The Science Behind Lip Health & Lip Treatments

Our lips are an incredible, multi-functional part of our body. They allow us to produce sound and express emotion, but the downside of our lips are that they're much more sensitive than the rest of the skin on our bodies. There really is no other part of our body that shares the same skin structure and number of nerve endings together than our lips.

Skin is composed of three layers, but our lips are completely different and that's why they tend to get dry and dehydrated more often and are more sensitive. In this article, we'll dive into why they're different, the extra love and care you need to give them and the formulas we recommend to keep them hydrated and plump.

It's time to dive into our lips and what makes them so different, starting from the most basic part; the three layers of the skin:

The Stratum Corneum: This layer is a thin, protective layer that is essentially composed of dead skin cells.

The Epidermis: This is your skin’s middle layer which is responsible for producing new cells. It also produces melanocytes, which are the cells responsible for producing melanin (what is responsible for giving our skin its colour, while also protecting us from UV rays). 

The Dermis: This is your deepest layer of your skin which is where sweat glands and hair follicles are located. 

Now that we've covered the difference between the three skin layers, we’re ready to move on. As you've likely noticed, your lips have a different colour or shade compared to the rest of your skin. Why? This is thanks to the combination of a thin stratum corneum (the thinner layer of our skin) and the lack of melanin in the lips. This allows underlying red blood vessels and capillaries to be more visible. All of this leads to our lips being a different colour or shade compared to the rest of the skin on our bodies. 

The bad news about this? The lack of melanin and thinner skin also makes our lips more susceptible to sun spots and cellular damage. This is why it’s so important to care for our lips and ensure we’re using a lip treatment (like our Lip Colour Serum or Night Lip Serum) to assist in repair.

Our lips also have zero sweat glands, hair follicles or sebaceous glands (which secrete oils). All of these factors are essential when it comes to both protecting and moisturizing the skin on our body. So, as you can imagine, your lips are prone to dryness and chapping since the only natural source of protection for our lips is saliva, which isn't something that protects our lips from drying and cracking.

How to Keep Lips Healthy

What do healthy lips look like? It's what we all dream of – soft and plump lips. The good news is, we can all achieve a healthy lip and there’s a few ways you can keep and bring back that youthful density! You can do this by protecting your lips from UV rays using a wide brimmed hat, eating a well-balanced diet and treating your lips to a nourishing serum.

This is where the Lip Colour Serum and Night Lip Serum that we pioneered come in, since they're trusted by over 10,000 people every single day.

These lip serums contain vegetable collagen and plant antioxidants that focus on working together to make your lips look fuller, healthier and they even help in regaining a youthful appearance. So, not only do you apply a gorgeous colour to your lips with the Lip Colour Serums, you’re also providing them with a proven, evidence-based treatment. Our Night Lip Serum is a powerful overnight treatment formula that gives lips the hydration and plant-based collagen it needs to repair and plump overnight.

Your lips deserve the best care they can get with products that feed them nutrients they crave. That means looking for products that give you beautiful colours and shades you’re looking for while doing your lips a favour all day long. That’s why now, we’re going to take you on a deeper dive into the a few of the key ingredients you'll find in the formulas.

 

The Organic Plump Complex

Derived of organic phospholipids that are dispersed in a biomimetic certified organic formula this organic pump complex works to shape your lips the way you want them. When applied, this complex migrates towards similar environments to itself, which is water-loving areas of phospholipids, where they assemble into a multi-vesicular system. With this, the moisture in our skin causes these vesicles to swell which results in plumper lips which minimizes the appearance of lines. 

The vesicles we’re referring to penetrate the stratum corneum (that top layer of our skin) and bind with the moisture that’s already there meaning they can inhibit trans-epidermal water loss (or TEWL) to increase hydration. What is TEWL and why does it matter? TEWL is the internal loss of water through the skin and it’s critical when it comes to prevent this from happening as it’ll lead to dehydration, dryness and uneven texture. This phospholipid bilayer is so important to the cell’s ability to function, helping lips stay hydrated and full even after the lip serum is removed for a long-term hydration and overall improvement.

 

Vegetable Collagen

We’ve all heard of collagen, and you may already know that it’s fundamental when it comes to maintaining the structural makeup of humans. This makes it one of the most essential fibrous proteins out there and you can find collagen in most major elements of the skin, bones and cartilage as it forms insoluble fibres of high tensile strength providing resistance and an elastic force over the skin.

As a skincare ingredient, it’s essential for skin health as it's created by fibroblasts (cells found in the dermal layer of the skin) and are responsible for the production of collagen, elastin and fibronectin. Collectively, these three proteins serve as the structural support in your skin. Fibroblasts also incorporate collagen within the cells and release it through exocytosis, which is the dispersion of molecules through the cell membrane. Once outside of the cell, collagen then self-assembles and creates the strong structure that is found in our skin. 

Pomegranate Sterols

You probably see us talking about moisture a lot and especially retaining moisture. Well, pomegranate sterols are one of the key ingredients in the Lip Colour Serum and Night Lip Serum for a reason – and it all comes down to moisture.

This powerful ingredient naturally repairs and replenishes your skin’s moisture barrier making it an excellent all-natural and botanical alternative to lanolin since it can hold 200% of its water weight! Not only that, but it has a low coefficient of absorption which means it protects against transepidermal water loss (TEWL), which is important to our overall lip health.

Organic Beet Extract

Rich in polysaccharides and sugars, beets can be used to effectively moisturize the skin. In addition to polysaccharides forming a film to lock in moisture, beet sugars draw moisture from the air close to the skin right where we need it most. 

Phyto-compounds in the root can also enhance cell renewal which helps our skin feel soft and smooth. Beets also contain other key compounds such as Omega-3, which can deliver anti-inflammatory benefits. The powerhouse ingredient is also rich in anthocyanins and betalain

 

beet roots can also act as potent antioxidants in skincare applications. This is used to prevent damage caused by free radicals and reactive oxygen species. Given that beets provide countless nutritious properties it’s no wonder the root has traditionally been regarded as a ‘panacea’ or ‘elixir of life’ that cures diseases and prolongs life.

 

A Quick Glossary

Melanin - the pigment that gives your skin, hair and eyes the colour that they are.

Capillaries - a very fine blood vessel that branches from a network.

Sebaceous glands - these glands secrete oily and wax-like matter that’s used to waterproof the skin.

Phospholipids - a class of substances that are a huge component to all of our cell membranes.

Phospholipid (lipid) bilayer - a thin membrane made of two layers of molecules.

Lanolin - a wax secreted by the sebaceous glands of wool-bearing animals.

Polysaccharides - a type of carbohydrate.

Phyto‐compounds - a wide variety of compounds that occur naturally in plants

Anthocyanins - This is found in a number of natural foods, and are responsible for the pigments that give red, purple, and blue plants their rich colouring.

Betalains - a class of red and yellow pigments found in plants, where they replace anthocyanin. 

Free radicals - toxic byproducts of oxygen metabolism which can cause damage to your body.

Reactive oxygen species - plays an important role in your body, and in times of environmental stress which includes UV exposure, these level can grow quite high and could end up damaging cell structures.