Does This Popular Lip Plumping Hack Really Work—And Is It Safe?

With TikTok beauty hacks, it's important to cut through what's helpful. Some of the more risky hacks are easier to point out, but others may leave us a bit unsure. 

Such is the case with this lip plumping trick: A number of videos have touted the effects of cinnamon oil for a more pillowy pout. Take this tutorial from user Brittany Miller: She pours a bit of cinnamon oil into a tube of gloss, pumps the wand, then slathers on the jelly. After a few minutes, her lips look noticeably more bee-stung. 

Cinnamon is a spicy, heat-inducing essential oil that acts as a vasodilator (meaning, it can stimulate your blood vessels and cause them to expand). 

"A vasodilatation forces the capillaries, or smaller blood vessels (of which there are many in our lip tissue), to open and therefore allow more blood and fluids to push through and even expand beyond the vessel wall into membranes and other tissues," says board-certified dermatologist Ava Shamban, M.D., founder of Ava MD Dermatology, the SkinFive and The Box by Dr. Ava. It's this stimulation that creates a localized "swollen" appearance and a plumper pout as the fluids leak past the vermillion border.  

In other words: Yes! Cinnamon oil can plump your lips temporarily. In fact, plenty of market lip plumpers incorporate the essential oil into their formulas, along with other stimulating EOs like peppermint. "Even [traditional] products use these ingredients for their properties," naturopathic doctor Tess Marshall, N.D., told us about how to naturally plump your lips.

So, yes, cinnamon oil can plump your lips, but please be careful—you should know how your skin reacts to it before slathering a glob on your delicate lip area. As we mentioned, cinnamon oil is a stimulating, heat-inducing EO—which can cause irritation on sensitive skin. Plus, cinnamon itself can cause contact dermatitis1, making it all the more important to patch-test on your arm before applying the gloss.

Even if you consume the spice on the regular, you could face an allergic reaction from it topically. In fact, cinnamon EO (or called cinnamal) is one of the most common allergens as noted by the regulatory standards of the European Union, widely believed to have the strictest cosmetic standards around.

We should also note: Never apply the straight essential oil on your skin, even during a spot-test. You need to have some sort of carrier oil to dilute the potency (in this case, the oily gloss will do).