13 Best Lip Oils for a Glossy Finish (Without the Stickiness)

Key Ingredients: Apricot oil, jojoba oil, squalane, shea butter, shea oil | Available Shades: 4

Subtlest Shimmer: Gisou Honey Infused Lip Oil

Why It's Worth It: Gisou's Honey Infused Lip Oil is a favorite among Allure staffers for its hydrating hyaluronic acid-infused formulation. To seal the deal (as in moisture), this lip-plumping oil contains the brand's proprietary Mirsalehi bee garden oil, harvested from founder Negin Mirsaheli's family bee garden, for its conditioning and skin-softening benefits. On top of its intensively hydrating formulation, each shade of this oil leaves behind a subtle golden hue. The original formula is known for its clear, untinted finish, but Allure commerce contributor Annie Blackman loves the shade Strawberry Sorbet for its sheer, pink-red tint.

Tester Feedback: "The Gisou Honey Infused Lip Oil perfectly bridges the gap between gloss and oil: It's shiny without being sticky, pigmented without being too much, and the bottle is so chic," Allure commerce contributor Annie Blackman says. "I like to layer it on top of lipsticks or stains or wear it alone. I have it in Mango but need it in a few more colors for sure."

Key Ingredients: Honey, hyaluronic acid, buriti fruit oil | Available Shades: 4

Glossiest Finish: Kosas Wet Lip Oil Gloss

Why It's Worth It: The hyaluronic acid and evening primrose oil infused in the Kosas Wet Lip Oil Gloss hydrate and adorn lips with a vinyl-like glow. We love it so much that we awarded it a 2023 Best of Beauty Award in the clean category. In terms of shade range, there's everything from a nudey Bare (pictured above) to a cherry popsicle-like Jaw.

Tester Feedback: "The Kosas Wet Lip Oil is literally skin care for your lips—hello, hyaluronic acid, peptides, and avocado oil," shopping market editor Angela Trakoshis says. "It leaves my lips looking glass-like—as if I just used a luxurious lip gloss—and plump like I just got them filled." Enough said.

Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, peptides, avocado oil | Available Shades: 11

Best Exfoliating: U Beauty Lip Plasma

Why It's Worth It: U Beauty Lip Plasma delivers impressive results that justify the splurge. A single application provides all-day hydration thanks to peptides, ceramides, shea butter, and beeswax—but after four weeks of consistent use, expect enhanced natural color and diminished fine lines for fuller-looking lips. Plus, a gentle yet effective exfoliant blend of AHA, PHA, and salicylic acid takes care of chapped and flaking skin.

Tester Feedback: Allure commerce writer Jennifer Hussein says she never leaves her apartment without stashing U Beauty's Lip Plasma in her bag. "I'm having a deep love affair with the berry tint, Cassis," she says. "Its formula feels light and hydrating on my lips and addresses my chronic chapping instantly—I truly can't travel anywhere without it."

P.S. Hussein adds that its color can look a bit patchy straight out of the tube, but once you blend it out with its cooling applicator, you'll have an even, glistening tint that's bold enough to wear on its own.

Key Ingredients: Peptides, ceramides, shea butter | Available Shades: 13

Best Neutral Tones: Merit Shade Slick Tinted Lip Oil

Why It's Worth It: If you prefer a barely-there nude tint to give your lips just the right amount of oomph, slather on Merit's Shade Slick Tinted Lip Oil. Each of its seven neutral-toned tints may look opaque in their tubes, but each swipe is surprisingly sheer and buildable. Pair this lip product with your favorite lip liner for a '90s-inspired dewy lip look.

Tester Feedback: “I'm obsessed with Merit's Shade Slicks—at this point I have one in every bag. They're very light and comfortable so it never feels like an ordeal to apply and maintain them throughout the day, plus they last ages for how un-fussy the formula is," says commerce producer Sarah Hoffmann. "Marrakech, a soft peach, is my favorite of the original lineup, but lately I've been gravitating towards the Gelée version in Maraschino, a sheer red that makes your lips look super juicy and leaves behind a stun-ning pink tint once it wears off. I like pairing it with the Kosas Hotliner in Beyond for a bit of extra definition.”

