Burt's Bees Revitalizing Lip Balm Review

So I found this in my local Target when I was shopping with my sister and I really couldn’t stop myself from trying it. It was a blue cap for crying out loud! Burt’s Bees is one of my favorite brands too so might as well, right?

1. Price: $$

This was $3.29 at Target. I got a little annoyed with the price since I normally only pay around $2.99 for Burt’s Bees. You can find this anywhere they sell Burt’s Bees. Since it’s newer though, the locations might be limited.

2. Appearance:Standard 0.15oz tube with a blue cap and yellow tube. It’s got white-colored balm.

3. Feel
GLIDE - This wasn’t waxy, it was pretty smooth. I liked it for the most part. It’s not overly oily either or too thin, which is good! It’s smoother than the original Burt’s Bees (not waxy).
SMELL - Here’s where I started to have problems initially. It seriously smelled like chocolate dipped blueberries. I’m not a huge fan of chocolate either. This reminded me so much of chocolate covered raisins or cranberries that my mom used to eat when I was younger and I wasn’t terribly interested in wearing it…but after a while I really liked this smell. It smells…decadent.
TASTE - No taste.
SHINE - No shine! It was matte, right after application and forward into maybe 3 hours, it was matte. 
LASTING TIME - Maybe 3-4 hours? The smell fades over the time, but it’s there for the most part. My lips felt kind of gummy at the last hour or so before I reapplied it, but that’s usually how most balms work.

4. Manliness: 5/5Discreet. blue cap, what more could you ask for?

CONCLUSION: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆  4.5/5 stars. Pretty good! Really good actually, I want to say that maybe if it had menthol in it or something I might give it a higher rating or something, but, nah for the most part I like it. I highly recommend to anyone!

Badger Classic Lip Balm, Pink Grapefruit Review for Guys

I meant to do this one a while ago, because I tested the lip bam out when it was still good. The sad part is that the scent faded because the tube was expired before I got to finish it. Oh well. I’d still buy more though.

1. Price: $$

This was $3 Wegmans. Wegmans and Whole Foods are the only large retail places I could find these products at, but you can find them online too.

2. Appearance:Standard 0.15oz tube with a reddish/pink cap. The label is a typical badger balm design with a badger waving a magic wand! The balm was whitish/beige.

3. Feel
GLIDE - It’s made with olive oil and shea butter so it’s a little bit slicker than I originally thought it would be. It has a consistency similar to burt’s bees pomegranate (and I wasn’t a fan of that too much). It’s kind of oily, and feels a little thin if you don’t put enough.
SMELL - VERY light and airy if you ask me. I liked this one a lot to be quite honest, it really did smell like grapefruits, as if someone had cracked one open for me to smell right before my nose.
TASTE - No taste.
SHINE - NOOOO this one had a shine to it. In normal lighting there was a little bit of a shine. It wasn’t too too bad, but it was still shinier than other olive oil lip balms.
LASTING TIME - Maybe 3-4 hours max. The smell fades after the first hour or so and your lips will absorb all the good stuff. Just reapply when needed because you won’t forget that it’s on your lips, you can really feel this one.

4. Manliness: 4/5It’s a regular tube and doesn’t have anything too gimmicky about it. I give it a good rating with the exception of the shine it adds. That’s the reason I’d take a star away, no guy wants shiny lips!

CONCLUSION: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆  3.5/5 stars. Pretty good! I liked this one enough to say I’d recommend it to anyone that asked about the product. It smells great, is a standard lip balm tube and is pretty affordable for an organic lip balm. Good job badger. Maybe next time we can make the formula less shiny? That’s my only complaint.

Palmer's Cocoa Butter with Vitamin E Swivel Stick Review for Guys

So I’m completely aware that this stuff is basically lotion in a glue stick-shaped container, but my friend Alicia swore by it for her lips so I bought one a few years back to try it out. I never ended up finishing it and my sister took it from me for herself. She gave it to me when I asked her for it and she still hadn’t finished it up. It’s been like almost 3 years…

1. Price: $$

This was $3 at wegmans and like $2.90 something at CVS and Walmart, so this is pretty cheap and reasonable for the amount of substance you’re buying.

2. Appearance:Just imagine a big glue-stick the length of your hand and the circular size of a quarter and you have the size of this thing. It’s a white plastic twist tube with a whopping 0.5oz of balm/lotion in it. Keep in mind most standard lip balms have 0.15oz. The balm itself is a beige/yellow shade.

