We get serious on all things lip care and why caring for your pout is different from caring for the rest of your skin.
As you probably already know, there are some distinct differences in the physiology of the skin on different areas of our bodies. For example, the skin on the palms of our hands and the soles of our feet is thicker and contains no hair follicles or sebaceous glands, while the skin on our eyelids is extremely thin and contains special sebaceous glands which secrete oil onto the surface of your eyes to stop them from drying out. Interesting, huh?
But did you know that the skin on your lips is completely different to the skin on any other part of your body? Besides being thinner and more delicate, the skin on your lips is also completely devoid of any sebaceous glands.
As we’ve discussed before, our sebaceous glands produce natural oils which, together with water, form essential parts of our skin’s protective barrier known as the acid mantle. Because our lips don’t have sebaceous glands to produce that oil, they don’t have the natural protection against the elements and dehydration like the rest of our skin does, and that’s why they can become dry, chapped, cracked and seriously painful really quickly.
In order to try and replenish lost moisture in our lips, our natural instinct is to lick them. Sadly, while that might give your lips a small moisture boost for a few moments, once the saliva evaporates it actually draws away even more moisture from the surface of your lips with it and makes the whole situation way worse.
As we’re sure you’re already picking up, the key lesson from this is that adding moisture back into our lips isn’t enough; we then also need to lock it in.
Protecting and perfecting your pout
In spite of our seeming predisposition to it, cracked, chapped and painful lips don’t have to be the norm; with the right lip care, you can pucker up at a moment’s notice without giving it a second thought.
With this in mind, we have grown our lip care category with the new edition of our best-selling Absolute Lip Perfector, now available in a Limited Edition fresh and flirty Nude Blush shade! Featuring deeply hydrating ingredients alongside emollients to lock all that moisture in. Let’s take a closer look at some of the amazing ingredients which make this the answer to the prayers of anyone suffering from dry, chapped lips.
First up is Hirulip®. This innovative ingredient delivers tiny microns of Hyaluronic Acid directly into the lip. While many Hyaluronic Acids are molecularly too large to penetrate the skin, Hirulip® delivers it in a form which is easily able to penetrate the lip, then swell once it come in contact with skin water, thereby both delivering moisture and providing a subtle plumping effect.
As we’ve just discussed, adding moisture quite simply isn’t enough. That’s where our second key ingredient, Beeswax (Cera Alba) comes in, forming a soft barrier on the outside of the lip which keeps that moisture locked in for the long haul.
Another ingredient worthy of mention at this point is Zinc, which plays a key role is our bodies’ reparative processes. What this means is that if your lips are already dry and cracked, it may help with supporting the healing process.
Knowing just how essential a perfect lip product is to our everyday skincare routine, we asked a few of our #TrialTribe members to road test this beauty. And the verdict?
Mary Ann, who put Absolute Lip Perfector Nude Blush through its paces for a few weeks had this to say:
“My lips have never felt this plump from ANY lip product before. I am legitimately surprised – I can definitely see this being a huge hit with people wanting “fuller lips” naturally.”
“Also, I am wild for how long this lasts. I took a nap in the middle of the day in 40 degree heat, complete with drool and sweat and when I woke up IT WAS STILL ON MY LIPS.”
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to add one to my handbag, beauty bag, travel bag… honestly, every bag!