Beauty Makeup Tips

This Cult-Fave Lip Balm Brand Is About to Be Your Lipstick of Choice Too

Rachel Lapidos

November 15, 2019

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Photo: Olio E Osso

If you could peer into beauty influencers' cosmetics cabinets, I can almost guarantee that you'd find at least one cult-fave lip-to-cheek tinted balm from Olio E Osso. The pigmented sticks, which are packaged in the brand's distinctive push-pop tube, have quietly (but steadily) climbed to cult status among not only makeup lovers, but even people who don't usually wear much makeup. Why so? Because they do it all and leave a whisper of a hue when you dab them on.

Now, the balm brand is bestowing us with true makeup: lip products in all sorts of gorgeous shades. Launching today are Olio E Osso Lucente Lip Sheens ($28) and Crema Lipsticks ($30), which leave behind bold pigments, while still containing only good-for-your-skin ingredients. The brand extension into cosmetics makes sense, since founder Paola LaMorticella has been a makeup artist for over 25 years. "I've been doing that for so long, and I've always been on the hunt looking for things that feel good and are highly pigmented, but that I can sheer out," she says. "I'm trying to create a color library, and a system [of products] that work together really well and support each other—to simplify things and make a family of products."

The brand's new lip makeup plays along perfectly with the balms, giving you the option to layer more vibrant shades onto your lips (building upon the nourishing balm base). The Lip Sheens come in four shades—a neutral, a rosy pink, a deep red, and a rich burgundy—while the lipsticks are pared down to the three options, including pink, off-red, and hazelnut brown.

All of these pigment blends have been hand-created in LaMorticella's Portland, Oregon-based space. "I'm on a mission to make the best, creamiest products with the least amount of ingredients," she say. "I use a really nice combo of big fatty acids and olive oil, so there's a protective layer of beeswax and sunflower seed oils, so the ingredients are simple but leave your lips feeling moisturized."

The new products are still waterless and sustainable, as Olio E Osso has been since the beginning. "There's no dilution and nothing to hide behind, you don't have to have stabilizers or preservatives, which can be irritants to some people. And as a small company, it's easier to control the supply chain and figure out how things are sourced, which is definitely a perk." If the brand's popularity in the beauty world based on its simple (yet cute AF) balms is any indication, the foray into makeup (with more fun plans soon to come) will surely be on the wish lists of zillions of beauty aficionados everywhere.

Read more about how sustainability is taking over the beauty industry, here. And these are some multitasking makeup tips so you can streamline your regimen even more.