Key Ingredients: Rosehip oil, shea butter, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil | Available Shades: 7

More Lip Oils We Love:

Best for Chapped Lips: Clarins Lip Comfort Oil

Why It's Worth It: Thanks to the Clarins Lip Comfort Oil's gel-like texture, the hazelnut- and jojoba oil-infused elixir lasts longer than a latte, delivering comfort to even the most-chapped skin with a giant and impossible-to-smudge doe-foot applicator. Over the years, Clarins has expanded the shade range of its beloved lip oil—hats off to its longevity and, to that point, its 2023 Best of Beauty Award win—so if you want your shine to have a hint of glitter or color, you're sure to find whatever you have in mind.

Key Ingredients: Jojoba oil, castor oil, hazelnut oil | Available Shades: 8

Best Lip Tint-Oil Hybrid: Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Tinted Lip Oil

Why It's Worth It: Rare Beauty's Soft Pinch Tinted Lip Oil has a cooling, gel-to-oil formula that our editors can't stop swiping on. This bi-phase lip product treats your skin to a conditioning duo of jojoba and sunflower seed oils and settles into a no-budge finish that doesn't sacrifice shine. It's more opaque than most lip oils, so expect serious color payoff. To pump up the color payoff of any lip oil, makeup artist Jennifer Fleming recommends first applying a lip pencil in a similar hue all over. (Or, if you're more interested in adding definition, you can trace the outer edges.)

Key Ingredients: Jojoba oil, sunflower seed oil | Available Shades: 8

Best Sheer Tint: Ami Colé Hydrating Lip Treatment Oil

Why It's Worth It: Bringing together the best of lip balms and glosses, the Ami Colé Hydrating Lip Treatment Oil only looks highly pigmented in the tube. Swiped onto the lips, the shade settles into a soft, incredibly sheer lip color with a slick finish. Since it's infused with baobab and camellia oils to seal in hydration, it's a must for people with dry lips. Former Allure digital editor Jihan Forbes said that Excellent (the brand's signature rosy brown) is "a nice everyday hue" that stayed put through drinks but had to be reapplied post-tacos, which is understandable.

The shade 5/17, a gold-tinted nude, is the only one with a touch of shimmer. The others (including Romance, a cute cranberry pictured here) have high-shine finishes.

Key Ingredients: Baobab seed oil, camellia oil, passionfruit seed oil | Available Shades: 6

Best Pigmented: Ilia Balmy Gloss Tinted Lip Oil

Why It's Worth It: With just one swipe, Han said Ilia's Balmy Gloss Tinted Lip Oil "deposits a sheer, not-over-the-top amount of shine that doesn't leave my lips feeling heavy," In addition to intense hydration (hyaluronic acid, meadowfoam seed oil, and salicornia herbacea acid are to thank for that), hues range from neutral nudes (like Only You pictured above), rustic orange, to soft lavender that can be layered over your favorite lipsticks for enhanced color intensity.

Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, shea butter, meadowfoam seed oil | Available Shades: 6

Best pH-Changing Hue: Dior Addict Lip Glow Oil

Why It's Worth It: Although many shades of the Best of Beauty-winning, TikTok-loved Dior Lip Glow Oil appear to be one color in the tube, they shift into a custom hue based on your pH, thanks to a nifty ingredient called D&C Red 27. "When the shine inevitably fades—or is rubbed off by my sips of tea or snacking—the pink hue persists, leaving my lips look healthy and moisturized," Forbes said in her review. The eight-shade array of purples, pinks, and oranges is also packed with cherry oil, which protects lips from environmental aggressors with its antioxidants.

