Best Drugstore Lip Primer 2023: 5+ Detailed Reviews

Top 5 Best Drugstore Lip Primers 2023:

1. Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Primer
2. Golden Rose Nourishing Prime & Prep Lipstick Lip Primer Base
3. trèStiQue Lip Glaze and Primer, English Rose
4. M3 Naturals Collagen Lip Primer & Plumper Clinically Proven
5. NYX PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP Lip Primer, Nude

What is the secret to a flawless lips coverage that is going to last for the whole night without becoming smeared?

First and foremost, the appropriate base.

Your best friend of the perfect lipstick is a lip primer.

Just like the primer that you use for the rest of your face, as pre-foundation, these are made for your lips.

However, choosing the best drugstore lip primer for you cannot be arbitrary. The market is crowded with these, there is some stiff competition from multiple brands, and you have to find the right one that suits you.

Are your lips dry? What kind of lipstick do you prefer? Do you need something to go about the whole day, or just for special occasions?

Only when you find the appropriate drugstore lipstick will it be the secret ingredient for the longevity and beauty of your lips.

And, as always, we’re here to help!

Detailed Reviews: 5 Best Drugstore Lip Primers In 2023

1. Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Primer – Best Overall

Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Primer deserves to be crowned the best one because it aced all of our resistance and quality tests.

Anastasia Beverly Hills is a reputable drugstore brand, and for a good reason – the chief attributes of their makeup are quality, durability, and carefully chosen formulas.

One of the main strengths of this lip primer is its versatility. Namely, it provides a perfect base for lip gloss, liquid lipstick, or matte lipstick, and it works with all kinds of these equally great.

We couldn’t believe how it doesn’t influence the density or the texture of matte lipstick, which is often the case with lip primers.

But its functionality does not end there.

It can also be used on its own, as it contains hydrating ingredients, thus serving as a hydrating lip conditioner. In no time, you will notice that your lips won’t crack or get dry!

With this lip primer, you will find no color fading or feathering of the lipstick all day long. Plus, it enhances the visual side – the lipstick you’re wearing will even look better.

As it is very light, you won’t sense it on the lips. There’s hardly something more annoying than a heavy formula that sits on your lips when you can shake off the thought of getting home and taking it off!

A pro tip: Apply the primer, and let it sit for around 5 minutes, then add one or two thin layers of lipstick, and you’ll be good for the whole day.

2. NYX PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP Lip Primer, Nude – Runner-Up

NYX Professional MakeUp delivers another excellent choice for your lip primer. They have once again proved that their company produces and sells high-quality makeup at an amazing price.

Still, it is a tiny tad less durable than our first pick, the lip primer that comes from Anastasia Beverly Hills, which is why it landed steadily on the second place.

First and foremost, this lip primer pencil smoothes out all imperfections on your lips to create the best canvas for the lipstick you are going to put.

As it resembles a pencil, it can also serve to ensure that your lipstick will stay inside the lines of your lips without smudging and feathering.

We wanted to mention that you don’t have to sharpen this pencil (it twists up), which is handy, as there will be no mess or broken pencil tips.

It has a bit more creamy texture than our first pick, which means that you will feel it, as you put it on, but this is not a big deal because the feeling disappears as soon as it dries (after circa six minutes).

We also noticed that it moisturizes lips a little bit, though it is not hydrating by its properties, as our best pick is. No worries – it will not dry out your lips, either, and it will undoubtedly enhance the appearance of your lipstick.

This lip primer is available in Deep Nude and Nude variants, and both options are 0.1 Ounce, which means it will last for a long time.

The #02 shade is a bit darker than the #01, but the primer is still colorless for the most part – you can only notice the shade the moment you apply it. In any case, it will blend with the color of your lipstick or lip gloss.

3. Golden Rose Nourishing Prime & Prep Lipstick Lip Primer Base – Budget-Friendly Pick

Golden Rose is a household name when it comes to drugstore cosmetics, and their products always rank high because they are cheap and quality.

In all honesty, it isn’t the lip primer that we would deem the best out there because it is less durable than our first two picks, but it will be enough for the whole morning or during a particular event. If you want something that will last for the whole day, you’ll need to invest a bit more.

Let’s see what this lip primer has got.

The stick is colorless, meaning it won’t change or influence the color of the lipstick that you are going to put above.

As a consequence of this, if you apply only the lip primer, it won’t be visible by itself, but it will nourish your lips with its rich formula. Also, it contains Vitamin E that additionally hydrates your lips.

What is more, all of the Golden Rose makeup products are cruelty-free and aren’t tested on animals. They are dermatologically tested, though, and the formula is proven to be easy on your lips.

In conclusion – get this lip primer if you need a go-to for every day, but don’t expect it to work like some other, more expensive primers!

4. trèStiQue Lip Glaze and Primer, English Rose – Premium Pick

Our premium pick comes with a steep price if we compare it to your standard drugstore lip primer, but its value completely justifies the price.

Namely, this is a 2-in-1 lip primer that doesn’t only act as a perfect base, but it also glazes your lips with color. Yes, unbelievable as it is – you can have it all with a single product.

There is a primer on one side of this 2-in-1 makeup product, and a soft lip gloss on the other. 

The latter comes in 6 beautiful shades: Sheel Beach Sheer (baby pink), Georgia Peach (prototypical peach color), Mumbai Magenta (purple Munsell), Paris Pink (mauve), and English Rose & Rome Rouge (different shades of red).

