Lanolips and the Lip Balms for Truly Dry Lips

Lanolips and the Lip Balms for Truly Dry Lips

Lanolips began with a farm childhood and one skin-like ingredient, and the 101 Ointment is still the tube I would hand to anyone with dry lips. Here are the Lanolips balms I like most, plus other treatments and masks for cracked lips.

Lanolips has a very specific origin story. On its own site, the brand says founder Kirsten Carriol's earliest memories include watching her grandfather shear sheep on the family farm, and how soft it made his hands. Her father, a DNA molecular scientist, explained that wool contains lanolin, an oil remarkably similar to the lipids in human skin. Years later she was working in beauty and struggling with chronic dry lips, so she went back to the ingredient she trusted and built Lanolips around it. I love a brand with one clear point of view.

The lead product is The Original 101 Ointment Multipurpose Superbalm. The brand says it is made with ultra-pure lanolin and vitamin E, fragrance free, and meant for lips, cuticles, elbows and any dry patch. It comes in a 15 g size here. The 101 Ointment Multi-Balm in Strawberry is the same idea with a light strawberry scent, and Rose Gold 101 Ointment is a lip and cheek tint with a rose gold shimmer. Lemonaid + Lanolin Lip Treatment has lemon oil for gentle exfoliation and a light shimmer. Rose Tinted Lanolin Lip Balm is a sheer, buildable tint, and Lip Scrub Coconutter uses fine sugar and coconut shell powder and leaves a balm behind. Vanilla + Lanolin Hand Cream Intense and Golden Dry Skin Miracle Salve, which has manuka honey, take the same lanolin to hands and body.

My test: put the Original on at night, and check your lips in the morning. If they feel soft without a heavy coat, you have found your balm.

Big numbers collage for Lanolips: six products from Lanolips, Summer Fridays and rhode, each set beside a large numeral
Lanolips

Lanolips balms and lanolin care

Lip treatments for cracked lips

Cracked lips need barrier care, and these treatments each go about it in a different way. Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm in Strawberry Soft Serve is a vegan balm with shea and murumuru butters and a cool baby pink shade. LANEIGE Lip Glowy Balm in Acai Mango Smoothie is a lightweight shea balm with a glossy finish. rhode Peptide Lip Treatment in Strawberry Glaze is a peptide glaze with shea butter and vitamin E, and it is very shiny. Experiment Softwear in Null is a fragrance free lip treatment with squalane and AHA that hydrates and gently exfoliates, in a soft greyed nude. The LAWLESS Forget The Filler Lip Plumper Line Smoothing Gloss in Strawberry Popsicle is a sheer pink gloss with shea butter and rosehip oil. fresh Sugar Advanced Therapy in Translucent is an intensive balm that the brand says moisturizes for up to 24 hours. LANEIGE Glaze Craze in Rose Jam is a cool muted pink tinted serum, and Tower 28 LipSoftie in Sugar Plum is a sheer mauve balm with shea and jojoba.

Pairing tip: use a Lanolips balm as the base and a tinted treatment on top for color, so lips get the barrier care first.

What I would skip: an exfoliating lip treatment when your lips are actually split. Wait until they heal, and stick with plain balm.

Lip treatments for cracked lips

Overnight masks and balms

Masks do their best work while you sleep. rhode Peptide Lip Boost in Sugarmint is a thick balmy mask with a tingly feel from VBE. Gisou Honey Glaze Lip Mask in Cherry Chocolate is a buttery mask with honey and collagen and a glazed shine. Fenty Beauty Plush Puddin' Intensive Recovery Lip Mask in Original has a pudding-like texture with pomegranate sterols and vitamin E. The Moisturizing Cherry Lip Mask is a mask designed to hug the natural shape of your lips, and the brand says it leaves them soft in five minutes. Topicals Slick Salve in Mint is a vegan, barrier-building balm with ceramides and hyaluronic acid. Charlotte Tilbury Life Changing Lip Mask in Pillow Talk melts into lips to prep them for lipstick. fresh Sugar Recovery Lip Mask is a leave-on mask made for overnight repair, and ILIA Lip Wrap is an overnight mask with papaya enzymes and hyaluronic acid.

How to wear them: dab a small layer on clean, dry lips before bed. Blot in the morning, then apply your regular balm.

What I would skip: a tingly plumping mask if your lips sting easily. Choose a plain overnight one like fresh or ILIA instead.

Overnight lip masks and balms

Choosing your lip routine

Pick your lips routine like you pick skin care. Start with a simple, fragrance free balm in the day, one heavier treatment at night, and tint only if you like it. Lanolips is the core of mine, since the brand built its line on one skin-like ingredient. Then rotate a shiny glaze or a mask when you feel like it. If your lips stay dry or sore for weeks, mention it to your doctor. Otherwise keep it simple, reapply after eating, and drink some water. Keep one tube in your bag and one by the bed, and the routine mostly takes care of itself.