Balm crazy

As I've mentioned before, I am quite lippie mad. From the first Estee Lauder (Re-nutriv All Day in Caffe Latte) lipstick my mom gave me (it was a gorgeous brown), to my current collection of many lipsticks and glosses (we'll leave it at many just in case mom's reading this. She freaked when she found out I have 20 blushers), I have always been, first and foremost a lippie addict.

Even before my blush crush, and eyeshadows joined my humble collection of cosmetics.

And lip balms certainly fall into the lippie category as well. Today I'll be doing a quick review of six balms that are quite neutral in colour, hence can be worn under a lipstick or gloss.

First off, the Nivea Lip Care Velvet Rose. One of my earlier staples, it has a very slight pink tinge to it. One thing I love about it is that it doesn't melt (or sweat) so easily, even when it's sitting in a pouch, in a black bag, on a hot and sunny day. However, this could also very well be the reason it doesn't wear as well as the other lipbalms. It seems a tad dry and doesn't apply so well.

Next is the Sebamed lip defense with SPF30. One of my day favourites as it comes with SPF, it glides on well and keeps my lips moisturised. Packaging wise, it's slim and very similar to the Nivea one, taking up very little space in my lippie pouch. It also has no scent, which is great for days when I err.. well.. want no scent in my balm. It lists Jojoba oil as one of its ingredients, with Vitamin E too!

This one I only got recently - Mentholatum Lip Pure. It comes in two varieties, fragrance free or citrus. I chose fragrance free as I am not one to fancy citrusy scents. It claims to contain "100% food grade ingredients", including Beeswax, Shea Butter oil, Almond oil, Aloe Extract and Jojoba oil too. It's lovely to put on, and it seems to just melt onto your lips. I can definitely see myself repurchasing this one! It really reminded me of one of my earliest Holy Grail (HG) lipbalms - Ultra Ready E-honi, which sadly, isn't available in the market anymore.

And aahh.. another one of my faves from Yves Rocher, the Les Plaisirs Nature in Vanilla and Coconut. Sounds yummy doesn't it? It has a strong scent of vanilla, so those who aren't keen on this scent (i.e. Kahani) should leave this one out. It applies very smoothly, and a tad yellowish-gold (with just a bit of shimmer) on the lips, which can leave me looking washed-out and pale. But a good way you can use this lipbalm is to warm up any cool lipstick you might have. Under or over it, play around and see it works best for you. But I love the scent, and the texture, and its moisturising properties. And while the tube's chunkier than most others, it's not exactly a problem.

Another Yves Rocher lipbalm I bought to try is the Baume Eclat with Apricot extract. While it smells yummy too, performance is only average. It just doesn't have the "Wow" factor some lipbalms have that make you keep going back to them.

And finally, the little tub of Mentholatum Lip Ice which works as an overnight lip conditioner. I tried it, and it works fine. It has a slight minty feel when you first apply, which is nice. But my verdict is that if you already have Vaseline, you won't really need this product.

Next up sometime soon, tinted lipbalms. I told you I was lippie mad.