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There are very few universal truths, but one of them has to be that everybody hates chapped lips. That’s why there are seemingly endless lip balms to choose from, all claiming they can get rid of the dry, flaky, cracked skin that plagues so many of us. To help narrow down your options to the best lip balms out there—ones that are truly hydrating and healing—we spoke with dermatologists to learn more about what ingredients to look for, chatted with SELF staffers to find out which lippies they love and swear by, and combed through our past Healthy Beauty Award winners, all of which were extensively tested.
The best lip balms:
- Best Overall: Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm
- Best Multi-Purpose Balm: Rosebud Salve
- Best for Sensitive Cracked Skin: CeraVe Healing Ointment
- Best Budget: Eos Watermelon Frosé & Lychee Martini 2-Pack Lip Balm
- Best Lip Balm With SPF: Sunnie The Protector SPF 36
- Best Tinted Lip Balm: Tower 28 JuiceBalm Tinted Lip Balm
- Best Lip Oil: Ami Colé Lip Treatment Oil
- Best Plumping Lip Balm: Lawless Beauty Forget The Filler Lip Plumping Line Smoothing Lip Tinted Balm Stick
- Best Lip Mask: Fenty Skin Plush Puddin’ Intensive Recovery Lip Mask
- Best Glossy Lip Balm: Hourglass Phantom Volumizing Glossy Lip Balm
What ingredients should you look for in a lip balm?
“Lip balms can deliver a variety of moisturizing agents, ranging from shea butter and squalane to hyaluronic acid,” Audrey Kunin, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and the founder of DERMAdoctor, tells SELF. “Ideally, in addition to hydrating [the skin], a lip balm will also help repair dry lips. This can involve the inclusion of mild exfoliating ingredients—think AHAs or PHAs—that help lift away dead or dry skin or ceramides that rebuild the natural skin barrier.”
A great balm should also have an occlusive ingredient, like petrolatum, which will protect the lips and help them retain moisture, Nicole Hayre, MD, FAAD, a board-certified dermatologist and the founder of the Cosmetic Dermatology Center in McLean, Virginia, tells SELF. She also recommends using a balm with SPF during the day to protect your lips from the sun’s harmful UV rays. An antioxidant like vitamin E is also a nice bonus since it’s not only nourishing but wards off sun damage too.
Sephora
Summer Fridays
Lip Butter Balm for Hydration & Shine
Best Overall: I reach for this shea-butter-based lip balm every day—it has a velvety cream texture and gives my lips a healthy-looking sheen. I love that it feels as thick and moisturizing as a lip mask—which also means it doesn’t wear off right away—but comes in a slim tube that makes the product easier to apply (and is more portable than a bulky jar). The clear vanilla balm smells amazing and subtly sweet.
Sephora
Rosebud Perfume Co.
Rosebud Salve
See AlsoByrdie Editors Tested Dozens of Lip Balms to Bring You the Very Best Ones for Juicy, Hydrated Lips13 Lip Hyperpigmentation Treatments That Dermatologists Swear ByHere’s Why Vitamin E For Lips Is The Best Thing You Can Do For Your Pout - Organic Harvest Blog13 Best Vitamin E Lip Balms, Esthetician-Recommended – 2024Best Multipurpose Balm: SELF’s health director, Amy Rose Spiegel, says this essential-oil-scented salve is a “moisture bomb” that smells incredible, and Sephora reviewers say it’s “the best lip balm I’ve ever used” and “a personal must-have.” Bonus: You can use it to soften skin anywhere, like your elbows and knees. It contains petrolatum to lock in moisture and cottonseed oil—a great source of vitamin E—to soothe irritation.
Amazon
CeraVe
Healing Ointment
Best for Sensitive, Cracked Skin: When your lips are really angry, simple products are best. Dr. Kunin swears by CeraVe’s Healing Ointment, and SELF’s executive editor, Alisa Hrustic, says it’s the only product she’ll use when her lips are ultra dry, chapped, or otherwise irritated. It’s loaded with ceramides to help repair damaged skin while petrolatum seals in moisture—plus it’s fragrance-free, so it won’t bother sensitive skin. You can apply this ointment anywhere else on your body, too, like parched patches on your face, dry cuticles, and cracked heels.
