Lipgloss is one of those all around favorite cosmetic items, no matter who you are. From light shiny clear glosses to thick, rich, colorful slicks of shine, there's a gloss for everyone.

Lip Balm - Usually a thick, waxy protective substance for lips that are cracked or peeling, lip balm often provides a touch of shine. Lip balms can add moistness and sometimes a hint of color, as in Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer
and Bobbi Brown Lip Tint SPF 15.

Lip Gloss - While a gloss can certainly have healing and soothing qualities in the formulation, the main purpose of a gloss is to provide shine and often, some color. Glosses are usually somewhat lucent (as opposed to opaque, like a lipstick) and can contain glimmer, glitter, shimmer or just a clean wash of color. Lip gloss can worn be over a protective lip balm, over a solid lipstick or lip liner...or simply worn alone, as is.

Lip Stick - Lipstick can be glossy or matte, but its main appeal is in how it provides mostly opaque color coverage to the lips. There are mattes, metalics, creams, shimmers and even ones with built-in lip glosses and/or balms in the center.

How to Apply Lip Gloss:

You apply lipgloss right from the tube, wand, rollar ball or brush directly onto lips. You could also use your finger or a lip brush if the gloss comes in a pot/jar.

Begin by rolling lip gloss to your bottom lip and roll it up over the top lips. perfect application is not as important with lip gloss as it is with lipstick since the color is usually less intense - thus it's more forgiving to simply apply gloss and go. No need to blot - the shine is supposed to be there!

With lip glosses, frequent application is important - most glosses wear off quickly from talking, eating, drinking and just moving along in your daily activities.

The best lip glosses have a protective sunscreen SPF built in, a wide range of color tones for different skin shades, and include healing antioxidants in their formations.

Many companies are getting hip to adding healthier ingredients to their glosses. BalmShelter has a great line of SPF 17 tinted glosses, and Tarte (pictured above and left) leads the pack in experimenting with formulas packed with vitamins, healing oils and antioxidants.

I appreciate the companies that are realizing a gloss can be more than just shine and color! Protection and healing from the aging effects of the sun is like adding a super-power to an already beloved product. Here are a few of the glosses I prefer from Tarte at Amazon.com:
* Tarte 24/7 Lip Sheer SPF 15
* Tarte Vitamin Infused Lipgloss .2 oz (5.7 g)