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Review Update – Neutrogena Lip Balm

I wanted to get this update up and out as soon as possible…because I pretty much need to stop using this lip balm entirely. I’m fairly sure that it was actually the culprit of my dry, cracked mouth-corners. NOT COOL! If they weren’t the culprit, I think they were at the very least a contributor because I stopped using it and now over the course of just a couple days my mouth corners are feeling better and not looking dry and flaky. What the heck? This balm feels pretty nice on my lips so I’m bummed, but I won’t keep using it if it’s hurting me obviously!!!

Have you ever had this happen to you with a product? You try and like it…but then discover it’s actually doing more harm than good? Tell me!!!

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Neutrogena Naturals Lip Balm Review

I seem to have gone back to basics when it comes to lip balm lately. I’ve been using plain ole’ medicated Chapstick a lot, and also this guy– Neutrogena Naturals Lip Balm. The Neutrogena lip balm lives in my purse right now. I needed a lip balm and just grabbed the first untinted one I could find from my drawers. I got this in a Target beauty bag (a little bag they send with coupons and samples – mostly useless to me but I figured I can always use another balm so I kept this).

As the name would imply this lip balm is formulated without any harsh chemicals, sulfates, parabens, dyes, petrochemicals, or phthalates. Please don’t ask me what a phthalate is because I have no idea.

Overall this is a decent balm. It’s not wonderful/amazing/spectacular but it’s simple and moisturizing. It’s actually one I’d recommend to men as well because it’s not incredibly shiny and doesn’t have an obvious taste or smell. To me it smells ever so vaguely pepperminty as I apply it, which goes away almost immediately.

I read a critique saying that this balm is too dry and waxy, but sometimes (like under a lipstick) you don’t want to wear a balm that will give you a whole ton of “slip”. Sometimes waxy is good. Also, waxy fills in lip lines, making this balm a pretty decent lip primer if you’re one who likes to wear balm under lipsticks (I do!).

Overall I’m not thrilled but I’m happy with this lip balm. Will I repurchase? Undecided. Maybe if I didn’t already have so many other lip balms. It retails for about $3 at most drugstores.

Full Ingredients:

Beeswax (Apis Mellifera) (Beehives), Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil (Jojoba), Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil (Sesame), Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil (Sunflower), Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil (Olive), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) (Shea Butter), Natural Flavor, Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter (Cocoa), Tocopherol (Natural Vitamin E) (Vegetable)

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Vasanti Cosmetics Tinted Lip Balm

Vasanti Cosmetics is a Canadian-based cosmetics company I did not know too much about before receiving some items from them to try. I sure as heck was not prepared for this tinted lip balm. If you like the idea of a lip balm that is truly moisturizing and conditioning for your lips while also being a really gorgeous color (enough to pass as lipstick!), then these should definitely be on your radar. If you like lipstick textures like MAC Slimshine, you should also definitely check these out. The price is comparable to MAC as well– $15 each. The packaging is sleek, and hallelujah it’s a decent tinted lip balm in stick form! 

This lip balm is formulated with vitamin E, shea butter, mango seed butter, and olive oil all to make your lips feel super good. There is a light fragrance that to me (and a few other people I asked) smells like cucumber melon. It’s not so strong that it’ll knock your socks off, but it’s definitely there. It’s not too bad. I despise the watermelon scent of Maybelline Moisture Extreme lipsticks, but this isn’t like that at all. It smells much more cucumber-y to me, which makes it at least tolerable if not pleasant.

The beauty of this is just how much color you get. Many tinted lip balms are just like tinted moisturizers – just a teensy tint of color, not enough to really cover anything. Even with fairly pigmented lips this lip balm really could pass as a nice lipstick instead of a lip balm. Because it’s so moisturizing, you won’t get that annoying ring around your inner lips that happens when your lips get dry in a lip product (eww).

The color of tinted lip balm I got is Tahiti, which is described as “sheer pale pink with a touch of coral”. That touch of coral keeps this from heading into pale pink Lady Gaga lips territory that many ladies can’t pull off. Instead, this pink is a very flattering color that brightens up my whole complexion.

