As winter slowly creeps up on Adelaide I find myself waking up in the morning with disgustingly dry and chapped lips. Actually, come to think about it this happens regardless of whether it is winter or not! That said, as the harsh weather kicks in I have armed myself with lipbalms and have them in easily accessible places so I have no excuse to fall victim (I actually typed "wic" initially...hehe, wictim...get it? No? Okay.) to crinkly lips. Which does happen throughout the day since I am far too lazy to reach over to the other side of my desk or under it to find relief. As I type this, I have two of the five above next to my laptop and one of the five in my handbag. The other two? Well, they failed to impress me...or rather one did but the other? Broke my heart, in a way. Until I met a better alternative that mended my heart right up.
In all honesty I own a very limited makeup collection, I try to keep it limited because I see no point in having a badzillion things where you just end up being indecisive over what products to use and then most of it is forgotten and collecting dust - this is how I view it, I know the majority of people out there have these large collections I am currently shaking my head at but they actually use their products routinely. Me? Not so much, I go through phases where I am on top of my makeup and do it daily and then other days I am lazy and do without anything. Hence why I limit myself, because some other person out there could purchase what I don't and use it better than I ever would!
First off in my entire lipbalm collection is a novelty item. Hands up who recognizes this and has owned a small army of them in younger years? My first encounter with these was in 9th grade when we did a school trip to Australia and all my friends got really excited about finding these in a pharmacy. I ended up getting a frosty purple and pink one which both smelled so good. So when Celeste, Stacey and I were raiding Priceline when we met up I had to throw this strawberry Fanta flavored Lip Smacker into my shopping basket!
Overall though? Lip Smackers are not the best lipbalms out there and are definitely just novelty lipbalms. They are waxy, a bit tedious to apply and I really hate the artificial taste this has. It would have been a bearable lipbalm had it been tasteless but this lives permanently in my makeup box, untouched. It was cute to go down memory lane but not so cute otherwise. Definitely no lasting power, no hydrating, moisturizing feeling and I am never motivated to use this or leave it on my lips for long.
Last year I had the "misfortune" of being stuck in Singapore Airport for a sixteen-hour transit and as compensation for doing so, my parents gave me a little extra spending money! Instead of going crazy with this extra money though I instead opted for a smart purchase: knowing I had no lip products that contained SPF in them I thought I would find one that did and also provided a bit of color. And M.A.C's tinted lip conditioner in Fuchsia Fix was perfect! With an SPF of 15 and a very pretty pink shade I absolutely love using this on days where I can't be bothered wearing makeup or if I'm going to the beach and want a bit of makeup that won't smudge when I frolic in the ocean - I know, scandalous, I'm one of those girls who actually gets into the ocean and gets completely drenched without a care about my hair or makeup. Go back a bit, the only makeup I wear to the beach is this lip conditioner!
If I recall this was a bit pricey (for me, I'm terribly thrifty) but the amount of product (15ml) you get does last yonks, I use this regularly and you can see how little of a dent I have made. It smells like a cake mixture in a way, vanilla with that cake mixture thrown in. There is no taste to this, only a lipbalm sort of taste I suppose? What I love the most about this is the effect it has on your lips, I have thrown this on when my lips have been absolutely foul and chapped and flakey but this makes your lips smooth and supple within minutes. The added color is perfect as well and I am so glad I listened to the M.A.C makeup artist who suggested this shade for me instead of one of the other neutral shades.
To have the entire collection of these conditioners? Definitely worth it. I would recommend this to anyone looking for an easy balm and color in one. It also has a bit of a shiny, glossy feel to it so it doesn't look matte on your lips but more like one of those gloss-lipstick hybrids.
In terms of lasting power, this does last a while and looks quite pretty once it sort of fades on your lips but otherwise it comes clean off when you are eating or wiping your mouth. At least it doesn't stain. I did wear this overnight to test my lips in the morning and found them beautifully moisturized when I woke up so definitely good in terms of keeping your lips moisturized and preventing them chapping but because of the color I wouldn't suggest you sleep with this overnight unless you are fine with stains on your pillow!
