With the fall and winter months quickly approaching, so too is colder, drier weather. While chapped, cracked, irritated, and dry lips can be year-round, they are especially common during the winter. Dry and chapped lips are not only annoying, but they can be painful, too. With products like Chapstick and lip oil to keep your pout healthy and hydrated, sometimes it isn’t enough and your lips need some extra TLC. That’s where the best lip masks come in to save the day.
2. Ingredients to look for in lip mask products
Lip masks have been popular in the Asian beauty community for a while (particularly in Korea), as so many of our skincare trends and rituals in the West come from Asian influence (1).
Similar to face and hair masks, the best lip masks are made to provide hydration and helpful ingredients to a target area that needs some extra attention– in this case, your lips. The skin on the lips is different from the skin on the rest of your body in a few core ways.
For example, while the skin on your lips also consists of three layers like the rest of your skin, the outer protective layer and the epidermis is thinner on the lips, which makes the area more prone to damage from the sun or harsh weather. Plus, the skin on the lips doesn’t have sweat glands, which contributes to the lack of natural moisture. This is why it’s so important to keep your lips hydrated with products such as lip masks (2).
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Lip masks are said to provide a variety of benefits and have subsequently become a new staple and hot topic in the beauty community. There are several kinds of lip masks; some are sheets like sheet face masks that you lay on your lips and take off later, while others come in a cream that can be applied overnight.
Most lip masks are made with thick hydrogel and saturated with serum. Some lip masks are also made to exfoliate or provide a plumping sensation to your lips. Lip masks are being added to beauty rituals around the globe, especially for those that live in colder climates, and can be used daily unlike other types of skincare masks.
The main goal of lip masks is to provide your lips with long-lasting hydration and moisture, but that’s not all they can do. Lip masks are typically formulated with skin-softening ingredients such as butter and oils that become thick and provide a similar texture to lip balm (3). The best lip masks are also full of beneficial ingredients for your lips, such as essential vitamins, that deliver even more benefits to your dry, chapped lips when you need help the most.
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While some lip masks are great at exfoliation, it’s HIGHLY recommended to read into the instructions and details of the lip mask product to ensure you’re using it correctly and know the expected outcome. For example, suppose your lip mask doesn’t have any exfoliating benefits and is made to simply provide extra hydration. In that case, you’ll want to exfoliate your lips first with a lip scrub before using the product to achieve the best results by removing dead skin cells and giving the lip masks a good base to work on.
If you’re using sheet lip masks, applying and removing the lip mask is pretty self-explanatory after you leave it on for the recommended amount of time. However, when it comes to cream and clay-based lip masks, you may be able to leave the product on overnight, while others will require you to remove the lip mask after a certain amount of time.
Again, it’s important to check the instructions on your lip mask packaging and ensure you’re using the product as intended. As an added note, test any new product with a patch test before using it on your lips to make sure the product doesn’t cause any negative interactions with your skin. Your lips are sensitive, treat them with care!
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Check out some of the best lip masks on the market below:
Written by Selena Ponton
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