We are not going to dwell on the colors and lipstick characteristics too much because our focus is on the primer, but we can assure you that it looks great with an exclusive satin finish.

Now, back to the side that interests you the most – the primer goes on really smoothly, totally preps your lips, and creates a perfect canvas for the lipstick.

By the way, you may be wondering: Can I use this lip primer with any lipstick, not just the one that comes at the other end of this product?

And the answer is: Of course! It is equally good for any other lipstick that you want to use it with. It even looks great with matte lipsticks, which are the total opposite of the soft one that you get with this purchase.

So, you can look at the lipstick that you get with this primer as a sort of bonus, not a limitation.

Another tiny detail that we wanted to mention is that it comes with magnetic-closure caps, meaning that you won’t experience that mess that has at least once happened to all of us – sticking your hand to the bottom of the purse only to learn that it is smeared in the lipstick that opened accidentally.

That’s not something you can’t live without, but kudos to manufacturers for paying attention to details.

5. M3 Naturals Collagen Lip Primer & Plumper Clinically Proven – 2-in-1 Formula

The M3 Naturals Collagen Lip Plumper & Primer is one of the most popular and best-selling products in this field, and it would have scored higher on our list had it been simpler.

What do we mean by this?

Well, in addition to being a primer, this product is a collagen alternative that acts as a natural lip plumper, as well. So, we didn’t want to limit you in that sense – you might not want to use a lips plumper, you may only need a base for your lipstick.

In any case, if you don’t mind the volumizing properties of this product, it is one of the best lip primers that you can get as of now.

It uses natural ingredients (94% of the formula is natural, actually), such as peppermint and sweet almond to increase the fullness of your lips, with the addition of pharmaceutical-grade peptides that are a much safer alternative to collagen.

At the same time, this USA-made makeup product creates a perfect, smooth canvas on your lips by diminishing wrinkles, cracks, and any other imperfections.

Did we mention that it hydrates your lips, as well? In fact, due to its specific properties, it gradually applies moisture deep into your lips even more efficiently than regular lip primers.

Lastly, when we take a look at the aesthetical side – the lipstick that you apply after a layer of M3 Naturals Collagen will look beautiful, in addition to staying untouched for the whole day.

Factors To Consider Before You Buy A Drugstore Lip Primer

Finding the best drugstore lip primer is a personalized experience: you need to find the one that suits your lips and your needs.

To aid you in that, we wanted to emphasize some factors to take into consideration before you can start drinking without a straw and still not worrying whether your lipstick will stay in place!

1. Ingredients

With an excellent lip primer, it’s all about the successful formula, made of top-quality ingredients.

Here are some simple rules:

• It should be paraben-free. Parabens disrupt your hormonal balance because they resemble estrogen.
• Vegan-free is what you’re looking for, as well. At LaurenAndVanessa, we are all about cruelty-free products that aren’t tested on animals!
• A good amount of natural ingredients. Naturally, a lip primer will come with a number of add-ons that nourish and hydrate your lips. What you’re looking for are natural ingredients enhanced with some beneficial nutrients (such as Vitamin E).

2. Shade

• In their essence, lip primers are colorless, and won’t affect the color of your lipstick or lip gloss in any way.
• However, you can also opt for a variant that comes in the shade – usually nude – so that the lip primer looks good on its own.

3. Price Tag

• As usual, it all boils down to how the functionality of a makeup product reflects its price.
• Drugstore lip primers are not notoriously expensive, but still, you ought to make sure that you’re getting the right price-to-value ratio. And we’re there to help!

What Are The Benefits Of A Drugstore Lip Primer?

• It isn’t expensive. Drugstore lip primers do not come with a hefty price tag, and yet, they are incredibly useful.
• Long-lasting effect. As mentioned many times, your lip makeup will stay in place without any fading for the whole day.
• No feathering or creasing. If these things are something that bothers you, the lip primer is a solution.
• Hydrates your lips. Pretty self-explanatory – it isn’t there purely for the aesthetical side, but it also nourishes your lips, which results in fewer imperfections in the long run.

How To Use Lip Primer?

1. Exfoliate your lips. No, this step isn’t reserved just for your face and for the foundation primer – it’s also great for your lips. If you don’t have any special lip polish tools, a soft toothbrush can do.
2. If you’re using a hydrating lip balm (though it isn’t necessary with the lip primer), now’s the time to apply it. If you put it on later, it might interfere with the duration of the lipstick.
3. Apply your favorite drugstore lip primer. With a high-quality drugstore lip primer (read: any from our list), a single layer is enough.
4. Let it dry.
5. Color time! Apply your favorite lipstick: matte, soft, or gloss.
6. Pluck your lips and enjoy the long-lasting effect!

Bottom Line – Our Recommendations

As we’ve established, what you need to keep your lipstick in place for the whole day is the best drugstore lip primer that you can find. 

After careful consideration of over a dozen drugstore lip primers on the market, we’re ready to hail the three picks that showed to be the best in our tests.

Firstly, the best drugstore lip primer overall is adamantly the Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Primer.

For budget shoppers, the Golden Rose Lipstick Primer is the way to go.

Finally, our premium pick is the trèStiQue Lip Primer. Though not as cheap as some other drugstore lip primers, you will never have to worry about your lipstick disappearing after drinking or eating something again.