Rare Beauty’s new lip oil has 2 million TikTok views and a $20 price tag that makes you question every drugstore gloss you’ve ever loved. It’s not a lip oil — it’s a tinted gloss that wants to be taken seriously.
The real flex? Rare Beauty managed to make a product that dries down just enough to not feel like you’re wearing hair gel, but still leaves a stain that lasts through a coffee run. That’s rare.
$20 for 0.17 oz. The claim: “weightless, high-shine color with a soft tint.” I bought it because I’m tired of lip products that disappear before I hit the subway.
The Wand
It’s a squishy, angled doe-foot that somehow doesn’t dump half the tube on your mouth. Controlled chaos.
The Shade Range
10 shades. “Happy” is a pink that actually looks good on pale skin — no corpse vibes.
The Stain Factor
It fades evenly. No weird ring of color around your lips like a bad 90s flashback.
Photo: Evangeline Sarney / Unsplash
It’s not magic — it’s jojoba oil and sunflower seed oil doing the heavy lifting. The color comes from iron oxides, not synthetic dyes, which explains why your lips don’t feel like sandpaper after an hour.
- Jojoba Oil: Sinks in fast, doesn’t sit on top like a greasy film
- Sunflower Seed Oil: Locks in moisture without the slip-n-slide
- Iron Oxides: Gives color without staining your teeth
- Tocopherol: Fancy word for Vitamin E — keeps lips from flaking by hour 3
Photo: Nick Noel / Unsplash
First swipe: feels like warm honey — thick but not sticky. 10 seconds later, it’s settled into something you forget you’re wearing. Shine lasts about 90 minutes, but the tint holds for 3 hours easy.
Week 2 surprise: I stopped reaching for my usual balm. This replaced it. The “oil” part actually hydrates — my lips didn’t peel after a day of meetings and bad office air.
Photo: Siora Photography / Unsplash
My lips stayed soft for 6 hours straight. No cracking. No reapplying every 20 minutes. But if you hate any stickiness at all, even 5%, skip it.
Photo: pmv chamara / Unsplash
It’s not a miracle, but it’s the rare celebrity product that actually does what it says — no hype, just decent lip care with a tint.