I completely missed this trend. My discovery only happened recently, when a girl casually mentioned doing the gym lip in 

her get-ready video.  She didn't even explain what it was so I immediately clicked out and started doing my research.  

WHAT IS THE GYM LIP?

Notice that I said lip treatment which is different from traditional lip gloss.  A lip treatment contains nourishing ingredients that hydrate and soften the lip.  Lip treatments improve the overall look and feel of your lips over time.  

Probably the most famous of all lip treatments is Laniege's Lip Sleeping Mask.  I own several jars of this cult classic but hadn't quite yet reaped the full benefits and I'll tell you why.  Typically, I apply a thin layer of sleeping mask over my lips moments before heading to bed.  It doesn't take me long to doze off so I'm not sure how long the product is actually on my lips before I'm snoring face down into my pillow. Any time I wear Airpods to bed, I always have to hunt down their whereabouts in the morning.  I literally have no idea how long the lip treatment is in contact with my lips before being disturbed by my sleep habits. 

So when I learned about the gym lip, a lightbulb immediately went off.  Although, I've fallen off the "regular visits to the gym wagon,"  I recognized the immediate use case for the gym lip in everyday life.  To me, this awesome lip combo was too good to save for sporadic gym visits.  It needed to be infused into my everyday life.  

The simple two-step method of pencil liner and lip treatment is a decent combo on its own but I wanted to find a way to make it even better.   The first step in my updated version of the gym lip is hydration.  A lip treatment on its own is great but imagine how powerfully those nourishing ingredients would work if they had a layer of moisture to lock on to.  

Once your lips are well hydrated, next apply a nourishing lip mask and watch the magic happen.  The final step involves applying a layer of an SPF lip balm if I'm headed out.  But the key aspect of maximizing the gym lip trend is wearing this lip combo at home...when you're just lounging around...even when there's nowhere to go.  When I wear a lip mask throughout the day (instead of only at night), my lips are exposed to the nourishing ingredients for much longer.  The end result of this experiment is that my lips are far more hydrated than they've ever been.  Even when I have nothing on them at all, my lips are still softer than normal thanks to all of those hours of consistent lip masking.  

Forget the gym lip, this now has become my everyday lip.  

The gym lip went viral over the summer but, in my opinion, this combo is the perfect treatment to address, or prevent, dry winter lips.  You have to give the gym lip a try.  I promise that it'll become a staple in your routine.