Best Japanese Lip Balms

Lip balm is a must-have cosmetics product for everyone to keep lips smooth, soft and hydrated all year around. Especially in dry seasons like autumn and winter, lips are tend to get dry and chapped easily so a special lip care treatment should be daily essential.

Drugstores and cosmetics stores in Japan sell a variety of lip care products, which can be chosen depending on needs or purposes such as tinted, organic, for sensitive skin and for overnight treatment.

If you are looking for lip care products with special features or simply want to find out the most popular lip balms in Japan, this article could give you an answer. I’m introducing the best Japanese lip balms for smooth and shiny lips! So let’s check them out 🙂

*Please note that this article contains affiliate links.

1. DHC Lip Cream

DHC Lip Cream is one of the most popular drugstore beauty products in Japan, selling over 120 million in total. It’s also designated to the most honorable cosmetics award in the country, @cosme Hall of Fame list since 2008.

DHC Lip Cream contains olive virgin oil and moisturizing ingredients such as aloe essence, licorice derivatives and vitamin E to protect lips and give them healthy and natural shine.

It’s formulated with oils that are similar to human sebum, so it spreads easily without greasy feeling and keeps lips smooth and moisturized all day. You can also use it as a lipstick primer to prevent lipstick from drying out or apply it over lipstick to add a glossy touch.

Shop Now ▶ DHC Lip Cream

Besides the best-selling medicinal type, tinted series “DHC Color Lip Cream” is also available, which makes lips soft and moisturizing while giving a touch of sheer color. Comes in 3 shades.

Check the Price
▶ DHC Color Lip Cream (Red)
▶ DHC Color Lip Cream (Pink)
▶ DHC Color Lip Cream (Orange)

2. NIVEA Deep Moisture Lip

NIVEA offers a range of lip care products to suit various needs from tinted lipstick to intensive-care lip balm. For dry and chapped lips, I recommend NIVEA Deep Moisture Lip, the highly moisturizing lip balm series series. The product contains 5 kinds of moisturizing ingredients and features a Long-Lasting Moisture Retaining Veil formula, which provide instant hydration to lips and and keep them soft and plump. It also protect lips from UV rays (SPF20/PA++). Available with 4 scents including unscented.

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▶ NIVEA Deep Moisture Lip (Unscented)
▶ NIVEA Deep Moisture Lip (Honey)
▶ NIVEA Deep Moisture Lip (Olive & Lemon)
▶ NIVEA Deep Moisture Lip (Vanilla & Macadamia)

For special lip care, I also recommend you NIVEA Deep Moisture Night Protect, which provides an intensive hydration to lips with a Long-Lasting High Adherence Veil formula.

Check the Price ▶ NIVEA Deep Moisture Night Protect

The tinted series NIVEA Rich Care & Color Lip is also popular, which gives lips glossy tint and brightens up your face tone while moisturizing. If your lips feel dry wearing lipstick during winter, switching to tinted lip balm could be a great idea. Currently available with 8 attractive shades.

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▶ NIVEA Rich Care & Color Lip (Red)
▶ NIVEA Rich Care & Color Lip (Pink)
▶ NIVEA Rich Care & Color Lip (Beige)

3. Mentholatum Medicated Lipstick XD

Mentholatum Medicated Lipstick is one of the best-selling Japanese cosmetics products of all time beloved both by men and women in all age. This classic lip balm is sold widely across Japan with highly affordable price. (at many drugstores in Japan, the package of 2 costs less than 200 yen!)

The medicated lip balm is recommended to use through the year. It contains menthol and camphor giving cool and refreshing feeling as well as quick relief to dry and chapped lips.

Shop Now ▶ Mentholatum Medicated Lipstick XD

The brand offers a range of lip balm products, and there are more lip care products for different needs. Here are some of great products from Mentholatum lip care lineup.

Melty Cream Lip : if you like the product but feel it’s not moisturizing enough to use in dry and cold winter, I’d suggest you to try Melty Cream Lip series. The hydrating lip balm is formulated with Moist Bank Technology that reacts to moisture in the air and retains the moisture of lips.

