Clarins’ New Lip Oil Brings Me Back to My Glossy ’90s Days
The beauty brand’s latest product provides a trip down memory lane—when Lip Smackers, Lancôme Juicy Tubes, and Kissing Koolers reigned supreme.
Clarins Lip Comfort Oil is a rollercoaster ride of childhood emotions—but instead of leaving you with acne scars and orthodontist bills, it provides soft, hydrated, and healthy lips.
I’m already a loyal follower of the Clarins brand, (I would pretty much try anything that they told me to,) so when this lip oil landed on my desk, I couldn’t wait to test it on my chapped and thoroughly dehydrated winter lips. After the first swipe, I was instantly transported back to the late ’90s and early aughts, when I spent hours in my best friend’s childhood bedroom trying on every lip gloss she had in her mint green Caboodle. Dr. Pepper-flavored Lip Smackers, Lancome Juice Tubes, Kissing Koolers, vanilla SoftLips—the nostalgia hit me fast and hard. Wearing Clarins’ Lip Comfort Oil gave me an experience that felt oddly similar—only this time, chicer.
This lip product comes in eight shades, five of them being pH-reactive, meaning the color adapts the natural pigmentation of your own lips and skin—something I always love in a lipstick or gloss. As a person who prefers a more natural makeup routine, I love the fact that the colors subtly stain the lip, without being globbed on and appearing overly prominent.
Nostalgia aside, what I love most about these lip oils are the plant-based ingredients. The new formula includes organic jojoba oil, hazelnut oil, and organic sweetbriar rose oil (try finding those ingredients in the lip gloss you currently have at the bottom of your Bottega bag—I’ll wait).
What I also love about these oils is the feeling: they aren’t slick or tacky and almost melt right onto your lips, creating what feels like a barrier to the elements.
If you enjoyed rolling on those fruity lip glosses in the ’90s as much as I did, but don’t want the toxic ingredients that came along with them, this Clarins Lip Comfort Oil might be the perfect solution for you. And if you listen closely while you apply it, you can almost hear Mazzy Star playing in the distance.