3. Feel
GLIDE - I tried this stuff again from the stick I gave to my sister and I liked it for the most part. It was smooth but felt kind of thick. Granted, I understand this stuff is mostly a stick of lotion for the body in general, so lips don’t need this much balm so a thin coat should last you a very long time. It wasn’t oily, but felt kind of softer than most balms I’ve tried..
SMELL - MILK CHOCOLATE. That’s cocoa butter for ya.
TASTE - No taste. At least I wasn’t trying to taste it…
SHINE - Not really a shine, but there was a very very subtle white residue left on my mouth and I could feel it. It wasn’t chunky, but close up enough and someone might be able to tell it’s on there.
LASTING TIME - 3-5 hours. I wore this one for like 2 days to try and see how long I could get, but I wasn’t very consistent with keeping track of time. Anywhere from 3-5 is pretty good though.

4. Manliness: 2/5Not very shiny, but this is another glue-stick sized lip balm. C’mon, no guy is going to put this thing on in front of other people. They’d look ridiculous.

CONCLUSION: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆  3/5 stars. Not bad, but it’s not exactly lip balm. More like a portable lotion applicator for on the go jobs. The balm itself does what it says and makes your lips—err, skin, nice and soft wherever it’s used. It also smells like food so that’s probably why I didn’t like it as much.

EOS Lip Balm Sweet Mint Review

3 years later…and I finally bought one of these after everyone asked for it…but yeah, you can understand why I wouldn’t want one of these, right? It’s kinda girly! The only people walking around with one of these are girls at my school and honestly, what kind of guy wants to be putting an egg to his face to apply lip balm? Well…I was so wrong. This stuff is actually so good.

1. Price: $

This was $2.90 at Wal-Mart. I found it for above $3.00 elsewhere, but it’s usually around this price range.

2. Appearance:ONE OF THE WEIRDEST LIP BALMS I’VE EVER SEEN. Round, egg sized thing where the lip balm is in a circular shape so you can apply it to both the top and bottom lip at the same time. There is 0.25 oz of balm (WHOA NOW, SO MUCH) and the ‘tube’ itself is a sea foam color.

3. Feel
GLIDE - This one feels a little firm and waxy at first, but after you run it over your mouth a few times it gets really smooth. It’s not oily or thick, just firm…I really liked it. There’s also a tingle from the menthol in this that lasts about 15 mins.
SMELL - I was really afraid ‘sweet mint’ would smell like other mints, but this one is definitely PEPPERMINT. Imagine Burt’s Bees, but not as strong. I give this one a thumbs up for smell.
TASTE - No taste.
SHINE - Are you ready? NO SHINE. LIKE ABSOLUTELY NO SHINE. WHAT?! Not even up close in the mirror could I find shine. This one is literally BALM. Not glossy crap.
LASTING TIME - Hmm, I got it last night and wore it from about 11PM-3AM without much thought so that’s like 4 hours right there. To be honest, I think it can last longer. I’d say 4-5 hours.

4. Manliness: 2/5This is the only draw back. No matter what anyone says about the social acceptability of this balm, it is an egg, it is pastel in color and is not inconspicuous in the least bit. It’s not that I fear being judged for applying beauty products in public, but let’s face it, most guys would rather not do that…unless it were from a regular tube.

HOWEVER: GQ Magazine has done it’s review HERE, a few manly celebs like Kellan Lutz and Ed Westwick have been seen around with this exact one too. So maybe I’ll change my manliness rating…to 3.5/5

CONCLUSION: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆  4/5 stars. Ok yeah this one is kinda amazing. I don’t even care that it’s kind of girly looking. Look at those manly men up there! The balm itself is reason enough to use this thing on a daily basis. I will proudly tell people to try it since it’s such a good lip balm! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Kiehl's Lip Balm: Facial Fuel Lip Balm Review

Now when I first saw this product I was more than over the moon to try it out. It was made for guys. UH PERFECT FOR ME THEN.

1. Price: $$$$ <- a little excessive?

This was $9…at their store. I had to go all the way to Georgetown to get to the nearest one just to buy LIP BALM?! My family thought I was crazy. I did however feel fancy walking out of there with a little brown paper bag though. It can only be bought in their stores and through department stores like Lord and Taylor/Saks Fifth/Nordstrom/Bloomingdales etc.

2. Appearance:Standard 0.15oz tube. The tube itself is a nice cobalt blue and it has a silver cap. The balm is white. This is DEFINITELY one of the manliest lip balms I’ve ever seen. Meets all the requirements if you ask me! 

