Random Lip Balm

So through my travels, I often stop at random places with the sheer desire of finding some small company or stay at home mom selling their wears, especially lip balm. This blog is a simple run down of 3 balms I have recently purchased at random, un-balmy places.


Woodman Farms Beeswax Lip Balm
$2.00 at craft fair in Lockport
Scent: Wintergreen
[not on label... My guess... Beeswax, castor oil, essential oil]

First, what the heck. There is a giant bump like growth on this balm when I first opened it. I think this balm is hand filled and the person didn't want to waste any...but gees... it makes putting it on hard.

This lip balm has a nice firm texture, which makes application easy. It has a light gloss to is, so your lips look wet. The scent is almost nauseating. It smells like chewed gum. When you put it on, it doesn't get better.

This balm lasts through drinking but not through eating and remains on your lips for a good 2 to 3 hours.

Overall, this balm is in my "sick balm" bag. I can't handle the crappy smell and taste, but it does it's job and it shan't go to waste.

Rating: .5 outta 5 (they are from New York... I have to represent)
DO NOT BUY


Ganache for Lips
$4 purchased at Butterwood's on Main Street in Williamsville
Flavor: Mocha Latter

[Ingredients per lip balm found @ website by clicking flavor]

This little splurge came after a great meal of sweets and some warm mocha. (If you are ever in the Buffalo area I recommend without hesitation Butterwood's or The Chocolate Bar... both the same company.)

So this lip balm is a chocolate lover's dream. It is made with real chocolate and coffee bean extract. It is very rich and flavor and the wonderful mix of ingredients becomes a delightful texture to put on your lips. It is smooth and just glides on leaving your lips feeling so moist.

It does not wear through eating or drinking but it does last at least 4 hours, if you can resist licking your lips!

Overall, I consider this a great investment. It is a great pick me up when I wanna chow down on chocolate that I don't have laying around.

Rating: 4.5 outta 5
GREAT BUY! GO GET YOUR OWN!


Wei East White Olive Tinted Lip Smoother
available here or at random beauty conventions
(I got it as a gift and I didn't wanna know)
$10 online

Tint: Pink Peony

[ingredients were MIA]

Well...yes. There is a butt load of money to spend on such a small container of lip balm. 0.28 0z. It is bigger than your standard stick but it doesn't look like that.

It doesn't smell great and you wont be licking your lips, but I have to give it up; this balm is the bomb. Have you tried the new O-Gloss from smashbox? Well... this pink is the exact same pink that the O-Gloss turns on my lips. (This is one way I justify the fact someone may have spent $10 on this for me.) The tint is great, and perfect for my pale complexion. It feels uber luxuroius on my lips. It has a creamy texture that is thick, in a good way, and makes your lips feel like they are wrapped in healthiness.

The tint and sheen last about 2 hours, and that is if you are not drinking or eating. Yet the effects of this balm last for hours. Even after I wipe this off, I can still feel my lips being moisturized. I love it. It has SPF too!

Overall, if you can afford this, you need to buy it. It is CHEAPER than O-gloss (and better for your lips)

Rating: 4.9 outta 5
PRICEY BUT PERFECT

{and BONUS!! if you go to their website they are offering a free hand & body lotion, you just pay $2.97 S&H... WELL WORTH IT!!! it's normally a $14 product! Click for details! The coupon code is "perfection"}


Hand Maiden's Garden
Orchard Blend Balm for Thy Lips
$3.50 per tube
I purchased this at the Sterling Ren Fest

[castor oil, jojoba oil, coconut oil, sweet almond oil, wheatgerm oil, glycerin, beeswax, natural sweetener, artifical/and or natural flavors]

I was super pumped because I love Ren Fests (I don't dress up.... I'm not that into them) and I love lip balm. I saw this as a perfect combination. Oh how wrong I was.

The Orchad Blend was the most AMAZING scent int he form of candles, lotions, and perfume. I was unable to smell the lip balm because it was wrapped...for safety issues, I understand. Yet the balm smells like perfume...heavily scented with chemical florals, perfume.

The balm does have a nice consistency and glides onto your lips, only in turn to make them feel a bit greasy, not to mention the fake the balm then begins to taste like plastic. Yes... plastic.

I have yet to find someone who can stand it on their lips longer than ten minutes to figure out it's durability.... but I think that it is an irrevelant quality when the balm is putrid to say the least on your kisser.

I also think this reinforces my dislike of lip balms with glycerine in them. It's meant for Bush to sing...not for my lips.

Overall, LADY IN THE FRUMPY TIME PERIOD OUTFIT, I WANT MY MONEY BACK!

