Lip Balm vs. Lip Gloss: What's the Difference?

When it comes to the world of lip care and beauty, there’s a lot out there. You’ll find everything from chapstick and stains to lip gloss and lip balm. All of these products promise to provide different benefits to your lips and it’s important to know what makes each unique before adding them to your beauty or skincare routine.

Let’s break down the difference between two popular products, lip balm and lip gloss, so you can understand when you should use either.

Lip Balm Lowdown

Let’s start with the lowdown on lip balm. Sometimes called a lip salve, lip balm can help to hydrate and heal dry, cracked, or chapped lips. You’ve likely seen lip balms made with wax or other natural ingredients that create a hydrating and protective layer on the lip skin.

At Lanolips, lanolin is the hero ingredient in all of our natural lip balm products. It’s a completely natural by-product from sheep's wool that mimics the oils in human skin and can hold up to 400% of its weight in moisture. It provides a punch of hydration when your skin needs it the most.

Lip balm is extremely versatile and tinted lip balm can add a hint of tint to your everyday lip routine. No matter which option you prefer, our natural lip balms will hydrate your lips and protect your sensitive skin from the elements.

What about Lip Gloss?

Lip gloss is another popular beauty product that you can find in your local drug or cosmetics store. Lip gloss comes in a wide range of colours to provide a nice glossy or sparkly finish to your lips. It can be used on its own or applied after your lipstick to change the finish of the look and help the stain last longer.

Lip gloss is normally thinner in consistency than a balm and typically made with wax, petroleum jelly, and oil. As you may be able to tell, lip gloss tends to be purely for cosmetic purposes and most lip glosses don't offer any hydrating or healing benefits. In fact, it can often create too thick of a layer on your outer lips that can make it difficult for your skin to breathe.

What’s best?

If you’re looking for a lip product for everyday use, you should consider a natural lip balm. While lip gloss is great for adding some sheen to your makeup look, you should never rely on it for hydration. Plus, if you pick the right balm you can have the best of both worlds.

At Lanolips, all of our lip products contain lanolin for maximum hydration with a gloss finish. Pick from our range of lip balms, lip waters and tinted lip balm to find your favourite shade or flavour that will douse your lips with the hydration they crave year-round.