Out Of The NINETEEN Lip Products Rattling Around In My Purse, Here Are The Only 3 I Actually Use
I’m not proud of this.
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by Audie Metcalf
I am what professionals call a “purse pig.” I had to create an entire system whereby I use a separate bin to pour all of my crap into when I change purses, and this has helped my pigdom immensely.
However.
When I intentionally went and counted, I realized I that I have no fewer than 19 emotional support lip products in various states of use in any given bag I’m using. It’s a problem, I’m working on it, please just try to love me as I am.
In the meantime, the reality is I only actually use three of them - five if we’re including the bonus you’ll read more about below. So I thought you might be curious to know what they are, given my near-pathological hoard collection.
As a reminder, I am the editor of this site and as such I both get sent free stuff to try constantly, and I also purchase an obscene number of products myself, so the point that I’m making here is that I have tried possibly hundreds of products this year alone. And so the further point here is that I am to be trusted because of this excess. Enough talking, here’s the big reveal.
The balm, the liner, and the gloss
WHAT: Lanolips The Original Lanostick Balm*, The Outset Lip Oasis™ Glossy Treatment in Dune*, Merit Signature Lip Liner in Bespoke*
First, I apologize that these are all annoyingly available at different places so if you wanted to try them yourself (which you definitely should because they are all remarkable) it requires three different check outs. I’m not saying it’s impossible, I’m just acknowledging your pain. Second, this lip balm* is so, so, so, so nourishing and gorgeous on winter-cracked lips. It has lanolin so it’s that ultra-cocooning feeling, not that spiky mint grossness. Third, you already know this gloss* is otherworldly for its perfect nude color and its ability to make all lips look bigger without any stinging - if you are dubious, please refer to my before and after photos HERE. And the lip liner*, well, without hyperbole or fanfare, it is the best lip liner formula AND not-orange, not-brown, not-pink color of all history and time.
Bonus: The Nighttime Products
WHAT: Furtuna Olive Lip Butter Balm* and Triple Olive Lip Polish*
This is a cheat because these are really my evening lip products, but I keep them in my purse because, as we’ve established, I don’t make good decisions when it comes to purse management slash lip product hoarding. I just get a little bit panicky in the winter when I don’t have this super-thick lip, olive oil-based lip mask* for when my lips start to feel chapped. But keeping the lip polish* in my purse is simply diabolical and unnecessary, but since we’re here, I cannot stress enough how utterly imperative a lip scrub is during the winter months. I used to get such chapped lips that my mouth had a permanent flaky, red ring around it from around Nov 18th through April 9th. Not chic. And I credit this lip polish for freeing me from those chapping-chains every winter; I previously tried doing the Vaseline-on-the-toothbrush trick, but only this works for me. I think it’s to do with sloughing away the dead skin so that the rich, succulent emollients of the balms can actually take hold and nourish and hydrate the lip skin. (Gross term).
And you can use the code CANDIDLY to get 25% off.
In sum, I refuse to “edit” or “whittle down” my collection of my lip lovies. Because who knows, perhaps I’ll have another collection of favorites in a couple months time. And if/when I do, you’ll be the first to know.
Audie Metcalf is the Editor-in-chief of The Candidly, and lives in LA with her family. You can find more of her articles here.
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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