Should You Ditch Your Lip Gloss For Anna Paul’s Lip Sleeping Mask Hack? I Put It To The Test

One of the greatest appeals of the heralded TikTok beauty hack is finding new ways of loving products you already own. Your mascara can now be used as graphic eyeshadow, your lunch-time sparkling water can also double as setting spray and your fake tan might even replace your bronzer.

Beauty trends also mimic what’s happening in the fashion world. We’ve seen Y2k style moments be rehashed (welcome back, butterfly tops and midi skirts), and with that, the makeup scene has followed suit. Frosted eyeshadow is on our holiday makeup mood board and the revival of the lip gloss is something we’re all too eager to see.

At the intersection of viral beauty hacks and the return of Y2k beauty trends is Anna Paul’s recent TikTok video where she demonstrates how she uses a lip sleeping mask instead of lip gloss. 

The Australian content creator and sex worker’s tutorial has racked up over nine million views. “I have a lip hack that I've been doing every single day,” she begins the video. “The queen has spoken,” one of her followers commented. “I thought I was the only one who did this,” another person said. 

We decided to test the hack out ourselves to see how it really holds up.

Anna Paul's makeup tip is simple and can be achieved in under a couple of minutes. The end result? Plump, glossy lips that Paul swears softens her lips throughout the day without leaving a sticky residue.

"Instead of a lip gloss, I get a lip mask, like a really gooey gooey one," she says on TikTok, using Laneige's Berry Lip Sleeping Mask, £19. "I get a really heaped tablespoon and put it on my lips. Just trust me, ok? And I start dabbing it in like this, all the way to the edges," she says, using her pointer finger to rub in the product.

"That's how you get really shiny lips without it being really weird and sticky because you know, a lot of lip glosses are really sticky and they dry weird. Whereas this, it doesn't dry weird and all your lips just get softer throughout the day because the lip mask."

As a big fan of Laneige's lip sleeping mask (I'm fond of the gummy bear flavour), I was intrigued to see how the formula would hold up as makeup. Application is super simple and beginner friendly and the impact is instantaneous — shiny and puckered-up kissers in no time.

While the berry mask has a slight light pink tinge to it, it is lacking strong pigmentation. When asked whether she was wearing a lip colour underneath her lip mask, Paul admitted that her lips are "naturally really pink". She suggests that people can wear a lip colour underneath or line their lips for a more pigmented look.

Commenters under Paul's video also pointed out that Laneige have a lip balm tube version of their famous lip sleeping mask that might serve the same purpose, but in a more travel-friendly way.

I found that the lip mask was able to serve the high-gloss look as promised, though with wear, the product almost melted and required me to clean up my lip line a couple of times. Though it was hydrating, I did find that it was still sticky on my lips — yes, it wasn't immune to the hair-sticking-on-glossed-lips problem that has followed us since the dawn of time.

Refinery29 e-commerce writer Tiffany Forbes also put the trend to work before a night out.

"I tried Anna Paul's lip sleeping mask hack and I was surprised to see that it worked so well? I have been using the Laneige lip mask as a lip balm for AGES now and it didn't occur to me that lathering on a lil' extra would give my lips the ACTUAL illusion of fillers — they were sooo plump and glossy afterwards," she said.

"The only downside is that I found I had to reapply it quite a few times over the course of the night for it to actually last. I was also wearing makeup, so when I put it on, it made a lil' ring around my lips which took some of my makeup off — so next time I'd probably do it before I put my makeup on!"

Forbes observation that the lip mask creates a filler-like effect was shared by fellow TikTokkers who also tried out the hack for themselves.

Whether it's a lip oil, a lip stain or a lip sleeping mask, it seems like we're in for a season of glossy, juiced-up lips.