Burt's Bee Tinted Lip Balm

OK, quick, before I get distracted.... here is another post!

I have been particularly interested in lip products of late, after what I call the Lipstick Disaster also known as the Japanese Honeysuckle debacle (click here). So on a recent trip to Wholefoods (I should start receiving commission how much I go on about Wholefoods) - a trip which lasted several hours I might add, maybe even as long as three, I know! THREE! - I picked up a little tube of Burt's Bee Tinted Lip Balm (that probably wasn't all I got...)

"Great!" I thought.

A lip balm with a healthy dab of colour. I chose Pink Blossom. It's a pretty fuschia pink, nothing too wild but not plain jane either. There are six colours in this range though, including red, darker plum, coral and nude. I simply must try them all! For I love this lip balm. LOVE!

The colour is perfect for my lips to look a little alive and a little effortlessly 'done'. And as it is a balm, you get properly moisturised, long-lasting smoothness. For real! I struggle with lip balms. I can get really dry lips and have the grossest habit of pickpickpicking when they get that way. Colour can only make dry skin more obvious. This is nothing short of amazing for how smooth it makes my lips feel and the slick of colour just makes them POP! 

Let me say it again. I LOVE this lip balm.

I tell you what I also love, the packaging. It comes in a cute little cardboard tube which has really brought out my geek side as I have kept what is a standard lip-balm-shaped lip balm inside it's very own little lip balm house to stop it getting all fluffy under the lid like they usually do in my possession. It does cost £5.99 which is about 2squid more than the others in the Burt's Bees line but for a cute lip balm carrier case I'll pay what you ask!

It's such a great formula, coconut oil, shea butter, lanolin and it smells délicieux like bubblegum, though I think that it might be jasmine and rosemary, looking at the ingredients... Yum!

So there. That wasn't so hard now was it!

Kiss kiss xoxo

Balm Balm Face Balm

I love the name Balm Balm. It makes me think of Bam Bam from the Flintstones. And then makes me want to hit someone over the head with a club whilst shouting 'BAM BAM!' Which then makes me think of Timmy Mallet and the Mallet Mallet game. And then I forget what I'm talking about... Oh yes, why I really like the name is because it is a strident and happy declaration of exactly what it is, a range of beautiful balms. Simple.

The Balm Balm Face Balm is one of my favourite kind of products, one you can use everywhere for anything! Why stop at your face? Use it on any dry skin, anywhere; elbows, hands, knees, feet. Use it on dry ends of hair, on lips, rub into cuticles. The list goes on... I love a good multi-purpose product and if something doesn't say it is multi-purpose, I'll often end up using it in all sorts of ways anyway!

Once such bright idea came after getting a little too much sunshine recently, I used it on my shoulders and chest for a major boost of nourishing skin-loving oils that my dehydrated and rather cross skin was screaming out for. And it was very nice indeed, putting a sock in the mouth of my complaining skin! Take that, sunburn! BAM! (add your own sound effects)

The little tube (30ml) is great for travelling around although it isn't a measely size. The balm is fragranced with rose geranium which is gorgeous and there is also a tea tree one and an unfragranced version too. The balm is quite thick but happily squishes out of the little tube and when in contact with the skin, turns all melty and oily. It is quite a lingering oiliness so if I was to put it on my face I'd only use it on say, my cheeks at night, because I inevitably don't have time to wait for it to absorb properly before putting on make up. But I'd merrily use it on hands and feet etc... I squashed some into my hands when I started this post and although it hasn't fully absorbed yet I'm not leaving too many sticky finger prints all over the keyboard! It is also worth noting that this balm is 100% natural and 100% organic so that's a double whammy right there. BAM BAM!

What I like about Balm Balm most is the super-simplicity of their products. The range is very non-fussy, with few ingredients, of which all are certified organic by the Soil Association. The design of every product is clean and simple and although the packaging is appealingly candy-coloured, the products inside are as wholesome as could be. A great little family-run, British, ethical company. Go get 'em!

Balm Balm Face Balm in Rose Geranium is £6.99 for 30ml
Available in good health food shops and online from Balm Balm

Weleda Skin Food

I love a good meal. So you can imagine how happy it makes me when a product offers to feed my skin. Yum. Please sir, can I have some more?

One of Weleda's best sellers, Skin Food is an anything and everything product, providing extreme nourishment for deprived, dehydrated, dry, depressed and desperate skin. You can use it on your lips, on your elbows and knees, on your face for a super-intensive mask, on your hair to smooth over flyaways or dry ends. You can use it like a hand cream, a nail balm, or you can just smell it because it smells delicious, like you might just squidge it all over a freshly baked ciabatta roll.  (Don't actually do that)

Skin Food contains a very simple list of ingredients including sunflower seed oil and extracts of wild pansy, calendula, rosemary and chamomile to nourishes and protect skin. It does this so well that it has won 10 Awards in 2 years, apparently, most recently bagging Best Skincare Product in the Ethical Living Awards. And it has been around since 1926 as one of the first products made by Weleda. The old ones are always the best!

I have included this product for a while in my make up kit as a natural alternative to classic Eight Hour Cream, and I carry it in my set bag too - invaluable for quick fixes for the actors and even the rest of the crew too. You always get someone wanting lip balm or hand cream. And they always come back for more!

Weleda Skin Food RRP £8.50 for 75ml
Available online at www.weleda.co.uk and in good health food stores.
Also available at Naturisimo for £6.50 saving £2. Magic.

Lip Silk vs Lip Rescue

As Harry Hill would say, I like Lip Silk and I like Lip Rescue. But which is better? There's only one way to find out. FIGHT!

Unfortunately, I have been animating my two favourite lip balms and doing little voices and wrestler moves and making them fight like the chicken and Peter Griffin in Family Guy, but alas, there is no winner. Here's why I like both...

So Lip Silk is by natural brand Essential Care. It is a very simple, white tube of your usual lip balm style. Here it is.

It's quite a solid balm, with moisturising shea butter, beeswax, coconut oil and orange essential oil. All Essential Care products are certified organic. 

There is one very simple reason that I think it is important to be mindful about what you put on your lips; we gobble it up! The skin is the biggest organ in the body and absorbs everything we put on it but if there is one product that should be natural, given the proximity to your mouth, it should probably be those that get used on your lips. You can count on it ending up in your system by either being eaten off or readily absorbed by the thin skin on your lips. I know that I don't want to munch on a chemical sandwich nor swig a synthetic smoothie. And if you're going to go natural, even better to punch higher and go for organic!

So then, it works very nicely. I have a really bad habit of picking and poking and biting any dry skin on my lips (sorry, gross) and this does extremely well to moisturise and soften any dryness and discourage me from repulsing onlookers. And it lasts for ages! Even when I have been snacking. Many of you will know this happens often.

The smell is pleasant yet subtle, slightly orangey, from the orange essential oil I presume. Orange essential oil helps repair tissue and build collagen. My lips just feel very nourished with a lovely, protected, not-too-shiny-looking finish. Dewy. 

I'm trying these out as we speak to aid descriptions and so on my bottom lip I have Lip Silk. And on my top lip I now have Lip Rescue by Desert Essences. Oohh minty. 

This is a very smooth, less waxy formula, it gives more of a shine and is silkier, despite the other one actually being called Lip Silk it's not as silky as Lip Rescue. So that means it gives quite a nice glossy finish if you like that sort of thing. And I do. In it we have jojoba oil and aloe vera. Jojoba oil is the most similar, of all other compounds, to the oil our own skin produces so is very easily absorbed and used by our skin. This makes your lips feel comfortable and moisturised without the pesky tendency of drying out once the balm has gone/been eaten. 

Actually it's important to note both lip balms give that lasting softness and will not cause or exacerbate dryness like mineral / petroleum based lip products can. Nor create a dependency for it.

Lip Rescue is fragranced with peppermint essential oil which is ever-so-slightly medicinal but nice and fresh all the same and I like that, as opposed to daft 'flavours' of lip balms like chocolate and strawberries etc. which make me feel like I've got cake smeared all over my face. And not in a good way. 

Right then, to summarise. With both Lip Silk and Lip Rescue offering you wonderfully softened lips, with a choice of glossy or dewy finishes, why bother choose? They are as cheap as chips and better for you.

Essential Care Lip Silk £4.50 at Naturisimo rrp £5.50 

Desert Essences Lip Rescue £2.25 at Revital 

Also available at Planet Organic shops.