2007 August | Girl Gloss

Link Love: Interesting Lip Items Found on the Web

I came across a few links this week that interested me:

When to Save, When to Splurge on Makeup, noted that lip products are one place where saving is a good idea. I agree! While I love some pretty expensive products, it is also very easy to find good lip products at an affordable price.

Kiss and Makeup has a review of Clinique Superbalm, which I also posted about this week.

I liked this recommendation for Smith’s Minted Rose Lip Balm for post illness chapped lips at the blog Sack of Monkey’s in my Pocket. If it works in one application, sign me up!

Check out this totally cute handmade lip balm holder: lip balm organizer

Finally, I was intrigued by this post: Make Your Own Apple Lip Balm.

Popularity: 2% [?]

M.A.C In3D

The M.A.C In 3D Collection provides a nice bunch of limited edition lipglass shades. There are a number of gorgeous pinks and light reds, plus a couple of nice browns. There is also a nice bright red, and a gold that goes on lovely over any lipstick. If you haven’t tried gold or silver gloss over lipstick, do so! The effect is usally quite nice!

Right now, algorithm is my favorite darker shade. It is not as purple or as light as it appears on the M.A.C site. In3d and Wondershine are my favorite pink shades.

The shades have a decent amount of shimmer, without going overboard. They also have a funky opalescent look in the bottle. If you have a chance, run to a M.A.C store or counter and check them out before they are gone!
Shop for more M.A.C Cosmetics

Popularity: 2% [?]

Sugar Freshen Up, Breath Freshening Lip Gloss

Sugar, a company who makes some fun products, has Sugar Freshen Up Gloss Breath Freshening Lip Gloss.

Can a lip gloss freshen your breath? Well, it is a bit hard unless you eat it, which despite the fact that I consumed a few Bonne Belle lip smackers as a kid, is something I don’t particularly recommended. But it can still impart a covering “breath mint” scent!

Sugar also offers the Sugar Freshen Up Trio Breath Freshening Lip Glosses in the flavors of Mmmmmm: Peppermint, Wintergreen, and Cinnamon. Each has its own tint color.

Shop for more Sugar Cosmetics

Popularity: 4% [?]

Eco Lips, Organic Balm With a Clip

Eco Lips Lip Balm SPF15 with Clip is over 70% certified organic and contains all natural moisturizers. It also adds a couple of chemical sunscreens for an SPF of 15. What I really like is the carabiner clip!

The balm pictured is Cherry flavor. More details are available at the Eco Lips Company website

The balm and clip is also available as Eco Lips Lip Balm SPF15 with Clip, Mint.

At $2.99, this is a good value product!

Popularity: 3% [?]

New Bourjois Duo Scrub Lip Balm

Now here is an interesting concept! The Bourjois Duo Lip Scrub and Balm has a mini buffer in the cap to exfoliate your lips. The balm itself moisturizes with glycerin emollients.

There is only one shade, which is a sheer “pearly veil.” So this will impart some sheen. I prefer glosses such as that over a lipstick shade, although they can also be nice when you want a more natural look, but don’t want your lips to look naked either.

The Bourjois Duo is priced at $17, which is mid-range for a gloss. I might have to give this a try!

Shop for more Burjois cosmetics

Popularity: 7% [?]

Lip Balm Addiction: Myth or Real?

Is lip balm addictive? I remember back in the dark ages of 1985 reading in my Seventeen magazine (never mind that I was by then eighteen) that lip products containing petroleum products were addictive. It didn’t really explain why. I later found several theories, the best being that petroleum jelly does not sink into the skin, so it only gives short term relief and over time can actually dry the skin more. The major lip balm companies aren’t advertising this of course, and there seems to be quite a bit of disagreement on the matter.

Regardless, I took it quite seriously at the time and pondered the matter as I swiped my lips with petroleum jelly laden Chapstick. I then decided that no way in double hockypucks was I ever going to be addicted to lip balm! So I started reading labels and buying other lip products, ones without that evil ingredient.

I found some wonderful stuff. So wonderful that I started to wear it all the time. Now I even wake up in the middle of the night to put on my current favorites. Life is very wrong without something on my lips. Over time I even gave up worrying about whether the products contained petrolatum. What the heck, I could always alternate with other stuff (although I still prefer balms with natural ingredients) .

More recently, I read that medicated lip products such as Carmex or Blistex contain addictive ingredients because they create an addictive tingling sensation that, along with drying ingredients, that make you seek to reapply the product. I don’t regularly use those products anyway, so I wasn’t concerned. But have you tried the tingly lip plumpers that are all the rage now? For some reason I seem to really like that sensation, so I keep reapplying them….

So back to the question of whether lip balm is addictive: I certainly get pretty darn uncomfortable without it. I also can’t, and won’t give it up! For further reading on the matter (a lot of further reading), Lip Balm Annonymous is a wonderful source for information and amusement. If anything, browse the pages that include company specific statements and information, and peruse the hate mail page which is full of amusing rants from people with apparently little sense, or at least a serious inability to recognize humor. The site is a bit dated, but still quite relevant.

Are you addicted?

Comparison shop for lip balm at Shopzilla.com