It is one of the world’s oldest cosmetics. For thousands of years, people have tinted their lips as part of a beauty regimen. In Ancient Egypt, such mixes were made with henna, crushed ants and natural dyes. Today’s “kiss-proof” variants really do stay on for hours.
Before we dive into the massive global lipstick industry (worth an estimated $17.4 billion in 2024), let’s take a closer look at the features they were made for: the lips themselves.
Human lips are extraordinary in both form and function. They help us eat, speak and express emotion. They form a seal for sucking, which is vital for breastfeeding infants. Packed with thousands of nerve endings, they are among the body’s most sensitive areas, helping us detect temperature and texture; allowing us to sing, whisper and kiss. Lips also act as a barrier, keeping out dirt and pathogens and holding in saliva and good bacteria.
Their natural pinkish tone comes from their anatomy. The skin here is much thinner than on the rest of the body, only three to five cell layers thick, compared to 16 or more elsewhere. Beneath it, a dense network of capillaries carry oxygen-rich blood close to the surface. Because the skin here contains very little melanin, the red of the blood shows through. This is also why lips are particularly vulnerable to sun damage, and why many balms include a sun protection factor, or SPF.
Lips differ from the rest of our skin in another important way: There are no hair follicles here, no sweat glands and no oil glands. This gives them their smooth, soft texture but also makes them prone to dryness. Licking one’s lips may seem like a quick fix, but the water in saliva dries rapidly, leaving behind salts and enzymes that strip moisture from and irritate the skin. This can lead to a cycle of dryness and cracking.
What lips need, to stay healthier, firmer and fuller for longer, is a mix of water and lipids (oils, waxes or butters) that lock in hydration. This is particularly important as one ages.
As collagen production slows with age, lips tend to lose some of their volume and definition, and can become more susceptible to dryness and sun exposure too. This is where a good lip balm, whether homemade or store-bought, comes in.
The first commercially manufactured lipstick came from France, in 1884. The perfume company Guerlain (set up in 1828, it still makes perfumes and lipsticks) used venison tallow, castor oil, beeswax and colouring agents to make smooth tints that they sold in small pots and tubes. These were applied with a brush or with the fingertips, in a rather messy, unhygienic and wasteful process.
All that changed in the 1910s, when American inventors (there is some debate over who did it first) invented the metal lipstick tube, which allowed the stick to twist upwards for use and then retract neatly. This made the product portable and far easier to use.
Today’s lipsticks remain a complex blend of waxes, oils and pigments that can deteriorate over time. They have to be produced under just the right temperatures. Too hot, and bubbles may form or the stick melt or “sweat”; too cold, and cracks can ruin the whole.
Exposure to air and light can lead to oxidation, affecting fragrance, colour and texture. Though lipsticks contain little water, bacteria and fungi can still survive on the surface, especially when preservatives weaken or storage conditions are poor.
For all these reasons, formulae are tested stringently (and it is a good idea to adhere to expiry dates).
One of the questions I always had was: How do some tints come off the stick and onto the lips so easily, and then adhere to the lips so firmly that one can eat or kiss or stand in the rain and the shade remains largely unaffected?
A key ingredient, I have learnt, is isododecane, a lightweight, fast-evaporating hydrocarbon. Because it readily evaporates at room temperature, it helps spread the colour pigments evenly on the lips, and then, as it dries, sort of locks them in. (The same ingredient is also used in smudge-proof eyeliners and mascaras.)
For that extra-glossy look, chemists turn to R. Where natural oils such as castor and jojoba provide gloss but fade quickly and feel greasy, polybutene, a viscous synthetic polymer, forms a flexible, sticky yet non-greasy film that clings to the lips for hours.
When it comes to the tints themselves, red has, through centuries, been a clear favourite. It continues to signal beauty, glamour, defiance, allure. Red is stunning, but not my colour of choice; I prefer maroon. What shade do you like best?
(To reach Swetha Sivakumar with questions or feedback, email [email protected]. The views expressed are personal)
