The 15 Best Lip Oils of 2023, Tested and Reviewed

Whether it’s a setting spray infused with SPF protection or a tinted moisturizer nourishing and evening our skin tone, skincare and beauty products often converge. Yet, of all the hybrid products, none sit so neatly in the middle as lip oils. Today, these delightfully versatile lippies contain the same nourishing ingredients as our luxury skincare, like hyaluronic acid and moisturizing plant-based oils, to deliver intense hydration and heal chapped lips quickly, in addition to making them look plumper, softer, and shinier. Also, they're just a lot of fun to use — who wouldn't want to top off their lipstick with a layer of lustre for an impossibly kissable pout?

Rarely in life do you find such a perfect compromise, but trust us. We spent more than 16 hours testing the buzziest, most popular lip oils in our New York City-based Lab to find the ones that moisturized our driest pouts and left our lips with a gorgeous tint of color in a glossy finish. We took the job seriously, and evaluated each one for it's staying power, along with the level of goopiness we felt with each application. No one enjoys a sticky texture, so we took the extra step of blasting our faces with wind from a fan to see if our hair would get stuck on our lips (a true dealbreaker). Lastly, we scrutinized the formula's scent, color payoff, and our overall experience and enjoyment using the oil.

Best Overall

Kopari Tri-Peptide Lip Cloud

What We Love: This lip oil glided on our lips like a lightweight serum, provided mega-watt shine without any stickiness, and left our skin feeling moisturized for hours and hours.

What We Don’t Love: It only comes in one shade. 

From the moment we touched the Kopari Lip Cloud to our skin with its plush applicator, we knew it was something special, and not least because it left our lips with a cooling sensation that instantly soothed dry, cracked skin. As it turns out, this is the effect of peppermint oil and menthol, which not only gave the product its semi-sweet taste and coordinating scent but are so beneficial at alleviating dryness that they can even aid with the symptoms of especially itchy skin, like pruritus.

And though we can’t deny the affirming feeling of instant gratification, we’re thrilled that this lip oil is in it for the long haul as it contains hyaluronic acid and ceramides that seal moisture into the skin and can provide lasting hydrating benefits with continued use. Plus, tri-peptides, a safer alternative ingredient for moisturizing sensitive skin, can build up the skin barrier and eventually provide an extra layer of protection against moisture-draining environmental aggressors like the sun.

With a trio of shine-imparting oils, coconut, castor seed, and apricot, this hydrating blend resulted in a texture so lightweight and lustrous that it melted right into our lips. In fact, the oil felt so nourishing that we couldn’t wait to swipe on another layer even though our lips remained soft and shiny for hours, even as we sipped and snacked. 

Even better, the oil's sheer hue meant we never saw any color transfer onto our cups or shirt collars. On that same note, we wouldn’t mind seeing it offered in a couple of other tints for when we want to ramp up our looks. 

Key Ingredients: Peptides, ceramides, hyaluronic acid, coconut oil, apricot seed oil | Shades: 1 | Scent: Peppermint | Size: 0.17 oz

Best Budget

Nooni Lip Oil

What We Love: The affordable option got the job done – it only took one swipe to achieve the color and desired hydration we wanted. 

What We Don’t Love: Removing the tint takes a little bit of elbow grease.

For a budget-friendly lip oil that didn’t settle into our creases, cause irritation, or feel too sticky, we couldn’t find another one better than this Amazon bestseller. The viscous texture was thick, but not so heavy that we could see any residue on our straws or wine glasses. In fact, we liked how satisfying this rich texture felt, like the orange, camellia, and spearmint oils were really getting to work to give our lips a boost of moisture. With the inclusion of apple oil, an ingredient known for its gentle exfoliating properties, we felt confident that our lips would become smoother over time.

Yet that's not to say we didn't see immediate results — quite the opposite! We adored the light pink tint that gave us a Goldilocks-approved (not too little, not too much) amount of color that lasted for a surprisingly long amount of time. So long, actually, we really had to scrub our lips with a makeup wipe to see the color disappear (but having the look of naturally flushed lips is almost an upside in our opinion). However, if it's a concern for you, it's an issue easily resolved by selecting one of the more transparent shades from the nine-color range.

