The party season is just around the corner which will mean many of us reaching for the red lipstick… which also means highlighting those fine lines around the mouth area. What is the best way to treat this common concern of ageing skin? We put the top 6 lip creams to the test - taking a closer look at their ingredients and how to get rid of fine lines around the mouth.
Before we get stuck in to the products, it’s good to recap on the science of fine lines and wrinkles and what we can effectively do to treat them around the mouth. So fine lines and wrinkles are a natural sign of skin ageing - we embrace our wrinkles at Jersey Beauty and don’t believe in encouraging women to try and turn back the clock with anti-ageing products. Your wrinkles are a natural part of your ageing beauty. The thing is - fine lines and wrinkles can also be a sign that your skin isn’t at its full health. So it’s important to know the difference, and what you can do to treat those signs of prematurely ageing skin - so your skin is happy and healthy at every age.
As you age your skin produces and stores less of the proteins collagen and elastin, the stuff that keeps your skin plump and taut. Added to this, sun exposure can destroy collagen and elastin, as can pollutants from smoking. The area around your mouth and lips can be more delicate than the rest of your skin as it is by nature thinner and more prone to damage.
There are three kinds of common lines around the mouth:
Smile Lines - these are caused by the ligaments around the mouth starting to slacken with age and the skin starting to sag. The result are lines from the bottom of the nose to the corner of the mouth.
Marionette Lines - these are so called because they can make you look unhappy, causing the mouth to turn down. They are caused by a lowering amount of collagen in the skin around the mouth area - which happens as you age.
Vertical Lip Lines - these are the commonest type of lines around the mouth - caused by movements over time. They can be known as smoker lines too.
Let’s see what the top 6 lip creams can do for your ageing lips this Autumn:
First up a nightly lip treatment from Dermalogica. At night your skin works to renew itself and can lose moisture, so a nightly lip treatment is a great idea for sleeping.
It’s super hydrating - it has hydrating superpower hyaluronic acid, which holds up to a thousand times its weight in water and can penetrate deep into the skin. The skin around your mouth can often lack water - product is easily removed during the day with eating and drinking so getting a good boost of hydration at night is key to dealing with wrinkles around the mouth and restoring plumpness. That’s why it’s good news it also has sesame seed extract, another superpower for hydration and plumping the skin.
It’s really nourishing - thanks to the active ingredient shea butter, this lip treatment is really great for dry skin around the mouth, which is often more of an issue in the winter months. Shea butter is rich in vitamin E so is also a great antioxidant, fighting free radical damage from the sun.
It’s super volumising - it has a special Volumizing Technology, which is a formula that works to restore the natural volume of the skin around your lips. This combats the sagging that cause smile lines and helps to restore your smile.
This is a great choice for overnight lip treatment. It feels and smells amazing and has a simple applicator.
Next up, we have a lip treatment from Guinot that has a whopping 56 active cell ingredients to plump and restore your lips and mouth area.
It has ascorbic acid - this little known gem is part of the Vitamin C family and is a powerful antioxidant. So it is great at fighting free radical damage, caused by the sun or smoking. It can help to boost collagen production - that’s the stuff that keeps your lip and mouth area plump.
It’s great on the lips - that’s because it has glycerin, which is amazing for your lips! It moisturises, softens the skin, prevents dryness and can gently exfoliate the delicate lip area without causing irritation.
It’s super hydrating - it has niacinamide, which is a superfood of the skin care ingredients list! It is great at targeting fine lines and wrinkles, reducing their appearance and also treating dry and dehydrated skin to bring your lip and mouth area back to full health.
This is a great choice for applying before lipstick - it helps reduce lipstick bleed and gives a smooth finish.
This next choice is a lip balm that can be used throughout the day, which is great news when the weather is changing and a lot of us are suffering with chapped lips and dry lip and mouth area. All of this can lead to increasing lines and wrinkles from skin damage.
It makes your lips feel amazing - here it is again, super nourishing shea butter that we discovered before, this time coupled with castor seed oil which can penetrate deep into the lip area to rejuvenate and repair the deeper layers of skin. Castor oil also has natural anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties, which is great for treating sore or chapped lips.
It fights sun damage - it has sunflower seed oil that is packed full of antioxidants, particularly Vitamin E so fights to protect and repair lips from sun damage.
It has ceramides - ceramides are a part of your skin’s natural moisturising factor (NMF). As you age this naturally decreases so these active ingredients replicate those natural moisturisers, sinking deep into the lip area and restoring moisture and water to the skin.
This is a great choice for applying before lipstick - it helps reduce lipstick bleed and gives a smooth finish.
This next choice is both a treatment for under lipstick and also can be used as an intensive night treatment, from Ark Skincare.
It is super nourishing - it has macadamia lipids which help to restore the natural barrier on top of the skin, repairing the lip and mouth area and targeting dry skin to leave it feeling nourished.
It’s great for sensitive lips - if your lips are chapped or sore this is a great choice, it has allantoin which is an emollient, making it great for effective moisturise. It also has Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe vera) Leaf Extract, which is really soothing for chapped lips.
It has plumping peptides - a bit like ceramides, peptides are amino acids that make up proteins, so these plumping peptides are great for rebuilding collagen and elastin in the lips.
This is a great choice for restoring volume to chapped and sore lips, without causing irritation.
Next up is a glossy lip balm with a slight tint, ideal for using instead of lipstick for a nourishing lip balm.
It has encapsulated hyaluronic acid - we’ve already talked about this superpower when it comes to hydrating the lips and mouth area. This has encapsulated hyaluronic acid, making it easier for the active ingredient to retain its potency as it is absorbed by the lips, for maximum hydrating goodness.
It’ll leave your lips fuller and smoother - it’s got mustard extract (don’t worry you can’t taste it!) which acts to smooth out the lip area, effectively getting rid of lines and ridges in the lip area - giving your lips a smooth beautiful finish.
It’s got antioxidant goodness - Vitamin E, combined with orchid and algae extracts will leave your skin protected, moisturised and will help to fight sun damage.
Great if you want a glossy lip balm that has a tint and is also packed full of active ingredients!
Our final choice is a rejuvenating lip cream from Mary Cohr, specially formulated for ageing skin.
It’s packed full of active ingredients - it has twenty essential amino acids, ten vitamins, nineteen biological active ingredients and seven mineral salts which all combine to provide a formula that works to stimulate growth and multiplication of cells.
It has apple extract - which is packed full of Vitamin C making it a great choice for stimulating collagen production and also working as an antioxidant, combatting sun damage.
It has glycerin - as we have already discovered this active ingredient is fab on the lips, moisturising and protecting the skin.
we love the feel of this lip cream, it feels really luxurious, especially under lipstick.
When it comes to choosing the right lip cream for your ageing mouth and lips, it’s important to understand what can be done to treat the lip area. Once you understand that collagen and elastin levels decreasing is what causes lines and wrinkles, and that a lack of moisture can make this more obvious, you know you need lip creams packed with the right active ingredients to make a difference!
To shop for your lip cream, visit Jersey Beauty now:
