It’s been a long time since we felt the need to sing Lil Mama’s, “My lip gloss is popping, my lip gloss is cool…” But with the amount of ooey gooey lip products currently overflowing from our makeup bags, the song has never felt more relevant. That decade-defining anthem, timed with the popularity of Lancôme Juicy Tubes, was lip gloss’ peak… until now. Twenty-some years after the aughts, we’re even more obsessed with glazed lips, largely because today’s formulas do more than just add shine, and they aren’t at all sticky.
Thanks to glossy new launches from Topicals, Neutrogena, and Gucci, our lips are currently commanding an elevated level of attention. Summer Fridays (Allure’s recent One to Watch honoree) and Fenty Skin’s latest formulas both come with a jumbo applicator that makes applying them a breeze. Lip products from Saltair, U Beauty, Good Light Cosmetics, and Too Faced are also on the list of glosses that have recently entered our personal collections. Amidst all the newness, we’re still clinging to some veteran lip products like MAC Lip Glass and the Tatcha Kissu Lip Mask.
What makes these newer formulas so plush and collectible is how they feel when you glide them across your lips — plus, the high-shine glossy look and gooey texture you get. “You typically find a combination of hydrocarbon ingredients in lip oil and gloss formulas because they are excellent gelling and thickening agents for anhydrous applications,” says cosmetic chemist Amanda Lam. The ingredient blend she’s referring to includes hydrogenated polyisobutene, ethylene-propylene-styrene copolymer, and butylene-ethylene-styrene-copolymer — the combination of these ingredients gives our favorite lip products their ooey gooey, yummy texture.
No one in our office is picking just one favorite: Allure editors have plenty of ooey-gooey options on standby — on a recent Tuesday, we counted 19 different lip glosses between two editors’ desks alone. Ahead, some of the glossy balms, glosses, and oils that Allure editors love to have on their lips.