Lipbalms: a Neverending Story

I was rummaging through my bag today and shamefully realised that I had no less than 8 lipbalms in there. Why? I suppose I haven’t found the right one yet, and the ones I do really like I find a bit too precious to use everyday. There are even some in there that I don’t like at all, but keep using as if hoping one day they would do the trick.

 

1. Korres Pomegranate Lip Butter - This certainly classifies as one of my more precious balms. It’s incredibly soft and gives a subtle rosy tint to the lips. No complaints at all, except maybe for the price (€8,95). A bit too special to use it just everyday, while sitting behind my desk.

2. Le Couvent des Minimes Smile Lip Balm - To start of positive, this one has gorgeous packaging. I was immediately drawn to it because of the ingredients: honey and plenty of caring oils. But oh, what a disappointment. It feels grubby when applied to the lips and once it dries, it feels like it’s left a thin layer of sugar behind. Which is also exactly what it tastes like. Not moisturizing at all, it possible leaves my lips feeling drier.

3. Nivea Gloss Wonder Balm - No complaints about this one. It’s not really a gloss, but not 100% a balm either. It’s a pretty and moisturizing finish to the lips, but not the intensive treatment I’m looking for. Like the Korres balm, I want to keep this for the ‘special’ occasions, not just while hanging in my couch at home.

4. Carmex Moisturizing Lip Balm - I wrote about this when I just got it. I wasn’t truly happy with it then and my disappointment has only increased. It feels like I’m rubbing a hospital-smell into my lips. I’m no longer a fan of the stingy sensation and above all, it leaves my lips even more chapped. I feel like a need a balm to save my lips after using this one. It will probably end up in a garbage bag soon.

5. Vaseline Lip Therapy Rosy Lips - Not moisturizing at all, but that does not mean I don’t like it. I just use it for what it does best: protecting my lips in bad weather.

6. Burt’s Bees Replenishing Lip Balm with Pomegranate - So many people seem to love this! Sadly, no one ever warned me about the small, which for some reason, I can’t stand at all. There are some positives though: I love the mainly natural ingredients and it’s not too bad (but not as good as I expected either).

7. Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Macaroon - To be clear: I love love love this one! But not as a lip balm. I know it’s called a lip butter and many rave about it’s moisturizing capacities, but it is essentially a lipstick. Yes, it’s probably nicer and smoother to wear than others, but to me it’s nothing more than a pretty colour on the lips.

8. Chapstick - This keeps my lips in reasonably good shape, especially compared to the ones above. I suppose this is the best standard one I’ve tried, and probably the only one I should carry around, because it’s become my go-to. Not because of awesome results, but because it doesn’t have the cons the other balms have.

So there you go. To be clear: I even own more than these, this is just a snapshot of what I’ve collected in my handbag over the last months. The other ones I don’t even pick up to put in there anymore. I probably should be getting rid of some, but I find it hard to throw out products that haven’t been used up. So I occassionally try them again, to realise why I didn’t like them in the first place.

So am I picky, or is it really that hard to come accross a good lip balm? Any suggestions?

Bargain… anything a customer thinks a store is losing money on.

A good bargain can really make my day. So I was more than happy when I ran into this Nivea lipbalm for €1,49 at a local bargain store (called Action for fellow Belgians/Dutchies). They normally just sell “random” usefull stuff (cheapest toilet paper ever!) , but if you’re lucky, you can pick up some gems. Such as this one.

 

This ‘Gloss wonder balm” by Nivea is essentially more a balm than a gloss. It leaves a shiny finish on the lips, but what I like most about it is the soft feel. The ingredients also indicate some softening going on there, with Argan Oil, Mango & Cacao butter. It has no colour-pay off, but I don’t really mind, since it feels heavenly on my lips. Add to that the SPF 15 and it’s an absolutely amazing find for the money. I’m almost sorry I didn’t pick up a whole bunch of these…

Nein! Nein! Nein! Ok Fine!

