The latest Korean-inspired makeup trend that’s blowing up on TikTok? “Jelly lips”.
Everyone’s gushing over this juicy, delicious lip look and so are we!
Those who have been decorating their lips with glosses since the ’90s may remember the days when the gloss was simply too sticky and your hair would get stuck on your lips from time to time. The aftermath? Not very chic at all.
Fast forward to the 21st century when beauty brands have become more innovative with their products in order to remain competitive within the industry. Especially in K-beauty, several lip glosses are made to be non-sticky and lightweight — an answer to our prayers.
Credit: @yejiles/TikTok
Read on to find out how you can recreate dewy, glossy “jelly lips” and the six best lip glosses out there.
Types of “jelly lips”
A search for “jelly lips” on TikTok will show you a few different ways and might leave you confused about which is the right way to achieve “jelly lips”. Well, the answer is it can all work!
Grab your lip scrub and start exfoliating (to rid of dead skin cells) before trying out any of these four methods.
Two-toned “jelly lips”
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This method is for all the busy ladies out there — a dynamic and glossy “jelly lips” look you can achieve in less than a minute.
Pick a matte lipstick of your choice and blend only the upper lip for a blurred effect. Let your matte lip product dry and settle in your lips before you swipe lip gloss over them, and you’re done!
You can also overline your lips a little if you prefer a plumper look.
Korean gradient “jelly lips”
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If you’ve been keeping up with lip trends, this “jelly lips” style is almost identical to the Korean gradient lip trend.
Start off with a lip balm, clear or tinted will work either way. Next, use a lip tint or liquid lipstick (something that’s easily blendable) and dot the inner parts of your lips.
Use your fingers or a lip brush to gently dab and blend out the lip product to create the gradient effect. Make sure you’re not putting any product on the outer parts of your lips!
Bonus tip: By creating a more intense gradient, simply add more product and blend again. Repeat these steps until you’ve achieved the intensity you want.
Finish it off with a trusty lip gloss. You can use one that’s clear, with colour, or with glitter — it’s entirely up to you.
Fuller “jelly lips”
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For voluminous “jelly lips”, add a lip plumper to your product repertoire. Depending on the lip plumper you use, give it a few minutes to do its magic and plump up your lips.
Use a darker lip colour in the centre of your lips before using a complementary lighter shade on the outer parts of your lips. This will create some dimension to your lips.
Then, blend the edges of your lips and go over them with clear lip gloss for the last step.
Defined “jelly lips”
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If you’re looking for something more defined, this method might tickle your fancy.
You’ll need to use concealer over your lips, which will provide a uniform canvas for you to work on later so your lipstick’s full colour is shown.
Yes, it’s an extra step, but it’ll banish obvious lip lines or wrinkles, ensure your lip colour lasts longer, and add some dimension to your lipstick shade while preventing any feathering.
Bonus tip: You can also use a nude, beige, or brownish lipstick as your base instead of concealer.
First, add the concealer and blend it out on your lips like how you would on your face. Let it dry and then simply apply your lipstick.
Use a lip gloss, clear, tinted, or shimmery, and go over your lips. Lastly, use your concealer from before and dab them on your cupids bow and the outer corners of your lips. Carefully blend it out and you’ll have super-defined “jelly lips”.
Bonus tip: After concealer, use a lip liner or light brow pencil to overline your lips. This will make your “jelly lips” extra plump and defined.
What to look out for when buying lip glosses
There’s an abundance of lip glosses from various makeup brands to choose from, but fret not because we’re here to help you shortlist glosses based on a few criteria.
Stickiness of the lip gloss
Credit: @dewylouie/TikTok
Most lip glosses have a thickening agent, like beeswax, kaolinite, and ozokerite, to keep the product from dripping off your lips during application.
Glosses are mainly made with the same few ingredients. A common ingredient is polybutene, which is a polymer that provides long-lasting benefits but can cause a tacky texture.
Using glosses that are too sticky can result in dry lips, pilling, clogged pores and acne around the mouth.
So when shopping for lip glosses, make sure they don’t have polybutene in them or look for accompanying ingredients that will thwart stickiness — butters, waxes, vitamin E, hyaluronic acid, and oils like olive, jojoba, and rosehip fruit.
Bonus tip: If your gloss is sticky or clumpy, you can run an ice cube over your lips to smoothen it out. Alternatively, you can dust some translucent face powder on your lips, but not too much or it’ll clump.
Picking the right colour
Credit: @angxlinamo/TikTok, @zarahambreenx/TikTok
If you’re going for a coloured lip gloss, finding the right shade for your skin tone might amp up your makeup to a different level.
The general rule is to look at your undertones. Those with cool undertones should get rosy pink shades while those with warm undertones should look for the opposite.
Going more in-depth into tones, if you have a fair complexion, try pinkish shades; peach-ish shades for olive skin; and a berry or caramel shade for darker complexions.