Amazon
eos
100% Natural Lip Balm Sticks (2-Pack)
Best Budget: Anyone else still hung up on those egg-shaped, pastel-colored balms from back in the day? Well, they’re still around—sans the spherical shape (but just as fun). “The [twist-up] packaging is brilliant in all of its childlike glory,” one SELF tester wrote, adding that the flavors and scents are “divine.” These balms will keep your lips juicy with nourishing sunflower seed and coconut oils, which are rich in vitamin E.
Sunnie Skincare
Sunnie Skincare
The Protector Lip Balm SPF 36
Best Lip Balm With SPF: If you think chapped lips are bad, you definitely don’t want to deal with sunburnt ones. This 2023 Healthy Beauty Award winner is packed with moisturizing ingredients like olive, castor seed, and avocado oils (all good sources of vitamin E), as well as protective petrolatum and UV-blocking zinc oxide, a mineral-based sunscreen that won’t irritate sensitive skin. Our tester loved this product, saying, “The best part is that I can feel the moisture settling into my lips—after 15 minutes, they feel as smooth as a baby’s bottom. Even if I’m not in the sun, I want to be wearing this balm.”
Sephora
Tower 28 Beauty
JuiceBalm Vegan Tinted Lip Balm
Best Tinted Lip Balm: Sometimes you want a little pop of color but don’t want to deal with a lipstick that may awkwardly fade or dry out your skin. That’s where a tinted lip balm, like this 2023 Healthy Beauty Award winner from Tower 28, comes in. One of our testers called the JuiceBalm “phenomenal” and “very hydrating,” thanks to its combo of shea butter and marula oil. It requires zero fuss too. “You don’t have to worry about harsh or imperfect lines—you can swipe it on without looking, smack your lips together, and trust that it looks great,” they said. “I’ll rebuy this—which I’ve never said about a balm, let alone a tinted one.” It’s available in four pretty shades: nude (a pinky-brown color), berry, pink, and coral.
Sephora
Ami Colé
Hydrating Lip Treatment Oil
Best Lip Oil: Our tester appreciated how easy this 2023 Healthy Beauty Award winner was to apply thanks to its larger doe foot applicator that holds more product. “I LOVED that. It made putting on the gloss even easier and quicker, and [it] meant that a single dip into the bottle was enough to apply all over,” they wrote. It contains a nourishing combo of baobab, passion fruit, and camellia seed oils to leave your lips feeling delightfully soft.
Sephora
Lawless
Forget the Filler Lip-Plumping Line-Smoothing Tinted Lip Balm
Best Plumping Lip Balm: Unlike a lot of plumping products, this balm won’t make your lips feel like you just rubbed chili oil all over them. With only a slight tingling sensation, it creates a smoothing effect that made our tester’s lips look bigger and “airbrushed” right away. And, thanks to ingredients like shea butter, it’s hydrating too. You can pick this one up in several light-to-deep colors, as well as a clear option to pair with your go-to lipstick or tint.
Fenty Beauty
Fenty Beauty
Plush Puddin' Intensive Recovery Lip Mask
Best Lip Mask: This restorative mask is packed with moisturizing fruit and plant oils that helped our tester, who was dealing with “hella chapped” skin from a prescription retinoid, keep flaking and cracking at bay. “This is the only thing besides my favorite cocoa butter stick that legitimately moisturizes my lips,” they wrote. “Rihanna put her whole Rihannussy into this and I would like to personally thank her for it.”
Sephora
Hourglass
Phantom Volumizing Glossy Lip Balm
Best Glossy Lip Balm: If you love a glassy-lip look but can’t stand sticky lip gloss, you need to try this luxurious balm. I have three shades and at least one is with me at all times. If you typically stick with clear balms and think any of these shades look intimidating, trust that they glide on without ever looking patchy, and you can build up the pigment and shine with more swipes. And since it boasts shea butter and a wide range of plant oils, this balm meets gloss will make your lips feel just as juicy and hydrated as they look.