Lip Balm Addict

As a kid/teen I was obsessed with Lip Smackers lip balm. I had an impressive collection (and a collectable tin to keep them all in). Every day I was able to choose a different flavour/scent which went right into my pocket to keep me company for the day.

Fast forward quite a few years and little has changed. While my collection is no full of lip smackers products, I still have an dying love for lip balms. I do try to find lip balms they are more organic based and with fewer chemicals these days, but that’s not to say that a lip smackers doesn’t get thrown into the mix now and again. 😉

A few weeks back I wrote a post on reducing chemicals in your personal care routine , but only really talked about one of the lip balms I’m loving these days. Today I thought I’d invite you into my obsession and share a few more!

It’s important to note that this isn’t my entire collection. I gathered up the lip balms in my purse, by my bed and at my desk and let all the others be. After editing the photos I realize that my Burt’s Bees lip balm didn’t make the (photo) cut, but I’m okay with that. While I like my Burt’s Bees lip balm, I find I use it less than these others (with the exception of the Aronia which I only got on Friday).

Moving along…

I’ve already declared my love for LUSH Lip Service lip balm. My skin can get cranky over nothing, and anytime I feel my lips getting irritated by something I ate, or something I put on them I go back to this balm. It’s simple, I like the smell (and the taste), and it does it’s job really well. What I don’t like is that I have to apply it with my finger so then I have to either wash my hands or wipe my finger on my pants (not that I’d ever do such a thing…). You can see in this photo and the one above, that my own tin is very well loved. When I was having a really bad skin irritation last spring this was the only thing that kept me from losing my mind!

How can I not love EOS? They are largely organic based, come in the coolest little spherical containers and well, are just cool. I have a number of them littered throughout the house and my car. They are easy (and mess free) to apply, they come is great scents/flavours (I never know what to call them. I know you’re not suppose to eat them, but you do get a taste of them…). The only drawback to these is I find if I use them exclusively for a few days I do start to get a lip irritation. I don’t know what is in them that bothers my skin, but it seems like small quantities don’t irritate so I use these a bit more sparingly.

My newest addiction. Bare English & Co is a small Canadian company that makes these freaking amazing tea infused lip balms that are organic, GMO, gluten and cruelty free. They sent me a number of their lip balm to check out and you guys I am honest to goodness obsessed with them. I’ve opened these two (the vanilla almond smells just like almond cookies!) and I love anything citrus scented so I went crazy for the pink grapefruit. I offered to give one to my friend Cathy, and then had the hardest time trying to decide which one to give her (mostly because I wanted them all for myself!). She ended up with cucumber melon, and she too is obsessed. Unlike the EOS these don’t irritate my lips at all (I should know, I’ve applied it about 334987324 times/day since they arrived!) and smell SOOO good! Did I mention how good they smell?

Here in Canada you can purchase them at Rexall, London Drugs and Shoppers Drug Mart, as well as a number of tea shops and natural health stores. I’ve checked our local Shopper’s Drug Mart and they carry the two scents (favours?) I show above, plus the cucumber melon. This November they are launching 5 more flavours including Lemon Meringue, Chai Tea Latte, Juicy Peach, Mango Acai and Sweet Peppermint (and a line of tinted balm, hand cream, body lotion and sugar scrub in the next few months). Needless to say I am 100% sure I need all of them. If you trust nothing else I say trust this – if you live in Canada and like lip balm, you need to go get some of these. I’m sure everyone knows about EOS and LUSH, but you might not know about these and they are amazing! Aside from the times I need the super power of the LUSH balm these have quickly become my go-to product. For real. #totallyobsessed

The Badger lip balm is a newer addition to my collection as well. I’d been wanting to try one for a while so Cathy picked one up for me a few weeks ago (which is what lead me to give her one of my Bare English lip balms). I really like the flavour (I’ve decided it is flavour not scent, but now am too lazy to go back and change anything), and the balm is good but I would put it in the same category as my Burt’s Bees. Good or borderline great, but falling short of amazing. Sorry Badger, I like ya, I just don’t love you.

Aronia is a new product for me, I’ve actually only tried it a couple times but wanted to include it because there is just something about it I quite like. It’s the flavour. When I looked it up it is infused with berry extracts, but for some reason it gives me a cream soda-vibe which I really like. Cream Soda was my favourite kind of pop growing up so I’m really drawn to it. What I have is a sample size, the full size lip butter comes in a different packaging and is available to purchase online or at select Ontario stores. I can’t attest to how hydrating it is long term, but the few times I tried it so far I did enjoy it, especially that flavouring!!

Are you a lip balm addict? I know a few of my friends are, if you are too I’d love to hear what your all time fav lip balm is! Right now I’m going to say it’s a toss up between my LUSH Lip Service and my new BFF Bare English & Co. I just can’t forget how much the Lip Service saved me when my lips were so irritated and swollen, but I really am obsessed with Bare & English Co!

A Sneaky Giveaway!

When I told the people at Bare English & Co just how obsessed, I mean in love, I am with their lip balms they offered to give two of my Canadian readers a set of their 5 new flavours (Juicy Peach, Lemon Meringue, Sweet Peppermint, Chai Tea Latte and Mango Acai)! I can’t lie, I’m desperately envious of whomever wins! To enter please visit their website and then come back here and leave a comment telling me which of their flavours you would most like to try!

Giveaway will end at 11:59pm EST on Monday, November 24, 2014. Winners will be selected using random.org

 Winners

The giveaway winners have been chosen and they are:

FYI-Some of the comments were mine (and one was a comment someone left by mistake), but I chose to use the full number of comments and then counted down to find the winner ensuring that the winning comment wasn’t my own or the other voided comment.

Disclosure: I did received the Bare English & Co lip balms free of charge, but was not required to write a review for them, I am sharing only because I’m insanely obsessed and I want everyone to join me in my obsession! I also did receive the Aroina lip butter of free but in a sample box, not from Aronia. They have no idea who I am or that I have a blog.