The skin care category you may have missed

Crossover product formulations are everywhere in beauty today. The line between skin care and color cosmetics is often unclear as is the distinction between skin care and scalp / hair care. And even topical beauty and ingestible products are, on occasion, now one in the same (e.g. hair teas).

The lip category is an icon of beauty and personal care; lipstick is often the poster-product of the beauty industry and lip balm is one of the most common daily-use personal care products. Nonetheless, it is a category that’s as dynamic as it is consistent.

Lip Care​

Recent innovations in lip care include the launch of indie brand Lilu lipcare​, with a focus on convenience. The brand’s product pearls fit inside special jewelry pieces, so the product is always close at hand for busy consumers (who may not always have a pocket or handbag available). And it’s worth noting that Lilu pearls, the small-format patented products that makes the brand unique, come in both lip care and lip color varieties.

Not every update to lip care is about portability. Legacy brand’s like Chapstick are focused on adding more benefits (anti-aging, skin care, and color payoff) to their classic stick. The brand’s total hydration formula promises “healthier looking and more youthful looking lips,” ​according to the company’s online product page. And the lip care product comes in tinted varieties as well as formulas infused with antioxidants.  

Lip Color​

This Fall, Ogee, the startup skin care brand built around Jojoba Oil, launched a version of its popular lip oil stick in color. Ogee tinted sculpted lip oils come in 8 shades.

The waterless beauty brand led by Linda Treska​ has been making lip color without any water in the formula since 2016.  

And big brands are developing new liquid, gloss, and lightweight formulas to interrupt common correlations between pigment and texture.  For instance, Shiseido has a new gel lipstick formula, which Erin Lukas writing for instyle.com​ describes as “weightless on your lip despite all of the shades being full-coverage.”​

Lip Treatment​

Scrubs, masks, primers, serums, and plumpers are now all part of the lip care category. Sara Happ, now well-known as The Lip Expert,​ was an early player in the lip scrub space with her sugar and oil formulas.

Lip msaks, both sheet-style and rinse-off are quite common now too. Brands like nugg and patchology compete in this space.

And while the Kylie Lip Kits may be top of mind when thinking about lip plumping, body contouring brands like Cheeky Physique are coming to prominence for their formulas featuring plumping, firming, and lifting ingredients from industry suppliers like Lipotech.

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Deanna Utroske, CosmeticsDesign.com Editor, covers beauty business news in the Americas region and publishes the weekly Indie Beauty Profile column, showcasing the inspiring work of entrepreneurs and innovative brands.