Transform Your Pout With the Best Lipsticks on the Market
Lipstick is a great way to amp up a look. One slide of your favorite color and you’re date ready after a long day at the office. Wearing lipstick has also been linked to improved moods, confidence, and assertiveness. That date might go better than you’d anticipated, all because of your lip color.
Choosing the best lipstick isn’t as straightforward as walking up to the cosmetics counter and selecting a tube. Do you want a sheer tint liquid lipstick with buildable color or a long-wear matte lip?
Some lipsticks even address specific beauty concerns. Nourishing products with hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid and vitamin E keep your lips soft. For mature lips, a collagen-boosting formulation keeps your pout looking smooth. You can opt for a product with plumping agents to create gorgeous full lips without needing filler. There are even refillable lipsticks for the eco-conscious fashionista.
And, of course, there’s color. Makeup artists suggest a well-rounded lipstick wardrobe consists of a nude shade, a glam red color, and a more demure pink or peach tint to match your skin’s undertones. Once you have these items in your kit, the sky's the limit for makeup looks.
To help you find that perfect match, here are the 11 best lipsticks on the market.
1. Covergirl Exhibitionist Cream Lipstick
Exhibitionist Cream Lipstick comes in 48 highly-pigmented shades you can't help but love. This deliciously rich shea-butter-infused lipstick offers lasting color in three indulgent finishes: cream, demi-matte, and metallic.
2. Dose of Colors Liquid Matte Lipstick
This creamy liquid lipstick envelops your lips in rich, long-lasting color. The product goes on smooth and dries quickly. You’ll enjoy a weightless matte lip that lasts for hours, so lips are never without a pop of beautiful color.
3. Melt Cosmetics Old Rose Lipstick Matte
This lipstick is for the rose lover in your life. It’s creamy, ultra-matte, and glides onto lips for an instant shot of rosy pigment that stays put without flaking or cracking, perfect for when you want a subtle burst of color.
4. essence Glimmer GLOW Lipstick
This lipstick has a beautiful sparkle but leaves nothing more than a soft rose tone on your lips. Due to exclusive color-matching technology, the lipstick adjusts to your pH levels, resulting in a beautiful and natural color made just for you. The formula includes castor oil, leaving lips nourished and hydrated long after it’s removed.
5. KVD Beauty Everlasting Liquid Lipstick
This vegan liquid lipstick glides effortlessly over lips and delivers an authentic matte finish. It's packed with natural lip conditioners, including vitamin E and sunflower seed wax, providing ultra-smooth application and intense color payoff. Plus, the wand makes it easy to get a crisp, precise look.
6. Smashbox Always On Liquid Lipstick
This weightless liquid matte lipstick has a precision tip that lines and fills in a single swipe. It’s infused with a primer oil complex and a blend of jojoba, apricot, and sunflower oils to keep lips comfortable and hydrated for up to eight hours.
7. Too Faced Lip Injection Liquid Lipstick
This lip-plumping lipstick offers maximum coverage in a demi-matte cream formula. Lips look instantly volumized and drenched in super saturated, long-wear color backed by a lip-conditioning blend of rose hip oil and pomegranate flower for nourishing moisture and ultra-comfortable, all-day wear.
8. Moonshot Cream Paint Lip Stain
This long-lasting vivid lipstick has a profoundly moisturizing satiny texture. The lightweight formula is enriched with shea butter and coconut oil to achieve perfect hydration. The angled doe-foot applicator helps you perfectly place graduated or full-on lip color where you want it.
9. About Face Fractal Glitter Lip Color
This hydrating liquid lipstick delivers intense shimmer and pigment without flyaway particles or stickiness. You’ll enjoy full coverage, vibrant color, and a long-wear, waterproof, transfer-resistant lipstick formulation. The full-sized product comes in durable packaging, perfect for travel and slipping into any pocket or bag.
10. Jill Stuart Beauty Rouge Lip Blossom Petal Glow
This is the best lip gloss that also offers powerful color — all in one beautiful package. It delivers a long-lasting sheer tint with a high-shine finish. You’ll enjoy a satiny feeling lipstick that glistens and smells like flower blossoms.
11. Yensa Super 8 Vibrant Silk Lipstick
Yensa’s luxe, semi-glossy lipstick glides on smoothly to deliver vibrant, highly pigmented color in one swipe. The extra-hydrating formula keeps your lips supple all day.
FAQ
What are the most popular lipsticks?
Lipsticks come in every color under the sun. If there’s a shade you want to try, you can find it. But if you’re looking to build your lipstick wardrobe from the ground up, you need to start somewhere. Pink lipstick is the most popular shade, making up 50% of all the lip colors sold in the US and UK. Runners-up include the classic red lip, followed closely by mauves and purples.
Keep your skin tone in mind when choosing a color. A warm undertone looks best in lipstick colors with a peachy base, while people with a fair complexion should consider cooler shades with a hint of blue. Test the color on the back of your hand to see how it looks against your skin.
Ultimately, if you feel comfortable and confident in it, it’s the right color for you.
Which lipstick type lasts the longest?
The secret to long-lasting lipstick lies in its finish. Hydrating lipsticks or products with a glossy or satin finish transfer more easily to things like coffee cups or cocktail glasses. If you don’t have time to worry about touch-ups, matte lipstick is the way to go.
Even the best matte lipsticks have a dryer texture than glossy formulations, which can lead to chapping. Be sure to use a good lip balm as part of your skincare routine to keep lips soft and supple.
How do you keep lipstick from smudging?
Whether wearing an affordable makeup brand or the most luxe product available, lipstick smudges and feathering happens. You can avoid this beauty debacle by following a few simple steps.
- Prep your lips. Exfoliate with a gentle sugar scrub once a week to remove flaky skin and keep your lips soft.
- Hydrate. Be sure your lips are well moisturized. If you apply lip balm before your lipstick, make sure to blot away any excess and apply a light dusting of translucent powder to give your lip color something to hold on to.
- Draw the line. Trace the outside edges of your lips with a lip liner to form a barrier that keeps your lip color in place. If you don’t want to buy a new liner for every lipstick, you can purchase a transparent crayon that goes with everything.
- Layers are key. Apply your lipstick and then blot to remove any excess color. Dust your lips lightly with translucent powder, and apply another layer of lipstick. Blot again, and you're ready to go.
- Keep it neat. If you notice a smudge, dip a cotton swab in some makeup remover and wipe it away. You can also tidy the line of your lips by dipping an angled brush into concealer and tracing the outside to give them a sharp, crisp edge.
For some, lipstick is a luxurious indulgence — others call it a necessity. Whichever camp you fall into, lipstick’s better when you love the shade and know how to apply it correctly.
Anyone looking to take their lip color to the next level will love the product reviews submitted by the helpful Flip community. They’ll give you the skinny on the colors, finishes, and performance of the brands you’re interested in. Find out what users are saying! Dive into Flip reviews on Google Play!
