Sure you may already have a plethora of balms, glosses, and oils taking up handbag real estate, but there’s always room for the best Korean lip products. As is for the Korean skin-care products you know and love, K-beauty lippies stand out for their innovative formulas and playful approach. “Korean brands really excel at, and experiment with, textures,” K-beauty expert and and former editor-in-chief of Allure Michelle Lee tells Vogue. “While you can certainly find glosses and tinted balms in Korea that are very similar to Western lip products, there’s a larger variety of textures and formats to play with.”

Texture aside, Korean makeup puts an emphasis on lip care as well as finish, making pretty much every product a skincare-makeup hybrid. “K-Beauty lip formulas tend to blur the line between skincare and color. You’ll often find treatment-grade ingredients like hyaluronic acid or ceramides in a tint or gloss format,” Sarah Chung Park, founder and CEO of Landing International adds. “The goal isn’t just pigment—it’s comfort, hydration, and that healthy, plumped-up look.”

And the best part? These high-performance, ingredient-rich products often come at a steal. “It wouldn’t be unusual to find a great Korean tinted lip balm for $15 that might cost $28 in a Western brand,” says Lee. Ahead, the pros weigh in on the trending lip products that Seoul’s coolest swear by—check out all their picks below.

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Best Sheer Color: Rom&nd Glasting Melting Balm

• Why We Love It: According to Lee, Rom&nd is Seoul cool girl favorite for lip products, and Chung Park agrees. “For everyday use, this vegan tinted lip balm is so comfortable to wear and adds a beautiful sheer wash of dewy color,” says the former. She also often uses this pick as part of a lip combo, after using lip liner to “dress it up” a bit. “I’ll line lips, apply Melting Balm and blend; then top it with gloss if I want to amp up the shine.” Thanks to a blend of botanic oils, you can be assured that this pick provides superior hydration—all while leaving behind a sheer wash of color for a little oomph.
• Key Ingredients: Microcrystalline wax, jojoba seed oil, sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil, evening primrose oil, shea butter, mango fruit extract, olive oil
• Finish: Glossy
• Shades: 17
• Size: 3.5 g