Do I Really Need a Lip Scrub?

A lip scrub absolutely has a place in your beauty arsenal. Lip scrubs offer tons of benefits for the makeup minimalist and the lipstick maven alike, but let’s start with the basics.

What are lip scrubs made of?

Lip scrubs generally contain two components: an emollient and an exfoliant. The emollient provides a hydrating base for the exfoliant, making the product easier to apply to the lips. Emollients in lip scrubs are typically light plant seed butters or oils, such as jojoba

oil or cupuaçu butter.

The exfoliant in most lip scrubs is sugar. Sugar is gentle on delicate lip skin but still effective at exfoliating yucky flakes. The emollient and exfoliant work together to moisturise and smooth your lips.

Be sure to read the instructions before use, as some lip scrubs are edible and some are meant to be removed. It might be tempting to take a lick, but you may not want to ingest some of those ingredients.

Lip scrubs for basic lip-balm users

Even if you don’t normally fuss with makeup or other lip products, a lip scrub is essential for keeping your lips full, healthy, and hydrated. Your lips, just like your face, have a lipid layer: a protective layer that retains a balance of moisture.

When your lips get dry and chapped, that lipid layer becomes unbalanced, perpetuating the problem. Skin flakes and peels, tempting you to pick and peel, making it look as though you’ve been chewing on your lips all day.

A lip scrub is a key element to removing chapped, dead skin and helping your lip balm penetrate and rebalance that lipid layer. Even if you don't typically wear makeup, who doesn’t want soft, healthy, totally smoochable lips?

Excess dead skin and dryness on the lips can also cause premature ageing. If you want a youthful complexion, you need healthy-looking, youthful lips to boot. Hydrating efficiently after a good lip scrub is the best form of anti-ageing care for the lips, aside from sunscreen, of course.

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 Lip scrubs for balm, stain, and lipstick queens

Honey, a lip scrub is essential for you! How can your gorgeous new Bite Beauty High Pigment Lip Pencil really pop when it’s sitting atop dry, dead skin? It can’t, especially if there’s a layer of thick lip balm on top of that skin. Although hydrated lips are essentials for lip-colour lovers, flakes will leave your lip colour looking uneven, even if you’ve applied a moisturiser over that dead skin.

Hydrated flakes are still flakes, and they won’t budge without a good lip scrub. Chewing or biting them off is more of a risk than a solution. Ripped skin, gaps in your lip colour, and the dreaded lipstick on your teeth are never hot beauty looks. Scrub away those flakes, and you’re good to rock a bold lip hue and finish.

Not sure where to start? Check out Designer Brands Lip Cocktail Lip Scrub as well as Jane Iredale’s Sugar & Butter Lip Scrub/Gloss. Or check our full selection of lip care. There’s bound to be a product you’ll love!