20 Best Lip Balms for Dry, Chapped Lips in 2021 – WWD
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Winter proves to be the most difficult season for dry skin, especially for those that suffer from chapped lips. Thankfully, fortifying your skin-care routine with one of the best balms will allow you to combat seasonal dryness, chapping and cracking while ensuring that your lips are protected for the cold-weather months to come.
Formulated with moisture-locking humectants and emollients such as shea butter and jojoba oil, these nourishing lip balms, masks and treatments are designed to provide instant relief to dry lips by infusing them with lasting hydration. After restoring moisture and strengthening the skin barrier, the best lip balms also soothe and repair signs of damage with ingredients such as aloe vera, honey and menthol, alleviating discomfort, tightness and chapped skin with their calming, antibacterial and medicinal properties. Some balms also offer antiaging skin-care benefits using skin-improving ingredients such as hyaluronic acid and antioxidant-rich vitamin E, which promote a suppler pout while preventing future damage from environmental stressors.
Below, explore the best lip balms that will transform your dry, chapped lips with their conditioning, smoothing and moisturizing formulas.
Carmex Classic Lip Balm
A drugstore-favorite lip balm, the Carmex Classic Lip Balm soothes and repairs dry, chapped lips with its medicated formula, which is a skin-strengthening blend of cocoa butter, camphor and menthol. After delivering a cooling sensation to relieve discomfort, it also forms a protective layer over your lips to prevent further moisture loss.
Physicians Formula Organic Wear Lip Treatment
With organic shea butter, coconut oil and jojoba oil at its base, the Physicians Formula Organic Wear Lip Treatment provides a nourishing treatment for dry lips, infusing them with rich hydration and protective nutrients. In addition to locking in moisture, this top-rated creamy lip balm also enhances your pout’s suppleness and volume.
Chanel Hydra Beauty Nourishing Lip Care
Luxuriously crafted to pamper your lips with deep, lasting moisture, Chanel’s Hydra Beauty Nourishing Lip Care softens and smooths the skin using the brand’s exclusive Camellia Alba PolyFractioned Active, which provides instant nourishment and protection for a healthier, plumper pout.
Nuxe Paris Reve de Miel Lip Balm
A longtime staple in French pharmacies, the Nuxe Paris Reve de Miel Lip Balm is formulated with conditioning plant extracts, anti-bacterial honey and nutritive shea butter to revive chapped lips. Thick enough to be used as an overnight treatment when needed and comfortable enough to wear throughout the day, this cult-favorite lip balm helps your lips maintain optimal hydration levels when temperatures drop and repair signs of damage and dryness.
Rosebud Perfume Co. Smith’s Rosebud Salve
Infusing lips in rich hydration, the Rosebud Perfume Co. Smith’s Rosebud Salve is the perfect pocket-sized lip balm that offers a floral rose scent and a subtle pink hue. Designed for versatility, this multipurpose salve can also be used to relieve dryness on the cuticles, elbows and other vulnerable skin areas.
Givenchy Le Rose Perfecto Beautifying Color Balm
Available in a classic sheer formula as well as six glamorous tinted hues, the Givenchy Le Rose Perfecto Beautifying Color Balm is a three-in-one lip balm that treats, protects and enhances your lips. Delivering rich moisture and luscious color and shine, this balm also creates a plumper-looking lip contour.
Glossier Balm Dotcom in Coconut
Crafted with heavy-duty moisturizers, the Glossier Balm Dotcom in Coconut transforms dry, chapped lips using a nourishing blend of castor oil, beeswax and lanolin. Boasting a salve texture that effortlessly melts into the skin, its coconut scent transports your senses with its tropical aroma.
Augustinus Bader The Lip Balm
Professionally developed to deeply condition dry lips, Augustinus Bader’s The Lip Balm is powered by the brand’s innovative TFC8 complex, which is comprised of skin-strengthening amino acids and high-grade vitamins required for healthy lips. As it aids in the repair and renewal of the skin, this luxury lip balm also supports the plumping and firming of the lips by infusing plant-based collagen to the contour, improving their elasticity and suppleness. Other key ingredients include candelilla wax, a vegan alternative to beeswax renowned for its rich hydrating benefits, skin barrier-fortifying bisabolol and antioxidant-rich vitamin E.
Sara Happ The Dream Slip Overnight Lip Mask
For when your lips are in need of deep repair, Sara Happ’s The Dream Slip Overnight Lip Mask instantly replenishes lost hydration in the lips and works hard to rehabilitate them while you sleep. Infused with calming flavors such as chamomile, honey and vanilla, this luxurious lip mask is also fortified with hyaluronic acid to improve your lips’ plumpness and suppleness.