3. Feel
GLIDE - Can someone say butter? (Did anyone just see Paula Deen?) This glide is so smooth and so perfect. It’s like a dream…I don’t think I’ve ever felt a lip balm more luxurious than this one. It’s not too thin, and just thick enough.
SMELL - It has a smell…but I can’t exactly say what it is. It’s not bad, it’s actually really nice. Minty? (I’m not a fan of mint, but it smells great I’ll tell you that)
TASTE - No taste.
SHINE - NO SHINE. Hold UP. I think I could marry this stuff. The biggest thing I look for in a lip balm is NO SHINE because what guy wants to walk around with glossy lips? Well this is a match made in heaven for me. No shine even with a thick coat on my mouth.
LASTING TIME - Ready for this? 6 hours. I timed it for 6 hours. WHAT THE HECK? That’s amazing. And I only had to reapply once after the 6 hours and it lasted the rest of the day. I wish I could reapply it more so I could use it a lot, but i really didn’t have to.

4. Manliness: 5/5Need I say more? Blue tube, small size/inconspicuous, no shine. Perfect 5.

CONCLUSION: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆  4.5/5 stars. Alas, I have to detract some points for the price. Who pays $9.00 for LIP BALM? Not ordinary people of course, but then again, I doubt that’s the clientele of Kiehl’s. I have to applaud this near perfect product though. Kudos and I will always be buying from here. I think I’ve found my new lip balm standard.

Check out their website for all the flavors and other really great products.

Lypsyl Intense Protection LypMoisturizer Review

Somebody asked me for this review the other day and I got kind of excited. I discovered this lip balm brand at the beginning of my lip balm buying spree in high school and I was reeeally hooked after I first tried it.

1. Price: $$

This was $3 at CVS and is a few cents cheaper at Wal-Mart. I’ve bought it several times for myself and for my brother around this price. Not bad considering how big the tube is. It can be found at most drug stores and discounters (target, walmart etc.)

2. Appearance:This one’s really cool! I liked the size of it and the design. If you look closely, the tube is ovular and beige colored with a forrest green cap for 0.10 oz of stuff. There is no twist at the bottom to push the balm up, instead it’s got this bee-shaped piece on the side and you push it up like say a push pop (get my reference? No?). The color of the balm itself is a light yellow. 

3. Feel
GLIDE - The glide of this one is fantastic. It’s so smooth and really clean. It’s not heavy feeling at all and all you need to do is put on a swipe or two and your good for several hours. ALSO there is a very slight tingle that is like menthol from peppermint balms like burt’s bees original or medicated chapstick.
SMELL - It has a minty/pepperminty smell to it. Normally I’m opposed to mint anything (unless it’s peppermint) but this stuff smelled really nice. Not girly (if you’re a guy).
TASTE - No taste.
SHINE - Drumroll please…this one had no shine! NO SHINE?! Well, in direct light looking really closely, it had a slight slight sheen, but besides that NO SHINE! I was so pleased. It does not even come close to looking like lip gloss. It’s literally a balm.
LASTING TIME - Wow, I’d say maybe 4-5 hours if you don’t touch the stuff. The tingly feeling wears off after the first few hours, but it’s something you will forget about after wearing it for a while. It’s perfect to me.

4. Manliness: 4/5So it gets a ton of points for not being shiny, but other than that I detract points for the tube’s size and shape. Most guys are not going to want to apply a gigantic tube onto their face…and it becomes kind of clear that you have a balm in your hand when you’re applying it.

CONCLUSION: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆  4.5/5 stars. So this one is amazing. I actually love this stuff. It’s so good. Feels good, smells good, lasts long and even is affordable for those that don’t want to spend on the designer brands. I highly recommend it to everyone, guys and girls. This is one of the best brands I have ever tried. If it came in a smaller more conservatively sized tube, I’d give it a perfect score.

Check out their website for all the flavors and other really great products.

Lypsyl lypmoisturizer

Yes To Carrots Lip Butter Review

*DISCLAIMER* The first time I tried Yes to Carrots Lip Butter, I was in my senior year in high school (about 3ish years ago) and these are what mine look like. The current yes to carrots lip balms look like this now:

So I was really intrigued when I first found this line of lip balms…I thought carrots were the last thing I would think to use in lip balms, but hey, this seemed to work out so I gave in and bought some. This review covers CARROT (ORANGE Cap), CITRUS (YELLOW Cap), and MELON (Yellow/Orange Cap)

1. Price: $$

I got three sticks for about $3 each from CVS. You can buy this brand at almost any drug store, Wal-Mart, Safeway, Target etc. 

