lips

Matte lipsticks like the Matte Lipstick or the Super Stay Matte Ink Liquid Lipstick last especially long and work well for intense colors, but can accentuate dryness more quickly on dry lips. Glossy formulas like the Liquid Shiny Lipgloss or the Lifter Gloss add extra shine and look visually fuller, but usually last a bit less long and need reapplying more often. Tinted products like the Lip & Cheek Tint or the Bio Lip Oil give only a subtle hint of color and are especially good for a natural everyday look where the lip line isn't meant to be sharply defined. If you don't want to choose between color intensity and care, formulas like the Nourishing Sheer Lipstick offer a middle ground, combining color with a caring effect. For very dry or chapped lips, we generally recommend prepping with a nourishing lip balm or lip oil before any color, regardless of the texture you choose.

With a warm, yellowish skin undertone, coral, orange, and warm red tones harmonize especially well, while cooler, blue-based red and berry tones look most flattering on a cool, rosy skin undertone. A simple trick to figure out which you have: look at the inside of your wrist, if your veins look more greenish, you probably have a warm undertone, if they look more bluish, more likely a cool one. With a neutral undertone, you have the widest choice, since both warm and cool tones usually work well. It's best to test a new shade directly on your lips rather than on the back of your hand, since the color effect on lip skin can differ noticeably from that on regular skin. If you're unsure, muted rosé and nude tones are usually the most versatile and safest choice for everyday wear.

Yes, even in a wide selection: avril offers, among others, the Bio Lipstick, the Bio Lip Liner, and the Bio Lip Oil with certified organic ingredients, GEODERM adds vegan lipsticks such as Fire Red and Burgundy as well as a Bio Lip Gloss to the range. Uoga Uoga also carries the natural, vegan Nourishing Sheer Lipstick and the Lip & Cheek Tint, and cmd Naturkosmetik offers the Sandorini Gloss & Care as a nourishing, natural alternative. These products generally avoid animal-derived color pigments such as carmine (obtained from cochineal insects) and instead rely on plant-based or mineral colorants. Newwell is positioned as attractively priced and also vegan formulated, for example with the Liquid Matte Lipgloss or the Matte Lipstick.

Unlike most cosmetics, lip products are partly, unintentionally ingested, for example while eating, drinking, or kissing, which is why it's especially worth checking the INCI list here. If you want to avoid animal-derived ingredients, watch out for beeswax and carmine, which are frequently used in classic lipsticks for texture or red coloring respectively, but are replaced by plant-based alternatives in vegan products. Some lip-plumping products contain volumizing irritants such as cinnamon or menthol, which trigger a slight tingling, which can be desirable, but can also feel unpleasant on sensitive lips. If you have known fragrance allergies, it's worth being cautious with heavily fragranced lip care products, since the thin lip skin can react more sensitively than the rest of the facial skin. As a general rule: with new products, especially ones with intense color pigments, it's worth doing a short test before wearing them for several hours at a stretch.

For dry or chapped lips, we recommend using a lip scrub such as the Hey Sugar Lip Peel once or twice a week to gently remove dead skin flakes before care products can absorb better. Right after that, a nourishing lip oil such as the Lip Comfort Oil or the Bio Lip Oil absorbs especially well and provides intense moisture without feeling heavy. For everyday use, a simple lip balm is usually enough, best applied several times a day, especially before bed and in cold or windy weather. You should avoid colored lip products as much as possible on severely chapped lips until the skin has recovered, since some color pigments and fragrances can further intensify irritation. If lips remain persistently brittle despite regular care, a lack of fluids in the body can also play a role; drinking enough water supports lip care from the inside.

Start with dry, smooth lips, ideally after a gentle scrub, since color spreads unevenly on flaky skin and flakes off more quickly. First outline your lips with a lip liner in a shade matching your lipstick color, this not only defines the shape but also extends how long the color lasts at the edges. Then apply the lipstick from the center outward and blot your lips once with a tissue before applying a second, thinner layer, this so-called blotting technique noticeably extends wear time. With especially long-lasting formulas like Super Stay Matte Ink or Infaillible Matte Resistance, it's best to skip a second layer right after applying, since these formulas often need a short drying time to develop their full effect. If you also want care benefits, apply a thin layer of lip balm before the actual make-up and let it absorb briefly before the color follows.

For sensitive lips, we first recommend looking at especially minimalist formulas such as avril's Bio Lip Oil or Bio Lip Liner, which avoid synthetic fragrances and many potential irritants. If you're known to be prone to irritation, also avoid products with volumizing actives such as cinnamon, menthol, or capsaicin, which are meant to deliberately trigger tingling and can quickly become uncomfortable on sensitive lip skin. It's best to test new lip products first on just a small part of the lip or on your wrist, before wearing them over a larger area and for several hours. If you have a known carmine allergy, which is rare but possible, you should specifically check the INCI list and choose products without cochineal extract or carmine, as many vegan lipsticks already offer by default. If burning, swelling, or blistering on the lips persists, you should stop using the product immediately and, if in doubt, seek medical advice.

Classic drugstore brands such as Maybelline New York and L'Oréal Paris score points with especially long-lasting formulas and a wide color range for practically every trend, from matte nude to bold red. Natural cosmetics brands such as avril and GEODERM, by contrast, rely on certified organic ingredients and nourishing formulas that often add moisture rather than just delivering color. Uoga Uoga combines natural formulation with a somewhat more modern, minimalist approach to tints and lip-and-cheek products. Newwell covers practically the entire lip range, vegan and attractively priced, from matte lipstick to lip gloss, making it a good choice if both price and vegan formulation matter to you.