Winter Skin Prevention and Repair Guide: All About the Lips, Part 2

Harsh winter winds can create the worst of chapped, cracked, dried-out lips, and when that happens, it’s a rough time, figuratively and literally speaking. Lips should be smooth and soft to the touch, especially for those who want to wear lipstick. Rougher surfaces make it difficult to both apply lip color as well as have it look nice. Some suffer from chapped lips throughout the year, but take heed, there are some solutions.

LUSH Lip Service ($7.95) comes in a cute, thin tin with a solid lip balm inside.  It’s colorless and leaves a matte finish behind, rather than any glossiness or sheen.  LUSH offers eco-friendly beauty addicts to nab a lip balm that has several organic ingredients by a company who loves to be green.  This lip balm has cocoa butter, beeswax, and shea butter–all major helpers in giving you soft, supple lips.  In addition, there are a number of essential oils used to increase moisturization.  I found this to be a great no-muss, no-fuss lip balm that fits in your pocket (and even better to carry there because the body heat melts it just a touch so it is super easy to apply) or purse.  My only problem is my apartment gets quite cold at night, and I find I really have to use the heat of my finger to soften the top layer to get enough to apply on my lips.  LUSH also offers several flavored lip balms, Honey Trap being one of my favorites from the past

Treat’s Cacao Lip Scrub ($16.00) might seem like a small tub, but trust me, a little goes a long way, and this jar should last you quite awhile.  Lip scrubs are designed to exfoliate and remove dry and dead skin cells from the lips.  It is sugar-based as the particles have some roughness to them, but it is still a gentle exfoliant.  This product uses all natural ingredients, so you can actually lick it off (I wouldn’t say I’d love to eat this stuff, but I did test out the flavor, and it wasn’t half-bad), or at least, not fear you’re ingesting something terrible if you accidentally do (or have the habit of doing so!).  The main ingredients are shea butter, sugar, and cacao.  Cacao is an antioxidant with a lot of Vitamin C, which we learned is a vital nutrient for skin health.  I find I only need to use this once a week or less, and I find this less abrasive and harsh than using a toothbrush or washcloth as others have recommended as cheap and easy ways to exfoliate the lips.

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Lip Protectant Stick ($17.00) comes in a lipstick tube, making it easy to carry in both your purse or your pocket (I go the pocket route often).  It has SPF15 in it, and while more of us are paying attention to sun protection, I am sure we often forget that perhaps our lips need some SPF, too!  It never hurts, right?  Arden’s Eight Hour family of products is a remarkable line of ultra-hydrating and moisturizing products that last for several hours at a time.  I liked the stick formula, because I didn’t have to worry about clean fingers before applying.  It also went on quite easily, albeit a touch slick.  It left only a semi-glossy sheen, and it can be used sparingly or more generously for a desired feel.

Clinique Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss ($13.50) is a super glossy lip balm (though it really feels more like a gloss, I wouldn’t call it a balm as I associate balms as being more solidified) that comes in a variety of colors.  I tried Apricot, as it is a nice pink with only a touch of peach undertones.  When applied, I didn’t notice much more than a pink tint (and only slightly) on my semi-pigmented lips.  While some of the other lip products I tested seemed to sink into my skin, Superbalm felt more like it was a surface protectant.  It took much longer for me to feel like some of it sunk into my lips (which may or may not be relevant, just an observation).  It definitely feels like a gloss on the lips, and it does look glossy, so this is something you wear alone or on top of a lipstick, but not as a primer to lipstick.  There are eight shades currently available in the Superbalm family, and I think I would love Raspberry (deeper hued) for a slightly tinted ultra moisturizing gloss.

Did you miss part one of this series featuring Eminence’s Citrus Lip Balm, Principessa’s Bacio Me Lip Balm, and Von Natur’s Lip Treatment?  Well, don’t!