The Best Lip Balms Protect Your Kisser From the Cold, Dry Winter

The Best Lip Balm with SPF: Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm

Don’t wait to find out the hard way: Your lips need SPF protection, too. Jack Black’s excellent balm uses SPF 25 to shield your kisser from UV rays, and also delivers just the right amount of vitamin E and green tea, which further protects against skin-aging toxins.

The Best All-Natural Lip Balm: Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Organic Lip Balm

One of our favorite Dr. Bronner’s products is this diminutive-seeming beeswax balm, which uses organic oils to hydrate and soften the lips. Jojoba, avocado, and hemp deliver nourishment and moisture, while an extra sprig of peppermint finishes the job with a telltale tingle of freshness.

The Best Prescription-Grade Lip Balm: Burt’s Bees Medicated Moisturizing Lip Balm

If you’ve got more than simply chapped lips—we’re talking cold sores and fever blisters—then speed up the recovery process with this menthol- and eucalyptus-infused drugstore favorite. (It goes without saying that it works as a supercharged balm to standard-level dryness, too.)

Best Classic Pack: Cardon Matte Lip Balm

Cardon’s simple lip balm forgoes the shine for a matte finish and comes in a traditional, easy-to-use tube. At $12 for a two-pack, your lips will get more moisture for your buck. There aren’t any overpowering fragrances here or greasy textures either–just straightforward matte balm that revives your old tired, chapped lips.

Best Value: Harry’s Black Lip Balm

Whether you’re taming your beard, shaving, or showering, there’s a good chance your daily regimen includes one of Harry’s grooming products. But here’s a pro tip: Don’t skip out on its hydrating lip balm. Harry’s used meadowfoam oil to kick dryness to the curb, and the result left our lips feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, but never sticky or too glossy. The stick never left a cast of any kind during our tests, and its standard, slightly contoured tube design makes it quick and painless to apply when you’re on the go.

Best-Smelling Gel: Grown Alchemist Hydra-Restore Lip Balm

The minute you apply Grown Alchemist’s wildly hydrating Hydra-Restore balm, your lips feel like you just took a dip in the ocean. With nourishing ingredients like rosehip oil and shea butter, the lip balm also smells like a sweet treat of watermelon and vanilla. It’s on the glossier side of balms, and we wish it was easier to control how much of the gel glides out of the tube.

Best Unscented Gel: Le Labo Unscented Lip Balm

For a brand that’s known best for how good its fragrances smell–sorry, you’ll have to pry our Santal from our cold, dead, great-smelling hands–who knew that its unscented lip balm would be just as worth adding to your cart? This soothing balm’s plant-based ingredients like shea butter and olive oil help relieve raw or cracked lips, while its lightweight gel texture is easy to pump out of the 15mL tube. But go easy: A small amount offers plenty of long-lasting coverage.

Best-Smelling Stick: Oak Essentials Conditioning Lip Balm

One of the best-smelling balms you can wear, Oak Essentials’ gluten-free conditioning stick smells like you’re standing in the middle of a forest or just waking up from a post-massage haze thanks to its tea tree and bergamot scent. It feels clean and smooth to wear, and its hydrating ingredients like shea butter and safflower seed oil give your lips a long-overdue boost. If you want more out of your classic tube of lip balm, this is the only one you’ll need in your kit.