She may not have been the first to do it, but Hailey Bieber’s foray into the world of makeup has had a strong and lasting impact. Her celebrated lip butter balm packed with peptides stored in covetable little tubes—not to mention the the cell phone cases that sprang up around them—achieved such fame that, since that moment, the lip balm has risen to the top of the social conversation. It seems that Gen Z cannot conceive a beauty routine without them. All of this has, of course, an explanation, as well as clear results that show that this phenomenon is much more than a fad.

These balms have caught on because they leave the lips feeling so pleasant, with a delectable gleam almost as if there’s melted butter on them. Usually enriched with peptides, hyaluronic acid, or a host of butters and oils, these deeply nourish one’s pout. Their moisturizing properties make the mouth look fuller and more voluminous, help to conceal and even fill in wrinkles on the lip, and in addition, provide instant color. In other words, we are talking about a 4-in-1 product that gives results from the first application—making their vast appeal undeniable.

But, that’s not all. If there is one quality that defines this era of makeup, it is naturalness (hand in hand with minimalism). We are looking for makeup that enhances the look of skin during and after wear, accentuating our features with an effortless, undetectable finish. The no-liner lip liner trend is another example of this—the Gen Z idea that advocates leaving aside a traditional lip liner from time to time, and opting instead for natural lip contouring, embellishing the organic shape of our mouth while subtly volumizing it.

To get the buttery look, Gen Z is turning to brands like Rhode, Summer Fridays, Olehenriksen, and Laneige, among many others—selling out their sites and flocking to Sephora to get every last tube off the shelf. With a single swipe, they nourish the lips, deliver a hint of color, and serve as an exceptional accessory to any TikTok video—before throwing them in a purse or toiletry bag without taking up too much space. Multifunctional, and certainly collectible, we predict the lip butter balm to have a very long life ahead of it. New formulas, colors, glosses, and finishes will come, but the essence will remain the same: a super-nourishing, colorful lip balm that really does work.

Shop Vogue’s favorite buttery lip balms, below: