Lip butters are the 2025 update to the clean girl aesthetic, offering a nourishing, glossy finish that’s good for your pout. But should you pay £23 for Summer Fridays, or stick to budget-friendly Rimmel?
The clean girl aesthetic may have started with sleek buns, fluffy brows, and no-makeup makeup, but in 2025, it’s evolved with a focus on dewy skin and high-shine finishes. Last year, we saw a real rise in lip balms and treatments , and these too have advanced, moving away from clear formulas to more pigmented tinted finishes.
Somewhere between a balm, a gloss, and a treatment, lip butters are the natural progression of this trend. And the latest brand to throw their hat into the ring is drugstore favourite, Rimmel .
The brand’s Oh My Gloss! Butter Me Up lip butters launched exclusively at Superdrug this year, and are rivalling high end brands like the cult-favourite Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm and Laneige Glaze Craze Tinted Lip Serum . These buttery, balm-gloss hybrids hit the sweet spot between skincare and makeup, giving lips the ultimate blend of hydration, shine, and a hint of colour.
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As demand grows for fuss-free, feel-good beauty, lip butters are set to be the new must-have in everyone’s handbag (and nightstand, and desk drawer…). But, should you pay £23 for the high end Summer Fridays, or stick to budget-friendly beauty with Rimmel’s £7.99 offering ? I’ve used both of the vegan, ultra-hydrating, glossy lip butters, and there are some key differences that might sway your choice depending on your preference and budget.
Both products deliver exactly what you’d want from a lip butter – smooth texture, long-lasting hydration, and a glossy finish. Both formulas are fully vegan and infused with skincare ingredients. Rimmel uses 5% squalane, while Summer Fridays packs in shea and murumuru seed butters along with vegan waxes.
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You can shop this lip gloss exclusively at Superdrug
Each range also includes a mix of clear and tinted options, and both balms work beautifully solo or layered over other lip products. If you’re into glossy, nourished lips with a touch of colour, you’re in good hands either way, though Summer Fridays does have nine shades, compared to Rimmel’s six.
Price is the biggest separator when it comes to these lip butters, with a whopping £15 price difference. Rimmel clocks in at £7.99 , while Summer Fridays sits at a premium £23 . If I hadn’t received the latter in a beauty advent calendar at Christmas, I can’t say I’d have splurged on it otherwise, and while I do genuinely love it, the quality gap doesn’t justify the price difference. Rimmel holds its own incredibly well and, in some cases, outperforms.
The main thing that swayed me to Rimmel’s Oh My Gloss! Butter Me Up was the applicator. It has a hard plastic convex wand which hugs the lips beautifully and is easy to keep clean – much more satisfying than Summer Fridays ’ concave rubber tip, which can be a bit messy and awkward to clean after a few uses.
As for the formulas themselves, Rimmel gives a glossier, juicier finish while Summer Fridays has a more subtle sheen, but with more pigment payoff, so you tend to use less product to get visible colour. Neither of them are sticky or uncomfortable to wear, and rarely need reapplying throughout the day – usually only after eating.
Comparing colours, Rimmel’s Latte Delight and Summer Fridays’ Vanilla Beige are nearly the same. Vanilla Beige leans a touch warmer, which I do prefer, but Latte Delight still delivers that wearable, everyday beige look.
I’d never tried any bolder lip butters, so Rimmel’s Red Velvet shade was a real standout. It’s surprisingly pigmented and vibrant even without a base layer, but it does transfer onto mugs and glasses and I don’t think my partner would appreciate a kiss from me while wearing it. Moreover, Rimmel’s clear Vanilla Frost felt a bit redundant. Clear glosses are easy to find, and this one didn’t bring anything new to the table, especially when compared to the more dynamic tinted shades in the line. However, if unlike me you don’t have an abundance of clear formulas, the added skincare benefits of this one do make it a superior choice to some of the others on the market.
If you’re after a luxurious balm with a slightly more conditioning feel, Summer Fridays is a beautiful product. But if you’re looking for a more affordable, ultra-glossy alternative that punches way above its price tag, Rimmel’s Oh My Gloss! Butter Me Up is absolutely worth a try. The gap between the two is surprisingly narrow, with both offering a low-maintenance but dreamy overall effect.