Whether it’s a bold red or a powder pink, a swipe of the best lipstick is an effortless way to elevate your look. These days, there are plenty of formulas to choose from, in countless colours and in all manner of matte, satin and glossy finishes.
According to TikTok’s favourite make-up gurus, Alexis Androulakis and Dr. Christina Basias (also known as @TheLipstickLesbians), “your lip colour is going to change the colour of your lipstick.” Thankfully, they’ve a few tricks in their arsenal to shade match a lipstick for your complexion: “If you’re light or medium skinned, it’s more than likely [the underside of] your fingertip is going to emulate the shade of your lips,” Androulakis advises.
Meanwhile, those with darker skin might have two-tone lips, in which case she suggests using “the [side] of your finger because you’re going to be able to see the top of your finger and the inside of your palm.” Lastly, “if the skin on your hand is more melanated and matches your lip tone, you can go ahead and use the top of your hand [to swatch].”
Even with these tips under your belt, it can be overwhelming rifling through the hundreds (if not thousands) of shades and consistencies available. With that in mind, I’ve been busy testing a wide range of lipsticks to ascertain which brands and formulas are the very best – scroll on for my verified shortlist.
The best lipsticks for 2025 are:
- Best overall – L'Oreal Paris color riche intense volume matte lipstick: £6.20, Amazon.co.uk
- Best matte lipstick – Violette Fr bisou balm sheer matte lipstick: £30, Violettefr.com
- Best moisturising lipstick – Merit Beauty signature lightweight satin lipstick: £23, Sephora.co.uk
- Best nude lipstick – Mac lustreglass lipstick: £25, Sephora.co.uk
How I tested
After compiling a longlist of popular brands, including Nars, Chanel, Fenty and more, I set about testing 20 different lipsticks. I used them over the course of five months, wearing them to dinners, coffee meets and sweaty summer office days, ensuring a fair trial for each and every lip colour. Head to the bottom of this guide to read my full testing criteria.
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L'Oreal Paris color riche intense volume matte lipstick
Best: Lipstick overall
Finish: Matte
Shades: 23
Vegan and cruelty-free: No
Extra benefits: Promises up to 16 hours of wear
Why we love it
- The best wear of all the lipsticks I tried
- Food and drink-proof
- Affordable
Take note
- Might cling to dry patches
Admittedly, I’d pictured L’Oreal’s color riche lipstick landing a spot as the best budget formula, so I was surprised – to say the least – when I found it to be my favourite of the lot. Not only was the L’Oreal’s live try on function incredibly helpful, but the staying power of the lipstick itself was unmatched.
Applying the matte colour at 8.30, it was largely intact by 10.30 after my morning coffee and breakfast. I opted to top up after four hours but, even then, the colour had faded evenly without sitting in any creases.
The packaging skews more luxury than the £10 price tag and the narrow design made it easy to create a smooth, precise outline. I’ll caveat that a hydrated base is important with this formula, given that it’s matte, but I’ve yet to find a matte lipstick where that isn’t the case. Plus, with hyaluronic acid, it effectively keeps immediate dryness at bay.
My advice? If you’ve got cracked lips or pre-existing dry patches, you might want to use a lip scrub before applying or pack in some extra hydration with a lip oil topper.
Buy now £6.20, Amazon.co.uk
Violette Fr bisou balm sheer matte lipstick
Best: Matte lipstick
Finish: Velvet matte
Shades: Nine
Vegan and cruelty-free: Yes, both
Extra benefits: Designed to create a ‘perfectly imperfect’ soft edge
Why we love it
- Surprisingly smooth and creamy for a matte lipstick
- Flat-top bullet makes it easy to pat the formula on without precision
- Flirty, ‘just bitten’ finish
Take note
- Twist-up mechanism is delicate
Blurry lips became popular in 2023 after several celebrities – like Dua Lipa and Hailey Bieber – began flaunting a blotted, smudgy finish. The trend took inspiration from ‘90s movie star lips where actors like Julia Roberts and Anne Hathaway took to the screen, with their pouts effortlessly flush with colour, but without the harsh edges of a liner.
Violette Fr’s bisou balm packages up this finish in one foolproof formula, with a moveable matte texture and surprisingly impressive staying power (around three hours). Designed to be pushed onto the lips to create a soft, blurred edge, the bisou balm affords you quite a bit of playing time to create as sheer or bold a finish as you’d like. You’ll be able to feel the moisturising rapeseed oil hours after application, much like a lip balm.
I loved the grungy, ‘morning after the night before’ smear it created and felt the £30 price point was reflected in the quality. Though, the packaging could do with some work, given that the twist-up function on my own balm became jammed in place on more than one occasion.
