rest of the No.1 de Chanel skincare line. Boasting 86% naturally derived ingredients and a hint of sheer colour, dab delicately onto lips and cheeks for a next-to-natural, monochromatic flush.
Like all of La Mer's skincare products, this lip balm is infused with the brand's mysterious healing Miracle Broth. While little else is known about the top secret formula, we do know that it harnesses sea kelp to hydrate and repair. The refreshing minty scent is worth noting, too, if you're in need of an early morning energising boost.
We're not all blessed with a naturally pillowy pout, but this Westman Atelier beauty takes you one step closer to achieving that goal. The balm/oil/gloss/tint multi-hyphenate enhances your natural lip colour and includes a nourishing blend of jojoba, almond and argan oils to add a mirror-like sheen.
Movie director Sofia Coppola collaborated with luxury skincare brand Augustinus Bader to create three shades of tinted balm – a warm pink, bright coral and deep plum. The pigments are the punchiest of the bunch, stopping just short of being a lipstick, and also contain the same natural amino acids, vitamins and peptides as The Cream.
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