Rating: 0 outta 0
DO NOT BUY

HawkMoon Soaps Lip Balm

HawkMoon Soaps Lip Balm in Peppermint & Lemon

$2.99 (+ tax/S&H)

From HawkMoon Soaps website
(I purchased this along with soap at the Allentown Art Festival. They are very active in the WNY art/craft festivals, see the calendar on their website)

[shea & cocoa butter, sweet almond oil, olive oil, virgin coconut oil, beeswax, cornstarch, essential oils]

*note: the website has different ingredients than what are listed on my tube. I'm posting what it says on my tube*

This is in an oval tube, which is cool. I don't own many of these and I feel people don't realize how awesome they are. They don't roll of desks. It's nice.

Moving on...

This lip balm smells very pepperminty. I thought that it would resemble the Republic of Tea's lemon mint blend, but I was mistaken. You cannot taste or smell the lemon at all.

When I first tried putting this balm on it was the weirdest and hardest sensation ever. It was like putting a candle on my lips and trying to use that as balm. When I was about to toss it, my friend who also bought this in a different flavor, pleaded with me to give it another try. Well, there seemed to be just a solid chunk of wax on the top of my balm. I rotated it up in the tube and off slid this hard chunk, about an eighth of an inch in thickness. I was like...wow...not too cool. Behind it was what the balm was really like. It is a thick and waxy balm. I would consider this more of a medicated lip balm, so if you have cold sores or severely chapped lips this or the Tea Tree balm would be great for you. I do not enjoy using this everyday. However, the one major plus about this balm is that it can handle a lot of heat and not get soft and mushy.

My friend who bought the Berry Blast flavor loves this balm and swears by it. He is a life guard who is out int he sun and he too is coming over to the dark side of lip balm addiction. He likes how it doesn't get soft and disgusting. He likes the flavor, the texture, and the wearability of this balm.

This balm does wear for a long time. It could be due to the not to lip licking goodness and it's just a wax coating that you can barely move your lips with, but then again, my friend's Berry Blast is not like that. Maybe I got a bad seed that's ruining the bunch for me.

Overall, avoid the Peppermint & Lemon lip balm from HawkMoon Soaps. It's not worth the $3 plus dollars you will spend, however the Berry Blast has been approved by my friend adding that it is not hard or lackluster like the P&L. Plus what is cornstarch doing in this lip balm!?

Rating: 1 outta 5

Daisy Cakes Soap Lychee Lip Balm

Daisy Cakes Soap Lip Balm in Lychee Fruit
Available through Etsy
$2.75 (+ $1.95 S&H)

[cocoa butter, candelilla wax, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, vitamin e, flavor oil]

As you know I have a fondness for all things Asian. Lychee fruit is something one can find in Florida as well as on the West Coast, but not often where I live. I love the smell of Midohana's Lychee soap so I really wanted to invest in some solid Lychee lip love.

This balm comes in a very plain and simple tube. Not too bad, but it is rather lack luster.

When you first take off the cap you get this super sweet scent of lychee. Lychee is sweet, but this is overpowering. I hoped that when applied the scent dispersed. The scent mingled with the cocoa butter creating this extremely unpleasant smell and even more, a terrible taste occurred.

The glide of this balm is very nice. It is solid at room temperature (up to about 68) but anything else it seems to get soft. I left it out on my desk, next to a window. The light coming in from my window and I guess the combination of the heat as I went to put this balm on prior to my review, it smooshed all over my lips. Uncool and super soft.

However, in normal lip balm conditions, this holds up well. The glide is lovely. Solid, but not wax-hard. It does not create an uncomfortable coating on your lips, rather leaves a nice smooth glistening sheen, that really feels like it is moisturizing.

It lasts about two to three hours. It does not stay on while eating or drinking, yet after eating a few pretzel rods, my lips still felt supplely soft.

Overall, this is not a great high heat balm, meaning it is not meant for the summer. Secondly, this is a dismal flavor. DISMAL. The scent is far to sweet to be accurate to the real deal and then the cocoa mixes poorly with the flavor. When will people understand it is easier to mix mango or shea butter with fruit flavors than it is to do so with cocoa butter?? The sad thing is that this could be a great vegan lip balm.... but only so in the winter, early spring or late fall. Add some carnuba!!!!

Rating: 1 outta 5

(Should have gotten a different flavor during a different season)

{Stock photo of lip balm}

Moon's Harvest Lip Therapy Honey-Pots

Moon's Harvest Lip Therapy Honey-Pots
$12.50 for 3 (+ $1.50 S&H)
form Moon's Harvest's Etsy

[Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, Mango Butter, Castor Oil, Honey, Vitamin E Oil, Aloe Vera Gel, Flavor Oil, Mica Powder]

Although the price you see above may make you gasp and say, "Gees....is this Sephora?" I wanted to try these out. They looked promising.

