If, like us, you’ve been working from home, you’ll know that tinted lip balm is the saviour you never formerly knew you needed.

Lip Balms are probably the only thing that almost every woman we know owns. With 2020 getting us back into beauty basics, and work-from-home alongside zoom calls giving us a barely-there makeup look, lip balms have once again become the mainstay in our beauty box. Lip balms come with multiple benefits – they moisturise dry, chapped lips, come in wonderful, assorted flavours and they soften the lips making them supple and smooth. They relieve discomfort, some even help you with pigmentation on the lips and prevent ageing. And with tinted lip balms, there is the added attraction of stunning colour, multiple ingredients and flavours that put you up to a good mood. How are they different from lipsticks? They’re more hydrating, more nourishing and come with brighter, more lush pigments so you don’t miss the glam side of things. And of course, the darker you want, the more pigment you need, you can choose colours that work for you.

Here, Lifestyle Asia chats to Maggie Ford Danielson, the Chief Beauty Ambassador at Benefit Cosmetics and the daighter and nice of co-founders’ Jean & Jane Ford about what makes lip balms the best #WFH accessory.

How to prep your lips

I brush my lips with a soft toothbrush in the shower to exfoliate. As for me, ruling out matte lipsticks that tend to dry my lips out, has been a boon.

Lip hacks that work

The rule I like is to look at the inside of your lower lip and try to match that shade for your true “nude”.  My lips tend to be fairly flushed naturally so a “nude” for me would actually be quite pink.  Also if you tend to get lipstick on your teeth after you apply it, stick your pinky finger in-between your pursed lips and gently draw it out while keeping your lips tight around your finger. It removes any lipstick that might have migrated to  the inside of your lips.

Lip balms for work from home

Multi- tasking to the max!  Use a soft pink or berry in the morning to perk up your look and it’s appropriate no matter what life throws at you that day. Home schooling, zoom meetings, yoga class or maybe a socially distanced walk with friends. Working from home used to imply barefaced and in PJ’s but now it’s all about highly effective, multi functioning products that help you get through your day.

Lip balms replacing lipsticks 

Everyone needs their makeup to work overtime this year. Not because we are wearing it from our desks to the restaurants and beyond..it’s because we need to rely on our products to perform and last.  No one needs the extra stress of worrying about their makeup.  Lipstick while beautiful, it time consuming to apply, and tends to be somewhat of a “look”. Lip balms are much more versatile while still giving you the colour payoff of a lipstick and the added benefit of being a high-performing balm.

This article first appeared on Lifestyle Asia India.