As a general rule, while the central heat is still on, you should never be more than an arm’s length away from a tube or pot of lip balm. One in every coat pocket, one by your desk, and at least one on your nightstand. (I keep this beach stone-shaped lilah b. balm on the coffee table as well. Sneaky.)
If you’re already applying balm throughout the day, why not try a tinted version to imbue your lips with the rosy hue they had way back when? (The number of your blood vessels in our lips decreases with age, so yes, you’re not imagining it. Your lips are getting paler.) And unlike ‘faffing about’ (I love that expression) with lipstick, which requires both a mirror and a steady hand, balm can be applied absentmindedly in front of the television.
A trio of new favourites (clockwise from bottom): Burt’s Bees Squeezy Tinted Balm in Watermelon Rush ($10.99, Shoppers Drug Mart) tastes like a Bonne Bell Lip Smacker, brings soothing moisture, thanks to lanolin, beeswax and cocoa seed butter, and has the perfect amount of ‘your lips but better’ transparent red colour. Indeed Labs Hydraluron Plus Tinted Lip Treatment in Red ($14.95, Shoppers Drug Mart) provides sheer natural colour and contains a lip-plumping peptide and water-retaining spheres for the appearance of more generous lips.
Milk Makeup’s Electric Glossy Lip Plumper ($33, Sephora) is technically not balm, (Sichuan peppercorns provide a light, piney tingle that plumps lips) but It also contains protective jojoba seed oil and mimosa flower wax. A sheer swipe of the shade Lola subtly deepens lip colour for a ‘Who me? No, I’m not wearing makeup’ look.