Buy now £30.00, Violettefr.com
Merit Beauty signature lightweight satin lipstick
Best: Moisturising lipstick
Finish: Satin
Shades: Seven
Vegan and cruelty-free: Yes, both
Extra benefits: Squalane locks-in moisture
Why we love it
- Moisturising and comforting
- Easy to apply and blur edges for a more natural look
- Flattering shade selection
Take note
- Needs reapplying after two hours
Merit’s signature lip in its satin variety is one of the most buttery formulas I’ve used, making it a pleasure to apply. The millennial shade is an excellent day-to-night lip colour and it’s the lipstick I keep in my work bag for that exact purpose. It’s not the most longwearing, but it won’t disappear after a sip of coffee either.
I found that the centre of the lips lose their colour first, while the outline stays put relatively well – a light dab of colour to the fullest part of the lips, roughly every two hours, will keep things looking tidy.
While some lipsticks can leave your mouth feeling parched after a moment’s wear, Merit’s formula uses sunflower seed oil and squalane to keep things hydrated.
Buy now £23.00, Sephora.co.uk
Clinique almost lipstick, black honey
Best: Sheer lipstick
Finish: Sheer glossy
Shades: Three
Vegan and cruelty-free: No
Extra benefits: Fragrance free and allergy tested
Why we love it
- Universally flattering
- Can be applied without a mirror
- Iconic and recognisable packaging
Take note
- Not as long lasting as others tested
Perhaps one of the most well-known lipsticks in this guide, Clinique’s black honey had a resurgence in 2021 after TikTokers hailed the formula – which is originally from 1971 – the perfect shade for a ‘your lips but better’ finish.
For those that aren’t familiar, the finish in question is akin to a moisturising petroleum jelly and gives lips a subtle berry flush. It’s not punchy enough to create a dramatic lip, but nor does it make the mouth look flat like concealer lips from the noughties. Rather, it finds a middle ground that’ll leave your pout looking rosy, almost as if you’d just been kissed.
I’ve been using the original blackcurrant hue since 2024, but have taken to adding using the newest shade, nude honey (£25, Boots.com), for a bit of autumnal warmth. The only let down of the almost lipstick? It doesn’t withstand hours of eating and drinking, and you’ll need to keep the formula handy for hourly top ups. Though, you won’t need a mirror to do so – the almost lipsticks are foolproof.
Buy now £25.00, Boots.com
Mac lustreglass lipstick
Best: Nude lipstick
Finish: Glossy
Shades: 29
Vegan and cruelty-free: No
Extra benefits: Six different moisturising ingredients
Why we love it
- Available in a number of cult shades, including 'syrup' and 'thanks, it’s Mac'
- Moisturising formula tackles dryness and cracking
- Wide shade range
Take note
- More hydration = less staying power in this instance
No lipstick round-up would be complete without Mac and the brand’s lustreglass formula in the shade ‘thanks, it’s Mac’ turned out to be my favourite nude. It’s creamy, buildable and, compared to others in this round-up, a much more natural pick if a bold lip seems intimidating.
With Mac creating some of the industry’s best lip liners, it came as no surprise to me that this lipstick performed best when layered on top of one. I’d estimate it lasted around two to three hours when applied alongside a liner and, without one, around an hour (perhaps longer if you’re not eating or drinking).
If you’re prone to dryness, you’ll enjoy having this formula on hand with its generous roster of hydration heroes, from hyaluronic acid and shea butter, to coconut oil and extra-virgin olive oil. Granted, you’ll need to apply it more than the L’Oreal color riche above, but you’ll reap more lip-nourishing benefits with each swipe.
Buy now £25.00, Sephora.co.uk
Dior addict shine lipstick
Best: Luxury lipstick
Finish: Glossy
Shades: 40
Vegan and cruelty-free: No
Extra benefits: Lipstick case can be personalised
Why we love it
- Hydrating
- Enormous shade range
- Luxe refillable packaging
- Reasonable staying power
Take note
- Premium price tag
Owning a Dior lipstick is somewhat of a bucket list achievement for beauty fanatics, and it’s no surprise with the addict shine’s sleek silver and black lacquer packaging. The formula is equally indulgent with its jasmine scent, while the addition of omega-rich plum oil keeps the lips feeling nourished.
The lipstick is lightweight and non-sticky, and has relatively good wearability, with the lips remaining lined with colour even after drinking a hot coffee. You’ll need to reapply every two and a half to three hours, but with the darker shades (I tested ‘cannage’) you’ll have the extra longevity of the stain left behind.
Of course, this lipstick is more of an heirloom or investment purchase, though you’ll save £8 when buying a refill (versus a new case and formula).
