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    Best Lip Balms for Smooth, Hydrated Lips

    Six evaluators tried eight popular lip balms, including trendy picks from Rhode and Summer Fridays. One of our top choices costs just $3.

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    ChapStick, Summer Fridays, eos, Laneige, and Rhode lip balms
    CR evaluators tried eight popular lip balms, including (from left) ChapStick Total Hydration, Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm, Eos Natural Shea Lip Balm, Laneige Lip Glowy Balm, and Rhode Peptide Lip Treatment.
    Photo: Manufacturers

    Lip balm and I go way back. I purchased my first cherry ChapStick in middle school, and from there, my love affair with lip balms evolved into what it is today: a pricey problem.

    More on Personal Care Products

    I keep lip balm in every purse I own and every room in the house—and that doesn’t stop me from buying more. But quantity isn’t quality.

    Recently, I thought it was time to get to the bottom of it: Which lip balms are truly moisturizing, last a long time, feel and smell great, and are worth the effort, time, and purse space?

    So five lip-balm-loving CR evaluators—Arianna Coger, Yael Grauer, Lauren Kiesel, Aileen McCluskey, Jodhaira Rodriguez—banded together with me to try out eight popular lip balms, including trendy picks from Rhode and Summer Fridays, and classics from ChapStick and Vaseline.

    Here are all the juicy details on our favorites, as well as which balms smelled terrible and made our lips dry.

    Become a member to read the full article and get access to digital ratings.

    We investigate, research, and test so you can choose with confidence.


    Lisa Fogarty

    Lisa Fogarty is a senior multimedia content creator at Consumer Reports. She studied journalism at Columbia University and has written numerous health, parenting, fitness, and wellness articles for The New York Times, Psychology Today, Vogue, and NPR. Lisa is passionate about mental health and is a co-creator of The Hunger Trap Podcast, which focuses on eating disorders. In her spare time she surfs, plays the guitar, and kickboxes. Follow her on X: @lisacfogarty