Enough yapping, here are some pictures!

Direct sunlight (yes I’m in the car– I took these en route to Thanksgiving dinner! Don’t worry, I wasn’t driving.) Gosh I look pale in the sun. I think I reflect the sun back at you. 
In the shade (ha see my reflection in my glasses? Classy. You can also see Mr. Boyfriend driving!)
Product sample provided for editorial purposes.
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Softlips Holiday Giveaway

I’ve gone giveaway crazy this December! The next of my Decemberfest Giveaways is already here! This time the winner will get a yummy prize pack of limited edition/seasonal flavors from Softlips! The only other place you can get these flavors all together in a pack is the Softlips Online Store, where the pack is $9.99 (plus free shipping in the continental U.S.!). There are also some other gift packs that look really awesome. These would make cute stocking stuffers, or keep them for yourself! ;) I won’t tell.
The winner will get 5 flavors of Softlips SPF 20 lip balm. The flavors included are:
– Sugar Plum Berry
– Mint (with a hint of Vanilla)
– Sugar Cookie
– Sugar & Spice
– Winter Mint
To enter you must be a blog follower in some fashion (please tell me where you follow!), comment on this post. In your comment, tell me where/how you follow the blog, and what flavor of Softlips is your favorite or that you’re most looking forward to trying. My favorite is the chai tea flavor. Yum!
If I get 50+ entries, I’ll pick some bonus winners too. ;)
Winner will be chosen Friday December 10th in the evening (pacific time).
Prize provided by Softlips.
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Etailer Spotlight: Best Bath Store

I recently got to try some goodies from an etailer I had been quite curious about: Best Bath Store. I mean come on, they call themselves the best. I gotta see for myself! They sent me 3 products to try, and I’ve been playing with them for a while now. Here are my thoughts.

First up is their Acne Facial Bar. I’m not a huge fan of most acne skincare because cleansers that are for acne have a tendency to be really harsh, but this bar is jam packed full of gentle ingredients (such as olive oil, coconut oil, manuka honey, and shea butter) so I decided to give it a go to work on the few little breakouts I’ve been experiencing lately (probably stress. erg.). The first thing I noticed about this bar is the smell. It smells really nice. It’s an herbal sort of fresh scent. It just smells clean. That’s a good way for a cleansing bar to smell, I think. Don’t you? The idea behind their acne facial bar is balancing your skin to reduce oiliness and calm angry acneic skin. The bar lathers really well, and the soap feels really nice on my skin as I’m massaging the cleanser around my face. After I’m done rinsing, my skin feels really clean and refreshed without feeling stripped or tight. The Acne Facial Bar is very gentle, and does what it says! One caveat though is don’t use this to remove eye makeup. I tried it and it burned like hell. So when I’m using this I use a makeup remover like MAC Cleanse-Off Oil first then wash with this. The Acne Facial Bar is $4.95 for a 3.5 oz bar.
Next up is the Coffee Body Scrub, which was kind of a miss for me and I’ll explain why: it doesn’t smell like coffee. I don’t know why. It contains coffee grounds and “coffee essential oil” (wtf is that, btw?) which is essentially fragrance, but it still doesn’t smell like coffee. It does scrub really well and leave my skin feeling nice and soft. The oils in it worried me because I don’t like really oily scrubs, but it wasn’t an issue here. Over all the formula is actually really nice for a body scrub, but the smell! It comes in citrus and lavender and I think they would have been a better choice. Instead, this smells like… I don’t even know– office? It smells like dust and paper and maybe the slightest hint of old coffee. This is definitely a decent scrub though. It’s good for those of you who like a really abrasive scrub as opposed to a super gentle one. Best Bath Store’s Body Scrubs retail for $16.95 for 8 oz.
I’ve saved the best for last– Best Bath Store’s Chocolate Lip Balm. Oh em gee. This stuff is full of cocoa butter as well as organic cocoa powder, giving it this amazing chocolate scent. To my nose (and mom’s as well), it smells like melting chocolate chips. It has that kind of warm sweetness to it that reminds us of fresh chocolate chip cookies when they’re still kinda melty. Not only does this lip balm smell delicious, it’s great for my lips too. I’ve noticed that the overall condition of my lips has been better. A lot of lip balms moisturize for a while but after it wears off or you eat something your lips start to feel dry again. Not so with this guy. It’s smooth and very creamy on my lips and keeps them moisturized for hours, even all through the night. The scent is fairly strong. It lingers for a little while after you apply it. If chocolate isn’t your thing, Best Bath Store has 10 formulas such as Lemon-Lime, Bergamot, and Peppermint. They also offer 3 vegan lip balms in Peppermint, Cocoa Butter, and Vanilla Coffee. The vegan formula substitutes beeswax for candelilla wax.  Best Bath Store’s lip balms are $2.95 for a .15 oz tube. 
Overall I am pleased with the products I got from Best Bath Store. Even though I didn’t really care for the coffee scent of the body scrub, it’s still a pretty nice scrub. I think it will be great to use on my feet, which are perpetually dry and in need of scrubbing. And uh, this lip balm is *amazing*. If you’re curious about trying their products, they do offer free samples. You can order up to 5 samples at a time and just pay shipping. 
Worth noting is that Best Bath Store is a very environmentally friendly company. They recycle packaging, ship product in recyclable and biodegradable materials, and have their own branded reusable shopping bags to encourage people to be more green. The entire facility is even run on wind-generated electricity! All Best Bath Store products are cruelty-free as well.
Product samples provided for editorial purposes.
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EOS Lip Balm in Summer Fruit

