I’ve always had a laundry list of issues with lipstick—patchy color, settling into fine lines, incessant reapplying. But primarily, no matter how hydrating the formula, my lips always ended up feeling dry and cracked. Turns out, a lip serum was the answer all along: A solve (and salve) I didn’t even know existed until the Chanel Hydra Beauty Micro Sérum Lèvres made its way into the Vogue beauty closet.
“A lip serum is a hydrating, barrier protector for the lips,” explains celebrity makeup artist Delina Medhin. “It is a product specifically formulated to plump and nourish the lips, in addition to moisturizing them.” The important distinction between that, and say a lip gloss or balm, is that this does not sit on top of the lips; rather, it sinks into the skin and has long-lasting benefits. “Think about the way an eye cream hydrates the skin around the eyes, or how a moisturizer hydrates the face. A lip serum works in the same way, but on the lips.”
Funny enough, on my first swipe of Micro Sérum Lèvres, I told Vogue’s senior beauty editor Margaux Anbouba that it was unlike anything I had ever tried before. It applied similarly to my favorite hyaluronic acid—going on almost wet, coating my pout in dewy hydration—before sinking in fully in a matter of minutes. It was weird, and I didn’t understand it, but I knew it liked it.
And per Medhin, my experience is exactly as expected. A lip serum, she tells me over email, is designed for skincare—working to improve the quality of the lip skin—whereas a lip balm is designed for reparative benefits, creating a barrier on top to keep hydration in. A gloss, on the other hand, is applied for shine—not meant to have any true benefit.
All to say, Chanel’s lip serum’s intended use goes beyond the lip salves you likely have stocking your cosmetics pouch—acting as a drink of water to the lips to stave off dry, flaky patches.
Packed into a lightweight, droplet-infused serum, the formula is composed of 95% naturally-derived ingredients from hyaluronic acid, in addition to Chanel’s white camellia OFA, PFA, and glycoextracts which Medhin says not only hydrates but reinforces skin barrier function, and plumps and soothes the skin.