To all the lip products I've loved before
A (not so) comprehensive review of all the lip products I've tried in my adult year.
Aspirin, pad, earphones, pen – dig into my purse and you’ll find these things buried within. They’re an essential of mine, but ones I could actually live without. One item, in particular, I couldn’t: lip balm.
I was a chronic lip peeler back in high school. I would literally peel the dry skin off my lips until it bled. I barely wore chapstick (go figure) and it didn’t help that I was picking up on Harry Styles’ habit of licking one’s lips – don’t know why I thought that was so cool. Eventually, I matured and soon became very obsessed with keeping my lips moisturised (not with saliva this time).
I’m 23 now and my lips are smooth. Over the years I’ve explored and experimented with different lip products – some trending on social media, some I picked randomly off the pharmacy shelves. Today, I review them.
Laneige Lip Glowy Balm
I hadn’t given much thought about Laneige in awhile. The last time being some seven years ago maybe, when I tried their Lip Sleeping Mask – it rocked my life, but not enough apparently to make me want to buy another pot. Maybe it was expensive and I was just a teen.
That is until I strolled into their store recently. I had no intentions of buying anything, but they had the lip balms on offer – 3 for RM155 – and as I’ve had a good run with the sleeping mask, I thought it couldn’t hurt to give this one a go. I rallied my two sisters and we each got a tube.
I settled with the Gummy Bear for no other reason than it smelled like, well, gummy bears. That might be the only thing I like about this balm. Oh, and the fact that it lasts long on the lips.
It’s star ingredients are Shea Butter and Murumuru Seed Butter, which offers great hydration, but also a sort of stickiness I don’t like in lip products. For that, this loses a lot of points. It has a subtle coral tint to it – which I also don’t like – though it doesn’t really show on the lips. At RM70 a tube, I don’t think I’ll be repeating this one too.
RRP: RM70 (got it for RM51 after splitting with my sisters)
My rating: ⭐️⭐️
Kind and Free Tinted Lip Balm
Helmed as the most accurate dupe to Clinique Black Honey, the Kind and Free Tinted Lip Balm in the shade Berry Twist is delightfully hydrating and perfectly pigmented. I haven’t tried the former, but I can imagine it to be just as good.
I don’t have much to say about this lip balm other than I still use it to this day having discovered it last year. I still like the colour, I still like the formula – not stick, very smooth – and it’s still a mainstay in my (very basic) makeup pouch.
I think that sums up the love I have for this balm.
RRP: AUD$7.97 (RM23.09)
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Glossier Balm Dotcom
I spent a lot of my teenhood on YouTube and part of that experience included watching Glossier’s GRWM videos religiously, daydreaming of the day I get to be as cool as those girls in the videos with my very own Glossier goodies. Eight years later, I finally scored my first Balm Dotcom.
I was quite nervous to give this one a go because I’ve been pining for it my whole life, and hearing the mixed reviews ever since they changed the formula didn’t help – they ditched the lanolin for castor jelly and people were unhappy about that.
I got the Strawberry Balm Dotcom in the original formula and I can see why the people were rioting when they made the change. To my surprise, while it did contain lanolin and beeswax, it didn’t feel waxy at all. The texture is light and airy, so it doesn’t really feel like I’ve got something on my lips. And the shade is just the most gorgeous berry pink shade, like strawberries smeared all over your lips.
I’m a fan.
RRP: AUD$27 (RM78)
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chuck’s Lip Jelly
Word on the web is all the cool girls in Malaysia are wearing Chuck’s, so I had to give it go.
Being the lip balm lover that I am, I opted for the Lip Jelly which was, lucky for me, on sale when I got it off TikTok Live. I got two: one in the shade Caribbean which has a subtle brown tint and the other in Beam, clear and unscented. I love both colours and the Caribbean one actually smells like chocolates, but I’m afraid that’s not enough to make me want to buy them again.
While it does keep my lips hydrated thanks to the Shea Butter, the formula is just too thick and sticky for my liking. For that, I probably won’t repeat this one again.
RRP: RM48
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Vaseline Lip Therapy
I only got this because I needed a quick fix. I had just misplaced my favourite lip essence on the way to work and knowing I would have an internal meltdown if I didn’t lather something on my lips, I went to the pharmacy to pick this up.
For some reason, it has remained as just that: a quick fix. I don’t have anything against it. It’s made with that Vaseline Petrolatum Jelly we all know and love, so there isn’t anything particularly bad about it. I’d still use it if that was the only lip product I have on me.
RRP: RM17.10
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
One Thing Moisturising Lip Essence
The golden child, my darling; no matter how hard I try to gatekeep it, I can’t because I could not stop talking about it.
This is the earliest lip product I tried and unfortunately for the others, it is also the best, so the standard has been very high from the get-go. I might’ve emptied almost 10 tubes of this lip essence since I first picked it off Watsons in 2022.
My favourite thing about this product is its texture. Unlike the rest, it has a light watery/oily consistency to it, so it doesn’t really feel like I’ve got something on my lips. It’s not sticky, it doesn’t irritate my skin, and it stays on considerably long.
But even the golden child has its flaws and this one is its packaging. The rear end of the tube keeps leaking, leaving a gooey mess on the interior of my purse. I’ve had to transfer two of my lip essences into a different tube (I promise I wasn’t doing it for the video).
RRP: RM35 (used to be RM25 at Watsons, but I haven’t seen them on the shelves for some time now)
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️x2
Sometimes your first love really is your soulmate. In my case, it’s One Thing’s Moisturising Lip Essence. Still, I’ve had a good run with the others and will definitely keep using them until I run out.
I'm coming to this very late but would you happen to have any lip liner recommendations? I always look like a clown when I put on gloss without anything else