A Lipstick Trick

I wish we could get an interview here with you – you sound like an interesting person with an interesting life. PS: as someone with stick straight eyelashes I LOVE this tip and will try it today – thank you!

I’m seconding Rose’s motion here: can we get an interview with Andrea? The view of the world from a female farmer/metalsmith is something I’d be interested in hearing. Thanks for considering!

Please gods yes.

I third this request!! And love the no-makeup tricks!

Jumping on the “Andrea needs an interview” train! I must know more about being a farmer/metal smith and more simple beauty tips!

Great recs! Thank you for the specifics. I’ve been struggling to find a liner that’s actually neutral. These look promising!

Ooo, I love this look! Thanks for sharing, Linh!

Dry lip club here, too, Kat. I find pure lanolin (the baby-safe stuff you put on sore nipples) super moisturizing and long lasting. Can put a stain underneath for some color. Totally discovered this out without lip balm and a newborn ages ago, and it’s been my go-to since.

Sometimes persistent dryness in the corners can actually be a little yeast infection. I have to use fungal cream for this every once in awhile.

Laniege lip sleeping mask is what you need! I live in Colorado, and every winter my lips would crack and bleed from dryness no matter how much lip balm I’d use. Last winter, with that stuff, soft lips all winter! Sometimes I put it on under my lip color just so they feel really moist. It’s worth it.

I take a tiny screw-top container (usually from the hippie/natural toothpaste I’ve just finished, washed well) and make my own from carmex and a tinted gloss, mixed with a skewer or tiny spoon.

Laniege lip mask is a gem. I wish they made a body version of that, it is the best, lasts forever and SO worth the $$.

Mine are- nay, WERE- always dry, but I tried Weleda Everon Lip Balm and I truly love it. It works, it feels good, it smells light, the package is a pretty color… ~ love sigh ~

seconding the lanolin. best thing ever for my lips!

I’m also a huge Laneige lip mask believer! I wear it to bed but you can honestly put it on whenever. I thought there was no hope for my lips, but it’s a game changer. (This post isn’t sponsored by them but probably should be, haha).

My favorite is Nuxe Rêve de Miel Lip Balm. I swear by it when I fly because my lips (and inside my nose!) dry out so easily on a plane. It stays on longer than any other product I have tried and is basically invisible because it has little to no sheen. It’s easy to find in the US now. I have seen it in Target in the past.

OOf this was me until I tried ‘slugging’… stay with me, it’s just layering up simple skin care to trap moisture in your skin.

I have (had) chronically dry lips for ages, which then annoyingly get sensitised to whatever lipbalm I’m obsessively using… Last winter, after getting desperate with mask wearing drying me out even more, I googled round and found a solution –

Cleanse with something simple (La Roche Posay Toleriane range etc). LEAVE YOUR SKIN DAMP (or if it dries too quickly, mist with water / splash with some tap water).

Then layer up with a hyaluronic acid (Cerave / The Ordinary / Hado Labo etc.) Then put your moisturiser on. Then an oil, if you want. For your face, this could be Rosehip Oil, or for your lips this could be hemp or calendula lip balm (for those in the UK, Balmonds is superb).

THEN (important step!) smooth Vaseline over it all. You will look like a glazed doughnut, but if you can do this before bed, you will wake up with plump, hydrated skin.

Something about trapping moisturiser and adding an occlusive over it all really does the trick!

BUT if you are cracking in the corners of your mouth, this might be a Vitamin B12 issue (needing more), fungal infection or eczema.

Hope that helps someone! :-)

I have figured out that I have skin sensitivities that really aggravate dry lip issues for me. Through reading chemistry-based recommendation sites (what’s in my jar, beautypedia, chemist confessions) and through trial and error, I’ve figured out some ingredients that are dealbreakers for me, but I still have to try out a new product if I think it fits my ingredient list, and then toss it if it makes my lips unhappy. It’s an ongoing saga, and for me, many products that other people swear by or that are billed as being perfect for dryness are still irritating. I also learned that some lip products are kind of “designed” to be short term soothing but not solving the underlying dryness, so that then you keep reapplying the product frequently, and then people are like “oh I love it, I use it ALL the time” and… that’s not always a good sign!

Neutrogena fragrance free hand cream is a great base layer for me on my lips (which I know sounds weird). Then I layer pure lanolin over that (like another person suggested, just straight up what’s marketed as a nipple cream). A few other balms or weirdly enough lipsticks have been fine for me, but the hand cream plus lanolin is my “maintenance” moisturizing routine year round. Something I found confusing though is that lanolin works great for me, but a similar looking ingredient that’s totally different and does irritate my lips is linalool. So just, beware that those are not the same thing! And linalool comes up a lot in hair products and lip products.

