Hailey Bieber wants us to play outside of the lines with her new Peptide Lip Shape. Rhode fans have been waiting for a lip liner from the Rhode founder, and today, it’s finally here. Is it worth it?
What is the Rhode “Lip Shape”?
Bieber told the Cut this is not a lip liner; it’s a lip contour. The shaper comes in 11 shades, from really soft pinky neutrals to intensely warm, deep shades that fit darker skin tones. Aren’t lip liners meant to contour, anyway? Well, yes. But this creamy lip shaper is formulated with peptides, to give the lips a fuller appearance and to hydrate them, making them feel smoother over time. The result is that the product isn’t as precise as a liner; it’s more soft around the edges of the lips. It also comes with a silicone lip smudger to help further soften the appearance of the lips.
Do you need Rhode’s new lip products?
If you like the look of a soft contour of your lips rather than the precision of a pencil lip liner, you may need this shaper. If you want your lips to look more defined, I’d say pass.
I’ve been using the three deepest shades: Flex, a rich brown; Spin, a plum brown; and Move, a deep, cool brown. (I’ve been pairing them with Rhode’s Peptide Lip Tint in Ribbon since it’s a sheer pink that looks natural, but I’ve also paired it with M.A.C nude lipsticks for full glam with a hint of Ami Colé lip treatment oil.)
Outside of the creamy formula, my favorite part of the shaper is the silicone smudger: It’s soft yet firm enough to blur the shaper based on your preference. I smudge a bit less for the shades closer to my natural lip. I also love that it’s retractable; while there are pencil liners that I love, there’s nothing I hate more than wanting to quickly reapply the liner but realizing I need to sharpen it. Because the shaper’s goal isn’t precise, this packaging makes sense for the goal of this shaper: creamy, nontraditional contouring that softens and plumps the lips simultaneously.
How does it compare to other lip liners like Makeup Forever and Refy?
Before having her own lip contour, Bieber was an avid user of the cult classic Makeup Forever Artist Color Long-Wear Lip Liner ($24) and the NYX Natural Long-Wear Lip Liner ($5), usually pairing them with her Peptide Lip Treatment. Both popular liners have one thing in common: They’re creamy liners with a great pigment and leave a pencil-like precision. Beauty creator Carly Rivlin compared the Makeup Forever shades to the Rhode shades, and the Peptide Lip Shape colors have a bit more warmth to them, at least for the lighter shades. People in the comments kept comparing the Lip Shape to Refy’s Blur Lip Liner, a creamy liner that glides on like a soft crayon, but the reviews are often mixed as they break easily. The smudging application reminds me of Dior Beauty’s lip pencil that’s complete with a brush that I enjoy using for smudging. Still, admittedly, I do prefer the firmness of the silicone smudger on the Peptide Lip Shape.
How long does it last?
I didn’t go into trying this thinking it would be a long-wear liner, because Bieber told me it was something you’d need to reapply after you eat or move around, similar to other creamy formulas. I tested this by doing everything: taking a six-hour flight, going on an hour-long hike, and eating dinner. After about three hours, I had to reapply if I wanted the same intensity as when I first applied it, but throughout those three hours, it slowly faded in a way that just looked like a diffused liner, not completely gone. The reapplication is easy, and it feels like skin care on my lips. Would I wear it for an event I want a more intense lip for throughout the night? Probably not.
What are people saying?
TikTok has had much to say over the past week since influencers and makeup artists have started receiving and reviewing. One creator complained that every person she’s seeing the Lip Shapes on has lip injections, so “of course it’s going to look amazing on them … please give your products to people with normal lips and let’s see how it looks on them,” she said.
Katie Jane Hughes, celebrity makeup artist to Bieber, Ashley Graham, and more (who has no lip injections), tried some of the shades, including Twist, a warm taupe, the “perfect split between cool and warm,” she said; her lips looked visibly plumper. “These aren’t, I don’t think, a particularly long-wear product, and I don’t say that as a negative thing. I prefer something like this to have a little bit of movement because if it’s too long, you actually can’t apply more throughout the day.” (There are lip-liner stains like the viral SACHEU Beauty peel-off liner that has an intense all-day staying power throughout the day, and Bieber never promised that.)
Beauty creator Toni Bravo shared what the shades look like on darker skin tones. “Golloria and I got to work together to help develop these beautiful shades,” she said. Bieber reached out to creator Golloria George last year after she tried Rhode’s blushes and was disappointed with how they looked on darker skin tones. Bravo’s comments section was filled with Rhode fans eager to get their hands on the product.
The Peptide Lip Shapes are available today on Rhode’s website for $24 each, or they can be purchased in a set with four shades (customizable per customer) for $92. Happy lip shaping!