What would be the first five lip products you'd buy if you had to start your collection over?

Fenty Fenty Glow Gloss Bomb, Sara Happ The Lip Slip, Bite Beauty Gold Creme Lip Gloss, Urban Decay Rapture Vice Lipstick, Pat McGrath Unfaithful LuxeTrance Lipstick.

— Christine

64 Comments

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Seraphine Avatar

This is such a fun question! And surprisingly easy to answer…

1. Chanel Pirate (because it’s my favorite out of all my reds)
2. MAC Modesty (my most perfect MLBB)
3. YSL Rouge Volupte #89 (too gorgeous not to own)
4. MAC Flat Out Fabulous (because I must have a fuchsia)
5. Dior Addict Lip Glow in Pink (because I like using this under Flat Out Fabulous and on its own on days when my lips just need some hydration)

bridget Avatar

A very exciting question
Unfortunately all my favorite lippies are not cruelty-free. My awareness of this topic started quite late.
If I had to do it over, I would buy only cruelty free stuff
that would be Charlotte Tilburry in Bond Girl and Very Victoria, Stila Besos and RMS beauty in RMS red and Jezebel

kjh Avatar

Laneige lip sleeping, anybody’s clear lip liner, a greige (ABH, Maybelline, or L’oreal dazzling doe), a true red (prob Pat’s Major Red,) and a browned red. Several Audacious browned reds fit the bill.

Ciara Avatar

This is such a hard question!
1) Pat McGrath Wrecked LuxeTrance Lipstick
2) Colourpop Cheap Thrills Ultra Matte Liquid Lipstick
3) Colourpop Ribbon Ultra Matte Liquid Lipstick
4) Colourpop Infinite Best Matte X Lippie Stix
5) Pat McGrath Faux Pas MatteTrance Lipstick

Purples, berries, and reds are what towards what I gravitate, so this is what I would start with, I think. I love lipglosses but I only recently started wearing them, so I think I could incorporate them into my collection later. I’m not a neutral-lover, so I’m definitely not starting a new collection with a single one– there are only 5 precious spots!

Katja Avatar

Hmm let’s see! I wear nude/MLBB lip stuff almost exclusively. In no particular order:

1. Urban Decay Vice lipstick Bun Bun (wish it were permanent!)-this is the perfect browny pink nude with an incredibly comfortable opaque formula. The color is also pretty much an exact dupe for Jeffree Star Celebrity Skin.

2. UD Vice lipstick Backtalk – another super comfortable matte lipstick! Backtalk is a nice muted mauve, which I adore!

3. NARS Audacious lipstick Raquel – a peachy nude, which has such a comfortable beautiful formula! My favorite nude lipstick.

4. Smashbox Be Legendary lipstick Wrap Party-a comfortable matte rusty red lipstick, which is perfect for everyday! The color is nice and muted.

5. MAC Lip liner Whirl- dark nude liner, which enhaces my lips perfectly. I love the color and how it can be paired up with pretty much any lipstick. Also despite being matte, it does not dry out my lips nor drag.

eshum Avatar

1. Hourglass Futurist Girl Stylo
2. Glossier Mango Balm dot Com
3. Besame Blood Red
4. Fresh Advanced Therapy
5. NARS Dolce Vita (or NARS Barbara!)

Pearl Avatar

Love MAC Modesty! I really like the cremesheen formula and just repurchased that and Creme In Your Coffee. And I can’t believe I forgot Creme In Your Coffee (an all time favorite) in the list! ?‍♀️

Moxie Avatar

– Sun Bum lip balm in Bonfire for summer weather.
– Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey.
– UD Vice in Sheer Shame.
– Burt’s Bees new Honey formula / scent.
– Aritaum ginger sugar lip mask for winter.