It does also sound like if you’re irritated at the corners in particular, that there may be a related issue at play, in which case, I’m sorry for my deep dive into hyper sensitive skin problems!

badger cocoa butter lip balm

Echoing many folks pointing to lanolin here! But I want to add that it’s important to get the refined lanolin (which makes it odorless and hypoallergenic) – like Lansinoh nipple cream. NOT unrefined lanolin.

It’s the only thing that’s worked for me and I went through 15 years of trying every single balm including Weleda (which I love and will use sometimes during the day, with Lansinoh every night).

https://lansinoh.com/products/lanolin-nipple-cream

Wow what a thread! My two cents: anything petroleum-based (Aquaphor, and a billion other lip products) is essentially drying in the long-term. My magic bullet is ghee. Yes, humble refined-butter ghee. It’s hydrating, plumping, natural, and cheap. I find when I really work it in with a little lip massage it helps plump them up too. You can use regular ol’ jar of ghee but for a treat I like this lip-specific pot: https://mapi.com/products/golden-lip-ghee?variant=39816498020502&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrJOMBhCZARIsAGEd4VFisI5iiNktK1FfVyQeKoshGbO_CYeBaqmfZ5xjQX-k0V8046bNYc0aAuz7EALw_wcB
It also contains a bit of tea tree oil which could be helpful if you have a yeast-related dryness thing happening on your lips.

I went through a serious phase of dry lips a couple years ago. Turns out I had developed allergy/sensitivity to the products I was using (especially burts bees, sob! Peppermint oil is a big problem for me). After much trial and error I found soothing touch unscented lip balm to be my magic product. It is simple, vegan, and healed my lips plus keeps them from getting dry again. I have tubes stashed all over my house. Once I healed the initial issue I branched out into their scented options which are so lovely, especially vanilla rose. They only run $2-3 at whole foods and sprouts for a big tube!

Check your toothpaste! I had such dry lips and even asked my derm about it. Then my dentist suggested using a toothpaste without sodium laurel sulfate – there’s an SLS free version of Sensodyne that I use. Problem solved! I’ve gotten more sensitive to certain chemicals as I get older I guess.

All you lanolin fans – try Lanolips!!!

https://www.ulta.com/p/original-101-ointment-multipurpose-superbalm-xlsImpprod14552689

Also, even better than Laneige, I swear, is Revision Lip Replenisher. It’s so, so thick and stays on even better than the lip mask.

https://revisionskincare.com/products/youthfull-lip-replenisher-the-definitive-solution-for-youthful-lips

Those are both my absolute faves for dry lips!

I use a washcloth to exfoliate my lips. Just get it a little bit wet and scrub. That removes my dead skin. Then I put Laneige sleeping mask on my lips at night, and sometimes during the day too. The combo care of my dryness and skin flakes!

I would suspect you snore. It makes ones lips dry in the night and flaky as a result. I wonder if that is the case?

I also have super dry, flakey skin. While I can’t always wear lipstick, I have found 2 things that help my lips: using my usual face oil liberally on them AM and PM (Trish Mcevoy Beauty Booster oil and Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Concentrate are my current fav’s) and also slathering with Vaseline and scruuuuuuubbing with a hot wet washcloth before lipstick. Ps- dry brushing with a stiff brush for the rest of my flakey skin! Good luck this winter!

I watched a youtube video recently where the person said she always exfoliates her lips for about a minute, wipes it off, and then uses a lip balm or moisturizer, dabs off excess with tissue. THEN she applies the lipstick (in this case, liquid lipstick).

Use lipstick without perfume and as little chemical substances as possible. I’m Danish and use the brand Nilens Jord. My lips are so soft and they used to peel and peel.

I read a thing yeeeeeears ago that said conventional lipbalms actually dry out your lips… it feels moisturising going on, but the ingredients actually suck moisture out of your lips over time, so you need to apply more. No idea if that’s evidence based. But I switched to a natural lip balm (burts bees, in the little tin) and never had dry lips again. *Except when pregnant. I get chronically dry lips when pregnant – but that turned out to be a sign of dehydration and went away when I started drinking tonnes of water…

When my lips get flaky in the winter, I brush over them with a wet toothbrush (no toothpaste), then follow with lip balm. It gets off the dry bits without the mess of a lip scrub. Similarly, I exfoliate my face by rubbing it with a warm wet washcloth before moisturizing. Feels good, and all you need is water!

LOVE! Trying this asafp!!