2. Appearance:White tube with a colored cap. The new ones look like colored tubes. The tube itself is a standard 0.15 oz and the balms range in color from white to off white/yellow. 

3. Feel
GLIDE - These glide very well, and feel really soft. It’s not chalky or waxy at all either, but I have to say sometimes (not always) it got a little oily. Now, most organic lip balms like these are using natural oils like olive, and have vitamin E and what not, but the second a lip balm becomes oily is the second I start wiping it off my lips. This wasn’t a major thing, but it did happen sometimes.
SMELL - All three smelled great if you ask me:
"Carrot" - Now I’m not going to say ‘oh it smelled like a carrot!’ but it, uh, it smelled like something. It was a nice something, but I wasn’t sure. I don’t know if I’d call it a carrot necessarily. 
"Citrus" - This one was very lemony. I Would just call it lemon flavor because that’s all I could really smell. What i didn’t like after a while was that this smell tended to go bad…it started smelling weird so i had to reapply it or wipe it off.
"Melon" - This was my favorite one. It smelled like cantaloupe and honeydew smashed together. It was a very light and sweet smell.
TASTE - No taste.
SHINE - Now I’m the hardest person to please when it comes to sheen, but this had a slight sheen. I don’t know if that line is necessarily targeted tomen since their website has a lot of women on it…slight slight sheen, but still a sheen nonetheless.
LASTING TIME - I felt like this one lasted a little shorter than most lip balms (maybe like 2-3 hours max), maybe it’s because I felt like I was constantly reapplying lip balm…but it may have been because it was really cold and my lips were absorbing the balm like a thirsty sponge.

4. Manliness: 4/5It’s kinda shiny? But it’s doable. I asked my friends if my lips looked too glossy and of course they said it was fine (but friends have to be nice right?). The tube is pretty normal looking too and the balm has no tint.

CONCLUSION: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆  4/5 stars. I like the balm a lot because it’s pretty gimmicky. Made of Carrots? Yeah, there’s some carrot in it, but it’s mostly cocoa/jojoba butter and olive oil. Besides that though, it’s pretty manly if you don’t mind the very slight sheen.

Also a word of warning, because this balm is organic it will go bad after a couple of years (if you keep them around that long like I tend to do). The balm will work just fine, but the smell might be off or gone. It should still be okay to use.

Check out their website for all the flavors and other really great products. I wanna try the lotions, but they have almond oil…and I’m allergic to nuts :( 

Badger Cocoa Butter Lip Balm Review

*DISCLAIMER* I bought these sticks about two years back, so they are older and the product design may look different than what I’m uploading now. I own three of these, the Key Lime Rocket, Cocoa Butter (original Cocoa flavor) and the Cool Mint Flavor. The reason I bought them was because a couple of years ago I was having an ‘organic’ cleanse with the things I bought. That and the fact that they were the size of glue sticks, like whoa, I definitely wanted one when I first saw them.

1. Price: $$
Okay so these cost like $5 and that’s a lot if you ask me, but considering the size and the AMOUNT you get for $5? I think it’s worth it. I bought mine from my local Wegmans. They can also be found in Whole Foods.

2. Appearance:Translucent tube carrying a massive 0.25 oz. The labels are all very ‘cute’ and artisan looking with different badgers on them looking like they are waving magic wands. You go badgers, you go. 

3. Feel
GLIDE - The feel of all three are the same. Because they are a mix of cocoa butter and olive oil, it’s initially really hard and you have to warm it up by smoothing it over several times on your lips, but besides that they are very smooth. My one gripe is that they tend to be a little shiny. For girls that’s perfectly fine, but for dudes, this might be an issue.
SMELL - The smells of all of the sticks in this line smell like the flavor they are labeled as mixed with cocoa.
"Creamy Cocoa" - the yellow capped one smells like chocolate straight up. I really like this one, it’s my favorite. No frills, just cocoa butter smell.
"Lime Rocket" - the green capped one is a fun flavor. It actually smells like lime and chocolate, but at the same time? If that’s kind of weird to some people then don’t buy it…but I actually like this one.
"Cool Mint" - this one was the worst in my opinion. It smelled horrible! I couldn’t return it either because I had already used it. What i hated about this one was that not only did it smell like mint, it was kind of pungent. It’s not peppermint, it’s just mint. I also had a terrible experience with this one because I’m not really a mint/cilantro type person and since both are in the same family, this one made me feel sick after I put it on.
TASTE - No taste, but you can taste the flavor if you lick it (I personally don’t advise eating lip balm, but it does have a slight hint of the flavor they are labeled after).
SHINE - All of these make a clearly visible shine from up close. It’s not super shiny or glossy, but it’s still a shine nonetheless. Smack your lips together and you’ll be fine.
LASTING TIME - The lasting time for this lip balm is maybe 3-4 hours. To me that’s a pretty long time. I liked the fact that I could reapply it often enough to justify using so much in one stick. It also doesn’t just sit on the surface of your lips and is pretty absorbing if you ask me. 

