In 1859 a young chemist named Robert Chesebrough went to the new oil fields at Titusville, Pennsylvania. He watched the workers dabbing the waxy residue they called rod wax on their cuts and burns, and he carried some back to Brooklyn. It became Vaseline, which launched in 1870. Someone had noticed that something greasy and shiny made skin feel better, and that was the beginning of the whole business.

The e.l.f. lip oil is a distant descendant of that habit. e.l.f. was founded in June 2004 by Joseph Shamah and Scott Vincent Borba, is based in Oakland, and has since grown into a company that also owns Naturium and announced in May 2025 that it would buy rhode. What I like about it is the voice. The Glow Reviver shades are named like group chat jokes, with It's Giving Guava and Jam Session among the ten, and it reads like a brand that knows exactly who is shopping. The brand says the oil is non-sticky and hydrating, with a high-gloss finish, a fresh minty scent and an oversized cushion applicator. It lists squalane, apricot, avocado, jojoba and pomegranate oils.

The trick is to start with the whole family in the first grid. The Glow Reviver Lip Oil is the one to try first, and the Lip Oil Stick is the same idea without a fingertip, which suits a bag. Thirst Burst is the treatment one, with a 1% peptide complex and a name that promises to plump and quench. Hydrating Core Lip Shine is the plain gloss, Glossy Lip Stain is for colour that hangs around, and Pout Clout is a plumping pen. Sheer For It and Main Stain round out the shelf for anyone who wants a blush or a marker instead of a gloss.

Start with bare lips and one swipe. Tinted oils are made to look different on each mouth, and if you try them over lipstick or balm you will never see what the shade really does.

MERIT Shade Slick is the one people mention when they want an oil that looks like their own lips, only better. Rare Beauty's Soft Pinch is an oil stain, which is a lip product built to leave colour behind, and the Haus Labs PhD Hybrid Hydrating Tinted Lip Oil sits in the same hydrating, wearable space. Huda Beauty Faux Filler is a tinted jelly oil, plush and glossy, and Bobbi Brown's Extra Blushing pH oil and Urban Decay's Lip Toy both promise a colour that adjusts to you.

NARS Afterglow is sheer and hydrating, and MAC's Lip Cushion is high-pigment, which is the one to pick if sheer ever disappoints you.

A pairing I like: a nude liner around the edges and a tinted oil in the middle. It makes the colour look deliberate.

What I would skip: the deepest shade in the group on a first try, especially if you are heading out the door. Start with the one you would call your lips but better.

Try the hair test. Put the oil on, walk outside on a windy day and see whether strands stick. The name on the box says non-sticky, but the wind decides.

Tower 28's ShineOn Lip Jelly and Too Faced's Kissing Jelly both promise shine without tack. Kosas Wet Lip Oil Gloss has the name for a very particular look, and Kaja's Juicy Glass goes for the same wet, glass look. Summer Fridays' Dream Lip Oil is the sheer-coverage one, the kind you put on without thinking. Glossier's Lip Glaze is the cooling one, Gisou's Honey Infused oil is the honey-named alternative, and Sephora Collection's Oil Infusion is the plain, dependable option.

They differ in how thick they feel. If you have ever put on a gloss and felt like your lips were stuck to your teeth, go for the jelly formulas. If you want more slip, choose the oils.

A pairing I like: a lightly tinted balm underneath and a glassy oil only on the centre of the lips. The shine catches the light and the colour stays quiet.

What I would skip: a thick, gel-like jelly gloss on a hot day when your hair is loose. It will collect everything.

One rule for high shine: use less than you think. A sheer film catches light better than a heavy coat, and a single pass in the centre is usually enough.

Fenty Beauty's Gloss Bomb Oil is a lip oil and gloss in one, and it is the high-shine reference in this group. Bobbi Brown's Extra Plump adds volume in the name, and MAC's Lipglass Blow is a plumping, non-sticky oil. Saint Jane's Luxury Lip Shine brings vitamin C into a longwear oil, INNBEAUTY PROJECT's Glaze is exactly what it sounds like, and fresh's Sugar Treat is the treatment-minded one. Kulfi's Lassi Lips is the odd one, a staining oil for anyone who wants the colour to outlast the shine.

The e.l.f. Glow Reviver from the first grid is the useful comparison. Wear it on one side and any of these on the other, and you will see how much of the difference is actual gloss and how much is the brand on the box.

What I would skip: a long-wearing stain oil the night before you want a clean, bare mouth. Stains do not leave when you ask them to.

I think an e.l.f. lip oil is the sensible first buy, because it lets you find out whether you like oils at all. If you do, add one tinted oil and one glassy one, and stop there.

Test everything for comfort at hour four, not for how it looks in the tube. Chesebrough would have understood. Something shiny that makes lips feel better is a very old idea, and you are allowed to like it.

Mine goes in the pocket of the coat I wear most, next to a tissue and a hair tie, and I reach for it more than anything with a bullet. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together The e.l.f. Lip Balm Lineup, From Squeeze Me to Glow Reviver and The e.l.f. Lip Gloss Guide.