Our Editors Are Obsessed With This Lip Balm — and It's Only $4 Right Now (2024)

Your lips are unlike any other skin on your body. For starters, they don’t produce the natural oils that keep the rest of your skin supple, and while the rest of your body has 15 to 16 protective layers, your mouth has only three to four.

"Lips are primed to be chapped," says Dendy Engelman, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist in Manhattan. "They are in daily contact with saliva that contains alpha-amylase, a digestive enzyme that can break down skin, and are always exposed to the elements, so lips take a beating from the sun, the cold weather, wind and heat." Translation: They're especially prone to dryness, flaking, chapping and cracking. But the good news is that a great lip balm can help.

That's why the Good Housekeeping Institute Beauty Lab tested 175 lip treatments from more than 70 brands: To find the best balms that help to replenish much-needed moisture and seal it in. Hydrating, tinted, wallet-friendly, balms with SPF — we've got 'em all on this list. These are the best lip balms on the market, with picks sourced from extensive Lab testing, plus the pro picks our Beauty Lab experts reach for every single day.

Scroll to the bottom of this article for more information on how we test lip balms in the GH Beauty Lab, plus what to look for when you're shopping for a good lip balm. Want more tips for hydrated skin? Check out the best moisturizers for dry skin and learn what's causing your dry skin.

It's a splurge, but this GH Beauty Lab test winner provides both softening and anti-aging benefits in one thanks to ingredients like peptides, antioxidants and hydrators. In Lab evaluations, the VenEffect lip treatment formula made lips look fuller after four weeks of use, and testers gave it high marks for its non-tacky feel and the fact that it soaked in quickly.

Lightly flavored with coconut and pear, this beeswax-and-shea- butter stick hydrates with coconut and sunflower oils, Aral says. Its shine-free finish means no goo or visible gloss, with a waxy finish that's perfect for layering under lipstick (though if you're suffering from extremely dry lips, you may want a more emollient pick). With over 28,000 five-star reviews, it's also the most popular lip balm on Amazon. Reviewers say "Burt’s Bees seems to go on smoother" than other lip balms, "and I can definitely feel the soothing effect more."

A winner of our 2022 Beauty Awards, Lab pros found this high-shine pick had immediate lip-line-blurring and softening benefits and a non-goopy feel. Formulated with shea, mango, avocado and jasmine butters and extracts, our analysts said, lips "felt protected and smooth with a nice shine," and that the texture feels lightweight but dense enough to stay put on lips, though one commented the taste could be better.

This Beauty Lab gold standard ointment is a cure-all healer for everything from diaper rash to cracked knuckles, so of course, it's a star on irritated, dry lips. Clinically proven to restore smooth, healthy skin, it locks in moisture and creates a healthy barrier on skin to lock out irritation on even severely chapped, peeling lips. Plus, unlike heavier petroleum jelly formulas, this balm contains panthenol and glycerin for a less sticky finish.

Made with natural plant oils, butters and waxes, Beauty Lab pros said this new iteration of the timeless classic balm is a "nice, nurturing formula that imparts low sheen and color and immediate softness to lips." Evaluators agreed that the pink tint was bright, and though one found the color to be a bit too intense, it's perfect if you're looking for a hybrid of color and hydration on your lips. One especially loved its "subtle grapfruit-y flavor."

"Lano’s 101 Ointment is one of my favorites," says Dr. Engelman. "It works for so many different skin care concerns – from dry, chapped lips and cuticles to burns, eczema and beyond." The dense balm is all natural, made with just two ingredients: Lanolin and lanolin oil, which mimic your skin's own oils. The brand claims that "this balm holds 200% of its weight in moisture," and Dr. Engelman swears "it really is a wonder ingredient for hydration and healing alike." We haven't tested it in the Lab, but it's an editor favorite for overnight and everyday use (as long as you don't mind a no-frills balm without scent, fragrance or color!).