4. Manliness: 2/5It’s a little shiny. Not only that the tube itself is MASSIVE and it’s hard to be inconspicuous when applying this stuff. It looks kind of like lipstick from a distance because the tube is so large, so this one gets a low rating for that.

CONCLUSION: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆  4/5 stars. I really like this lip bam, but if you’re a dude, maybe it’d be better to try something else? The tube is rather large and the flavors are kind of girly too…but besides that, this balm is relatively good, lasts a very long time and smells wonderful (especially if you like chocolate). The price is kind of debatable, but I’d definitely recommend this to anyone  if they are willing to pay the $5 price tag.

check out Badger’s site for other great products! HERE

Blistex Simple and Sensitive Lip Balm Review

Lovely followers! I can’t believe I have followers already hahaha. I recently found out about this one and I was asked to review it! I don’t normally use Blistex because I am a little snobby when it comes to the stuff…but I love to make the reviews soooo why not, right?

1. Price: $

Amazingly, this was only $1.59! WHAT?! I’ve paid close to $10 for some of my lip balms and this thing was so cheap I love it.

2. Appearance:It’s a basic 0.15 oz tube in sky blue. The label is darker blue and has classy writing on it.

3. Feel
GLIDE - SUPER SMOOTH…like, I normally find that Olive oil lip balms are super slippy and kinda, well, oily, but this was pretty smooth. In
SMELL - The smell is something fruity. I thought it would be a mint or something but it’s fruity. I liked it, so it wasn’t bad. I want to say it had a lemony smell, but I’m not terribly sure.
ALSO: You know how if you leave it in your pocket, your lip balm gets warm and softer to apply? Well, because this one is Olive Oil-based, it god kinda gooey. See the pic:

If you can’t tell, it’s really oily at the surface. Not sure if i like that…but i let it sit for a while and it returned to normal so that’s fine.

TASTE - Okay, so I normally don’t find a taste in lip balms, but this one tasted a little weird…it reminded a lot of lotion or petroleum jelly. It got on my tongue and i felt super uncomfortable…it tasted gross. But luckily lip balm isn’t mean to EAT.
SHINE - The sheen factor is kind of minimal, but it’s pretty decent. It doesn’t show at all to be honest, but I kept thinking it WAS shiny, but it wasn’t. NO SHINE, don’t worry.
LASTING TIME - So the lasting time on this one is short…I found that it was still on my lips after an hour, but it was fading. It started fading after about 30 minutes! But maybe that’s just me…I found that i was reapplying after a short bit of time, but hey, I enjoy putting it on my lips anyways haha.

4. Manliness: 5/5Manly. It’s manly. Low shine, all you need and very basic. Love it.

CONCLUSION: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 4 /5 stars. Another winner, Blistex. It was good one, granted it didn’t last too long, but that’s fine. A plus is that it only has 6 ingredients! WHAT?! Jojoba, Shea, Vitamin E, Olive Oil, and…i don’t remember the last one, but yeah, this one is all you need if you are low maintenance. 

Nivea Lip Care Lip Balm Review

This review is for the “Nivea, A Kiss of Moisture" and the “Nivea, A Kiss of Protection" Lip balms that I’ve owned. I can’t say too much for the rest of the Nivea Lip Balm, but I’m assuming the main difference is just the scent. Hopefully all the ingredients are similar. To the follower that asked for this one, I say, take my review with a grain of salt. I can’t be too certain about the entire line!

When I got the Kiss of protection lip balm, i actually took it from my Mom because she didn’t want the SPF that came with it…so I didn’t have to pay for that one! Yay! But because of getting the Kiss of Protection lip balm, I decided to buy the “A Kiss of Moisture Lip Balm" too a few weeks after and had a generally similar experience with both.

1. Price: $$
Both were $2.99 at Target and CVS. Not bad, but I had some reservations about the lip balms. I only paid for one of them, but still, shelling out $3 on a lip balm can add up, so i expected great things from this not-so-cheap stuff.