Linda Avatar

I don’t have a huge lip collection to begin with, but I’d definitely go for the following and feel set for life:

Nars Velvet Gloss lip pencils in Frivolous, New Lover and Happy Days
Pat McGrath lip pencil in Bare Rose
Cover Girl lip pencil in Mauvelous

Ana Maria Avatar

I only wear lip balm and lipstick (I never liked glosses and liquid lipsticks, I can’t be bothered to use lip liners), so this is an easy go.

1 good lip balm: Clinique Pep-Start Pout Perfecting Balm (the non-tinted non-fragrance version, I hate the others) or Pep-Start Pout Restoring Night Mask
4 lipsticks: a brownish my lips but better (MAC Velvet Teddy), a mauve/plum my lips but better (MAC Brave), a dark rich burgundy (MAC Diva), a true cool red (MAC Russian Red or Ruby Woo)

Mariella Avatar

Elizabeth Arden lip primer, MAC Craving, UD Mrs. Mia Wallace or Smashbox Red Rage, Givenchy Fuchsia in the Know, Clarins Redwood Rouge Prodige (it’s been discontinued for years though I still have one in use; can we include discontinued items?)

Tessa Avatar

1. Clinique Chubby Stick – Two Ton Tomato
2. Bobbi Brown Crushed Lip Color – Ruby
3. YSL Rouge Volupte – Chili Tunique
4. Fresh Sugar Tinted Lip Balm – Sheer Berry
5. Besame Classic – Chocolate Kiss 1970

… Yeah, these would get me started day-to-day.

Amy Avatar

Two of these are new! (NW20, neutral, brown hair, blue eyes)
Mac Creme in My Coffee (which is a great brownish almost nude on me, what Velvet Teddy is touted as but isn’t for me)
Mac Captive, purple without being too out there
Dior 999, my most flexible red (Nars Audacious Carmen is my best, but it’s not as flexible for daytime)
Nars Audacious Anna (pinky/purply almost nude, although I wish it were less smeary)
UD Vice ZZ, as an edgy option, sort of Barbie pastel pink but still work appropriate. (I have Mac Up the Amp, and prefer it’s edging into purple, but for practical reasons ZZ wins out)

Ana Maria Avatar

It’s amazing how lipstick shades can be a hit or miss depending on each person complexion. It happens to me as well that some touted / hipped shades are `meah` for me, but subtle variations (80-95% dupe) work better.
I’m NC20 and Velvet Teddy look good on me, while Creme in My Coffee doesn’t look anywhere brownish on me (it’s more pink slight coral). While Captive looks so pink on me, I can barely see any plum in it.

SaffyTaffy Avatar

Haha, honestly, maybe I’d just start over with 5 Pat McGrath lipsticks. The clear balm, Nude Astral, Venus in Furs, and then the Full Panic and Elson MatteTrances. A balmy one, a shimmery one, a “professional” one, a red, and my personal favorite The Full Flamingo.

Nancy T Avatar

1.) MAC Prep & Prime Lips
2.) Fenty Universal Gloss Bomb
3.) MAC Marque or Cosmo lipstick
4.) Pat McGrath Major Red Lipstick (I cannot recall if it’s a Luxetrance or MatteTrance?), or one of her other fabulous reds!
5.) Nyx Earthtone SLP

But; in rapid succession thereafter, I would be replenishing my Nyx SLP’s in Mahogany, Coffee and Hot Red. PMG Aliengelic LUST Gloss, She’s Heaven, Strangé and Executive Realness Luxetrance lipsticks. MAC Mehr, VG I and lll, plus Mixed Media Retro Matte lipsticks. UD Bittersweet, Catfight, Broken and After Dark, too!

Erica Avatar

MAC Velvet Teddy
MAC Hug Me
NARS Rikugien
Limecrime Velvetine Liquid Lip in Bleached
I’m leaning towards PML Mattetrance in 1995

BUT I could also add Stila Sheer Liquid Lip in Caramello, Lancome Juicy Matte Shaker in Vintage Beige or The Face Shop Matte Up Lip Tint in Bitter Orange. Really DIFFICULT choice bc I love and use so many more!

