Los Angeles, 1999. Toni Ko is 25 years old, born in Daegu and brought to California at 13, and she has spent years walking department store makeup counters and finding drugstore makeup disappointing. So she borrows money from her parents, starts a company, and launches with a line of eye and lip pencils. That is how NYX begins, according to the Korea Herald. L'Oréal bought it in 2014.

I like that origin because it explains the whole personality of the brand. Ko wanted counter quality without the counter, and she was early to send products to YouTubers, including Michelle Phan, in 2008. That habit of putting makeup in people's hands is exactly what made NYX Butter Gloss a classic. Allure named it Best Lip Gloss in its Readers' Choice Awards, and the reviewer of the Crème Brulee shade wrote that it smells like a French bakery pastry and never, ever feels sticky. The brand's own page calls it America's number one lip gloss, and I read that as the brand's claim. The shade names are all dessert, from Angel Food Cake to Éclair.

The trick is that comfort is the whole product. Start with the original NYX Butter Gloss, the one with the doe-foot applicator. Butter Gloss Bling adds shimmer, and Party Animals Butter Gloss Metallic is the one for a night when you want the lips to catch the light. Then use the rest of the NYX lip shelf as a system: the Lingerie Lip Liner Stain and Slim Lip Pencil to frame, Lip Lingerie XXL when you want a matte base under a gloss, Smushy SOS Hydrating Lip Mask for the night before, and Fat Oil Lip Drip for a glassier, oilier finish.

Here is how I would choose a gloss: press it on the back of your hand, then rub your fingers together. If they cling, your hair will cling too. A good gloss lets go.

MAC's Lipglass Air is billed as non-sticky and hydrating, which is the same promise NYX makes, in a different bottle. ILIA's Overglaze is built for 24 hour moisture, according to its name, so I would keep it for a long day of talking. Maybelline's Lifter Gloss with Hyaluronic Acid is the easy drugstore aisle option. Lancôme's Lip Idole JuicyTreat is the one that leans on treatment, and Saie's Glossybounce is a gloss oil, a step glassier.

Sephora Collection's Glossed Smoothing Lip Gloss is the plain, dependable everyday one. NARS Afterglow Lip Shine Gloss is the sleek one for a night out, and Milk Makeup's Odyssey Hydrating Lip Oil Gloss sits between oil and gloss.

A pairing I like: a butter gloss over a sheer stain on a day when you want the color to last after the gloss has worn off.

What I would skip: a thick, glossy formula in the wind, or on a day with long loose hair. That is how you end up with a strand across your mouth.

Start with one rule for liner: draw it only on the outer edge and the cupid's bow, then fill in the lips with your gloss. A full liner and a gloss over the top looks like 1996 in the good way, but only if the color matches.

Hourglass's Shape & Sculpt Lip Liner and MAKE UP FOR EVER's Artist Color Pencil are the long-lasting ones for sharper definition. MAC's Lip Pencil is the classic creamy pencil, easy to blend. Fara Homidi's Smudge and Contour Lip Pencil is made for a softer, smudged edge, which suits a gloss best. Summer Fridays' SoftLine and Glossier's Lip Line are the low-drama, everyday pencils. Fenty Beauty's Trace'd Out is longwear and waterproof, and Makeup by Mario's Ultra Suede Sculpting Lip Pencil brings a suede finish.

A pairing I like: a pencil one shade deeper than your natural lip color, then a clear or pale Butter Gloss on top. It is a look that never dates.

What I would skip: a stiff, waterproof liner on dry lips. It drags, and no gloss will hide that.

A habit worth borrowing: put a mask on before bed and wipe it off in the morning, then start the day with gloss. Soft lips are the reason a gloss looks good in the first place.

Tatcha's The Kissu is a hydrating, plumping mask, and Charlotte Tilbury's Life Changing Lip Mask has cushioning ceramides. fel beauty's Kissylips is a comfy peptide treatment. Kiehl's Buttermask Intense Repair is the heavy repair one for lips that have cracked. Glossier's Balm Dotcom is the one you probably already have in a drawer, and Farmacy's Honey Butter Beeswax Lip Balm is the sweeter, richer cousin. LANEIGE's Bouncy & Firm Plumping Lip Treatment is the bouncier, plumping one, and Moroccanoil's Hydrating Argan Butter Lip Balm is the easy one for a handbag. That is a lot of choice, and the honest answer is that any of them works if you use it every night for a week.

A pairing I like: the Kiehl's or Tatcha overnight, a light balm in the morning, gloss on top.

What I would skip: a heavy balm straight under a gloss right before you leave. Give it a minute to settle, or blot.

I think NYX Butter Gloss deserves its reputation, because it does the one thing a gloss must do and stays comfortable while doing it. Toni Ko started with pencils. The gloss came later and the brand kept growing.

So I would buy one shade in your everyday pink, add a pencil that is one shade deeper, and keep a mask by the bed for the nights your lips feel dry. Then see what you reach for, and only add Bling or Metallic once the basic one has earned its place in your bag. Start small, like a founder with a family loan and a good idea. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk and KIKO Lip Gloss.