Key Ingredients: Apple water, mint extract | Shades: 9 | Scent: Citrus, mint | Size: 0.12 oz

Best Drugstore

NYX Fat Oil Lip Drip

What We Love: Leave it to this best-seller from NYX to be budget-friendly and provide the same amount (if not more) moisture as its more expensive competitors. 

What We Don’t Love: We worry thatits super thick formula would be easy to overapply.

NYX is the drugstore darling brand that truthfully never stops winning — this exact oil topped Amazon charts (and our wish lists) as a best-seller when it was first released — and after trying it ourselves we can confirm its top-ranking status. The mostly-vegan brand is always thoughtful about what it includes in its formulas and opted to satiate our parched lips with squalane, a super emollient that’s derived from plants, and raspberry and rosehip oil. Actually, the relief it provided couldn’t have come at a better time as it replenished our raw, irritated skin after we’d scrubbed it with a makeup wipe. 

We won’t lie: When we pulled the applicator out of the tube the oil was so thick we were a little nervous our lips might become glued together. With a name like “Fat Oil” maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised, but luckily, as long as we didn’t get greedy with the application, the formula absorbed quickly and left a smooth, thin sheen in its place. 

There was no slipping or sliding once it settled down and instead the gloss held up against every trial we put it through. It didn’t leave much residue on our drinking glasses, our hair barely got stuck when we flattened it to our lips with a fan, and the oil only caught a few crumbs prisoner while we ate. 

Key Ingredients: Raspberry oil, cloudberry oil, squalane | Shades: 8 | Scent: Sweet, fruity | Size: 0.16 oz

Best Sheer

Ami Colé Lip Treatment Oil

What We Love: With a formula full of antioxidants and vitamins, wearing this gorgeous sheer oil made us feel like we had a protective shield on our lips.

What We Don’t Love: It transfers easily and isn’t super long-lasting. 

Simply put, swatching Ami Cole’s ultra-nourishing formula on our lips felt similar to pulling on a cozy cardigan in a freezing cold office: It provided an attractive barrier between aggravating outside forces. The gorgeous sheer coating enhanced the look of our natural lips, or any lipstick we were wearing, by layering seamlessly over them without looking like a goopy mess. 

And, though a sheer shade will look great on anyone, the Black-owned business does an exceptional job at creating universal colors that look great on a wide range of skin tones (we’re particularly interested in testing 5/17, which has an eye-catching shimmer to it). 

Additionally, it employed powerful moisturizing agents with antioxidant properties like passionfruit, camellia seed, and baobab oil to heal it from effects like free radical damage. We also felt good knowing that these oils are rich in fatty acids like omega 6 as well as vitamins A, C, and E, so our lips were getting the extra protection and TLC they deserve.

One note: Be ready to re-apply — the lip oil transfers fairly easily but luckily a wide-doe foot applicator made on-the-go application easy. 

Key Ingredients: Baobab seed oil, camellia seed oil, passion fruit seed oil | Shades: 5 | Scent: Light | Size: 0.15 oz

Best Non-Sticky

Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Tinted Lip Oil

What We Love: This lip oil has the high shine of a gloss and provides as much color as lipstick while containing ingredients super beneficial for skin rejuvenation and protection. 

What We Don’t Love: It’s more of a lip tint than an oil, so don’t choose it if you’re deterred from color. 

The beauty of a lip oil is that, theoretically, it should have the same shine as a gloss without the tacky feeling and though this isn’t always the case, Rare Beauty does a phenomenal job at exceeding our expectations at having a non-sticky texture. It pulls off this feat using lightweight, natural ingredients such as jojoba oil and glycerin. It also contains sunflower seed oil, which has fatty and linoleic acid that can help soothe inflammation and repair the skin barrier after damage from, say, excessive sun exposure or increased dryness from acne medications.

The product is actually inspired by the blush that launched a thousand (or should we say thousands) of 5-star reviews so, suffice it to say, we understand why it’s constantly sold out. but fortunately, we got our hands on a sample and we’re never letting it out of our sight because this lip oil blew us away — our lips were so cushiony and plump after using it and the shade left them with a gorgeous rosy color that remained even once the shininess started to wear off. 

