The worst heartbreak is a lip product, or lippie, running short of expectations and not keeping your lips moisturized, healthy, and shiny. It physically hurts me to reapply my lippies every 2 hours; the sound of money rings in my head every time I dunk the applicator in the bottle or when I squeeze out the product. But there is a way to maintain sanity and that’s through trial and error. Below are the top 5 lip products for shine, moisturization, long wear testing, and the best ingredients that ensure you get your money’s worth in this oversaturated market. This list ranges from oils to butter balms to OG’s that would never betray us. To be the best devil’s advocate I can be, every lippy has pros and cons, and none are exempt from having room for improvement.
#5 Good old Aquaphor $11.99 (0.35 oz) https://www.aquaphorus.com/products/lip-care/lip-repair-2x35oz
Dare I say the mother of lip products? The nostalgia accompanied by Aquaphor is reason enough for it standing on this list. Some may say you are paying for 1% petroleum and 99% water, but at least your lips are moisturized. Aquaphor is a staple when all else fails; its texture is smooth on your lips, leaving them soft even when the gloss is gone. The only downside is its lack of gloss/shine which leaves us wanting more, so we apply every couple of hours to achieve that gloss which shrinks the volume of the product. This is a 5-star in my heart, but as a realist, she’s a solid 3.5.
#4 NYX Fat Oil Lip Drip $9 (0.16 oz) https://www.nyxcosmetics.com/lip/lip-gloss/fat-oil-lip-drip/NYX_1054.html
Another excellent lip oil choice to moisturize your lips and have long-lasting shine, and its price is another plus. The ingredients contain vegan squalane derived from plants and raspberry oil. Though the highlight from the list is cloudberry oil, famous for its regenerative properties. To include it in a lip gloss means not only are you getting moisturized and a beautiful shine, but your lips are also getting a spa-day kinda treatment. The only downside to this lip oil is again the infamous packaging that has a choke-hold on the lip oil community; the seal and applicator leave a lot of room for product spillage, so be careful leaving it in your pocket. You may get an oil stain. I know I did r.i.p. Another downside is that once left somewhere other than a chilled area, it starts separating in the bottle and leaves a gap of air in the middle, which means less product to use.
#3 Ami Colĕ Lip Oil $20 (0.15 oz) https://amicole.com/products/lip-treatment-oil
This three-in-one lip oil treatment is fantastic for those who want velvety, soft lips and pops of color without the total commitment to lipstick. The lip product contains tree nut oil (sorry to my allergic comrades) which contributes to the silkiness of the lippies. Each one has a distant purpose and is not wasted on the ingredient list. A passion fruit oil, camellia seed, and baobab combination feels just as heavenly as it sounds; it leaves your lips feeling soft, moisturized, and shiny, requiring little reapplication. One of the biggest complaints of lip oils is the packaging they’re in, the doe-foot applicator soaking up all the product and the tube causing spillage. Ami Colĕ, although a fantastic product, is one star away from a 5 due to the packaging, which should be worth the twenty-dollar investment.
#2 Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm $24 (0.5 oz): https://summerfridays.com/products/lip-butter-balm?variant=39408922853453
Summer Fridays is a staple lippie in my roster; I’ve added many new colors to my collection. The shea-butter base is undoubtedly moisturizing and smooth on the lips; the ingredients also include a vegan wax that creates a creamy texture that hydrates without any white streaks. The shea butter and vegan wax mixture means it has the best of both worlds: thick like a lip mask but smooth and silky enough to have lasting shine. The Lip Butter Balm passes the wear test with flying colors with a shine that lasts over 4 hours, needing little to no reapplication throughout the day; it’s worth the price.
#1 Topicals Slick Salve $16 (0.5 oz) :https://mytopicals.com/products/slick-salve-mint-lip-balm
Topicals are one of the best skincare brands, and it broke the internet when it came out with a lippie, but with that much hype, does it live up to its expectations? The best test to see if a lip gloss is worth the price point is a wear test. To have one review under my belt, here’s mine: as a person who suffers from extreme dryness, I bathe in Vaseline to keep my skin from cracking. A lip gloss has to have everlasting shine and admiringly moisturizing properties and Topicals Lip Salve checks off both boxes. For this product, Topicals invested in peptides, a rising skincare/lip care industry ingredient that plump and smooth fine lines in your lips. Buying this product gives you a mid-tier price for an ingredient-rich product. Tens, tens, tens across the board.
Five ways to increase your finances!
