Chanel’s New Lip Serum Is the Lipstick Primer I Didn’t Know I Needed

I’ve always had a laundry list of issues with lipstick: patchy color, settling into fine lines, incessant reapplying. But primarily, no matter how hydrating the formula, my lips always ended up feeling dry and cracked. Turns out a lip serum was the answer all along—a solve (and salve) I didn’t even know existed until the Chanel Hydra Beauty Micro Sérum Lèvres made its way into the Vogue beauty closet.

“A lip serum is a hydrating barrier protector for the lips,” explains celebrity makeup artist Delina Medhin. “It is a product specifically formulated to plump and nourish the lips, in addition to moisturizing them.” The important distinction between that and, say, a lip gloss or balm is that this does not sit on top of the lips; instead, it sinks into the skin and has long-lasting benefits. “Think about the way an eye cream hydrates the skin around the eyes or how a moisturizer hydrates the face,” Medhin says. “A lip serum works in the same way but on the lips.”

Funny enough, on my first swipe of Micro Sérum Lèvres, I told Vogue’s senior beauty editor Margaux Anbouba that it was unlike anything I had ever tried before. It applied similarly to my favorite hyaluronic acid—going on almost wet, coating my pout in dewy hydration—before sinking in fully in a matter of minutes. It was weird, and I didn’t understand it, but I knew I liked it.

And per Medhin, my experience is exactly as expected. A lip serum, she tells me over email, is designed for skin care—working to improve the quality of the lip skin—whereas a lip balm is designed for reparative benefits, creating a barrier on top to keep hydration in. A gloss, on the other hand, is applied for shine and is not meant to have any true benefit to the lips.

All to say, this Chanel lip serum’s intended use goes beyond the lip salves you likely have stocking your cosmetics pouch. It acts as a drink of water for the lips to stave off dry, flaky patches.

Packed into a lightweight, droplet-infused serum, the formula is composed of 95% naturally derived ingredients from hyaluronic acid. That’s in addition to Chanel’s white camellia OFA, PFA, and glycoextracts, which Medhin says not only hydrate but also reinforce skin-barrier function and plump and soothe the skin.

The serum is best applied as part of your skin-care routine, right after eye cream and face moisturizers. “By the time you are ready to do your makeup, your lips will be ready for color or liner,” Medhin says. “You want to always apply lip product after it has fully absorbed.” In my opinion, this creates a nourishing base for the lipsticks and tints that follow. It’s transformed my lip-color wear, making it feel more comfortable with less cracking overall, and I didn’t have to reapply my color as often as I usually would. (If you want to take your lip color from matte or satin to gloss, you could apply a layer of the serum on top too.)

“Think of this product as an investment,” says Medhin. “It’s unique, and I’m sure you don’t have anything like it in your existing product portfolio at home. I recommend it to everyone, and everyone I know who has tried it loves it.”