Rachel R. Avatar

These questions are always such interesting thought exercises. I have to really think about what I would get the most use of, not necessarily my favorite shades. As some who wears bright or unconventional lip colors as often as I “normal” lipstick shades, five products is really limiting/challenging for me. Plus, these shades are often LE.

1) Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in Sheer Rapture — HG MLBB shade; goes with almost every look.

2) Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in 1993 — My most worn brown/neutral.

3) MAC Lipstick in Blankety — It’s supposed to be an exact dupe for the lightest nude I can wear, the DC’d Wet n Wild x Fergie Pout Lipstick in Fergie Daily.

4) ABH Matte Lipstick in Smoke — Grays are neutral lip staples for me, but they tend to be LE. This one is permanent and isn’t too warm.

5) UD Vice Lipstick in 714 — Dupe for my favorite, but LE, pin-up red MAC Von Teese.

For fun, if I could pick five more products:
1) ABH Liquid Lipstick in Party Pink
2) Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche Lipstick in Kale
3) Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche Lipstick in Squid Ink
4) UD Vice Lipstick in Pandemonium
5) JCat Poutholic Lipstick in Man Candy Mon (matte gray-blue)

Mags Avatar

Milk Kush Lip Balm
Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask
MAC Velvet Teddy
NYX Powder Puff Squad Goals
MAC Have Your Cake (please bring it back, MAC!)

Nicole D Avatar

Lipsticks are my weakness. It is difficult to pick just five, as I rotate many of them during the week. I have some colors that I use mostly in the summer and others for the fall and winter. Here are my favorite lip products for the summer:
1. Dior Addict Lip Tattoo in 451 Natural Coral (same quality and staying power as my other fave from the range, 351 Natural Nude)
2. Charlotte Tillbury Amazing Grace (a beautiful coral on my lips, not too red, not too orange)
3. Guerlain Rouge G in 62 (rosy-coral)
4. Tom Ford Giacomo or YSL Rouge Pur Couture Pink Rhapsody (these are two gorgeous pinks for summer, the latter having an unreal blue reflect, like when you add a multidimensional lip gloss on top)
5. Clinique Bare Pop (have it from the Jonathan Adler collection), a beautiful MLBB pinkish nude that is the perfect nude for me as it does not pull brown, too beige or orange. I’m usually not a fan of nude shades as they usually wash me out, but this one is perfect.
6. Patrick Ta Major Shine Lip Gloss in Is She Younger Than Me?

Lily Kelley Avatar

Aquaphor lip repair
Mac lipstick in Mocha
UD sheer shimmer lipstick in Ex-Girlfriend
Smashbox Be Legendary lipstick in Honey
Smashbox LA Gloss in Beechy Keen

Lucie Avatar

Since the question is first five and not only five, this is a little bit easier.

1. Givenchy Encre Interdite 24 Hour Lip Stain – Radical Red
2. Dior Addict Lip Maximizer Plumping Gloss – Berry
3. Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche Liquified Lipstick – Lotus Root (I’ve purchased 3 – I love this pink on me)
4. Sephora Collection Oil Infusion Color & Care – Lavender Crème (I’ve purchased like 10 of these)
5. Fresh Sugar Lip Caramel Hydrating Balm (I’ve repurchased this 3 times now).

Honorable mention would go to Bite Sour Cherry if I wanted a creamy red instead of a red stain. And the Fresh balm narrowly beat out Lip Service from Lush. I narrowly prefer the Lush balm, but it is pretty melty when you put it in your pocket and the tin gets dented if you just throw it in a bag or purse, so I have Fresh in all of my bags and Lush at my desks.

