In 1924 in Paris, Gabrielle Chanel's Societe des Parfums Chanel was founded to make perfumes and cosmetics. According to Chanel's own timeline, the house's first collections of powders and lipsticks appeared that same year. Vogue adds the detail I like best: a creamy, ultra-pigmented lipstick in an ivory tube with a copper sliding mechanism. In 1954 the bullet moved into a rectangular tube that echoed the No.5 bottle. The house has had a hundred years to work out what a lipstick should feel like, and its answer has mostly been comfort first, colour second.

Chanel Rouge Coco Flash is that answer in its most relaxed form. It launched on March 8, 2019, developed by Lucia Pica, Chanel's Global Creative Makeup and Colour Designer, in 27 shades, with Lily-Rose Depp fronting the campaign. Launch coverage quotes the brand on plant butters and oils that give an immediate melt-on texture and shine, and a Hydraboost complex of jojoba, mimosa and sunflower waxes for hydration that lasts up to 8 hours. I take the hours as the brand's own claim. What I can say is that the whole idea is a lipstick that behaves like a balm.

The trick is to see where it sits in the first grid. Rouge Coco Baume and Rouge Coco Baume Shine are the balm end, Rouge Coco Longwear Satin is the classic bullet, and Rouge Coco Hydra Gloss is the gloss. Rouge Allure L'Extrait and Rouge Allure Velvet are the more intense colour lines, while N°1 de Chanel Lip and Cheek Balm is the one for people who like a single product doing two jobs.

Start with the liner. A pencil that matches your natural lip edge makes any shine lipstick look neater, and it stops a soft formula from creeping at the corners after lunch.

Chanel's is Le Crayon Lèvres Precision Lip-Defining Pencil, which comes with a sharpener and a blending brush. The Dual-Ended Lip Brush N°300 is the tool I would add if you wear lipstick most days, because a brush lets you place colour exactly where you want it. Hydra Beauty Nourishing Lip Care and the Hydra Beauty Micro Sérum Lèvres are the treatment step here, the ones to smooth on before anything else.

The liquids are for a different mood. Rouge Allure Laquer gives shine, Rouge Allure Liquid Velvet is the matte one, and Le Rouge Duo Ultra Tenue is the ultrawear liquid for a long day. Rouge Allure Luminous Intense is the luminous take on the intense line.

A pairing I like: the brush and a liner with a Rouge Coco Flash from the first grid. The result is a very neat, very soft mouth that looks like you did it in a hurry, though you did not.

What I would skip: a matte liquid over cracked, dry lips. It will show every line, and it is the one time the softer options do a better job.

Try this: hold three lipsticks up to your bare mouth in daylight, not in the shop mirror. Sheer formulas are built to look different on every lip, so the shade in the bullet tells you very little.

If Rouge Coco Flash is the reference, then these are the other ways to get the same feeling. Gucci's Glow & Care Shine Lipstick is the sleek, luxury-house one, and Violette_FR's Bisou Jelly is the jelly-named one, sheer and hydrating. Marc Jacobs' Heart On is a long-lasting soft shine lipstick, and NARS Afterglow Sensual Shine is the hydrating one. Westman Atelier's HydroBalm is a sheer tinted lipstick with peptides and hyaluronic acid, which suits anyone who thinks of lipstick as skincare.

Charlotte Tilbury's Hyaluronic Happikiss is a lipstick balm, Kosas Wet Stick has ceramides in the name and a wet look to match, and ISAMAYA's Lips Balm is a sheer lipstick balm with vitamin E.

A pairing I like: a sheer shine lipstick pressed on with a fingertip and a second layer only in the centre. It gives the mouth some dimension without making it look like colour.

What I would skip: a very sheer stick on a day when you need your colour to last through a long meal. Use it as a top-up, not a base.

A habit worth borrowing: give your lips one minute at night, and one in the morning before you put anything on. A shine lipstick can only look smooth on lips that are.

LANEIGE's Lip Sleeping Mask is the overnight step, with vitamin C in the name. Gisou's Honey Glaze Collagen Therapy Lip Mask is the honey-named alternative, and OLEHENRIKSEN's Pout Preserve Sugar Melt is the exfoliating scrub, best used gently and only when lips are actually flaking. Do not scrub every day.

Then the liners. Westman Atelier's Lip Shape, MERIT's Signature Lip Sheer, Rare Beauty's Kind Words and Charlotte Tilbury's Lip Cheat give a range from natural to defined, and RMS Beauty's Go Nude Lip Pencil is a pencil for a nude mouth. If you already own the Chanel pencil from the second grid, treat these as backups for your bag.

A pairing I like: a mask overnight, a light scrub in the morning, a liner drawn very lightly, then the lipstick.

What I would skip: a scrub right before a strong, long-wear liquid. Rubbing leaves your lips raw, and colour will grab on to every rough patch.

I think Rouge Coco Flash is the Chanel lipstick to start with, because it is the one that most feels like a balm you can wear to work. Pick the shade in daylight, keep the pencil and the brush nearby, and add prep when your lips need it.

If you want a second lipstick, choose a sheer one from another house and compare them side by side on the same afternoon. Judge each at hour four, not in the bullet. Chanel spent a century on the ivory tube. You only need a shade you forget to check. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Dior Addict Shine Lipstick and Chanel Lip Balm and a Lipstick Story That Starts in 1924.