Sadly, I got them during a warm week and they were pretty badly melted. To try and salvage them, I put them in the fridge to harden up.

There are a lot of options as far as flavors go. I opted for Black Cherry, Pomegranate, and Fuzzy Peach. They sounded fantastic.

Once they solidified, the still smelled great. The Black Cherry smells just like Cherry Pepsi. The Pomegranate smells like a super sweet bubble gum and the Fuzzy Peach smells just like that!
However when you put these on...it is a different story. They taste tart and bitter. This is a great way to prevent someone from licking their lips. It smells great on, but to wear it....not so fantastic. I thought with the honey that it would be sweet, which it is, but there is no hint of honey. Just overpowering ickyness. It becomes like you are wearing perfume on your lips. You know when you walk into a perfume mist? That taste? This is what these taste like.

The worst tasting one is the Black Cherry. Completely yuck. The Fuzzy Peach is not too bad, but certainly hard to wear. The only one I have been able to stomach through for a bit (15 minutes max) has been the Pomegranate.

It is a shame because these balms are nicely tinted, especially the Black Cherry.

The glide of these is somewhat pleasant. It is a soft and silky glide, yet when wiped off, it leaves your lips feeling dry.

Overall, this balm is dismal. I do not know if it is because it melted, but I asked a friend who makes bath & body stuff for a living and she said that it should not be the reason. Great colors and scents but majorly lacking in every other important area. It was not worth my money.

Rating: .5 outta 5
(I have to give it up for the pomegranate)

Disquieting Designs Lip Balm

Disquieting Designs Lip Balm
$3 (+ $1.50 S&H)
{I got two free during a promo}

[refined shea butter, unbleached beeswax, sweet almond oil, flavor oil]

(Note: This is a stock photo from DD's Etsy add)

I came across this Etsy store while looking for tattoo lotion. I noticed that there were some sassy looking lip balms, and if you make a purchase during that week, you got two free lip balms. How can I say no to free lip balms?

I should have though.

This package came covered in goop. Sadly, the USPS has no regard to "FRAGILE" packages and busted up my Ink Schmear container so bad that is cracked it in numerous places and due to the high 70's temps my area was seeing, it melted out of the containing and into the entire package. (Side note, Megan the girl who runs it, was wonderful and sent me a brand new Ink Schmear at no charge. I will review it soon, but let me tell you how fantastic it is!) I'm not too sure if it was the heat that maybe altered this balms or they just came this way.

I received the Cherry-Raspberry and Grape. I was extremely excited about the grape. I went to put it on and nothing happened. The balm wouldn't transfer to my lips. It was literally pulling at my lip though. These balms are nothing but solid beeswax colored purple. I tried leaving them in my car in the sun, in my window sill, and nothing got these balms to soften up. NOTHING! The Cherry-Raspberry is a smidgen softer, but I have to use my finger to try and get some to my lips. It is not worth the effort.

These balms don't even smell appealing. They smell like beeswax. And not honey beeswax you may find at the market, no, just like dried out beeswax. Icky.

It's a shame too. These balms are a great and vibrant purple color.

Clearly, these lip balms fail beyond belief, just out of the sheer fact I can't put them on so I can't compare or complain about their durability (or lack there of) or flavor or glide. I can go out on a limb and say their glide is excessively waxy though. Yet I don't want to talk down Disquieting Designs. I feel that this up and coming DIY bath and beauty company has a great deal of potential. It is good enough to be backed by the Pittsburgh Craft Mafia, and the Ink Schmear kicks ass, as does the sample lotion bar I received.

Overall, the makeup of these lip balms needs to seriously be reconsidered just so that they can even begin to serve their purpose.

Yet check out the other awesome body products (especially the lotions!) offered by Disquieting Designs! And I forgot to mention it's an eco-friendly company that recycles a lot of their stuff!!!

Rating: 0 outta 5

Black Mountain Candles Sheer Pink Lip Tint

Black Mountain Candles Sheer Pink Lip Tint
Grape Flavor
$1.99 (+ $1 S&H)

[Soya & Beeswax, Cocoa Butter, Petrolatum, Vegetable Glycerine, Grape Flavoring, Pink Mica & just a tad of Liquid Sweetener]

First I want to point out this Etsy seller advertises that this is a Vegan lip balm. It is not. And it really irks me when crap like this is done. I was fully aware of the Un-vegan-ness of this item, but I just want to say that in defense of someone who would be new to veganism or someone buying their beloved veg a gift, this is misleading.