Vaseline I know is a bit of a 50/50 product with people, some love it and others hate it. Personally I love it although I have found a better alternative. Literally this is colorless, tasteless and is just petroleum jelly in a great sized tin that you can use as a lipbalm. What I used to also use this for was to help my eyelashes grow! Trust me, this trick actually does work. I seriously have seen such an improvement in my lashes since I applied this ritually every night. Vaseline is also great for applying over cuts and helping them heal up and for giving matte lipsticks that much needed gloss and hydration.
As you can see I quite love my Vaseline tin. When brand new, these tins are an absolute pain to open and will be for quite a while but once they are worn out a little they become much easier to pop off.
Great for overnight use although if you use it on your eyelashes (or even eyebrows, which I used to do as well) be prepared for oily eyes in the morning! Not really a biggie as Vaseline is easily wiped off but some people may hate this especially if they already have very oily skin. Lips-wise you wake up with nice lips to work with.
At times I really hate using my M.A.C tinted lip conditioner because it is just awkward to use, you have to unscrew the top and dip your finger into it to dab onto your lips. So when this started becoming a regular problem I thought it time to invest on a product I could easily whip out and use with just one hand. I remember having such a bad experience with Nivea lip balm when I was younger - I had the plain red one which was strawberry flavored I think? It didn't taste like it but it was such a terrible lip balm, quite like the Lip Smacker where you couldn't wear it without feeling like you had wax on your lips. So for years I was hesitant about getting another one but recently thought it wouldn't hurt as a lot of bloggers love them and so I opted for the Fruity Shine which is tinted.
Verdict? I absolutely love it! It is glossy, slides along my lips and keeps my lips happy throughout the day. I love using this during the week when I'm at uni. as it is easy to use while I'm taking notes in a lecture and also gives me the loveliest red pout! I love this red, it looks a little unnatural but it honestly gives me a cute pout to work with without wearing a bold red lip. I haven't used this overnight but I definitely recommend it for the day, I almost wish it wore off more during the day so I could reapply it often but I hardly need to.
Remember how I said I found an alternative to Vaseline? More on why I found an alternative to begin with but for the moment, the alternative was Lucas' Papaw Ointment! How I discovered this was through a friend when I had first moved to Adelaide, she whipped this tube out and used it on her lips and I was hooked - I had always wanted a big tube of lip product! I think it was either on Laguna Beach or The Hills where a girl uses a gigantic tube of lipgloss and since then I have always wanted a big tube myself. When I found out from my friend that this was a better alternative to Vaseline I knew I had to test it out for myself.
When you squeeze it out it comes out firm and is yellow-ish in color, don't read too much into the fermented fruit part of it as it might put you off but this smells lovely and has absolutely no taste. And it is amazing. I kid you not. I use it for everything - as a base for difficult lipsticks, over lipstick, with difficult lipglosses and just on its own. It is amazing and keeps your lips perfect. If you use this overnight you are safe from chapped and dry lips. If you already have bitten and bleeding lips you apply this and it is the relief you need, plus within two nights your lips heal up especially if you use it during the day as well.
The best part about this ointment is you can use it for everything: boils, burns, chafing, cuts, cracked skin, gravel rash, splinters, open wounds, insect bites and nappy rash. Obviously they have bigger tubs of this (just like Vaseline does) but this tube is useful for traveling. Definitely a MUST HAVE! I accidentally washed my first tube along with my laundry last year and was devastated. I bought this tube, brought it back home with me to Sri Lanka where it became an oily mess - important note, do NOT take this with you to a tropical country as it will become an oily mess that you can't really use. However, good part is when I brought it back to Adelaide and now that winter is creeping up on us it has firmed up again. Sometimes when you use it and it is particularly firmed up from the cold it might appear white-ish on your lips, don't fret it just happens when it is especially cold so either warm up the tube in between your thighs while sitting and reading your mails or just apply it and after a while it becomes clear.
Are there any balms you think I need to add to my collection? Especially considering I won't be using my Vaseline or Lip Smacker for much longer?
