Summary: I love a festive, bright lip in the winter, but nothing ruins the effect like dry, peeling, or cracked lips — and this is exactly the battle I face every year. Until I got to test the Poutlove Peptide Lip Balm from Well People. These cutie little lip balms come in three buildable tints or clear, and are packed with plant-powered powerhouse ingredients to plump and smooth lips by nourishing the skin barrier with a comfortable, non-sticky formula. My lips are visibly rejuvenated on the first swipe, and they only look healthier with time.

What I love:

  • The Poutlove Peptide Lip Balm is first and foremost a treatment, and it feels just as nourishing and rich as the highest-end versions on the market.
  • Free from artificial flavors and scents, the product is easy to apply and glides on smoothly without a sticky or gooey feeling. (And the applicator itself is clear, so you can see how much pressure is needed to get the amount you want, without surprise explosions that those of us who came of age in the lip-gloss-crazed-early-aughts might remember.)
  • The hue is a gentle wash, but definitely tints your lips enough for just a kiss of color.
  • Well People’s products are EWG-verified, vegan and cruelty-free, dermatologist-developed, and Fair Trade certified.

Things to consider:

  • Each treatment costs $14, which might strike you as steep or quite the steal, depending on where you’re typically buying your lip products.
  • It will definitely be tricky to get the last bits of the treatment out of the squeezable applicator, though it’s a breeze to use when it’s full.
  • The formula is thick, though not sticky. That said, windswept hair will attach to your mouth while wearing it.
  • The color is subtle, a true wash that still largely shows the hue of your natural lips.

In the best of times, my lips are what we might describe as adequate: My lips aren’t thin, but I wouldn’t describe them as full, either. They can get a bit dry and peel if I ignore them for too long, and they err on the side of “ghostly pale” without lipstick. They aren’t something to write home about, but they don’t keep me up at night. In a performance review, I’d give my lips a solid “Meets Expectations.” They might not get a merit-based raise, but I’d give them a cost-of-living adjustment. They are lips being lips — nothing more, nothing less.

“They aren’t something to write home about, but they don’t keep me up at night. In a performance review, I’d give my lips a solid ‘Meets Expectations.'”

If we were doing that same performance review in the winter, it’d be a different story. In the cold, my lips chap easily and sometimes even crack. What little color they had leaches into the ether, leaving me with the bluish tint favored by the makeup artists of the Titanic.

Attempting a bright holiday lip is a fool’s errand. My usual slightly lazy routine of rubbing a sugar scrub, a lemon peel, or just my toothbrush over the skin from time to time just won’t cut it — exfoliate as I might, my skin barrier is parchment-dry in the winter, and every crack and peel pops like bad papier mache under lipstick. My lips are in desperate need of nourishment and hydration, and Well People sent me a product that promised to provide exactly that.

“My skin barrier is parchment-dry in the winter, and every crack and peel pops like bad papier mache under lipstick.”

Well People’s Poutlove Peptide Lip Balm comes in a familiar squeezable applicator in four tints: Coconut (clear), Pink Grapefruit (coral-pink), Dragonfruit (fuchsia), and Honey Plum (burgundy). The product glides on in a rich, gel-like texture that instantly absorbs into the lips, leaving them visibly plumper with a soft shine. The nourishing formula is made up of plant-derived active ingredients, including a 1% Plumping Peptide Complex, 2% Smoothing Sesame Seed Complex, and Murumuru Butter, which work together to improve the feel and appearance of your lips in both the short and long term.

I tried all four hues to see if these vegan, cruelty-free, EWG-verified, and Fair Trade certified products are up to meeting my wintertime skin needs.

Poutlove Peptide Lip Balm, $14

The first thing I noticed about this product was the packaging — it’s minimal, sophisticated, and functional, with a clear tube and an applicator tip to take all the guesswork out of squeezing the product. It’s one of the age-old challenges of the squeeze tube, which can harbor little air bubbles and clumps of product that, if hidden by the packaging, might result in a mild explosion by the unsuspecting user. IYKYK!