There have been so many blogs, videos, etc. about the Evolution of Smooth (EOS) lip balms. You can thank all of them for this review because I probably wouldn’t have picked this up except the curiosity got the better of me when I was last at Ulta. They have these guys sitting in that little display of travel-size goodies right before the register. I think the price was $3.50. There are a few different flavors/scents and the one I got was Summer Fruit. It looks like this:

The packaging is a weird little egg-shaped thing, which I think is part of the appeal– it’s different. I wouldn’t want to carry this around in my purse because it’s a lot more bulky than something like my beloved Softlips Pure Chai balm, but I always have lip balm at my desk and at my vanity so this one hangs out on my desk. Here’s what it looks like open:
It looks like a space ship. I don’t know, it’s just cool. There aren’t many things like it. The scent kind of surprised me. It’s subtle, and more realistic fruit than sweet fake fruit you’d expect in a drugstore lip balm scent. It has grown on me. At first I wasn’t crazy about it but now I might even like it. ;) Other available varieties include honeysuckle honeydew, lemon drop (which is SPF 15), sweet mint, and tangerine (which is a medicated balm). 
I like this balm. I won’t say I love it, but it’s decent. It plays nicely with others (lipstick wears well on top) and if i apply it before bed I don’t wake up with grossly sticky lips which is a plus. It’s good, but not earth-shattering. It’s fun because it’s different and kind of cute. It’s not one of those products I’m going to say you need to run out and buy, but it could be a fun stocking stuffer for the novelty factor alone. I got it just because it looks cool, but I’m not disappointed because the balm itself is actually good.
For those of you who are interested, this product is 100% natural and 95% organic. It is not tested on animals. There are no parabens. Key ingredients include shea butter, jojoba oil, and vitamin E. The product is not vegan because it contains beeswax.
Full Ingredients:

Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil*, Beeswax (Cire D’abeille)*, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil*, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil*, Natural Flavor, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter)*, Stevia Rebaudiana Leaf/Stem Extract*, Tocopherol, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil*, Vaccinium Angustifolium (Blueberry) Fruit Extract*, Fragaria Vesca (Strawberry) Fruit Extract*, Prunus Persica (Peach) Fruit Extract*, Linalool1.
1Component of Natural Flavor. 
*Organic. 
Certified Organic by Oregon Tilth. 
Patent Pending.

