The Best Lip Balms

Our pick for an everyday lip balm is Aquaphor Lip Repair, a fragrance-free ointment in a squeeze tube. For lips that are very dry or cracked, O’Keeffe’s Lip Repair Unscented is the stick we’d reach for first. For daytime, Sun Bum Mineral SPF 30 Sunscreen Lip Balm is a zinc oxide sunscreen stick that Sun Bum labels fragrance free. The other six picks solve narrower problems: an overnight mask, a glossy finish, a real tint, an organic stick, a tight budget, or a treat. Most lip balms are cosmetics, and the SPF ones are over-the-counter drugs. Lips that stay cracked for weeks, or corners that won’t close up, belong with a dermatologist.

The nine at a glance

Prices move constantly, so we link to live listings instead of printing a number that is wrong by the time you read it. Links go to Amazon, which is where a referral gets credited.

1. Aquaphor Lip Repair Ointment

Aquaphor Lip Repair Ointment is the tube we’d hand to anyone who wants one lip balm and no homework. Aquaphor says it relieves dryness and soothes chapped, cracked lips, and describes the formula as preservative and fragrance free and made for sensitive lips. The ingredient list includes castor seed oil, glycerin, panthenol, shea butter and beeswax. It’s also the dupe in our Rhode Peptide Lip Treatment review.

Two things to know. Petrolatum isn’t on the ingredient list for this tube, so check the label if that’s the ingredient you’re shopping for. And there’s no SPF here; Aquaphor sells a separate Lip Repair Stick with SPF 30. The size is given as both 0.34 and 0.35 fluid ounces, so go by the tube.

2. O’Keeffe’s Lip Repair Unscented Lip Balm

When lips have gone past dry, O’Keeffe’s Lip Repair Unscented Lip Balm is the one we’d try. O’Keeffe’s makes it for extremely dry, cracked lips and says it contains no added fragrances or scents. Beeswax, dimethicone and petrolatum lead the ingredient list, with shea butter further down. O’Keeffe’s describes a matte finish and calls the balm hypoallergenic. Our link is a two-pack of 0.15-ounce sticks.

The drawbacks are small. Sweet almond oil is on the list, which matters if you avoid nut oils, and so is sodium saccharin, a sweetener, so unscented doesn’t mean taste free. Our chapped lips guide covers the habits that matter as much as the balm. If the cracks bleed, or nothing has changed after a couple of weeks, talk to a dermatologist.

3. Sun Bum Mineral SPF 30 Sunscreen Lip Balm

Sun Bum Mineral SPF 30 Sunscreen Lip Balm is the sunscreen on this list, which makes it an over-the-counter drug with a drug facts label. Its active ingredient is zinc oxide at 8%, and Sun Bum labels it broad spectrum SPF 30 and fragrance free. The first use listed in the drug facts is that it helps prevent sunburn. The inactive ingredients include sweet almond oil, jojoba seed oil, shea butter and beeswax. One caution: the published ingredient lists for this balm don’t agree on fragrance, with one including it and one not, so read the stick you receive.

Follow the directions, not your instincts: the drug facts say to apply liberally 15 minutes before sun exposure and to reapply after 80 minutes of swimming or sweating, immediately after towel drying, and at least every 2 hours. The warnings say not to use it on damaged or broken skin, so split lips need a different plan and possibly a dermatologist’s advice. Sun Bum posts a nut allergy warning because the balm contains sweet almond oil. Our lip sunscreen guide explains what to look for on any SPF balm.

4. Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask

For bedtime, Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask is the pick: a leave-on mask that Laneige says delivers moisture while you sleep. Our link is the Berry version, and Laneige highlights a berry complex, coconut oil, shea butter, murumuru seed butter and vitamin C. The Berry ingredient list includes shea butter, murumuru seed butter, coconut oil and ascorbic acid. Laneige gives the size as 0.7 ounces.

It suits anyone who wakes up with dry lips and likes a bedtime ritual. Fragrance is on the Berry ingredient list, along with colorants, so reactive lips may do better with a plainer pick. Our Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask review weighs it against a cheaper tube.

5. Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm, Vanilla

Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm, Vanilla is a balm that behaves like a gloss. Summer Fridays calls it a vegan lip balm that conditions and softens dry lips with a hint of vanilla flavor, for shine during the day or as an overnight lip mask. Shea butter, murumuru seed butter and sodium hyaluronate are on the ingredient list, and the tube is half an ounce.

