Have your lips taken a beating this summer? Here’s how to get your pout back!
- If your lips are so badly the burnt or damaged that they’ve formed scabs, apply a rich balm or healing cream every few hours to stop the scabs from drying out further. Rather than trying to treat them, leave them until they’ve healed on their own.
- If your lips are dry and flaking, you need to give them a gentle exfoliation to get rid of all the dead skin. You don’t need to fork out on a special scrub; just use a little brown sugar mixed with olive oil or Vaseline to gently slough the lips. Don’t rub too hard – you don’t want to damage the delicate skin.
- Look for lip balms and sticks that contain beeswax, paraffin or petroleum jelly, as these ingredients will help seal in moisture, and prevent your lips from drying out. Be sure to apply this regularly, until your lips are back to normal.
- Once your lips are healed completely, apply a rich balm at night to keep them smooth and nourished. Our all-time favourite is Blistex Lip Medex R65.
- Sadly, your fave gloss is probably adding to the damage. The shine in gloss can actually act as a reflector for the sun’s rays, attracting more harmful rays than usual. If you do opt for a gloss, make sure it’s one with an SPF!
- Your best bet, however, would be to switch to a matte lipstick, tinted balm or stain with SPF. If you can’t find one you like, then apply a clear balm with SPF underneath.
4 Easy steps to creating matte lips at home!
Text by Emmy Schofield; Image by Jonathan Taylor