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▶ Mentholatum Melty Cream Lip (Unscented)
▶ Mentholatum Melty Cream Lip (Milk Vanilla)
▶ Mentholatum Melty Cream Lip (Rich Honey)

Water Lip Tone Up CC series: for long-lasting, radiant tint. The lip balm contains tone-up pearl with a color-correcting effect. It also contains a rich amount of beauty ingredients to keep your lips moisturized.

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▶ Mentholatum Water Lip Tone Up CC (Red)
▶ Mentholatum Water Lip Tone Up CC (Pink)

Lip Fondue series: the lightly tinted, melty-texture lip balm contains beauty oil and provides lips long-lasting moisture and glossy finish with . Available with 6 colors.

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▶ Mentholatum Lip Fondue (Pink)
▶ Mentholatum Lip Fondue (Aurora Pearl)

4. Shiseido Water in Lip

Shiseido Water in Lip is a long-selling, medicated lip balm series in Japan. This hydrating lip balm contains natural spring water from Italy and hyaluronic acid, and provides watery shine to dry lips. The moisturizing pack formula penetrates moisture instantly and keeps your lip soft and nourished.

There are two variations available: Natural Care and UV Cut. The UV Cut type protects your lips not only from dryness and damage but also against UVA and UVB rays with UV protection (SPF18/PA+).

Check the Price ▶ Shiseido Water in Lip UV Cut

Besides, the Hokkaido edition, Super Moist Keep is available only during winter, which is formulated with Aqua Squalane 25 and provides long-lasting hydration to fight against the harsh winter in Hokkaido.

Order Now ▶ Shiseido Water in Lip Super Moist Keep

5. Country & Stream Natural Honey Lip

Natural Honey Lip is a moisturizing and nourishing lip balm sold by Country & Stream, a natural cosmetics brand in Japan.

This tube type, translucent lip serum is formulated with honey beauty essence and consists of honey and royal jelly which treat dry and rough lips, nourish them and keep them healthy and smooth. It can be applied as a primer of lipstick for higher pigment and longer lasting. You can also apply it thick to make your lips plumped and glossy. It has a sweet honey scent.

Check the Price ▶ Country & Stream Natural Honey Lip

6. Curel Lip Care Cream

Curel is Japan’s leading skin care brand for dry, sensitive skin. The brand offers a wide range of skin care products with ceramide functioning ingredients that have been scientifically developed with their over 30 years of dermatological research on sensitive skin.

If you have sensitive skin or have ever experienced irritation using lip balm products, this could be a perfect lip balm for you. Curel Lip Care Cream is a stick type lip balm formulated with moisture-retaining ceramide which deeply penetrates into lips and provides long-lasting hydration. It protects dry and sensitive lips, and prevent irritation and dryness.

Shop Now ▶ Curel Lip Care Cream

For deeper and more intensive care, I’d recommend Curel Lip Care Balm. It heals and soothes severely rough lips with the ceramide care formula overnight. You can apply it on dry and chapped lips before going to bed and wake up with smooth and supple lips.

Order Online ▶ Curel Lip Care Balm

7. The Public Organic Essential Oil Lipstick

The Public Organic is an organic cosmetics brand from Tokyo, specialized in hair and body care products using essential oils.

The Public Organic Essential Oil Lipstick is made 100% with natural ingredients and blended with organic essential oils. The plant-derived lip balm contains camellia oil and caster oil to moisturize and repair dry, chapped lips and organic red raspberry oil to retain moisture. Available with 3 different aromatic flavours.

The tinted version The Public Organic Essential Oil Color Lipstick is also available with 3 shades, using mineral colour derived from 100% natural stone. It gives lips natural colour and luster while moisturizing them.

Shop Now ▶ The Public Organic Essential Oil Color Lipstick

Thanks for reading! I hope you have enjoyed reading my picks of the best Japanese lip balms! Let’s get beat the cold and dry weather with moisturizing lip balms and keep your lips healthy and supple all year around 😉

If you are into J-beauty, I’d recommend you to check out the online beauty store Kokoro which offers a wide selection of Japanese beauty products with worldwide shipping. Visit their website (Kokoro: http://bit.ly/32HfNbi) to check more Japanese cosmetics products! Free shipping is available when you spend over 40 USD 🙂

For more information about the latest Japanese cosmetics products, here are some more articles that you may be interested!

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