2. Appearance:The tube is actually thicker than a standard tube size, and therefor more product, it is listed on the packaging at being 0.17 oz (not bad, eh). ALSO the cap is kinda different.

this photo is from Luuux.com (i realize I would’ve used a pic of my own, but I didn’t bring these balms to UVA with me).

The cap is almost the entire length of the tube! I was like…huh? Why is that even necessary? And, it gives the lip balm, a more…feminine feel. No offense to the ladies or anything, but us guys don’t want to be walking around feeling like we’re applying lipstick. It’s lip balm!

3. Feel
GLIDE - Both were very smooth, but thick. I felt that the kiss of protection one was thicker because it has SPF (Which means there’s sun-blocking ingredients that will weigh it down). Overall, the glide was nice and smooth, but…it felt very heavy after a while.
SMELL - The scent on both were similar, kinda like lotion, but in an expected way. I liked the Kiss of Moisture one better. The Protection one smelled more fake to me.
SHINE - Kiss of Protection doesn’t have much shine. It’s not supposed to because of the SPF, but Kiss of Moisture does. It’s not super bright, but it’s not terribly noticeable. I just want to make it known that IT DOES SHINE a little bit.
LASTING TIME - The lasting time is maybe 2.5 hours. I found that my lips were a little flakey after 3 hours (I’d peel my lips, bad, I know) then I’d reapply it. If you don’t mind putting it on every few hours, you should be okay.

4. Manliness: 2/5It shines. It’s got shine. I know. Yeah, I didn’t like that too much, but it works as a moisturizer if you really need it.

CONCLUSION: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ 3/5 stars. Okay so these two weren’t quite my favorites because of the quirks with the tube and the shine, and the fact that i felt like I was actually reapplying them kinda often. They moisturize when needed and aren’t a bad choice if you’re not in the market for those “organic" or special lip balms. I wouldn’t feel torn to choose this over a regular Burt’s Bees or other $3 lip balm though, I wasn’t too much of a huge fan.

Blistex Moisture Melt

I was asked to do this one…so here it is for you dear follower!

1. Price: $
This one was $2.00. But i’ve seen it for $2.59 also so be weary.

2. Appearance:I wasn’t a fan of the design of the tube itself. The crimped end isn’t my favorite kind to use, but I don’t mind it. What really got me was the bullet end! It wasn’t shaped like a bullet at all! It was like a ball with a hole in the middle of it where the balm and ‘moisture’ beads come out of. I was like…"nooo this won’t work!" So design wise, I didn’t like it. It’s also a clear tube so it looks like the lip balm is a hand moisturizer. It’s 0.35 oz. That’s a lot. Like…a lot. So that’s pretty good since regular lip balms only have 0.15 oz. Yes!

3. Feel
GLIDE - Goopy. Can I use that word? It’s kind of goopy. Imagine really soft or warmed lip balm, that consistency. It’s a decent consistency, don’t get me wrong, but I thought it would be thicker. And the moisture beads felt like sand at first but all you have to do is work them in with your lips (rub them together a few times till the beads get squished).
SMELL - The smell is something fruity. I thought it would be a mint or something but it’s fruity. I liked it, so it wasn’t bad. I want to say it had a lemony smell, but I’m not terribly sure.
TASTE - No taste
SHINE - There is a slight sheen on the lips with this one. The moisture beads don’t leave any residue behind which is great since I thought my lips would turn blue or something! No, but there is a very slight sheen. If you don’t want that then go for a specifically-male balm, otherwise, if you don’t mind rubbing your lips together a few more times than necessary, go ahead and get this one.
LASTING TIME - The lasting time for this lip balm is…maybe 4 hours? It felt like it lasted very long… I wanted to reapply it but i didn’t really have to after a couple hours. It stayed on. It didn’t sit…but it wasn’t completely absorbed. It stayed on for a while. I appreciate that. I do. 

4. Manliness: 3/5It’s just a tiny bit shiny, but you can’t even see that from a distance. The thing that took the 4th star off of it is the style of applicator (beads? Really?), the style of tube, and the name of it instead. How unmanly is “Moisture Melt"? Wow. But again, if you could care less, then those are just quirks i found.

CONCLUSION: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 4 /5 stars. Well gosh, Blistex. Good job. You guys made one that i pretty much approved of. It works as it’s supposed to and it even has sunblocking properties! So you can wear this in the winter and summer! Great for outings to the beach and it smells…lemony (I think it’s lemon?)…so lemons are summery, right? It’s very long-lasting and super affordable.