Truly, this oil was seemingly made to flush our lips with noticeable color, and in just one swipe at that, but this means we probably wouldn’t recommend it to anyone wanting a transparent shade. For those who do enjoy a two-in-one product, there are eight stunning colorways to choose from including a warm nude brown, deep plum, and cheery petal pink.

Key Ingredients: Jojoba oil, sunflower seed oil | Shades: 8 | Scent: None | Size: 0.10 oz

Best for Fine Lines

Dior Lip Glow Oil

What We Love: The gorgeous bottle contains a formula with equally beautiful effects for our lips that supplied it with a sheeny layer of gloss and helped smooth out and prevent fine lines with the help from cherry oil.

What We Don’t Love: It doesn’t have a super high color payoff. 

Wearing the Dior Lip Oil is like slipping into a luxurious pashmina, except that cashmere can’t smooth away our fine lines as this luscious product does. It achieves this through the use of cherry oil, which is an ingredient rich in vitamins A and E, and fatty acids, like linoleic acid, that prevent moisture from leaving the skin barrier and protect it against environmental aggressors.

Translation: Even once this product wears off, it’s still keeping skin hydrated so it appears plumper, ironing out fine lines and shielding it from anything that might worsen dryness such as UV radiation and pollution. Plus, in addition to the added fragrance, it gives the product a pleasant, light scent.

Another aspect about the oil that really won us over, along with anyone who scrolled through TikTok, is how it struck the perfect harmony of having an iridescence that looked like lovely layered over lipsticks while still being pigmented enough to give our lips a subtle, natural look when worn alone. Though, its eight colorways are intriguing and we’re curious to see what the color payoff of deeper shades like plum or mahogany is.

Key Ingredients: Cherry oil | Shades: 8 | Scent: Minty-vanilla | Size: 0.2 oz

Best Tinted

Merit Sheer Tinted Lip Oil

What We Love: The formula adapts to your skin’s natural pH so that the color payoff flatters your skin tone and, what’s even better, is that it doesn’t budge once you apply it.

What We Don’t Love: It’s kind of oily, not for super high shine 

We’ve raved about Merit’s lip oils before (they even made our 2022 list of top beauty buys), and plenty of celebrities from SJP to Bella Hadid have worn its products, so it wasn’t super surprising when the lab results for this oil came packed 100 percent positive. 

Along with its ultra-lightweight formula with moisturizing ingredients such as squalane and quinoa seed oil, we were most enthralled by its gorgeous tint that was seemingly made for our skin tone. As it turns out, it was. 

Here’s how: The formula uses pigments that adhere to your body’s natural pH, giving your lips a stain totally unique to your skin. Merit offers the lip oil in eight shades from cozy warm and beige hues to cool-toned pinks and reds and deeper browns. And having a gorgeous swath of color is one thing, but one that lasts all day is even better and we were thrilled that this one didn’t transfer after eating or drinking. 

Out of all the options we tested, this one was definitely the closest to an oil — it’s slick and may slide around on your lips more than, say, the brand’s Gelée collection, whose shades have a thicker consistency. However, we kind of loved this aspect because it kept the product from feeling too sticky or heavy, and made our lips look shinier. 

Key Ingredients: Rosehip oil, shea butter, jojoba oil, quinoa seed oil | Shades: 8 | Scent: None | Size: 0.23 oz

Best Shimmer

Stila Cosmetics Heaven's Dew Gel Lip Oil

What We Love: Our lips had a lovely, glittering shine to them without feeling any of the grittiness that comes with other sparkly formulas. 

What We Don’t Love: The coverage is subtle. 

As tweens, we’ll never forget how our eyes widened the first time we applied the sparkly, Moon Rock Candy shade from LipSmacker, and while today we’d prefer if our lips didn’t look like the Tin Man rolled in a vat of glitter, we loved how this Stila shade had a more sophisticated shimmering finish to mimic the effect. 

