TikTok’s “Gym Lips” Trend Is The Next Evolution Of No Makeup Makeup

If you’re on beauty TikTok, you’ll know one viral tutorial has the power to start a global craze and sell out shelves of products. With the online trend cycle constantly churning, this week’s sees yet another trend going viral: “gym lips.” The new term, coined by New York City makeup artist Kelli Anne Sewell, describes the age-old practice of applying a your-lips-but-better lip color in a way that lasts. In this case, it’s overlining your lips with a lip pencil in a shade similar to your natural lip color, filling your lips in with the same color, and then applying a moisturizing lip balm on top.

Sewell first shared her favorite “gym lip” combination on Instagram and then asked TikTok to get involved. “Gym lips can be our secret club,” she wrote over a video of her on the way to the gym. Sewell said her go-to lip liner my is Kevyn Aucoin’s Unforgettable Lip Definer in the shade Divine or Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Liner in Hazelnut. “It looks like you’re wearing no makeup but you just have plump, juicy lips,” she said in a recent video.

Sewell admits that the gym lip trend is, “not reinventing the wheel” but the idea, and it’s cute name are catching on, regardless. “I realize that a lip liner and treatment is not futuristic but I think it’s a fun name for a very no-makeup makeup look,” she said. A number of creatives on the app agree, with the hashtag #GymLips already having 429.8K views on the app (and counting) with videos of people trying to find their best natural lip color lip liner and treatment combo.

While Sewell originally called the trend “gym lips” because it was a running joke with her friends that whenever she went to the gym she would overline her lips and brush her brows up, she says it’s also versatile. "You can wear it to the airport, or running errands, wherever you want,” she said.

Unlike many TikTok trends, “gym lips” also doesn’t require you to buy one specific product (so there’s no chance it will sell out) and instead encourages you to find the natural lip shade and moisturizing balm that works best for you. Chances are you already have one. So whether you decide to wear that liner to the gym or out with friends (or both) is up to you. Either way, your lips will thank you for the extra TLC.