Dior’s New Lip Balm is a Win for Darker Skin Tones

Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Asia Milia Ware, Retailer

This month, Dior Beauty relaunched a new-and-improved Addict Lip Glow (dupes, beware), its hydrating lip balm with new tints and a slightly adjusted formula. Sometimes, reformulations of cult classics can alter how beauty lovers feel about a product, but this balm is even better than the one we all know and love.

The product is basically a skin-care and makeup hybrid that includes shea butter and a cherry-blossom-oil formula that is said to offer hours of hydration. The product has been around and popular since 2009. In 2023, it started going viral on TikTok, shortly after the virality of Dior’s Lip Glow Oil. It had the same glossy feeling of the lip oil packed in a lip balm, for those who wanted a little tint and a balm-y finish. Of course, people started searching for dupes: Brands like Aldi (yes, the supermarket) had a version of the lip balm with almost identical packaging; Glossier’s hydrating lipstick is often compared to it; and e.l.f. Cosmetics’ hydrating Core Lip Shine is as well, but if you ask the brand, it doesn’t do dupes.

As someone prone to dry lips during the winter, this balm did withstand below-freezing temperatures in Colorado. Yes, I wore it in zero degrees and snow in the mountains, and my lips stayed hydrated.

This isn’t a product with much pigment; Dior has its Dior Addict Lip Tint for a more powerful pigment. These tints are sheer and meant to mimic and enhance lips’ natural color. There are 15 new cool shades, like a very sheer pink, a bright coral (a shade already sold out at Sephora along with a cool berry shade), and a very yellow shade that transforms to a soft pink when applied. There are six new warm shades, including an orange shade and the deepest, a dark purple, that even my mom tries to steal from me because of the balance of pigment and sheerness on darker skin tones.

Outside of the new shades that fit more of a variety of natural lip colors, the balmy texture feels even thicker. With the new formula, I find that I don’t have to reapply as much because the moisture is longer lasting. It’s also why I’ve loved using it as a base layer before putting on a lip oil or lipstick.

If you like the thickness of a balm, this is one of the best. But this won’t give you as much shine as an oil, let’s say. While the formula, tints, and even the packaging have slightly changed (the transparent pink tube is adorned with Dior’s signature logo in silver), the $40 price point stays the same. Is it high for a lip balm? Perhaps, when you have lip balms like Burt’s Bees and Carmex for $4. But like any luxury product, it’s a want, not a need.

Simply put: The new undertone shades work better for darker lip shades. Two new shades — Mahogany and Soft Nude — have been my favorites because they enhance my natural lip color. (In a way that my go-to clear shade doesn’t.) Another shade, Gummy, is so sheer it’s near to being clear on my lips. But that’s the one I put on when I’m going to the gym and I just want my lips to be hydrated without looking like I have any makeup on.

Beauty creator Aditya Madiraju compared it to feeling like Burt’s Bees on your lips but with a tint, as he tried it on his warm toned lips. Multiple people mentioned Clinique’s viral Black Honey lip balm, asking if they can expect a similar effect and tints; depending on whose wearing it, it may have a similar finish. Another creator, Aimee Cheng-Bradshaw, joked that she “has been blessed with really, really dry lips,” as her lips don’t stay moist through many of the balms she’s tried. She tried the Citrus shade and it complemented her natural lip color.

The pH-activated lip balms are available on sephora.com, diorbeauty.com, and in stores.