By now you’ve probably got your skin-care routine down pat, and we’re willing to bet that it differs from morning to night. After all, they’re called night creams and sleeping masks for a reason, right? But in between all of your morning antioxidant serums and evening retinols, there’s one area of your face you’re probably forgetting: your lips. 

The skin on your lips is just that — skin — and it needs every bit as much TLC, if not more, as the rest of your face to stay smooth, hydrated, and healthy. “Your lips are perhaps the most overused but under-treated part of the body,” says board-certified dermatologist Dr. Joshua Zeichner. “They are constantly exposed to environmental factors ranging from spicy foods to saliva from lip licking and extremes in weather, including the cold and the hot sun.” 

To decrease dryness, cracking, and bleeding, a proper lip-care routine is essential, says fellow dermatologist Dr. Papri Sarkar. “Most people, however, only really remember to take lip care into consideration when their lips are symptomatic or bothering them.” Sound like you? Keep reading to discover your new morning and evening routine to keep your pout on point 24/7.

Your Morning Lip-Care Routine

You want your morning routine to be centered around prepping your lips for the day ahead, whether that means creating a smooth canvas for makeup or infusing them with antioxidants to help ward off potential damage from free radicals. And then, of course, you want to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. To put it into more common skin-care terms, you should cleanse, gently exfoliate, protect, and hydrate your lips every morning.

While that sounds like a lot of effort, it doesn’t have to be. Our new Watermelon Glow Lip Pop combines all those steps in a single swipe. The no-rinse, scrub-to-balm texture provides both physical and chemical exfoliation via coconut flower sugar (which is also rich in antioxidants!) and flower-derived AHAs. Just like the skin of the rest of your face, gentle exfoliation is an essential step. By sloughing away dead skin on the top layer of your lips, you’re allowing hydrating ingredients to be absorbed more effectively. Speaking of hydration, that comes from the watermelon extract and botanical oils in Lip Pop’s formula. Lips are left smooth, supple, and ready for makeup. Or, you can skip the lipstick and rely on Lip Pop’s universally flattering natural tint to give you that your-lips-but-better flush.  

Your Evening Lip-Care Routine

When you sleep, your body goes into repair mode and that extends to your lips, too. We oftentimes treat our skin to an overnight mask or cream in order to make the most of this crucial time, and the same kind of self-care should be given to the delicate skin on your lips. Hydration is a hallmark of any good overnight skin-care product because while your skin is busy repairing itself, it also tends to lose moisture. “We know that hydration levels in the skin decrease starting in the afternoon, so your evening lip product should be more occlusive to help protect the lips and lock in hydration,” says Dr. Zeichner. One we love to slather on before bed is the Sweet Chef Sugarcane + Vitamin E Lip Sleeping Mask. It’s loaded with rice bran, sugarcane, squalane, and vitamin E to deeply heal, hydrate, and nourish and is free of parabens and mineral oils. In addition to powerhouse emollients and hydrators, sugarcane has natural AHAs that help you lips better absorb all of the good stuff in this lip mask.

Now that you’ve got your morning and evening lip-care routine sorted out, get ready to wake up with soft, supple lips…and keep ’em that way all day and night.