One of the hallmarks of a millennial girl’s coming-of-age experience includes lip balms. Whether it’s the most essential kind (think: Aquaphor or the Avène Cold Cream Lip Balm) or the ones that come with a hint of colour and shine like a Maybelline Baby Lips or a Nivea Shine Caring Lip Balm in a colour of your choice, there’s bound to be a tube of nourishment handy when we need it. If you’re fancy, it could even be a flavoured Lip Smacker or a Fresh Fresh Lip Therapy.
Teens, adults, and everyone in between today are moving on to a buzzy new item—lip oils. Before the term “lip oil” was widely understood by the collective consciousness, many assumed that it was just another label for a gloss. Let’s be clear. A lip oil pairs glassy shine with a buildable tint, a plumping effect, and a formula that coats the lips with a dose of caring ingredients, all rolled up into one ultimate product. Instead of having to choose one element, it seems like we can truly have it all today. And it’s the perfect follow-up to a previous trend, where everybody donned matte lip colours that have a tendency to be dry and take away the dimension of the lips.
Its current cult status can be attributed to Dior and its Lip Glow Oil. Launched in 2020, it really only picked up in 2022—perhaps once everyone could go mask-free post-lockdown. But in actuality, lip oils have been around for a decade since Clarins released its Lip Comfort Oil in 2015. Ever since its explosive popularity, the category has been cropping up in other beauty brands from Kosas to Guerlain. Now, KraveBeauty enters the chat to launch the Plumptuous Lip Jelly. Personally, lip oils have reached a saturation point where I could not justify yet another addition to my collection, which brings us to my conversation with KraveBeauty founder Liah Yoo. In previous issues, we discussed anti-overconsumerism and ways to declutter our beauty stash, as well as how Yoo herself is on a mission to slow down beauty, which means the next beauty product we’re considering needs to earn its place.
Her purpose remains the same: to bring a more sustainable alternative and enable beauty users to make that conscious choice. And when we’re in a sea of lip oils with more releases on the horizon, having that option could make a lot of difference. “We saw an opportunity to take the non-sustainable sourcing practices used in colour cosmetics,” she started. The lip jelly uses 55 per cent upcycled ingredients including plum oil, a byproduct of the food industry. On top of that, it’s the world’s first refillable lip oil. This is why its metal applicator is an ingenious design choice: there’s no risk of losing the fluff of the flock, so you can keep using the applicator from the first tube and beyond.
Where some lip oils can achieve the appearance of a smoother surface (therefore creating that juicy, pouty look), the Plumptuous Lip Jelly actually has a peptide that is clinically proven to firm and add volume to the lips. “A great deal of lip oils on the market rely on capsaicin [a component of chilli pepper] or other stinging actives to create a temporary ‘plumping’ effect by irritating the lips,” the founder said disapprovingly.
So for those who have been burned—literally—by lip plumpers before, this could be the answer you’re looking for. The new sub-category could be more than a trendy, superficial gleam. “I don’t think lip oils will go away anytime soon. I think we’ll see innovations in the future in terms of sustainability, ingredients, and functionality.”
This story first appeared on GRAZIA Malaysia March 2025 Issue.
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