Tag: selfridges

Pucker up: luxury lip balms. Photograph: Observer

"More moisture is lost through the lips than through any other part of the face or body," NHS Choices tells me – forgetting, I imagine, those of us that wee. I'm not great with science. But chapped lips are horrid. Horrid. They make you want to lick them, which just makes them dryer. They make you want to pick at the dry skin, which just makes them bleed. It takes serious, steady application of a good lip balm to get them soft again – you'll probably have to try a couple before you find one that you really like. One that doesn't leave your lips sparkly, or white, or tasting of poison. My current favourite is Clinique's Repairwear Intensive Lip Treatment (21, clinique.co.uk), which looks like a lipstick but feels like being rescued.

Alternatively:
Sisley 39.50, 020 7591 6380
Carmex 4.49, boots.com
Suqqu 32, selfridges.com
Crme de la Mer 40, 0870 034 2566

Fabulous but quite serious: YSL's new gloss.

Do you know what, I'm thinking about getting back into lip gloss. I know! Sure, it can make your mouth look like an overripe melon, and sure, I know it's hard to walk down the street without getting flies and hair stuck to your glistening lips, but something in me says it's time. Lip-gloss time. I'm working up to YSL's new glosses (Rouge pur Couture Vernis Lvres, 22.50, yslbeauty.co.uk), which are fabulous but quite serious. In the meantime Clinique's Chubby Sticks (16, 0870 034 2566) are a lovely interim gloss, somewhere between a lip balm and your goddaughter's best crayons.

Alternatively...

Stila 15, asos.com
Givenchy 22.50, 01932 233 824
Tom Ford 32, selfridges.com
Clinique 16, 0870 034 2566