Nicole Avatar

1 – Hourglass Lip Oil
2 – La Mer Lip Balm
3 – Tom Ford Velvet Cherry (it’s what I’m wearing in my avatar, actually…)
4 – Charlotte Tilbury Bond Girl
5 – BECCA Malibu Soleil Gloss

Kira Avatar

NARS Satin Lip Pencil in Rikugien
Pat McGrath Lust Lip Gloss in Divine Rose
YSL Rouge Volupte Shine Oil-in-Stick in Rose Nu (88)
NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Do Me Baby
Pat McGrath MatteTrance Lipstick in Flesh 3

This was incredibly challenging. I picked based on my short hair, current trends, and current skin tone. The next color I’d want to buy is MAC Lipstick in Syrup, followed by many, many more!

Deborah S. Avatar

This is so hard as I have well over 200 lipsticks and I need base products to make them work so I am going to list my 1-5 and then tack on 6-10 since I do need to have some lipsticks!!
1. Nuxe Reve de Miel Lip Balm, my holy grail. It is very thick which is perfect for me as I wear a CPAP mask at night and it dries everything out so badly, then I have excessive cold and wind in Montana so this is the only lip balm that really stays on and saves my lips.
2. UD Ozone/clear lip pencil to stop those pesky rivers of lipstick running out of my lip lines. With the lip lines I have you would think I was a smoker but I never did. Just used a straw for 60 years!
3. Pat McGrath lip liner in Suburbia, although almost any of them would be good.
4. Pat McGrath Luxe Trance lipstick in Beautiful Creature, but again, I would love any of her lippies except the nude ones.
5. Charolotte Tilbury The Queen but wouldn’t turn down any of the others in the Matte Revolution line. I have most of them.

6. MAC lip liner in Nightmoth.
7. Rouge Bunny Rouge Sheer Lipstick in Perfume of His Gaze
8. MAC Party Parrot lipstick.
9. Elizabeth Arden Red Door Red lipstick.
10. Ilia 99 Red Balloons.

There are so many choices. I feel like I am ignoring one of my babies by picking only 5. The other shades are going to be so upset!!

Deborah S. Avatar

Yes, so sad that something so innocuous and done millions of times a day around the world, could have such detrimental effects. I imagine a certain amount is genetically driven as both of my grandmother’s had lip lines but they were in their 80’s and 90’s. I am only 65 so I wish someone had been able to tell me back then what the effect would be!!

Deborah S. Avatar

One of my favorite matte formulas. They aren’t drying, they wear really well and are comfortable while wearing. Also, because they are matte I don’t get any traveling up my lip lines. I would love to see more shades as I have all the ones that I can wear based on skin tone and hyper-pigmented lips.
I think I only have one of the K.I.S.S.I.N.G. lipsticks and it is in the shade Night Crimson. I don’t remember not liking the formula but the shade is just a little too brown for me. It isn’t suppose to be brown at all as it is a plum/red but it just pulls brown on me and while my daughter says that I look fine in a lipstick that leans brown, I just don’t like the look on myself.

CeeBee Avatar

Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask
Colourpop Lumiere lippie stix
Revolution Pro lipstick in Instigator
Nars Audacious in Anna
Shiseido Rouge in RD732

DVa Avatar

Becca Ultimate Love Lipstick in Sugar
Buxom White Russian Gloss (also Love Fenty Gloss Bomb)
Tarte H2O Lip Gloss in Sandy Toes
Colourpop Matte Liquid Lip in Midi
Too Faced Peach Puff Diffused Matte Lip in Stoked

smeegal9 Avatar

1. Urban decay Rehab lip prep-discontinued (le sigh)
2. MAC Viva Glam IV-discontinued (le sigh)
3. Tarte Tartiest in Obsessed
4. Huda Beauty Trophy Wife
5. MAC Plum lip liner- goes with everything!