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Tips & Tricks for Awesome Lips

I am pretty obsessive about taking care of my lips as I consider them one of my best features! Here are my tips & tricks for awesome lips…

Exfoliate
Lips are skin and thus require exfoliation like any other body part. However, the skin on your lips is VERY delicate. You don’t need a fancy “lip exfoliator” product. Exfoliation can be done with a moistened soft toothbrush or washcloth on a regular basis. If you choose to use a toothbrush, use one that hasn’t been used to brush your teeth. Toothpaste contains ingredients that are very drying to the skin, and for some people even cause dermatitis. I know I said you don’t need a fancy product for exfoliating your lips, but there are still some out there that I really like. These are just kind of if you want to use them for extra help. My favorite one is very sadly discontinued– mark. Kiss Xpert. This product was in-freaking-credible for when my lips needed some extra TLC (like after a cold when your whole body needs some TLC!). It was $5 or less and worked great. I have a couple that I’m hoarding and you’ll have to pry ’em out of my cold dead hands. Another option that I haven’t personally tried but have heard very good things about is Mary Kay Satin Lips Lip Mask ($9.50, marykay). The Mary Kay lip mask also comes in a set with a Satin Lips balm for $18. Similar to the Mary Kay product is Benefit’s Dr. Feelgood Lipscription, which is a buffing scrub and silky balm in a set. The set is $32 though and that seems like a bit much for a product that you really don’t need.

Moisturize, Moisturize, Moisturize!
Lips need moisture! I keep hearing about all these moisturizing lip products– lip glosses and lipsticks that claim to balance your lips’ natural moisture. Pucky, most of them. Seriously. Think about it– you apply moisturizer to your skin before you apply makeup. Why would you neglect to do this for your lips, too? I did this without thinking and did not realize that many women do not. I always apply balm before any gloss or lipstick, no matter how moisturizing it claims to be.

But Alyson, a shiny lip balm will change the finish of my lipstick! I know what you’re thinking. You don’t have to use a shiny lip balm. There are several lip products out there that are not shiny at all and will do the job without changing the finish or depth of your lipstick/gloss/etc.

Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm – $3 at drugstores
C.O. Bigelow Mentha Lip Balm Stick with SPF 15 – $7.50 at Bath & Body Works
Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm SPF 25 – $7 at Sephora, Beauty 360

Personally I don’t care about a little shine. If I’m worried the balm makes my lips too “slick” for the lipstick I’m wearing, I just let it sink in a bit and then blot with a tissue (actually napkins work better for blotting in my experience).

And don’t forget to wear sunscreen!
Lips can sunburn. And it hurts really bad. So it’s always a good idea to have an SPF product for your lips around. I admit I do not wear SPF on my lips on a daily basis, but if you’re going to be doing something like going to the beach, walking around at an outdoor mall, etc. it’d be a good idea to have one of these or something like them around…

Burts Bees Weatherproofing Lip Balm – $3 at drugstores
MAC Lip Conditioner SPF 15 – $14.50 at MAC – comes in tinted versions as well as a stick

Night Time is the Right Time
I always wear lip balm to bed. I wear a nonsticky one and apply it well before going to bed. I keep one on the nightstand so I don’t forget. :) Your skin is in state of repair at night when you sleep, and you shouldn’t miss the opportunity to help your skin heal itself.

Quick Fix
A MAC artist taught me that if you need a fast-acting surge of moisture for your lips to dab on your favorite deep moisturizing eye cream. MAC’s Fast Response eye cream is great for this purpose! I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it moisturized and plumped my lips.

Hope these tips help you. :) I also wanted to include some other lip balms I love…

  • Philosophy Kiss Me high emollient lip balm in Pink – $10 @ Philosophy
  • Softlips Pure in Chai Tea – < $4 @ drugstores
  • Sephora Professionnel Most Complete Lip Balm – $2 @ Sephora
  • Wet ‘n Wild Juicy Lip Balm – $3 @ drugstores
  • Lipsmackers – $1.50 @ drugstores
  • Labello (particularly in Dragonfruit) – not available in the US, available at smallflower.com for about $7 ea.