The key behind our grown-up glow is moisturizing ingredients such as jojoba oil and hyaluronic acid that allow the oil to absorb easily into the skin for an even layer of shine. Meadowfoam, a seed oil rich in super fatty acids, also helped avoid patchy pockets of glitter by acting as a super emollient to lock hydration into our skin.

Though deeper, bronzier, golden shades like Galaxy and Stardust may be more noticeable, we tried the shade Superluster, a clear gloss with fine, silver suspended glitter, that was apparent to our conversation partner but wasn’t hogging all the attention on our selfies. (P.S. If this formula sounds enticing but you’re not super into glitter, STILA offers the lip oil in a sheer, shimmer-free shade.)

No matter what color we choose, however, we know it’d be our best friend during long nights out on the town as the thin, non-greasy oil layered seamlessly on top of lipsticks for an added oomph. And, when we needed to reapply it (which wasn’t required often, honestly), we could do so without a mirror since the slightly thicker texture kept the oil from smearing sparkles outside our lip line.

Key Ingredients: Antioxidants, jojoba oil, hyaluronic acid | Shades: 6 | Scent: None | Size: 0.18 oz

Best Plumping

Milani Fruit Fetish Lip Oil

What We Love: The formula thoughtfully includes vegan ingredients such as vitamin E and ginger extract to naturally plump the lips and make them incredibly soft in the process. 

What We Don’t Love: The color isn’t very pigmented.

For the needle averse among us, the Milani Fetish Lip Oil gave us a more affordable alternative to injectables when we wanted a plumper pout. We credited our smooth, supple lips to the formula’s use of hydrating ingredients like glycerin and a host of plant oils, which, along with skin-stimulating extracts such as ginger and vitamin E that helped increase blood flow circulation, worked beautifully to provide us with an Angelina Jolie-inspired smile. 

Frankly put, this was the softest our lips have felt in, well, maybe ever, and even once the understated red tint faded the moisturizing properties it left behind were still felt hours later — as was the sweet taste of the cherry lime flavor. 

Another aspect that sets the lip oil ahead of the pack is how it sunk so quickly into the skin there was hardly time for it to leave behind any kind of globby residue on whatever we ate or drank. Plus, it comes in a variety of shades that make us nostalgic for our youth like Passionfruit Coconut, Strawberry, and Raspberry Peach, though, luckily, we didn’t notice an overpowering sweet smell. 

Key Ingredients: Fruit extracts, vitamin E | Shades: 4 | Scent: Sweet, fruity | Size: 0.14

Best Hydrating

Ilia Balmy Gloss Tinted Lip Oil

What We Love: The oil kept our lips so well hydrated that we doubt we’ll need to continue applying it very often unless we want to see its pretty pop of color on our lips again.

What We Don’t Love: It’s not exceedingly shiny.

If we’re talking hydration, it’s well established that hyaluronic acid is the most popular kid in skin school but this lip oil is going for extra credit and also uses moisture-drenching botanical extracts to ensure we never have cracked lips again. 

For the same reason that the brand is frequently endorsed by big-name models and actresses alike, this lip oil also sticks to a natural ingredient list and contains a combination of botanicals such as shea butter, orange, and grapefruit. It also has a couple more off-the-radar additions like salicornia herbacea extract, a succulent native to South Korean shores, and one full of antioxidants that preserve skin from getting damaged and helps it retain moisture.

All that to say, the results were instantaneous as our lips looked plumper and felt smoother after a simple swipe. What’s more, the slightly angled applicator made it easy to apply as we could get every corner of our lips, even under the cupid’s bow, without worrying about drawing outside the lines. But here’s the best part: The longer we wore it the more hydrated our lips felt — within twenty minutes it had a pillowy, cushiony look. 

We marveled in the mirror at how the muted pink shade looked like our lips, but better, and only wished it had a bit of a higher shine, although it will be ideal for days we want an au-natural finish. 

Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid | Shades: 6 | Scent: None | Size: 0.14 oz

Best Dermatologist-Recommended

Clarins Lip Comfort Oil

What We Love: The formula uses almost all natural ingredients to soothe irritated skin and leave lips slightly plumper. 

What We Don’t Love: This oil is thicker than some of the other options we tested.

