What exactly is a lip gloss? It's a question any beauty editor should be able to answer in her sleep, but staring at the hundreds of glosses we'd collected and splayed on our colossal conference room table, we suddenly felt...stumped. We'd thought glosses were sheer liquids or creams with moderate coverage and a shiny finish. But what lay before us wasn't all slick and see-through. Some of them were rich and opaque. Others were emollient and infused with SPF.

Gloss—As You Like It
Whether you're into creamy or shimmery, how you apply your gloss can vary from, well, tube to pot. Here's a rundown of the basics:

Pot: Products in pots, tend to be weightier and more viscous than those in wands, tubes, or vials.  

Wand: Spongy wands lay down a thin layer of gloss and requires less accuracy than a brush.

Tube: Great on the go, tubes squeeze on lip gloss in juicy pomegranate typically contain the sheerest high-shine shades.  

Brush: Thinner, more pigmented glosses usually come with brushes, since they require very precise application.