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How to Start a Lip Care Routine From Home for Hydrated, Smooth Lips

By IPSY Editors

Published on Jun 6, 2024

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By now, everyone likely has a skincare routine, and if you’re like us, you’ve even recently adopted a body-care routine. But now that both of those are mastered, we’re ready to move on to an oft-forgotten part of the body: the lips.

Caring for the lips is so much more than just swiping on your favorite lip oil throughout the day. There’s actually a proper way to exfoliate your lips, moisturize them, and care for them daily so they look their best, hold on to lip color longer, and stay youthful-looking as the years go by. To find out exactly how you can craft your own lip-care routine at home, we tapped lip expert Milca Chavez.

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Milca Chavez is a color expert at Lip Lab, a custom lip-color experience.

The Ultimate Lip-Care Routine

1. Exfoliate

If you haven’t been exfoliating your lips, you should definitely start. According to Chavez, it’s the easiest way to “ensure you have the perfect canvas for your lip color or optimizing [the look of] your lips if you are into a clear lip application.”

One of the first steps to doing this is to exfoliate the skin on your lips, just like you would your face. Reach for a lip scrub that you can use as often as you feel like you need to. We love NAKED COSMETICS Peppermint Lip Scrub for this. It’s packed with oils and vitamin E, and has a peppermint flavor that doubles as an instant cooling effect for the skin. According to Chavez, you can “gently rub [the scrub] in circular motions for best results.”

2. Moisturize

Once you’ve exfoliated the lips, you can move on to adding moisture. Chavez recommends you “look for lip products that feature antioxidants” to help nourish your lips and protect them at the same time. Antioxidants are a natural protectant against UVA and UVB rays and any pollution your skin encounters throughout the day. Reach for PREVENTIVE MEASURES 101 After Hours Lip Balm for a burst of antioxidants. Just remember, you still need SPF.

3. Lock in Moisture With a Mask

Lip masks are designed to stay on the lips and condition them overnight as you sleep, whereas lip balm coats your lips and offers hydration just for a few hours, according to TATCHA. We love the TATCHA Kissu Lip Mask that’s made with squalane to help extend the time that moisture is delivered to your lips.

Chavez just notes that you should make sure to check the ingredients in your lip mask. If it has exfoliating properties like AHAs and BHAs, you should only use it once a week, she says; otherwise, you can apply a lip mask daily or nightly.

4. Seal With SPF

No matter how much TLC you give your lips, you need to remember to coat them with SPF whenever you step outside (and even if you’re just near a large window!). For this, we love HIGHER EDUCATION SKINCARE Make Out Ready® Vegan Lip Balm SPF 15. It provides the perfect amount of protection and the small tube can slide right in your pocket.

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