Makeup
Allure Best of Beauty 2026: 17 Lip Winners From Dior to Kulfi
Allure's Best of Beauty 2026 names 17 lip winners, led by Violette_FR Lip Nectar, with Dior, Haus Labs and Maybelline among the top picks across balm, oil and lipstick categories.
Allure has named 17 lip products as winners of its Best of Beauty 2026 awards, and Violette_FR's Lip Nectar leads the list as Best Lip Stain.
The awards span 17 lip categories, from daytime balms to liquid lipsticks, and mix prestige and mass-market brands. Dior, Maybelline New York, MAC and Kiko Milano sit alongside indie names like Kulfi, Eadem and Poundcake.
The winners
Allure describes the winning lineup as "the prettiest sheer tints and opaque mattes to keep lips looking flawless."
Here is the full list of the 2026 lip winners:
- Best Lip Stain: Violette_FR Lip Nectar
- Best Lip Balm for Day: Personal Day Emotional Support Lip Balm
- Best Tinted Lip Balm: Eadem Le Chouchou Lip Softening Balm
- Best Stain Lip Liner: Kulfi Lassi Lips Staining Lip Liner
- Best Pencil Lip Liner: Kevyn Aucoin Beauty Unforgettable Lip Definer
- Best Color Lip Oil: Dior Addict Lip Glow Oil
- Best Lip Gloss: Kiko Milano 3D Hydra Lipgloss
- Best Sheer Lip Oil: Poundcake Cake Theory Lip Tone Equalizing Oil
- Best Matte Lipstick: Hung Vanngo Beauty Creamy Matte Lipstick
- Best Liquid Lipstick: Haus Labs Atomic Shake Lip Lacquer
- Best Cream Lipstick: Dear Dahlia Lip Paradise Sensual Lip Glow
- Best Satin Lipstick: Maybelline New York Moisturizing Serum Lipstick
- Best Lip Crayon: MAC Dazzlelips Crayon
- Best Lip Balm for Night: Gisou Honey Glaze Collagen Therapy Lip Mask
- Best Lip Scrub: Poppy & Pout Sweet Mint Exfoliating Lip Scrub
What the list signals
Treatment-heavy formats dominate. The list splits balms into day and night categories, and it awards oils twice — once for color, once for sheer. Personal Day's Emotional Support Lip Balm takes the daytime slot, while Gisou's Honey Glaze Collagen Therapy Lip Mask, a collagen-based overnight treatment, wins for night. Poppy & Pout's Sweet Mint Exfoliating Lip Scrub rounds out the care segment.
Hybrid formulas also claim multiple spots. Maybelline New York's Moisturizing Serum Lipstick brings skincare positioning to satin lipstick. Hung Vanngo Beauty, the makeup artist's young brand, wins Best Matte Lipstick with a Creamy Matte Lipstick — a texture-first name that signals comfort over traditional matte dry-down. Lady Gaga's Haus Labs takes Best Liquid Lipstick with the Atomic Shake Lip Lacquer.
Sheer, skin-flattering color is another throughline. Dior's Addict Lip Glow Oil wins Best Color Lip Oil, and Poundcake's Cake Theory Lip Tone Equalizing Oil, built to even out lip tone, takes the sheer oil category. Eadem's Le Chouchou Lip Softening Balm, a tinted balm from the melanin-focused brand, and Dear Dahlia's Lip Paradise Sensual Lip Glow sit in the same low-opacity camp.
Liner gets two categories of its own. Kulfi's Lassi Lips Staining Lip Liner wins the stain category, and Kevyn Aucoin Beauty's Unforgettable Lip Definer takes the pencil slot. MAC's Dazzlelips Crayon adds a crayon winner to the precision segment.
Indie and celebrity-founded brands claim five of the 17 slots — Violette_FR, Kulfi, Eadem, Poundcake, Hung Vanngo Beauty, Haus Labs, Gisou, Dear Dahlia and Poppy & Pout among the newer or independent names — while legacy houses like Dior, Kevyn Aucoin Beauty and Maybelline New York hold the rest. Kiko Milano's 3D Hydra Lipgloss gives the Italian mass brand the gloss win.
For retailers and brands, the list is a ready-made merchandising map: Allure's Best of Beauty seal historically moves product at Sephora, Ulta Beauty and drugstore shelves alike. Expect the 2026 lip winners, from the $-tier Maybelline serum lipstick to prestige picks like Dior's Lip Glow Oil, to anchor lip displays through the holiday season and into spring 2027 restocks.
Source: Allure
Grace Kim
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Correspondent covering media and advertising at Eurasian Beauty Journal.
