The lip care craze has officially come full circle.

While lip treatments, oils, glosses — jellies, even — have surged in both prevalence and popularity over the last few years as lip took hold as the fastest-growing category in prestige makeup, the lip care OG — lip balm — is re-entering the spotlight.

Data from Daash Intelligence shows lip balms are up 3.5 percent year-to-date in unit sales, while the average price point, too, has risen by $5.50, indicating “both higher demand and premiumization within the segment,” said Daash Intelligence cofounder and chief marketing officer Melissa Munnerlyn.

This follows the takeoff of lip treatments in 2022 thanks in large part to Hailey Bieber’s Rhode Peptide Lip Treatments, which cost $18 and come in eight core varieties. Before that, the trend was lip oils — courtesy of Dior’s and Clarins’ respective viral offerings in the category, which have propelled the popularity of both brands among Gen Z and younger consumers since.

As formats have continued to proliferate in lip care, though, a return to balms has become something of an unsuspecting differentiator.

The latest launches include Cocokind’s Ceramide Lip Blur Balm, $12, which rolled out in March with a tongue-in-cheek “world’s first lip balm” campaign, as well as Eadam and Starface’s viral lip balms, priced at $24 and $6.99, respectively. There’s also Maybelline New York’s soon-to-launch Lifter Glaze Lip Balms, a spinoff of the brand’s existing lip glosses of the same franchise.

Daash Intelligence reports prestige lip balm unit sales grew 29 percent over the last 12 months, propelled in part by new product launches and increased retail penetration for the category, while Circana reports that in 2024, makeup lip balm sales totaled $486.5 million in the U.S. across mass and prestige, up 45 percent versus 2023.

The lip care craze has officially come full circle.

While lip treatments, oils, glosses — jellies, even — have surged in both prevalence and popularity over the last few years as lip took hold as the fastest-growing category in prestige makeup, the lip care OG — lip balm — is re-entering the spotlight.

Data from Daash Intelligence shows lip balms are up 3.5 percent year-to-date in unit sales, while the average price point, too, has risen by $5.50, indicating “both higher demand and premiumization within the segment,” said Daash Intelligence cofounder and chief marketing officer Melissa Munnerlyn.

This follows the takeoff of lip treatments in 2022 thanks in large part to Hailey Bieber’s Rhode Peptide Lip Treatments, which cost $18 and come in eight core varieties. Before that, the trend was lip oils — courtesy of Dior’s and Clarins’ respective viral offerings in the category, which have propelled the popularity of both brands among Gen Z and younger consumers since.

As formats have continued to proliferate in lip care, though, a return to balms has become something of an unsuspecting differentiator.

The latest launches include Cocokind’s Ceramide Lip Blur Balm, $12, which rolled out in March with a tongue-in-cheek “world’s first lip balm” campaign, as well as Eadam and Starface’s viral lip balms, priced at $24 and $6.99, respectively. There’s also Maybelline New York’s soon-to-launch Lifter Glaze Lip Balms, a spinoff of the brand’s existing lip glosses of the same franchise.

Daash Intelligence reports prestige lip balm unit sales grew 29 percent over the last 12 months, propelled in part by new product launches and increased retail penetration for the category, while Circana reports that in 2024, makeup lip balm sales totaled $486.5 million in the U.S. across mass and prestige, up 45 percent versus 2023.

The lip care craze has officially come full circle.

While lip treatments, oils, glosses — jellies, even — have surged in both prevalence and popularity over the last few years as lip took hold as the fastest-growing category in prestige makeup, the lip care OG — lip balm — is re-entering the spotlight.

Data from Daash Intelligence shows lip balms are up 3.5 percent year-to-date in unit sales, while the average price point, too, has risen by $5.50, indicating “both higher demand and premiumization within the segment,” said Daash Intelligence cofounder and chief marketing officer Melissa Munnerlyn.

This follows the takeoff of lip treatments in 2022 thanks in large part to Hailey Bieber’s Rhode Peptide Lip Treatments, which cost $18 and come in eight core varieties. Before that, the trend was lip oils — courtesy of Dior’s and Clarins’ respective viral offerings in the category, which have propelled the popularity of both brands among Gen Z and younger consumers since.

As formats have continued to proliferate in lip care, though, a return to balms has become something of an unsuspecting differentiator.

The latest launches include Cocokind’s Ceramide Lip Blur Balm, $12, which rolled out in March with a tongue-in-cheek “world’s first lip balm” campaign, as well as Eadam and Starface’s viral lip balms, priced at $24 and $6.99, respectively. There’s also Maybelline New York’s soon-to-launch Lifter Glaze Lip Balms, a spinoff of the brand’s existing lip glosses of the same franchise.

Daash Intelligence reports prestige lip balm unit sales grew 29 percent over the last 12 months, propelled in part by new product launches and increased retail penetration for the category, while Circana reports that in 2024, makeup lip balm sales totaled $486.5 million in the U.S. across mass and prestige, up 45 percent versus 2023.

The lip care craze has officially come full circle.

While lip treatments, oils, glosses — jellies, even — have surged in both prevalence and popularity over the last few years as lip took hold as the fastest-growing category in prestige makeup, the lip care OG — lip balm — is re-entering the spotlight.

Data from Daash Intelligence shows lip balms are up 3.5 percent year-to-date in unit sales, while the average price point, too, has risen by $5.50, indicating “both higher demand and premiumization within the segment,” said Daash Intelligence cofounder and chief marketing officer Melissa Munnerlyn.

This follows the takeoff of lip treatments in 2022 thanks in large part to Hailey Bieber’s Rhode Peptide Lip Treatments, which cost $18 and come in eight core varieties. Before that, the trend was lip oils — courtesy of Dior’s and Clarins’ respective viral offerings in the category, which have propelled the popularity of both brands among Gen Z and younger consumers since.

As formats have continued to proliferate in lip care, though, a return to balms has become something of an unsuspecting differentiator.

The latest launches include Cocokind’s Ceramide Lip Blur Balm, $12, which rolled out in March with a tongue-in-cheek “world’s first lip balm” campaign, as well as Eadam and Starface’s viral lip balms, priced at $24 and $6.99, respectively. There’s also Maybelline New York’s soon-to-launch Lifter Glaze Lip Balms, a spinoff of the brand’s existing lip glosses of the same franchise.

Daash Intelligence reports prestige lip balm unit sales grew 29 percent over the last 12 months, propelled in part by new product launches and increased retail penetration for the category, while Circana reports that in 2024, makeup lip balm sales totaled $486.5 million in the U.S. across mass and prestige, up 45 percent versus 2023.