Buy now £40.00, Boots.com
Charlotte Tilbury matte revolution pillow talk lipstick
Best: Everyday lipstick
Finish: Velvet matte
Shades: Three
Vegan and cruelty-free: Cruelty-free in all shades and vegan in pillow talk medium (not other shades)
Extra benefits: Available in matching lip liner, blush, gloss, eyeshadow and more
Why we love it
- Shades designed to suit a variety of skin tones
- Creamy, non-drying texture
- Square-shaped bullet makes it easy to achieve a sharp lip line
Take note
- Can’t withstand eating unless worn with lip liner
Charlotte Tilbury’s pillow talk lipstick is one of the brand’s most popular formulas, and one I keep in my handbag for daily use. If you’ve applied foundation or setting powder prior, this natural-looking lip colour will do away with the dull chalkiness that these products can leave in their wake and, instead, give your pout a subtle rosiness.
In its fair, original and deep shades, it’s celebrated industry-wide for its universally flattering finish and, yet, looks different on everybody. On me, the hue is a beige baby pink, but I’ve witnessed it skew more berry toned on friends, too.
Unfortunately it doesn’t pass the food test, so you’ll need to be prepared to top up if wearing in a lunch or dinner setting – though, it fared better alongside the brand’s lip cheat liner (£22, Charlottetilbury.com). I’d estimate it lasting around 15 minutes if eating, an hour if not and, with a lip liner in tow, about 45 minutes extra in both cases.
Buy now £29.00, Charlottetilbury.com
Your questions on liptstick answered
What is the best lipstick?
Even if it didn’t have the sub-£10 price going for it, I’d still award L’Oreal’s color riche lipstick the title of our best lipstick, with the pigment, packaging and long-lasting finish proving super impressive. Given that it combined affordability and quality, I didn’t select a best budget buy; however, at the other end of the spectrum I loved the indulgence of Dior’s addict shine lipstick, with its creamy formula and iconic tube. As for nude lip colours, it was a toss up between Mac’s lustreglass and Charlotte Tilbury’s pillow talk – but, ultimately, Mac’s nude won me over, with pillow talk earning a spot instead as my favourite everyday pick.
How I tested the best lipsticks
For five months, I put 20 bestselling budget and high-end lipstick to the test. I wore them to meals out, while sipping on my daily coffee and to the office. Here’s everything I considered while testing:
How to get lipstick to stay on longer
The key to lipstick longevity is adequate prep, says professional make-up artist Mira Parmar. She suggests exfoliating the lips first – be it with a scrub or liquid exfoliator – and then applying a lip balm. “Leave this on for a couple of minutes and then wipe it off so the lips are clean,” she instructs.
Next, she recommends choosing a lip liner in the same shade as your lipstick, if not darker. “Carefully outline and fill the entire lip area to create a great base for greater staying power,” she continues.
Now you’re ready for the lipstick itself and, following Parmar’s directions, you should “apply a coat of lipstick on top [of your lip liner], set it with a translucent powder (or blot with some fine tissue paper) and then apply a second layer for a stronger pigment.” For longevity, she also recommends matte lipsticks and lip stains rather than cream lipsticks.
Does lipstick count as a liquid?
According to Heathrow airport, solid lipstick is “not considered a liquid.” However, airport passengers are often caught out with liquid lipsticks, lip glosses and lip stains, all of which count as liquids. To clarify, Gov.uk defines liquids as creams, lotions, oils, gels, pastes, sprays and “any other solutions and items of similar consistency.”
What is the best lipstick for ageing lips?
Parmar explains that “Cream, balm and satin finishes give the look of plump lips [on more mature skin] and adding a gloss adds to that plumpness, too.” She describes how these more hydrating formulas help to smooth the lips and, personally, likes By Terry’s hyaluronic hydrabalm lipstick (£33, Spacenk.com) and Charlotte Tilbury’s hyaluronic happikiss (£25, Cultbeauty.co.uk) for their moisture-infused formulas.
What lipstick shade suits me?
Shade suitability can be broken down by skin tone, Parmar tells us. Splitting complexion types into three groups, she advises the following hues for each colouring:
Though, she caveats that selecting a lip colour “comes down to what you like, as well.”
How to get lipstick out of clothes
You can remove lipstick from fabric in three steps by, guides Parmar, “Scraping the excess away, using a cloth with a little Fairy liquid and then patting isopropyl alcohol [rubbing alcohol] onto the stain.” Alternatively, she vouches for Dr Beckmann’s stain devils (£2.35, Ocado.com) solution in a pinch.
Can lipstick be used as blush?
Absolutely, Parmar confirms that lipstick “gives a great finish [as blush].” She tells me to “pop a tiny bit of lipstick onto both cheeks, blending with your fingers or a brush until you achieve the desired result.” Her top tip? Apply it lightly and build-up the colour – it’s easier to add more than to take away.
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
As IndyBest’s beauty writer, Lucy Smith is well versed on all things lips, having tested the best lip stains, the Clinique nude honey almost lipstick and the Charlotte Tilbury lip cheat contour duo. She’s knowledgeable on make-up application and hero beauty ingredients, having spoken to Gillian Anderson’s make-up artist Florrie White and, personally, applies a nude lip colour two to three times a week – making her just the person to put the following lipsticks through their paces.
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