Here are a few tips for storing, using and taking care of your lip balms!

1. If you have a LOT of lip balm like me, make sure you ROTATE your use of them. Like, say, use two different ones and change it up just so that you make sure you make good use of the ones you’ve got. It’s always nice to have variety right? And it also combats the possibility of reliance. YEAH it’s possible. Some people use it so much that they become accustomed to using it and reliance goes to dependency. NOW, not saying that this is easily reached (you’d have to use the same lip balm every day, constantly for like a year or two) but this is just a reason to switch things up.

2. Store in a Cool, DRY place. Make sure you keep track of them (especially if they cost more than say $2.00) because it’s a wasted investment if you find them at the bottom of your clean laundry…half melted from the dryer. Also! Olive oil based lip balms need to be stored in COOLER places in the summer. DO NOT LEAVE THEM IN THE SUN. They will melt. and get all over the place. AND don’t leave any lip balms in the car during the summer. That’s just asking for you to buy a new one.

3. KNOW the expiration date. EXHIBIT A:

"BB 08/12" uhh check the date, Alex. It’s JANUARY 2013. FML. My organic Olive Oil lip balm expired. Not saying you can’t use it…because you totally can. It’s most likely stale and smells bad…or the intended smell is gone. What a waste. It was $4.00 :( boo hoo.

4. Instant Moisturizer. Excess lip balm you don’t like? So if you saw my earlier post about the Burt’s Bees Honey Lip Balm…then this one is for that. So i know most people will say…"Eww, are you putting lip balm on?!" (gesturing to a place NOT near your lips) and my answer to that is YEAH. Your lip balm is essentially LOTION for your lips. And what are lips made of? SKIN. VERY THIN SKIN. So, you can totally use it sparingly on little rough spots on your hands, or maybe dry areas anywhere on your body. It’s meant to moisturize thin skin. Your body’s skin is thicker than your lips, so it will do absolutely no harm…except for possibly make that spot you just put it on a little shiny! But that’s okay. At least it’s not sandpaper anymore! Or ashy looking! :D

Burt's Bees Ultra Conditioning Lip Balm with Kokum Butter Lip Balm Review

So when I saw this in the store, I immediately thought…"holy crap, that’s the king of all Burt’s Bees Lip Balms. It’s gotta be. It’s got a silver cap!" And i bought it up right afterwards! I really had no idea what Kokum butter was.

1. Price: $$
This one was $4.00 and that’s crazy since normal Burt’s Bees costs like $3. I was expecting so much out of this balm when i bought it. You can find this one at most major grocers and drug stores. I bought mine from target.

2. Appearance:White tube, 0.15 oz and a silver cap with a white and silver label with the red writing. Standard size. I liked this tube a lot. It made me feel fancy haha.

3. Feel
GLIDE - This one was VERY smooth, like buttery smooth even before it warmed up in my pocket. Now, i like when lip balm glides well on your lips, but if it’s that smooth out of the packaging…it might be too oily. This one was leaning a bit on the oily side after a while.
SMELL - The smell is a little weird. It smells like pina colada mixed with some kind of medicine. It’s not off-putting at all, honestly, but It’s just…not a natural smell. I kinda liked it at first, but since I couldn’t name the stuff off the top of my head I don’t know how to feel about it. 
TASTE - No taste
SHINE - This one makes a very thin coat when it’s put on, but when spread out evenly, it has a bit of a shine to it. I could see it in the light when I was standing in the mirror, which was OK, but not great. The best lip balm for guys is one with minimal shine. This one I would put a final word on it as “slightly shimmery" 
LASTING TIME - The lasting time for this lip balm is…maybe 4 hours? That’s relatively long for me. I find that if my lips are really chapped and i put this stuff on, the skin softens after a while and i lips feel flakey (and then i start peeling them out of habit) which then makes me reapply it. It’s a generally long lasting time.

4. Manliness: 3/5It’s a little shimmery. Hmph. Not bad enough that I wouldn’t recommend guys to buy it though, so if you really want this and are concerned about the shine, go ahead and get it. The shine’s not that bad.

CONCLUSION: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ 3.5 /5 stars. I find that i tend to think biased thoughts towards the Burt’s Bees lip balms and give them high ratings, but this one was mehhh. it was okay. It does the same job as a regular Burt’s Bees for me and honestly, the original Burt’s Bees smells better too.

