Lipstick sales may be suffering in our masked-up world, but the opposite is true for lip balms and treatments. The moisture-sapping powers of surgical masks have sent their sales soaring. A new wave of super-salves and creams promises not just an end to chapped, flaky ‘mask lips’, but to make them significantly younger-looking too. Mother nature certainly gave lips a raw deal. With barely any oil-producing glands and skin three times thinner than that on your face, they have limited natural ability to hold on to moisture and really do need our help to stay in prime condition. Like skin everywhere else, lip skin is a layer cake of volumising collagen cells, moisture-binding molecules and nourishing lipids, the body’s production of which tapers off with time. Replenishing them is key to keeping lips in the state of plumpness you took for granted in your 20s.