Key Ingredients: Cherry oil | Available Shades: 8

Best for Plumping: Innbeauty Project Glaze Lip Oil

Why It's Worth It: Honor the breakfast foods and sugary glosses of your youth with Innbeauty Project's Glaze Lip Oil, a vegan lip oil that provides high shine sans stickiness. Flavors like Fruity Cereal, Glazed Donut, Candy Apple, and Berry turn every swipe into a decadent treat, while fermented pomegranate provides subtle exfoliation to keep your lips flake-free.

Key Ingredients: Red root oil, jojoba oil, fermented pomegranate | Available Shades: 10

Best-Smelling: Too Faced Kissing Jelly Lip Oil Gloss

Why It's Worth It: Delivering enough shine that it could outperform the average lip gloss, Too Faced's Kissing Jelly Hydrating Lip Oil looks almost wet on the first swipe—which houses a lot of product due to the chubby doe-tip applicator. Some shades have a subtle shimmer for extra dimension but none feel heavy or sticky. Bonus: They're infused with gourmand-inspired scents like cotton candy and grape soda.

Key Ingredients: Sunflower seed oil, jojoba oil | Available Shades: 6

Best Fragrance-Free: Haus Labs PhD Hybrid Lip Oil

Why It's Worth It: Available in four sheer colors (and one clear), Haus Labs PhD Hybrid Lip Oil serves up nonsticky shine and line-smoothing hydration. The lightweight formulation is bursting with moisture-boosting squalane, plumping collagen, and soothing prickly pear oil. We love the consistency, which has more slip than a gel but isn't overly liquidy.

Key Ingredients: Vegan collagen, prickly pear oil, squalane | Available Shades: 5

Frequently Asked Questions

We like to think of lip oils as the intersection between lip balms and glosses. As the skinification of makeup products becomes more popular, lip oils have become a favorite among beauty lovers, both in skin and cosmetics, for their subtle tints and moisture-replenishing properties. Besides the sheer aesthetics, lip oils also double as a nourishing lip treatment—without feeling greasy, heavy, or sticky.

With that being said, there's actually a major difference between oils and balms that goes beyond texture. "Lip balms often contain humectants, emollients, and occlusive ingredients, working to help boost moisture in the lips, while lip oils provide an occlusive layer to the lips to help seal moisture in," says Marisa Garshick, MD, a board-certified dermatologist at MDCS Dermatology in New York City. "Lip balms tend to be best suited for those who experience dry and dehydrated lips, but can also be layered and used in combination with a lip oil."

Long story short, many are formulated with lightweight emollients like jojoba, grapeseed, squalane, avocado, or rosehip oil, notes Brendan Camp, MD, a double board-certified dermatologist in New York City. However, Dr. Camp adds: “Some [lip oils] contain nourishing ingredients like peptides, which may encourage collagen production, ceramides, which help fortify the skin barrier, vitamin E, which is an antioxidant that protects skin from oxidative stress, and hyaluronic acid, which is a humectant that helps skin retain moisture.”

• Marisa Garshick, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City
• Brendan Camp, MD, a double board-certified dermatologist in New York City

Before reviewing any makeup, we ask questions about a number of factors: What ingredients are in it? Does the brand offer a wide shade range inclusive of consumers with all skin tones and undertones? Is it safe for readers who have sensitive skin or wear contact lenses? Is it on the affordable side or more of a splurge? Is its packaging consciously designed or needlessly wasteful?

For our review of the best lip oils, we enlisted the help of multiple editors, writers, contributors, and board-certified dermatologists to review the products. This ensures our testing base spans different skin tones, genders, and dermatological conditions. We considered each product’s performance across four primary categories: ingredients, wear and longevity, packaging, and inclusivity. For more on what's involved in our reporting, check out our complete reviews process and methodology page.

A beauty product is a personal purchase. You might be searching for a face cream to address persistent dryness or a new nail product to add to your Sunday self-care routine; you may simply be browsing around for the latest launches to hit the hair market. No matter what you seek or your individual needs and concerns, Allure wants to ensure that you love anything we recommend in our stories. We believe that having a diverse team of writers and editors—in addition to the wide range of outside testers and industry experts we regularly call upon—is essential to reaching that goal.