There’s a reason why Clarins is a generation-defying, skin-saving brand for so many consumers — its secret lies within dermatologist-tested products, and this lip oil, which is comprised of 93 percent natural ingredients, is no exception. In addition to having omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, the formula leans on jojoba and hazelnut oils to drench parched skin. By using cold-pressed oils over refined ones, they may be even richer in antioxidants and free from preservatives or other chemicals.

After application, our lips were left with a subtle tingly sensation that lasted for over 15 minutes and led us to believe the oil was working to slightly plump them. We can imagine our lips would’ve looked even better had we used the oil as an overnight mask as suggested by the brand.

However, a slightly less pleasant feeling it provided was some stickiness, but it really didn’t bother us that much considering all of its other beneficial qualities far overshadowed this aspect. 

Key Ingredients: Organic sweetbriar rose oil, Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids, cold-pressed organic jojoba oil, hazelnut oil | Shades: 8 | Scent: Light, fruity | Size: 0.2 oz

Best for Dry Lips

U Beauty The Plasma Lip Compound

What We Love: Salicylic acid, linoleic acid, and hyaluronic acid all contribute to hydrating extremely dry lips by providing long-term benefits that will keep lips hydrated long after the oil wears off.

What We Don’t Love: To some sensitive notices the fragrance may be too strong. 

Instead of slapping a Band-Aid over our dry lips situation, quickly alleviating the situation before we needed to reapply again, U Beauty delivered an oil that works to heal dry lips for good, so we can leave home without it and not feel parched upon our return. It even managed to achieve that creamy, soft blanket of texture feeling provided by a traditional balm, but in the form of a lightweight oil that polished off our lips with a gorgeous glass-like finish. 

This, in combination with the faint swath of light pink provided by the rose shade, gave our look an au-natural French girl finish; although there are three other shades including sheer, a light beige, and deeper plum color when we’re not feeling the provincial aesthetic. And, though the slightly medical smell may not fit into this reverie, it dissipates quickly and some noses may not even notice it at all. 

In terms of ingredients, included salicylic acid, linoleic acid, and hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid — ones we often find on the back of our favorite serums and cleaners. As salicylic acid gently exfoliated the lips, sloughing off dead dead skin, hyaluronic acid worked with linoleic acid to form an occlusive barrier that absorbed moisture and helped other conditioning ingredients, like shea butter, ceramides, and beeswax, to penetrate deeper into the skin.

We were overjoyed with the fullness of our lips after one application, and since these ingredients are also beneficial at protecting the skin from UV irradiation, and inflammation, effects of aging, we’re chomping at the bit to see how our skin will be improved after using the product for a month.

Another feature that sets this lip oil apart is its round, metal applicator that’s similar to a travel-sized rollerball perfume that feels cool on the skin and layers the product more evenly across the lips.

Key Ingredients: Peptides, ceramides, alpha hydroxy acid, poly-hydroxy acid, salicylic acid, shea butter, and beeswax | Shades: 4 | Scent: None | Size: 0.5 oz

Best High Shine

Kosas Wet Lip Oil Gloss

What We Love: One coat of the Kosas lip oil was plenty to leave our lips with enough shine its formula easily out beat any of the other options we tested.

What We Don’t Love: It has a thicker, goopier texture that may stick to your hair.

Frankly speaking, our lips looked expensive after applying this oil. Let us explain: One swipe and suddenly they had the lustrous, near-reflective qualities of a Hollywood elite, and we owe our gratitude to the celebrity-loved brand Kosas. The subtle shimmer bestowed by its sophomore pink tint only amped up our confidence level as we carried out the rest of the test, and it further curried our favor with an enticing, light vanilla scent.

Moreover, while we snacked and sipped on treats we found to our delight that there was minimal residue left on them from the gloss or its color, and the only pain point we encountered was occasionally disengaging our hair from the gloss. But honestly, compared to its other high-shine counterparts, this one was still far less sticky.

Likely, this is due to its use of lightweight, deeply moisturizing plant-based emollients like shea butter, konjac root, and avocado oil, which all contain fatty acids with anti-inflammatory properties that hydrate skin as well as protect and heal it from UV damage. Meanwhile, evening primrose is another star player that works alongside hyaluronic acid to prevent water loss from the skin and in turn provide moisture that makes lips appear fuller.

Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, peptides, evening primrose oil, avocado oil, konjac root, and shea butter | Shades: 11 | Scent: Light vanilla | Size: 0.15 oz

Best Clear

Gisou Honey Infused Lip Oil

What We Love: The sustainably sourced honey was key in giving us the super soft lips of our dreams and an added layer of shimmer from its sheer color was the cherry on top.

What We Don’t Love: The fragrance may not be for everyone.

This lip oil’s art deco-esque bottle caught our attention and it didn’t take a daring shade inside to keep our focus — the glass-like, sheer finish it gave our lips enthralled us immediately. Truly love at first swipe, the Mirsalehi honey which comes sustainably sourced directly from the brand owner’s family bee garden, nourished our lips and left them with an enticing, layer of glistening goodness.

Our noticeable pout also came courtesy of hyaluronic acid, and a blend of fruit oils like buriti fruit, blueberry, and grape seed oil which packed on hydration and set our skin up for success by employing a bevy of antioxidant and conditioning benefits. 

So even if we didn’t have the extra benefit of the hint of sparkling shimmer from the glittery iteration (it also comes in a totally sheer shade), our lips would still look fantastic. One downside to the fruity blend is the slightly floral fragrance trail that lingers after application — some reviewers hated it, but we personally didn’t notice much of a scent at all. 

Its consistency landed smack dab in the middle of a balm and a gloss: Not too oily it was veering out of our lip line, but not so thick it took away from that gorgeous gleaming sheen we love.

Key Ingredients: Mirsalehi honey, hyaluronic acid | Shades: 2 | Scent: None | Size: 0.27 oz

Best Natural

InnBeauty Project Glaze Lip Oil

What We Love: The color provided by these lip oils enhanced our natural lips and smelled fantastic, but not overpowering. 

What We Don’t Love: It bled a little outside our natural lip line. 

Adulthood generally means retiring some of our fave beauty products we used as teens (case in point: the Vanilla Swirl spritz from Pink), so imagine our delight when these punchy-colored lip oils disguised themselves as the ones we loved in middle school, but with a much more natural look. Its mature glow-up includes a subtle scent that isn’t overly sweet and an understated hint of color. 

We loved how shade #10, left an almost-sheer coral tint that made our natural beauty shine. And, since the fun of our middle school lip gloss swaps was sharing with friends, we love how the brand sells the nine shades of these oils in a party pack where you can try ‘em all. Each colorway varies in ingredients, but everyone relies on the power of plant extracts like jojoba oil, fermented pomegranate, and apple to soften lips. 

We had to do some damage control with our pinky finger when this ventured outside our lip line but, honestly, that may be more on us for overapplying the thicker-textured gloss.

Key Ingredients: Blend of plant-based oils | Shades: 9 | Scent: Sweet, fruity | Size: 0.2

Our Testing Process

First, we scoured the internet to find the most popular and highest-rated lip oils. Then we narrowed our list down to the top 20 and conducted a test in our New York City-based Lab where we collected insights from 19 testers. We asked them to rate the lip oils on how they felt — like whether it was sticky, lightweight, or thick, or had any kind of tingling sensation — how well it hydrated their lips, how well the color lasted through eating and drinking without transferring or wearing off altogether, and what their overall thoughts were on how it made their lips look. Did they appear more plump? Was there a fullness there that wasn’t before? After 16 hours of testing, we evaluated whether the lip oils lived up to our expectations. The 15 lip oils that earned our top scores are featured on this list.

What to Keep in Mind

Moisturizing Ingredients

“The best ingredient to plump and hydrate would be hyaluronic acid,” says board-certified dermatologist Dr. Mona Gohara, who adds that it naturally increases the fullness of lips because it acts as “a little micro-sponge that absorbs humidity.” 

She also suggests choosing a lip oil with a formula with plant butters, such as shea butter, that will deeply hydrate lips without giving the oil a super thick, heavy texture. Vitamin E oil and glycerin are two other popular occlusive ingredients that help your skin barrier retain moisture and they work well with hyaluronic acid to allow other ingredients to penetrate deeper into the skin, sealing them into its barrier and leaving them better moisturized in the long-term. 