I don’t know why, but I’m obsessed with nailpolishes lately. Now that I think of it, this is probably not true. I’m always painting my nails, it might just be the fact that I started taking pictures of my mani’s that makes it feel that way.

Anyway…. Behold my favourite nailpolish of this fall. I love dark nailpolishes, but always had some trouble finding just that pérfect colour: I don’t like jet black, dark reds are fine (but you can’t always wear the same, can you?) and many other colours stain my nails like mofos, which make me not want to wear them.

 

Nein! Nein! Nein! Ok Fine! by OPI ticks all my boxes: gorgeous dark colour, easy to apply and stays pretty for atleast 3-4 days when I’m too lazy

for a topcoat. The colour is hard to describe since it depends on the light: it’s somewhere between a grey-blueish-greenish tone. This one is definitly my favourite of the season.

 

If you see a friend without a smile; give him one of yours.

I wasn’t too impressed by the colours in Catrice’s new collection, Neonaturals. I have similar colors in my stash already, and the nudes seemed quite grubby on the swatches I’d already seen. There was one exception though: Makes me Smile. I loved the first swatches I saw and ran to my local Kruidvat to pick this one up. And oh, I am so happy that I did. It’s a gorgeous metally finish, with mostly silver, but also some slight golden particles in it. Aside from being pretty, application went super easy, the swatch underneath was taken with two coats.

My name is usually the one on the end of people’s lips.

I’m a sucker for keeping my lips hydrated. While I was walking around town yesterday, I noticed I didn’t have any lipbalm on me. Oh the horror! So I popped into the nearest drugstore and picked up a tub of Carmex. It might be hard to believe, but this was the first time ever I tried their product.

I almost shrieked a little a minute after dabbing it on for the first time, because I did not expect it to sting. It’s not a highly unpleasant feeling, but the cold, zingy feeling of the menthol really caught me by surprise. Apart from that, my first impression of it’s smell was no too positive, although I got used to it quickly. And hey, you have to make some sacrifices to test new products, no?

So after a few days of use, here are my main findings:

• The stingy feeling of the menthol is still a bit strange, but I’m actually starting to like it now. No idea why, it just ‘feels’ like the product is actually doing something. No idea if that is true.
• It keeps my lips hydrated for a decent amount of time. I have the feeling it’s effect lasts considerably longer than most of the other lipbalms I own. A big plus!
• The smell is still not (and will never be) my favourite. Luckily, it doesn’t last long.
• To discover why it tingled so much, I did some research on it’s ingredients. I wish I never had. If you want to read some scary stuff about Carmex, you can do so here.

So in short: I’m a little disappointed. After hearing ravings about Carmex for years, I suppose I thought this would be my new holy grail. Unfortunately, it’s not. It keeps my lips hydrated, but has a bit too much downsides for me. I think I’ll be keeping it in my purse though, for chapped-lip-emergencies.

It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.

Festive nailpolish: mission accomplished!

I picked up a bottle op OPI’s Your Royal Shine-ness yesterday. While I’m always a bit apprehensive about paying that much for just a nailcolour, this feeling faded quickly when applying this to my nails. Oh the formula! The colour! The brush!

Your Royal Shine-ness turned out to be a gorgeous silvery foil on the nails, with a very subtle glitter in there. It only needed two coats which amazed me greatly, because the effect is gorgeous.  Even though I initially just bought this for the holidays, I’m pretty sure I might be wearing this all year round.

Actually, I wear the nail polish to hide how grubby my nails are.

In general, I prefer my “basic” nailpolishes. Even if the colour pops, I like my polishes opaque and creamy. No shine, glitter or shimmer.

I seem to be infected with a slight case of holiday-spirit however and notice that I’m craving glitter. Even more so after a little browse on Pinterest. I might go out and pick up some polishes. Just to wear them once probably. But hey, it’s the season, right?