Short answer
Yes. Lipstick, lip balm, Vaseline and other makeup do not break the fast, because they stay on the skin. The fast is broken only if you swallow some of it, so do not lick your lips, and use a plain balm rather than a flavoured one during the day.
Applying lipstick, balm or petroleum jelly to the lips does not break the fast, just as oiling the moustache does not. If some enters the mouth and is swallowed, the fast breaks with one day of qada. A taste on the lips that you do not swallow does not matter.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
The Hanafi books say there is no harm in a fasting person putting oil on his moustache. Lips are the outside of the body, and whatever goes on them is like a cream on the skin. So lip balm for dry lips, Vaseline, lipstick and gloss are all fine while fasting.
The one thing to watch. Lip products can get into the mouth when you lick your lips or rinse your mouth. If you swallow some, something from outside has reached the throat and the fast is broken. Flavoured and tinted balms are more likely to end up in the mouth, so plain balm is the safer choice during the day. A faint taste on the lips that you do not swallow has no effect.
Other makeup. Foundation, eyeliner, mascara and kohl go on the skin or around the eyes and do not break the fast. Eye drops do not break it either: see eye drops. A waterproof layer that stops water reaching the skin is a question for wudu, not for the fast.
Dry lips in Ramadan. Long fasting hours can dry and crack the lips. Using balm after wudu and before sleep, and drinking well between iftar and suhoor, helps. The guidance on women's makeup in front of non-mahram men is the same in and out of Ramadan.
The four schools agree that what stays on the skin does not break the fast.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Baqara 2:187
أُحِلَّ لَكُمْ لَيْلَةَ ٱلصِّيَامِ ٱلرَّفَثُ إِلَىٰ نِسَآئِكُمْ ۚ هُنَّ لِبَاسٌۭ لَّكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لِبَاسٌۭ لَّهُنَّ ۗ عَلِمَ ٱللَّهُ أَنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ تَخْتَانُونَ أَنفُسَكُمْ فَتَابَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَعَفَا عَنكُمْ ۖ فَٱلْـَٰٔنَ بَٰشِرُوهُنَّ وَٱبْتَغُوا۟ مَا كَتَبَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ ۚ وَكُلُوا۟ وَٱشْرَبُوا۟ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ ٱلْخَيْطُ ٱلْأَبْيَضُ مِنَ ٱلْخَيْطِ ٱلْأَسْوَدِ مِنَ ٱلْفَجْرِ ۖ ثُمَّ أَتِمُّوا۟ ٱلصِّيَامَ إِلَى ٱلَّيْلِ ۚ وَلَا تُبَٰشِرُوهُنَّ وَأَنتُمْ عَٰكِفُونَ فِى ٱلْمَسَٰجِدِ ۗ تِلْكَ حُدُودُ ٱللَّهِ فَلَا تَقْرَبُوهَا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ ﴿١٨٧﴾
It has been made permissible for you the night preceding fasting to go to your wives [for sexual relations]. They are clothing for you and you are clothing for them. Allah knows that you used to deceive yourselves, so He accepted your repentance and forgave you. So now, have relations with them and seek that which Allah has decreed for you. And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread [of night]. Then complete the fast until the sunset. And do not have relations with them as long as you are staying for worship in the mosques. These are the limits [set by] Allah, so do not approach them. Thus does Allah make clear His ordinances to the people that they may become righteous.
The fast concerns what is swallowed, not what is applied to the skin.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Sawm, chapter on what requires qada and kaffarah. There is no harm in applying kohl or oiling the moustache while fasting.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Sawm, chapter on what breaks the fast and what does not. Something from outside that reaches the throat and is swallowed breaks the fast.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.