How to get rid of chapped, dry lips this winter
There’s a long list of ways winter’s punishing temperatures turn a buttery smooth complexion into a battle-worn top layer of skin. Perhaps the most obvious of the lot is chapped lips.
Let us preface this by saying that caring for your lips needn’t be a utilitarian affair. This year alone, saw the launch of several luxury lip balms including the Rose Hermés Lip Enhancer in Rose D’Été by Hermés, a delicate pink tinted balm that ushers in white mulberry extract, raspberry and sesame seeds oils to hydrate and give lips a healthy flush. The Westman Atelier Squeaky Clean Liquid Lip Balm imparts a soft, balmy sheen and a bitten lip shade while Augustinus Bader’s The Lip Balm floods lips with the same TFC8 Complex as his cult face creams to support cell renewal.
Now is certainly the time to look beyond old-school salves as winter is the perfect storm for cracked, flaky skin. “The skin on the lips is much thinner than elsewhere on the body,” says Mantle co-founder Stina Lönnkvist. “Moreover, lips don’t have sebaceous oil glands so they lack any sort of natural lubricant, making them more prone to dryness and vulnerable to environmental stressors such as wind and cold.”
Here, five ways to care for your lips:
1. Gently cleanse
The first step to silky smooth lips has less to do with moisture and more to do with how you remove your lipstick. If you lather soap on your lips or deploy a sulphate-heavy cleanser, you risk stripping them of any moisture the skin may have drawn in from the atmosphere. Lumene HERKKÄ Gentle Eye & Lip Makeup Remover is infused with Nordic Bilberry Water and Arctic spring water to easily dissolve make-up while respecting skin’s natural moisture
balance.
2. Buff away flakes
No lip salve will properly penetrate without exfoliation. While buffing lips with a soft toothbrush or face cloth will tackle flakes, it doesn’t address the issue of moisture. Enter lip scrubs made of sugar granules suspended in oil. “Rub in a circular motion over the lips for around 20 seconds, paying special attention to any dry areas,” recommends Zoe Taylor, make-up artist and founder of Tinker Taylor lip products, who also points out the added benefit of an uptick in circulation for making lips look rosy and pillowy.
3. Mask up
Just like face masks, lip masks are intensive overnight treatments that drip feed moisture into the skin and then form a protective coating to keep it locked in. Use once or twice a week for best results. Read More...