Rachael Dominguez Avatar

Pat McGrath lipgloss in Bronze Venus
YSL liquid lip in 407
Chantecaille in anais
Smashbox made it matte in be legendary
Pat McGrath lip fetish lip balm clear

Nikki Avatar

Again in no particular order, and again, this is a really hard thought exercise!
Marc Jacobs Enamored Hi-Shine Lip Lacquer (it’s perfectly non-sticky!) (shade choices: Ch-Ch-Changes, Love Buzz, or Not Sorry)
L’Oreal Colour Riche Collection Exclusive lipstick-403 Eva’s Red (it’s probably the most low-maintenance red lipstick I’ve ever owned-it’s also available in the Colour Riche Matte line as Matte-traction Red)
KvD Studded Kiss Creme lipstick (shade choices: Hexagram, Backstage Bambi, or Crush)
ChapStick Total Hydration Moisture+Tint-Merlot
Maybelline ColorSensational Shine Compulsion lipstick-110 Risky Berry (a Walgreens exclusive)

Heather Avatar

Bite Pepper, UD Sheer Liar, UD F-Bomb, Bite agave lip mask in natural, and either a berry-red or berry-fuchsia (but I don’t have a specific shade in mind! Probably something from Bite, since I like their formula so much).

Yen.Lin Avatar

1. YSL Vinyl Cream • 416 Psychedelic Chili
2. YSL Glossy Stain • 7 Corail Aquatique
3. MAC See Sheer
4. Tom Ford Lip Colour Shine • Nubile
5. Dior Lacquer Stick • 524 Coolista

Sarah Avatar

1. lip scrub
2. lip balm
3. colourpop oh snap lippie stix – an everyday peach shade
4. mac viva glam v lipstick – pink with gold pearl
5. colourpop 27 lux lipstick – a burgundy that I’ll only wear like 5x a year, so maybe it’s not the most practical choice for this list haha

Latifa Morrison Avatar

Nars American Woman Powermatte Lip Pigment
Pat McGrath Omi Liptrance 107
MAC Spice or Boldly Bare Lipliner
Huda SHEro Cream Liquid Lip
YSL Tatouage 16 Nude Emblem

JillyinOC Avatar

1. Hourglass I’m addicted: My perfect pinky nude, best texture ever
2. OFRA Pasadena: My first fav MLBB and my go to mauve-y look
3. MAC Twig: Perfect brighten my look nude / adds just a touch of color
4. Bite Beauty Date: Lovely warm nude / goes with everything (Alternate for this spot is Urban Decay Liar. It was a tough choice but I’m in love with Bite’s formula and how it feels on the lip)
5. Dior Lip Glow Berry: My first high end purchase, bought on a whim, began this whole love affair with my makeup collection. Good for when my lips need extra hydration or for beach days with minimal other products.

For each of these I could think of 3-4 alternatives in the same finish, which tells me a few things I already knew about myself. I love hoarding lipstick. I am addicted to pinky nudes.

Cil Avatar

Nuxe – Rêve de Miel lip mousturizer
Colourpop – Trust Me (my favorite true red)
ABH – matte Plumeria (my favorite fuchsia)
ABH – matte Rosewood (my favorite LmMLBB)
UD – Hex (my favorite dark red)

TLG Avatar

Urban Decay Hi Fi Shine in Fuel
Marc Jacobs Enamored in Allow Me
Stila Beauty Boss in Win-Win
Rimmel Stay Glossy in Bare Minimum
Nyx Butter Gloss in Creme Brulee

Alecto Avatar

I’ve thought about this, I really have, but I have so many lip products that I seriously couldn’t name 5 specific ones that I value above all others. The only way I can answer this is by category (I’m not counting colorless balms or lip mask products as I consider them to be more skincare):

– a matte or satin, red, fully opaque lipstick
– a matte or satin, bright and/or deep berry, fully opaque lipstick
– a matte or satin, subdued, medium to dark plum, fully opaque lipstick
– a matte unusual color (like black or deep blue), fully opaque lipstick
– a non-glossy tinted balm (tint could be plum or red — haven’t decided … leaning toward plum)

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