Fenty Beauty Pro Kiss’r Luscious Lip Balm
Available in an invisible sheer formula and three neutral tints, the Fenty Beauty Pro Kiss’r Luscious Lip Balm was created to prep your lips before lipstick to ensure flawless application. Non-greasy thanks to it combination of shea and mango seed butters, this lip balm soothes, smoothes and nourishes your lips as it locks in moisture and comes equipped with a plush, doe-foot applicator for optimal precision.
Kosas LipFuel Lip Balm
Compact enough to fit in your gym bag or your pocket during a workout, the Kosas LipFuel Lip Balm is powered by nurturing botanicals and dryness-quenching hyaluronic acid to replenish hydration and prevent future moisture loss. It’s also packed with antioxidants, making it excellent for reducing damage caused by environmental stressors.
Sisley Paris Confort Extrême Lèvres Lip Balm
Acting as a protective defense against moisture-stripping agents, the Sisley Paris Confort Extrême Lèvres Lip Balm blankets the lips in a creamy layer of hydration to repair and restore dry, damaged skin. Anchored by conditioning shea butter, this luxurious lip balm instantly replenishes the lips of missing moisture as it smooths away unwanted texture in pursuit of softer, plumper lips. Designed to deliver lasting nourishment, its formula also contains a combination of moisturizing hazelnut, softening sunflower, protective kokum and antioxidant-rich plum oils.
Bite Beauty Agave+ Intensive Lip Mask
A vegan lip treatment that can be worn comfortably during the day for protection against moisture loss, the Bite Beauty Agave+ Intensive Lip Mask covers the lips in deep hydration courtesy of agave nectar, providing instant recovery and repair. Also formulated with antioxidant-rich açaí extract, conditioning mangosteen extract and soothing oat flour, this lip mask-balm hybrid restores the lips’ natural cushion and volume while erasing dead skin cells and discomfort.
Dedcool Rose Balm Stick
Made from vegan shea butter, the Dedcool Rose Balm Stick instantly relieves chapped lips of dryness and discomfort with its nourishing formula. Buttery-soft texture aside, it also has an oversize tube and gorgeous rose scent that will have you covered throughout the cold-weather months and long after.
Kopari Coconut Lip Glossy
Designed to impart the lips with a high-gloss shine, the Kopari Coconut Lip Glossy uses 100 percent pure coconut oil and all of its nourishing vitamins and minerals to create healthier, adequately moisturized, suppler and smoother lips. Also featured in its fan-favorite formula is conditioning shea butter and antioxidant-rich vitamin E.
Aquaphor Healing Ointment
A cracked skin savior, the Aquaphor Healing Ointment nourishes skin by creating a protective barrier, creating an ideal healing environment for dry, chapped lips to rejuvenate and repair. Clinically proven to restore moisture and smoothness in all skin types, this multipurpose ointment can also be used to relieve dryness and rough patchiness on your cuticles, hands, feet and elbows, as well as working as an effective wound treatment.
KNC Beauty Supa Balm
Enriched with a conditioning, fatty acid-rich blend of shea, kokum, moringa and kukui, the KNC Beauty Supa Balm hydrates, plumps and softens your lips while preventing future moisture loss and chapping. Boasting a vegan formula that’s free of D-5, parabens, PEG, petroleum and preservatives, it helps create healthier-looking lips and leaves you feeling refreshed with its minty scent.
Kiehl’s Lip Balm #1
Moisturizing squalene, soothing aloe vera and antioxidant-rich vitamin E come together in Kiehl’s Lip Balm #1 to hydrate, nourish and protect the skin. Featuring a salve-like texture that instantly absorbs into the skin, this top-rated lip balm alleviates discomfort, smoothes away unwanted texture and creates softer, healthier-looking lips.
Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm
Making up the final component of your nighttime routine, the Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm is a nourishing overnight lip treatment that is powered by plant-based shea and murumuru butters. In addition to soothing and repairing chapped lips with its silky-smooth texture, this vanilla-scented balm forms a protective layer in the skin to keep your lips safe from future dryness, making it great for on-the-go wear as well.
By Terry Baume de Rose Lip Care
Delivering a rich dose of hydration with its luxurious formula, the By Terry Baume de Rose Lip Care features an intensely and highly concentrated blend of rose wax, floral oils, bio-ceramides and vitamin E to repair chapped lips and restructure the lip contour. Together, these nourishing and hydrating ingredients soothe, soften, protect and condition the skin while combating the common signs of aging.