What about you? What are your favorite goodies for pampering your lips?

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Favorites

I don’t think I really did a November favorites post. Oops. But I’ll just talk about some stuff that is my favorite right now. Because does the month part really matter? Nah.

LIPS

My favorite lipstuff definitely changes a lot, but I can tell you for sure one thing I am loving for lips right now is Philosophy’s Kiss Me balm in pink. I got it in Sephora’s deal that they had online for like, a minute that had the balm with 2 mini bath items for $5. But if you want it, you’ll have to go to Philosophy’s website because I don’t see it on Sephora, and it will cost you $12. Philosophy says they created this with someone in mind who is looking for the ultimate lip balm. I think they did a bang-up job. It’s very VERY moisturizing, refreshingly minty (without being tingly-burny), not at all sticky, and long-lasting. The pink shade imparts a tiny hint of color for a perfectly natural look. Kiss Me is also available in clear and red. I’d love to try the red!

I’m also loving and adoring all of my Stila lip glazes! Admittedly I have a ton of these, but they’re kind of addicting. They have pretty colors, fun scents (foody scents! yum!) and I may get flack for this but I love the click pen packaging! Click pens get a lot of hate because apparently some people have problems using them, like that too much (or not enough) product comes out, they leak, whatever. I have never had those problems (knock on wood) with my dozens of click pens I’ve played with over the years. Maybe I am magical. Maybe I am a sort of Click Pen Whisperer or something and they just obey me. I don’t know.

EYES

I am currently having a torrid love affair. With an eyeshadow palette. The NARS Pleasures of Paris palette, actually. This little beauty is 6 shadows of pure love. They’re very easy to wear neutrals. I am literally wearing this palette every other day, it seems. It’s available on the NARS website. It’s limited edition, so hurry if you want it. The shades in the top row of the palette (L to R) are Nepal, Violetta, and Demon Lover. On the bottom row there are Fez, Abyssinia, and Cordura. I’m not a diehard NARS fan (I only have this palette and one other, the Best of NARS palette), but I recognize awesome eyeshadow when I see it and this is a great versatile palette.

FACE

Run, don’t walk (or just open another tab) over to Meow Cosmetics. I am obsessing over the LUSH Blushes! Specifically Warm & Fuzzy, the soft peachy shade. It’s simply gorgeous and natural on, and goes with pretty much anything. Meow offers baggie samples for just $1, so you should go give it a whirl. Try the other lush blushes too! There isn’t one I don’t like.

Well, that’s what I’m really loving right now. Have you tried any of these? Do you love ’em?

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Zoya Hot Lips Review

 Zoya Hot Lips in Heatwave

Like many of you probably did, I took advantage of Zoya’s Hot Lips glossy lip balms freebie offer and picked out my 3 free Hot Lips. Several shades were sold out by the time I got my act together and picked mine, but I ended up with Heatwave, Purr, and Starlet. Heatwave and Purr are creme finishes while Starlet has shimmer.

They seem like they would be pretty small. I was expecting something about the size of a mini Juicy Tube, but these are bigger. They come in short, kind of “stout” tubes that are actually 12g in the tube, so it’s a decent amount of product. The first thing I noticed when I opened the envelope they came in was the smell. They have a deliciously sweet fruity scent (kind of similar to the scent of L’Oreal Color Juice glosses). I have heard they are flavored but to be honest, I don’t make a habit of licking my lips when I have something on them so I wouldn’t really say I’ve tasted them.

The way Zoya refers to these as “glossy lip balms” is a bit misleading, I think. When I think of a glossy lip balm I think of Soft Lips, which is a lip balm that imparts some shine. These are really lip glosses that happen to be very moisturizing, but they are definitely a gloss. The three I got are very pigmented. I think they look best (and work the best at moisturizing lips) when they are patted on lightly like a stain, rather than slathered on like a balm. That way you get some color and the moisturizing effects.