Buy it for the finish. It’s a comfort product, as our Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm review explains, and that review also names a cheaper dupe. Vanillin is on the list, and there’s no SPF. Flavor is a fair reason to pass if your lips are sore.

6. Eadem Le Chouchou Lip Softening Balm, Fig Sauce

Some tinted balms give you a whisper of color. Eadem Le Chouchou Lip Softening Balm, Fig Sauce is aimed at people who want to see it: the brand describes Fig Sauce as a milky rosy brown with a high-shine, non-sticky finish. Eadem calls Le Chouchou a daily peptide lip treatment, vegan and dermatologist tested. Its ingredient list includes shea butter, acai fruit oil, mongongo kernel oil, hibiscus flower extract and two peptides.

Lactic acid is on the list too, which fits Eadem’s pitch about softening flaky lips. That’s the reason we wouldn’t put it on lips that are already split or stinging. Eadem’s description also mentions pyruvic acid, which isn’t on the ingredient list, so we’re going by the ingredient list. Eadem’s list says the shades may contain flavor.

7. eos 100% Natural & Organic Lip Balm, Vanilla Bean

A plain stick still has its place, and eos 100% Natural & Organic Lip Balm, Vanilla Bean is the one we’d keep in a coat pocket. eos says it’s made with USDA Certified Organic ingredients, and the list is short and readable: sunflower seed oil, beeswax, coconut oil, shea butter and jojoba seed oil come first. The brand says it’s free of parabens, phthalates, gluten, silicones, petrolatum and synthetic dyes. It’s sold as a two-pack at about $5.

The drawbacks: flavor is the sixth ingredient and stevia extract is in there too, so it tastes like something. Beeswax is on the ingredient list, which matters if you avoid it. And each stick is 0.14 ounces, the smallest thing on this list.

8. Vaseline Lip Therapy Original Lip Balm Stick

Vaseline Lip Therapy Original Lip Balm Stick is our budget pick. It’s sold as a pack of four sticks for about $5, which makes it the lowest price per stick of anything here. Vaseline says the balm is made with Vaseline petroleum jelly and vitamin E to help lock in moisture, in a formula it calls non-sticky and non-greasy.

The ingredient list includes petrolatum, shea butter, beeswax and tocopheryl acetate, a form of vitamin E, and doesn’t name a fragrance or flavor. Read the pack before you rely on that.

9. Tatcha The Kissu Lip Mask

Tatcha The Kissu Lip Mask is the treat on this list. Tatcha calls it a restorative overnight lip mask and features three ingredients: squalane, Japanese camellia oil and Japanese peach extract. Tatcha describes a non-sticky jelly and says it’s dermatologist tested.

At about $29 for 0.32 ounces, it’s the most expensive pick here. Under “Formulated without,” Tatcha lists “Synthetic fragrance.” The ingredient list includes Parfum/Fragrance, limonene and linalool, so read the list first if you avoid fragrance of any kind.

Match the balm to your lips

Start with what your lips are doing. In our view, tight and flaky calls for a bland, fragrance-free balm, used often, and Aquaphor and O’Keeffe’s both fit. Shine, flavor and tint are for lips that already feel comfortable. The skin archive has more on caring for dry, reactive skin.

Then think about when you’ll wear it. A daytime balm with no SPF number on the label isn’t sunscreen, however thick it feels. At night, a heavier layer has hours to sit undisturbed.

If I Were You

• If you want one tube and no decisions, buy the Aquaphor.
• If your lips are cracked right now, we’d use O’Keeffe’s through the day, put the flavored balms away for a while, and see a dermatologist if two weeks pass with no change.
• If you’re outside a lot, keep the Sun Bum in your bag and reapply the way the label says.
• If you wake up with dry lips, try a thick layer of Laneige at bedtime, or the Tatcha if you want to spoil yourself.
• If you want your lips to look finished, pick Summer Fridays for shine or Eadem for color.
• If you lose every lip balm you own, get the Vaseline four-pack.

Bottom line

Buy the balm that matches the job. For everyday dryness that’s the Aquaphor. For very dry or cracked lips we’d reach for O’Keeffe’s, and daytime outdoors calls for the Sun Bum. Everything past that is shine, color, flavor or ritual, and those are perfectly good reasons to choose a lip balm.