I especially love the packaging for the Poutlove Peptide Lip Balm, with the clear tube body’s matte finish and the clear applicator tip that helps you see how much product you have; the texture is rich and non-sticky, with a beautiful tint of color and shine.

The product itself has a lovely texture, not too thick and not gluey — it’s not as thick as honey, but maybe closer to agave nectar. The hue looks quite vibrant in the tube, but comes out sheer and buildable. There is no scent or flavor at all, which I prefer.

My lips are color-challenged (unless the color is “just-pulled-from-a-frozen-lake blue), and I wasn’t really expecting them to change much with a sheer gloss. But not only were the various hues slightly more noticeable than I expected, but my lips just looked better on the very first application. Even Coconut, the clear treatment, seemed to coax my lips into a soft, healthy pink. The texture is pleasant and a little thicker than I am used to, but it’s nothing like the gloppy tubes of my teenage years, which felt like what I’d imagine using epoxy or maybe old, hardening molasses might be like. This product is very comfortable and feels like it is both absorbed into my skin right away while also creating a healthy, nourishing shine that feels almost like a very pretty protective barrier over the surface of my lips.

“Not only were the various hues slightly more noticeable than I expected, but my lips just looked better on the very first application.”

It doesn’t last for hours — I’d say I could still feel it somewhere between 1–2 hours, depending on whether I’m eating or drinking. It feels so nice, however, I don’t mind applying it multiple times throughout the day. The size of the product is ideal, and it fits easily in the tiny pockets of my leggings that I think were originally designed for a single key.

If I had to choose a favorite color, it might be a tie between Pink Grapefruit and Coconut. Both left me with a pretty, gentle pink hue of a natural, healthy lip less prone to winter drama than mine.

A person wearing over-ear headphones holds up a tube of W3LL PEOPLE cosmetic product and makes a puckered-lip face.
A woman wearing headphones winks and puckers her lips while holding a tube of makeup product labeled "ALL TIGERS" against her forehead.
From left to right: The Poutlove Peptide Lip Treatment from Well People in Coconut, Dragonfruit, Pink Grapefruit, and Honey Plum.

The bottom line: Is winter saved?

I am so happy with the results of wearing the Poutlove Peptide Lip Balm for the last week. I took the product on a flight from the East Coast to California and back, and these convenient little cuties saved me during 9 hours of airplane and airport air. Even the sleep deprivation and dehydration of two full and grueling days of travel were not too much for this product. My lips felt nourished and looked plump the whole time, with a lovely pink sheen reminiscent of a healthy human’s. I love that it gives my lips a soft shine without giving me flashbacks to my middle school days of glittery lip glue that smelled like fruity sugar.

“I took the product on a flight from the East Coast to California and back, and these convenient little cuties saved me during 9 hours of airplane and airport air.”

Each tube is $14, a steal when compared to some of the top-shelf treatments I’ve tried after desperate, fever-dream shopping splurges at Sephora. Even better? These babies are sold at Target and often go on sale — which means that every lady on my list is getting one in their stocking. (You’re welcome!!)

This year, I’m going into the holiday season ready to don whatever festive lip calls to me, without worrying about cracked skin or chapped and peeling skin ruining the effect. Not only does the Poutlove Peptide Lip Balm nourish my lips in the long run, but the peptide complex creates a plump, hydrated, rosy lip you can instantly see. And that is nothing short of a winter miracle.

This story is in partnership with our friends at Well People

Stephanie H. Fallon is a Contributing Editor at The Good Trade. She is a writer originally from Houston, Texas and holds an MFA from the Jackson Center of Creative Writing at Hollins University. She lives with her family in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and she is the author of Finishing Lines, where she writes about her fear of finishing, living a creative life, and (medical) motherhood. Since 2022, she has been reviewing sustainable home and lifestyle brands, fact-checking sustainability claims, and bringing her sharp editorial skills to every product review. Say hi on Instagram or on her website.