The texture is very sticky. If you do not like sticky lipgloss you will hate these. I personally don’t mind at all, as some of my favorite lip glosses (Juicy Tubes, Stila lip glaze, etc.) are sticky ones. Other than the fact that wearing a red lipgloss to bed is kind of weird (lol) I like these as a bedtime night treatment for my lips. At least the stickiness means it’s not going to wear off in 5 minutes.

I’m pretty happy with the colors I have chosen. Heatwave in reality is much more coral-looking than the photo above. I was kinda hoping for a deep cherry red like the one pictured, but it’s a creamy midtone corally red. Still pretty on, though. The other 2 colors I chose are exactly what was shown in the pictures:

Zoya Starlet & Purr
They do not go on as dark/deep as they look in the tube but that’s to be expected. The only thing I really do not like about these glosses is the applicator. There basically isn’t one. The part of the tube where the gloss squirts out looks like the nozzle of a tube of lotion. A slant or round-tipped applicator would have been much nicer and would make this product easier to apply.
Would I buy these again? Not sure. They retail for $6 each, and while I do think that is a fair price for the product, I’m not sure I would spend the money knowing that I really do not like the applicator. There are many deals to be had on glosses whose applicators I like (ex– Juicy Tubes are often only about $7 at the Lancome outlet), so I don’t think I’ll be jumping at the chance to spend the same amount on a gloss with an applicator that bugs me. I will definitely use these 3 though and I do enjoy wearing them.
Did you get your free Zoya Hot Lips? What do you think of them? What colors did you get?
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Review – Softlips Pure Honeydew

I am a lip balm junkie, for sure. I never go anywhere without a couple of balms on my person at all times. Every time I think of Softlips I remember some article/story in a teen magazine (I don’t remember which one– this was years ago) about a girl who was addicted to Softlips. Like, hardcore addicted. Err ok. Whatever turns you on, kid.

But honestly…of all the things you could be addicted to…um, I really doubt lip balm is up there on the list of things that are going to harm you. ;) Especially this one! Because it’s 100% natural and organic. Now, I do love me some Softlips, that’s for sure, but until trying Pure I wasn’t their biggest fan or anything. It was just somewhere on the middle of the list of balms I enjoy. I would wear it when I wanted some SPF, because other versions of Softlips have SPF 15. (Side note– have you ever sunburned your lips? I haven’t, but in high school my boyfriend did and omg. Not fun!!! Wear that sunscreen, people!) But! Pure. Back to the subject at hand.
Softlips Pure is very similar to other balms that I really enjoy, like Chapstick Lip Butter, Alba Botanica Coconut Creme Balm, and Kiss My Face’s peach lip balm. Seeing a trend here? Organic products. They are just so…creamy and you can really feel them sinking in and nourishing your lips to their softest potential. It’s no shock this one is so nice for me because the primary ingredient is in fact coconut oil. Yum. Slather it on. A thick coating will keep my lips soft and moisturized all night and I wake up with outstanding results. A thin coat makes a nice base for lipsticks that have a tendency to be drying (*cough* MAC frost formulas anyone?).
There’s also all sorts of other good things like shea butter, olive extract, jojoba oil (which is actually a wax…), cucumber, Vitamin E, and sunflower oil. It reads like a list of things I know my skin (particularly the delicate skin on my lips) is going to just loooove. However, I also read that this product contains no animal ingredients/wasn’t tested on animals. Well, the second part of that is true, but if you are vegan just be aware that this does contain beeswax. Organic beeswax (as opposed to..?) but yes, beeswax.
Would I purchase this again? Possibly, but not in honeydew. I really dislike the scent. But I’m decidedly anti-melon-scented-anything, so take that with a grain of salt. I like to eat honeydew melons, but anything scented melon is so gross to me. Luckily for me, this also comes in pomegranate, which is lovely. ;)
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