Blistex Lip Medex, Medicated Lip Balm Review

So i got asked to review this one from an anon in messaging and (yay my first request hahah) it pushed me to finally buy this thing. I always saw it in the little bin thing at the store:

 <— ta-da. It’s tempting to buy. -_-" 

1. Price: $
This was around $2.30 something for a 0.25 oz tube. Honestly, 0.25 oz is A LOT. 0.15 is the standard oz size for a TUBE. so 0.25 is PLENTY. It’s super affordable.

2. Appearance:It’s in a cobalt blue finger pot with a screw cap lip. The size is pretty small too so it can fit in a jacket pocket or small backpack pocket without being too in the way.

3. Feel
GLIDE - It was smooth. Nice and smooth. I liked the fact that it wasn’t terribly oily either, since i find that most finger-pot sizes that i try seem to be…It wasn’t thick either so that was nice. ALSO because it’s medicated it has MENTHOL and CAMPHOR. These numb the lips slightly because they are medical analgesics (pain blockers) and they definitely leave a nice tingly feeling on your lips (and even on your finger if you don’t wipe it off). I liked this because if i did have chapped lips, they wouldn’t hurt as much!
SMELL - The smell is expected. It’s medicated so it smells like medicine, but the smell isn’t bad. It’s just…a medicine smell.
TASTE - I wouldn’t try tasting the medicated lip balms.
SHINE -There’s a very slight sheen with this one. In direct light it looks like there was a little bit of shine, but besides that, it’s not bad at all. Just don’t slather it on and you should be fine.
LASTING TIME - The lasting time on this one is variable. I found that the mentol and camphor feeling lasted the shortest time, maybe an hour, and it fades as the hour progresses. But after that, the pain on your lips, from being chapped, should be gone. Just as long as you reapply ever so often. This one lasted a total of maybe…3 hours. It’s pretty good.

4. Manliness: 4/5It’s not shiny, so i give it a good manly rating. It also helps that it’s blue and says medicated on the label so anyone conscious of those girly lip products will not have anything to worry about! It shows you care about your mouth!

CONCLUSION: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 4/5 stars. I’m usually snobby towards cheaper products because I have some crazy notion in my head that the more expensive ones work better…but honestly, this one gets the job done. If you’re just looking for a practical lip balm with no extra frills this is the one.

Alba Botanica Lip Balm Review

Yeah, these labels above are older ones (they’re the ones that I have) but I’m sure that the 

1. Price: $$ 
$3.00 for a 0.15 oz tube. Just like a Burt’s Bees. You can buy these at most drugstores and major grocery chains, CVS, Walgreens, Target, Walmart, Whole Foods etc.

2. Appearance:It’s a clear tube with a colored cap to match the flavor. The NEWER ones look like this:

Either way, they’re a LITTLE girly. GIRLY. But that’s okay. As long as you hold it properly it’ll pass as any regular chapstick for the super conscious guy.

3. Feel
GLIDE - I want to say waxy…but I mean more to say that it’s THICK. It’s kinda like spreading chunky gravy or something on your mouth. It’s not terribly at first, but constantly spreading it on your mouth and it gets pretty icky. I didn’t think about it till i noticed how uneven the spread was on the bullet of the lip balm.
SMELL - OKAY so these three:
"Pineapple Quench" - This one is TOO sweet. It became a little too much to handle after a couple of minutes. I sucked it up anyways since I paid $3.00 for it. Eh. Not my favorite.
"Passion Fruit Nectar" - THIS one smelled really nice. It had a little bit of tartness to it too. It wasn’t terribly over powering and i enjoyed the scent. It wasn’t too strong.
"Coconut Cream" - This one was my favorite one. I liked it a lot more than the Passion Fruit one because it didn’t smell as fruity. It had a ‘hearty’ feel to it…despite it being fruit. 
TASTE - Not really a bad taste…but i wouldn’t eat it.
SHINE -Not much shine. It had a slightly matted appearance because it was really thick.
LASTING TIME - This one lasted a while. It didn’t get absorbed very well. It just kinda…sat on my lips. My lips were soft and stuff, but the lip balm didn’t fade away, it just  stuck to my mouth. I’d say about 3+ hours.

4. Manliness: 3.5/5It’s matted and not shiny, but i’m gonna say 3.5 because if someone is standing close enough to you, they can see you’re wearing it.

CONCLUSION: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ 3.5/5 stars. Not bad, Alba Botanica. Not bad. I wouldn’t wear it EVERYDAY but once in a while because who likes to feel all that stuff on your mouth all the time, right?