Plant-Based Oils 

Maybe it comes as no surprise that lip oils use a lot of, well, oils, specifically plant-based ones because they effectively moisturize lips and could help give them extra protection. “Sunflower, safflower, and jojoba would be the top hydrators to look for in this type of formula, especially those with a dry pout,” says Dr. Gohara. They’re super conditioning and play well with other ingredients, such as in the case of the Clarins Lip Comfort Oil, which has a host of oils that work together to deeply condition cracked, flaky skin. Additionally, “flaxseed contains natural Omega-3 and can help with chapped lips,” says cosmetic chemist Ginger King.

Shine

Unlike lipsticks, lip oils don’t typically come in different finishes like matte and natural, and instead, all of them usually leave lips with varying levels of shine, but the key is finding ones that don’t leave lips with residue or have adhesive texture. King points us toward lip oils with silicone or esters, which she says can provide a glaze without feeling sticky and heavy. We found that the Kosas Wet Lip Oil Gloss and Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Tinted Lip Oil both did an exceptional job at making our lips look super glossy without weighing them down with heavy ingredients. 

Your Questions, Answered

What’s the difference between lip oil and lip gloss?

Simply put, lip oil is a treatment that moisturizes and protects lips while imparting a glossy sheen. As makeup artist Kyle Brown further explains, “lip oils and lip glosses leave the same, shiny finish, but lip oil is more lightweight, and most lip oils are made with skincare ingredients,” such as vitamins A and E, and nutrient-packed ones with fatty acids and oils that are beneficial to your lips.

They’re also not limited in their potential: You can use them as a primer, overnight treatment, to intensify your lip look, or wear them on their own. Additionally, adds King, depending on how often you’re eating and drinking, they can last anywhere from one to two hours before you need to reapply them. 

Meanwhile, “lip gloss contains stronger film former and can feel sticky and heavier,” says King. They may provide a more intense shine and have a higher color payoff, but that’s not always the case. Through our testing, we found that some lip oils like the Merit Shade Slick Gelée Sheer Tinted Lip Oil gifted our lips with the same color intensity and glaze as our most beloved lip glosses.

Is it safe for all skin types to use lip oil?

Generally, yes, but “if you have allergies and eczema, steer clear,” says Dr. Gohara. According to the National Eczema Association, jojoba oil, borage seed oil, and other cold-pressed oils are deemed safe and beneficial for use on anyone with this condition. However, essential oils use heat and chemicals during extraction, which could turn out irritating compounds that trigger allergic reactions. We always recommend doing a patch test before applying any new beauty products and consulting your dermatologist if you have especially sensitive skin. 

How often should you apply lip oil?

“You are the ruler of your destiny,” says Dr. Gohara, who adds that you can apply lip oils as often as you need them — whether that’s several times a day during dry winter months or, as suggested by King, before bed to heal lips overnight.

Brown prefers incorporating lip oils into his makeup routine in two different ways. “I first apply a lip balm, then a lip oil all before completing the rest of my face so that the skincare ingredients in the lip products have the opportunity to sink in,” he says, before applying lipsticks or other glosses. Alternatively, he takes a tinted lip oil with a shimmery finish, such as the Stila Cosmetics Heaven's Dew Gel Lip Oil, and uses it to top off a lip look with a healthy dose of shine. 

What Is InStyle Picks?

Did you notice the InStyle Picks seal of approval at the top of this story? That means our team of testers has reviewed every product on this list using a unique methodology to ensure it's really worth your time, money, and attention. We may get samples for free to try but we never promise positive (or any!) coverage in exchange. Put simply: InStyle Picks are products we love, and we've put them to the test to be sure you will too.

Why Shop with Us

Irene Richardson is a writer covering fashion and beauty trends. For this story, she compiled insights from our in-house testers, read dozens of online reviews, and rounded up our top picks. She also spoke with board-certified dermatologist Dr. Mona Gohara, cosmetic formulator, Ginger King, and makeup artist Kyle Brown.