A Chanel lip balm edit built around Rouge Coco Baume, the house's tinted balm, with the lip skin care from the camellia side of Chanel. Four other houses close it out with balms of their own.
Chanel Lip Balm and a Lipstick Story That Starts in 1924
Chanel's makeup story starts in 1924, with the house's first powders and lipsticks. According to a timeline of the house's lipsticks, one of those first lipsticks was a red, and the color was framed as a symbol of strength. In 2010 the house launched Rouge Coco, a hydrating cream lipstick, with Vanessa Paradis in the campaign. I keep that timeline in mind when I pick up a chanel lip balm, because Rouge Coco Baume is what the house did next. Chanel says it reinvented lip balm and made it as desirable as a lipstick, with a formula that gives a sheer wash of color after one coat and something closer to lipstick after three. The palette was inspired by the flowers in the garden at La Pausa, the house where Gabrielle Chanel went to recharge. The other thread in this edit is the camellia, the flower the house treats as its emblem, which sits behind the newer N°1 de Chanel line. Grid one is the balm itself, and the pages after it get more skin care than makeup.
Camellia oil and lip skin care
Grid two is where Chanel stops behaving like a makeup counter and starts sounding like a skin care one. The N°1 de Chanel Lip and Cheek Balm is built around red camellia oil, and Chanel describes it as a multi-use balm with a touch of color for both lips and cheeks. I would press it on with a fingertip rather than swipe it, so the color stays soft. The Baume Essentiel is a multi-use glow stick, which suits a bag with room for exactly one product. Hydra Beauty Micro Sérum Lèvres is worded by Chanel as intense replenishing hydration, and Le Lift Lip and Contour Care is worded as smooths, firms, plumps. Those two read as routine products, the sort I would keep by the bed. My tip is to use them at night and keep the tinted balms for the daytime. Each product then does the job it was written for.
Four houses, one small idea
The last grid is four other houses working on the same small idea. Guerlain was founded in Paris in 1828 by Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain, and its Bee Bottle of 1853, made for Empress Eugénie, carried the Empire's bees in gold. Kiss Kiss Bee Glow in Natural Beige is a creamy tinted lip balm infused with honey, which fits the hive story neatly. Yves Saint Laurent launched its first makeup line in 1978, and Candy Glow is a tinted butter balm with maracuja oil, in a sheer lavender pink. Prada's beauty line began in 2021 under a long-term license agreement, and its balm is made with jojoba oil and bifidus extract, with a couple of pH-adaptive shades in the range. Givenchy's Rose Perfecto is a sheer soft light pink with pink pepper in the formula. What I would skip is judging any balm by the color in the tube. Swipe it on, wait a minute, and see what your own lips do with it.
The house story is a bonus
A lip balm is a small thing to build a story around, and these houses have done it anyway. Chanel gets there through a lipstick from 1924 and a camellia. Guerlain gets there through bees and a lipstick in a tube. My own pick is whichever suits how I really carry lip product, which is loose in a coat pocket. Choose the tube you will actually reach for, and let the house history be the bonus. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Chanel Lipstick, from the 1924 Rouge to the Click Case and Chanel Makeup.
