Hi, this is Yeannie! 🙋♀️🩷 This week, lip serum was the product our buyers asked about most. Today, several more inquiries arrived with the LANEIGE Glaze Craze Tinted Lip Serum as their reference. We already specialize in lip serums. Still, I wanted to see what was new on the shelf, tinted or clear. So I kept my Friday routine and walked to the Olive Young near our office. Today, I’ll break down this lip serum formulation from a manufacturer’s point of view. I’ll also show what to keep and what to swap.
Why This Lip Serum Sells So Well
- Search: According to Spate data cited by NewBeauty (January 2026), it is the most-searched lip serum in the US. In addition, the whole lip serum category grew about 89% year over year.
- Sales: It sits in Amazon’s US top 10 for lip serums (July 2026 data). On Sephora, it has 683K loves and about 1,700 reviews.
- Right now: The fall duo (Cinnamon Sugar and Peach Glaze) is sold out on LANEIGE’s US site. A waitlist is open.
- The hooks: A donut-shaped applicator, dessert-named shades, a “95% skincare ingredients” claim, and clinical numbers. After one week, the brand reports lips 38% plumper and lip wrinkles improved by 36%.
Yeannie’s buyer tip: One ingredient doesn’t sell this product. Instead, the applicator, shade names, and claims work as one set. So when you bring it as a reference, look at the whole set, not only the formula.
Lip Serum Formulation, Decoded: 3 Layers
Despite the name, most lip serums are not water-based serums. In most cases, a lip serum formulation is an anhydrous base of oils and waxes. A small care layer then sits on top. Here is how the Glaze Craze ingredient list splits. Please note that these levels are our inference from ingredient order, not the brand’s data.
| Layer | Position on the INCI list | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Base (shine and grip) | #1–8: diisostearyl malate, dimer esters, hydrogenated polyisobutene, microcrystalline wax, synthetic wax | Glazed shine, tack control, structure |
| Color and scent | #9–18: titanium dioxide, iron oxides, Red 7 Lake, fragrance, cinnamal | Color payoff, dessert scent |
| Care | After water at #17: ceramide NP, soybean polypeptide, polyglutamic acid, sodium hyaluronate | Claim-driving actives |
Yeannie’s buyer tip: The “95% skincare ingredients” figure likely counts oils and esters as skincare. Therefore, if your brand wants a similar claim, decide your calculation basis and supporting data first.
What to Keep and What to Swap
| Element | Swap difficulty | Key point |
|---|---|---|
| Ester and wax base | High | Shine, grip, and heat stability live here. Keep it unless you have a strong reason. |
| Color (iron oxides, lakes) | Medium | Even pigment dispersion is the hard part. More shades also mean more testing. |
| Fragrance | Low to medium | You can remove or change it. However, you then need to manage the raw-material odor. |
| Care actives | Low | This is the easiest layer to swap, for example to vegan collagen or peptides. |
| Applicator | Medium | Viscosity and tip shape must match. In practice, the formula and the component develop together. |
Yeannie’s buyer tip: In any lip serum formulation, the care layer and the scent are the easiest places to make it yours. Meanwhile, keeping a proven base structure is the safer choice.
On the Shelf This Friday
Here is what else I spotted on the lip shelf today. Interestingly, the three brands build their bases in completely different ways.
- Torriden Solid In Ceramide Lip Essence: A polyisobutene and petrolatum base with five ceramides. It is fragrance-free.
- Torriden CELLMAZING Lip Essence: It pairs “5D collagen” (five collagen sizes) with peptides and vitamin B12. The brand reports a 7.05% lip volume improvement in a 20-person test.
- Melixir Vegan Lip Butter: A petrolatum-free stick with agave and shea butter. It carries EVE Vegan certification.
- Melixir Vegan Lip Treatment: A tube with vegan collagen and jojoba oil. Orange peel oil gives it a light citrus scent.
What the shelf told me: Bases now split three ways: petrolatum, petrolatum-free vegan, and ester glaze. At the same time, the actives keep moving toward collagen and peptide plumping claims.
Yeannie’s buyer tip: If you target clean or vegan retail, your base choice becomes your brand position. So decide it before formulation starts.
Lip Serum Formulation by Market
| Market | What to check | Why |
|---|---|---|
| EU | Fragrance allergens such as cinnamal need labeling above set levels. Also, check Red 7 Lake under CI 15850. | EU allergen and colorant lists |
| US | Sensitive-skin buyers often want fragrance-free. Also, check the latest MoCRA fragrance allergen rule at launch. | Mixed reviews on scent, MoCRA |
| Middle East and hot climates | A wax base can soften, and oils can separate. | Hot shipping and storage |
| Vegan and clean retail | Petrolatum and animal-derived inputs often decide listing. | Retailer clean standards |
I covered heat testing in more detail in our post on climate zone stability testing.
Yeannie’s buyer tip: Even for the same glaze lip serum, the EU version and the Middle East version differ. In fact, the change starts with scent design and wax ratio.
Concept Lab: 3 Hero Lip Serum Directions
- Fragrance-free glaze tint: Keep the shine and color, but remove fragrance and allergens. This suits sensitive lines and the EU.
- Signature care lip serum: Use vegan collagen or peptides as your brand’s hero ingredient. Then build your claims around it.
- Clear treatment plus tinted line: Launch clear and tinted versions on one base. Then make a custom applicator your brand signature.
The right lip serum formulation for you depends on your market, channel, and price point. That’s a conversation we’d need to have together. Meanwhile, you can see the formulas we’ve built in our formula portfolio.
Why a Lip Serum Specialist Matters
An ingredient list alone doesn’t make a lip serum formulation work.
- Base stability: Water-soluble actives must stay stable inside an anhydrous base.
- Pigment dispersion: Every shade needs even color payoff.
- Applicator fit: Viscosity and tip shape must match.
- Climate stability testing: We include it in our standard process.
SPSCOS specializes in lip serums. We handle tinted, fragrance-free, vegan, and collagen or peptide versions, plus custom applicators. Also, we keep quality high while starting at a low MOQ. That’s a big reason our clients stay with us.
And don’t worry about packaging. Our packaging design team includes a designer who came from Apple. Working next to them, I can tell their eye is something else. Even better, this team does your packaging design for free. Amazing, right? Just tell us the applicator or container you want. Then our dedicated sourcing team will find it to match your target unit cost.
Your Turn: Comment or Contact Us
💬 Curious about a K-beauty product on Olive Young’s shelves? Drop it in the comments. Ask for a quick first look, or ask what to know before a manufacturer makes your version. I’ll answer based on K-beauty formulation know-how. I’ll check it out on my next Friday Olive Young run. Then I’ll break it down from a manufacturer’s point of view.
So, here’s how we make it. A great lip serum comes from a base, color, and applicator that work as one set. At SPSCOS, we design all three together from the formula stage. That way, we turn a reference product’s concept into your brand’s own version. Do you have a lip product you’d like to use as a reference? Bring it to us as it is. Let’s see together which parts can become yours. → Contact us
Next Friday, I’ll raid another shelf for you. Stay tuned! 😆👌