But onto the review...

Grape. It's exciting. It smells sweet and tangy, like real smashed graped. Very splendid. The taste is okay. It is very sweet, and not that grape like. The smell is rad, not the flavor.

This balm contains vegetable glycerine, which I have never seen in a balm before....and I can figure out why. This balm is sticky when you go to put it on and when it is applied to your lips it is very waxy and paste-like.

I can't tell you how long it lasts because I hate wearing it.

This is almost as bad as the Buddha Balm.

I guess my dissatisfaction lies in the fact that:
1- this is not vegan, therefore should not be advertised as so
2- vegetable glycerine should be used in soap, not lip products

Overall, this balm smells really great and I guess that's about it.

Rating: 0 outta 5

Karma Creatives: Buddha Balm

Karma Creatives Buddha Balm
$2.50 - $4.00 (+ S&H)
From Karma Creatives (wholesale and retailers)

Ingredients vary by flavor. I purchased the Honey and also got Mint through an accident. They have similar ingredients.

Honey
[beeswax, carnauba wax, coconut oil, palm kernel oil, sweet almond oil, soybean oil, castor seed oil, vit E, rosemary extract, zinc oxide, flavor, yellow #5 and Karma creatives proprietary herbal blend (I could not find what this was or contained)]


Mint
[beeswax, carnauba wax, coconut oil, palm kernel oil, sweet almond oil, soybean oil, castor seed oil, vit E, rosemary extract, zinc oxide, flavor, peppermint oil, spearmint oil, Blue #1, yellow #5, K.C. herbal blend]


Now, some may remember Buddha Balm from a few years ago. It had a wide variety of flavors (mango, green tea, tangerine, jasmine....etc...) and it was in a round tin. I was very excited when I came across these from someone's Etsy store. I figured they were a take on this retired balm. I did not realize how "loaded" they were until I received them. I've looked at some of my other lip balms that are not natural or home made and they don't contain these color numbers...I was a little shaky on a balm that utilizes a color differentiated by it's number. Nonetheless, I love Buddha stuff so I was pumped.

I ordered Honey but was sent Mint on accident, then had the correct balm mailed to me.

These balms have this really weird told layer to them. I thought it was maybe just the mint but it was the same with the honey. It is like this thick waxy layer of something. I ended up getting a tooth pick and scrapping it off because you couldn't actually get to the lip balm at all through it. After scrapping it off, you aren't left with a whole lotta lip balm. Major bummer.
This is the aftermath of the balm from the scrapping. It looked like a whipped lotion more so than a balm.

This balm has the weirdest texture and consistency that I have ever encountered. I'm saying that the original grainy Balm Shoppe Balm I got was more like a lip balm than this is. This balm, both the honey and mint, are grainy with small sand like particles. It feels extremely uncomfortable on my lips.

The mint smells like mint and tingles a bit, but i wiped it off because of the texture and also the taste is disgusting. I wasn't even licking my lips, just breathing it in through my mouth was icky.

The honey is worse than the mint. It doesn't even smell slightly pleasing.

These balms don't feel waxy or gritty they just feel like a half-ass sugar scrub minus the granulated sugar and with added sand. Ick.

I cannot attest to their durability because I can't go minutes with them on my lips, they are just that bad.

However, I have found a great purpose for them. They do offer great moisturizing products in the make up, so I thought about putting them on dry spots on my body. (ie. elbows and hands). They work pretty good. You skin is a tad shiny (darn you castor oil!) but the gritty helps exfoliates and the mint tingles and cools. The Honey is rather useless, but the Mint can be used as a conditioner for dry patches of skin.

This is cruelty free balm. Cool. It says its "natural" eh. I see some there but it does not smell, taste, or feel natural in any way.

Overall, this lip balm is the pits in the cherry bowl of the balm world. I regret spending $3.75 for this. And sadly I got two... but I guess on the bright side if I were to just get the honey, my elbows would not be feeling this soft. And it is a shame because these are presented so well, and the slidder tins are rad. This is not the original Buddha balm....and as an attempt to possibly equal the original, this balm falls so far beyond short, I don't even think it began to go any distance at all.

Rating: -1 outta 5
(They should have paid me to put this on my lips.)


[at least this photos came out stellar. These are RocketUSA's Pocket Buddhas, available through:
Rotofugi
(I recommend you go there if you are interested in these and other super rad vinyl toys...this is my vinyl shop of choice!)

Pocket Buddha Official Site
(They have cool key chains but they are expensive!! Beware of their exorbitant shipping prices)

Enjoy! and Happy Jesus Loves Bunnies Day!]