On top of containing vitamins C and E, this pick shields your delicate lip skin from the sun's harmful rays with SPF 15. Though our Beauty Lab typically recommends using at least SPF 30, we appreciate that thanks to mineral sunscreen titanium dioxide, this broad-spectrum balm doesn’t have the foul taste that some chemical SPF products can. Plus, it’s laced with antioxidants, and it's also offered in six tinted formulas for a touch of color, or a colorless pick for none at all.

This K-beauty cult classic hydrates and protects sore lips while you sleep thanks to antioxidants like vitamin C. Apply a moisturizing layer at bedtime and you'll wake up with a flake-free pout. It has over 15,000 rave reviews on Sephora, with reviewers saying, "I always, always wake up to smooth moisturized lips," though some of our beauty pros say they wish the overnight formula were a bit thicker to stay put through the entire night.

A winner of our 2020 Beauty Awards, this lip oil looks like gloss but functions like a soothing balm. Colors range from nude to deep-berry, and a combo of six plant oils plumps lips. One tester noted the formula left "no stickiness," yet "lips felt hydrated, not parched.”

The Beauty Lab favorite formula heals painful lips with powerhouse petrolatum along with vitamin E, aloe and squalene, a plant-based lipid that's easily absorbed by the skin and helps restore its barrier for soft, healthy skin. The ointment-esque texture on this balm gives some shine, but zero flavor and scent. If you do prefer some scent on your lip product, it also comes in mint, mango, and cranberry. Heads up for those that are sensitive to gluten: this pick contains wheat germ oil.

While tinted balms can be too transparent and lipsticks can be too drying, Beauty Lab testers found this glossy lip balm to be both moisturizing and colorful. Amazon reviewers give it an average 4.5 stars, praising its "fresh peppermint feeling" and moisturizing finish. "The color is good and [it] does not dry out my lips as so many others do," says one reviewer.

This balm was named a winner in our Anti-Aging Awards for its soothing, softening formula. A combo of line-plumping hyaluronic acid and nourishing jojoba and grapeseed oils helped to visibly smooth lines on testers' lips after four weeks. It comes in both colorless and sheer pink formulas.

A winner of our 2018 Beauty Awards, this overnight balm packs skin-healthy ceramides, jojoba seed oil and castor oil to nourish dry lips as you sleep. Ceramides are essential for hydrated skin — especially on lips — since they make up a healthy skin barrier and prevent moisture loss. One tester even found that her cracked lips improved over a few nights' time.

When it comes to balm, basic can be better. With just three ingredients — shea butter, petrolatum and vitamin E — Vaseline's balm is a simple treatment for your parched, chapped lips that will hydrate without stickiness. It also comes in a slew of scents and flavors, from rose to soothing aloe to hydrating cocoa butter.

Formulated with 1% hydrocortisone, this lip balm doesn't just make lips feel better — it actually calms inflammation and irritation for noticeable results in just a few uses. It's made with just a few ingredients (beeswax, petroleum jelly, mineral oil and hydrocortisone) to soothe angry chapped lips and prevent future moisture loss.

GH Beauty Director April Franzino recommends this do-it-all stick because of the cocoa butter and vitamin E-infused formula that heals cracked lips quickly. Made with hydrating cocoa butter (Palmer's star ingredient), the chubby swivel stick goes beyond soothing dry lips: It's also ideal for on-the-go moisturization for dry patches face and body, from cracked cuticles to eczema on the face and beyond, though the large surface area can make it difficult to apply neatly to lips.

A winner of GH's 2020 Beauty Awards, the stick version of the cult-favorite healing salve packs even more hydration specially formulated for lips, including shea, vitamins B5 and E, and sunflower seed wax. “My lips felt soothed instantly and through the day,” a tester said, for soft lips with no stickiness, although some may find the traditional ointment to be more hydrating.

A winner of a GH Sustainable Innovation Award, this organic balm is hydrating, thanks to a powerhouse combo of coconut oil, beeswax, shea butter and vitamin E oil (and flavored with real fruit!). Testers said the balm effectively moisturized lips and they loved its natural sheen. Earth-friendly bonus: Its unbleached cardboard packaging is entirely compostable.