Or simply try it out by swatching it on your wrist or the back of your hands — you’ll only know what works best after trying it out!
Best lip glosses to buy for your “jelly lips” under RM50
To make your life easier, if you don’t already own a lip gloss or wish to grab a new one, we did the research and found seven of the best lip glosses in 2023 for juicy “jelly lips”.
Rom&nd Glasting Water Gloss
This K-beauty cosmetics brand was founded with the input of celebrated Korean beauty influencer Saeron Min (Gaeko).
Formulated with sweet almonds extract, Rom&nd’s Glasting Water Gloss is a translucent and sparking water-coated gloss that provides a synergistic glow. Meaning to say it’ll match perfectly with any lipstick!
Romand Glasting Water Gloss retails for RM43.40 instead of RM50 on Shopee.
Maybelline Lifter Gloss with Hyaluronic Acid
Designed to hydrate for a plumper and shinier appearance, your lips will look lifted with Maybelline’s plumping gloss. It’s an easy way to look like you’ve got lip fillers without actually going through the procedure.
The formula includes hyaluronic acid which will visibly smooth the surface of your lips and leave them hydrated for hours.
This gloss is dubbed as a dupe for Fenty Beauty’s Gloss Bomb and is used by model Gigi Hadid herself. And it’s said to smell like freshly baked vanilla cupcakes — an added bonus and another reason to buy it.
Maybelline Lifter Gloss with Hyaluronic Acid retails for RM48.50 on LOOKFANTASTIC.
Best lip glosses to buy for your “jelly lips” under RM90
Jouer Cosmetics Long-Wear Lip Topper
One of this luxury French brand’s best-selling products is the Long-Wear Lip Topper. Made with coconut oil, it has a non-sticky shimmer formula that works well to refresh matte lip colours instantly.
This lip gloss also includes nourishing ingredients, like avocado oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, and vitamin E, that’ll have your lips remain healthy and supple.
Highly raved, some netizens use it over their lips with only lip liner on or just by itself.
Jouer Cosmetics Long-Wear Lip Topper retails for about RM66.67 on Jouer.
Tower 28 ShineOn Lip Jelly
Made with moisture-rich oils and plant-based ingredients like apricot oil and raspberry seed oil, this cult-favourite lip jelly serves up the shine of a gloss coupled with the richness of a balm.
It’s lightweight, non-sticky, and some reviewers have touted it to be a dupe for the Dior Addict Lip Glow Oil.
The best of both worlds and a great product that revives parched lips, the Commerce Editor at InStyle (Mary Honkus) is known to use this lip gloss as a lip balm that gives a nice pop of colour to the lips.
Tower 28 ShineOn Lip Jelly retails for about RM71.61 on Revolve.
Kaja Gloss Shot Hydrating Lip Gloss
An intensely hydrating and non-sticky lip gloss with a high-shine finish. What more can we ask for?
K-beauty brand Kaja, which was co-developed with Sephora in 2018, is famous for making products with high-quality formulas.
This lip gloss includes moisturising ingredients like squalane, jojoba seed oil and rosehip fruit oil. The brand even went above and beyond and had clinical tests done that proved its hydration lasts up to 24 hours after use.
Plus, the range has a milk tea shade, which pairs well with different complexions and is all the rage right now. Certainly worth giving it a shot.
Kaja Gloss Shot Hydrating Lip Gloss retails for RM60 instead of RM86.67 on Kaja.
Best lip glosses to buy for your “jelly lips” under RM300
Dior Addict Lip Maximizer Plumping Gloss
Made with hyaluronic acid and mallow flower extract, this iconic Dior lip gloss also offers a needle-free plumping effect on your lips but with a formula that’s less harsh than most plumping glosses.
Dubbed as more of a lip care product, this gloss is infused with 90% natural-origin ingredients and will keep your lips hydrated and enhanced for 24 hours.
Reworked for the masses, the Dior Addict Lip Maximizer has a whopping amount of 24 delectable colours and is available in intense, holographic, and shimmering versions.
It can also be worn solely on its own, used as a primer for lipstick, or as a shiny top coat.
Dior Addict Lip Maximizer Plumping Gloss retails for RM175 on Dior.
Charlotte Tilbury Collagen Lip Bath
If you’re looking to achieve a voluminous “jelly lips” look sans filler, this plumping lip gloss might just be the perfect tool.
A returning best-seller, the Collagen Lip Bath uses lip-plumping mustard sprout extract to hydrate and enhance the lips. It’s also enriched with marine collagen to help moisturise and give the appearance of smoothened lines for a healthier-looking pout.
This high-shine gloss comes in five colours, including the iconic nude-pink Pillow Talk shade. And its applicator is shaped like a heart — very on-brand for Charlotte Tilbury.
Charlotte Tilbury Collagen Lip Bath retails for RM250 on Zalora.
Feature image credit: @angxlinamo/TikTok
