(review still to come)
What balms have you been using this week?
--Christina
Showing posts with label chocolate orange. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chocolate orange. Show all posts
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Balms Of The Week 10.7.12
I've been so busy this weekend! Got my new iPhone5 (finally, I've been using the 3GS since it came out before I came to college!!) so I've been playing with that like crazy, spent time with my parents, had family over for my sister and I's birthdays yesterday, and I've been working on a 10 page research paper for one of my classes that's due Tuesday. Through all of these shenanigans the balms I've been keeping by my side are:
Thursday, September 20, 2012
D & R Apothecary
Last winter, I saw that D & R Apothecary was closing down for a little while and they were having a huge sale on their lip balms. I purchased a couple and thought they were alright, but they kind of just got shoved in the back of my collection because I started purchasing lip balms like crazy. Well just recently, D & R Apothecary said they were getting rid of their bath and body line in order to pursue their continuously growing nail polish endeavor (now known as Hit Polish). This meant that all of their lip balms were $1 which is crazy cheap! I saw they had some flavors they didn't use to carry so I decided that now was the time to try them before they close up for good. There's still some time to stock up, if you're interested!
Ingredients: beeswax, coconut oil, sunflower oil, lanolin, glycerin, vitamin e, sweet almond oil, aloe extract, essential oil.
Company: D & R Apothecary
Flavors: Lemon Drop, Cherry, Tropical Punch, Asian Pear, Blueberry, Strawberry Cheesecake, Pineapple Tangerine, Chocolate Orange, Fresh Peach, Cinnamon Roll, and Mango. Phew! That was a lot! Since it's such a long list of flavors, I'll bold the flavor I'm talking about so there's no confusion. The Lemon Drop is a perfect lemon lip balm. It's sweet, it's sour. It's classic lemon. Obviously I'd love it. The Cherry reminds me of cherry coke, it's cherry but with a little bit of spice? Does that make sense? It's not 100% cherry, it seems like there's something a little more in it. The Tropical Punch smells like a cardboard box, I'm not sure if it's because it's pushing 9 months old or what but mine does NOT smell like anything even remotely tropical. I don't remember it smelling totally awesome when I first got it either. The Asian Pear smells like a very crisp juicy pear but again with a little something extra in it. Not very much like an Asian Pear, more like an anjou pear. The Blueberry I was really looking forward to because I LOVE blueberries! The Blueberry smells a little like blueberries and I didn't know what to expect but for some reason, I just don't like it. It wasn't a sweet smelling blueberry, but I'm not entirely sure what's missing from it. The Strawberry Cheesecake smells just like the real thing! It's sweet strawberries with a little bit of creaminess from the cheesecake. It's very faint, but it's there. The Pineapple Tangerine smells like a perfect blend of tart pineapple and sweet, juicy tangerines. It's wonderful, but a little strong. The Chocolate Orange did not disappoint! It was an amazing combination of oranges and milk chocolate, exactly as expected! The Fresh Peach smells like ripe, juicy peaches. But like some of the balms there's a weird after scent when it is applied to your lips which kind of kills the scent of the balm. I did not know what to expect of the Cinnamon Roll since I don't usually buy balms that aren't fruity in any sense and it's pretty rare even for me to buy balms that are baked good/desert related. This balm was very, very cinnamon and brown sugary to me. I didn't really smell any of the sweet creaminess like you'd find in the icing and I don't know if it's a 100% perfect representation of a cinnamon roll, but it's not too bad. It's not really my cup of tea because I really only like fruity balms, but I thought I'd give this one a shot. The Mango one is probably the closest and best smelling mango balm I've ever come across! It smells just like mango jelly bellies which are my FAVORITE. Love!
Wear: It's strange, some of these balms go on SO crazy smooth and slick and some others go on okay but need a bit of coaxing. Also, some go on pretty well but some also go on a bit thin and I find myself going round and round my mouth. But hey, these balms are $1 so I can't really complain! They're all pretty smooth and most definitely not the stiffest balms in my collection. Some of them also have a strange scent after being applied that kinda kills the scent of the balm, but it only occurs with a few of them.
Packaging: These balms come in your average sized lip balm tube which is clear. The labels on the tubes are white with colored bands at the top and bottom which correspond with the identified flavor of the balm. The color bands are connected by a colored stripe that has the balms flavor on it. It's kind of annoying with some of the tubes that when you go to pull the cap off, the label slides off instead. The labels are just taped on and then the plastic shrink wrap is placed on top, so sometimes the shrink wrap isn't tight enough so the whole thing comes off. Otherwise, the balms have shrink wraps with T-bands so you can just rip off the cap portion and keep the bottom portion protecting the label from wear and tear.
Price: I don't remember the original pricing of these balms I think they were around $2-$2.50, but they're just $1 now!
Overall:
Pros: Tons of varieties of flavors, price, smooth application
Cons: Labels slipping off the tube
Rating: 3 out of 5 twists; these balms were pretty good, but they weren't anything really, truly spectacular (aside from the Mango and Lemon Drop...love!). They're definitely worth checking out, especially for this low, low, low price of $1.00.
Ingredients: beeswax, coconut oil, sunflower oil, lanolin, glycerin, vitamin e, sweet almond oil, aloe extract, essential oil.
Have you tried D & R Apothecary's lip balms before? What did you think of them?
Friday, February 24, 2012
Long Winter Farm Soap Co.
The other packages I received this week, in addition to my Firebird Bath & Body package I mentioned in my previous post, were from another company I found on Etsy.com. I had actually found a picture of their balms on Pinterest.com and what quickly caught my interest was the flavor of the lip balm, "Unicorn Farts". I thought, how unusual! And how cool! I have a secret, well it's not a secret to those who know me personally, but yes a secret...I love Unicorns. I don't know why but I've always just loved Unicorns! So I figured I had to look into other balms this company made, in addition to purchasing "Unicorn Farts" which to me seemed like a perfect combination of two things I'm obsessed with (definitely more obsessed with lip balm though.)
Company: Long Winter Soap Co.
Flavors: Vanilla Pear, Chocolate Orange, Unicorn Farts, Yetti Breath, and Neon Narwhal. It should be known when buying this lip balm that each balm has an underlying scent of cocoa because of the cocoa butter used in the balm. The maker states that but boy did I underestimate it! It is really pleasant but kind of overpowers most of the scents of the balms, but I still find myself applying it over and over because it's just so wonderful. The Vanilla Pear definitely has hints of vanilla and a clear scent of pear that can be detected over the cocoa scent. It's a really great and unique scent, pear is such an underrated flavor of lip balm. The Chocolate Orange hits the scent dead on. The cocoa scent just brings out the chocolate scent in the balm and there is that characteristic scent of a sweet orange. It's absolutely delicious and perfect in every way. Unicorn Farts is intended to smell like cotton candy and spearmint and if you're patient you can smell the cotton candy over the cocoa. You can definitely tell there is something minty in the balm and something sugary like the long time carnival treat. This is definitely a combination I've never encountered before, it's unique and surprising. Yetti Breath is supposed to be a combination of lemon and coconut, two scents that I love more than any other so I was really excited to receive this balm. But the scent of cocoa really overpowered this balm and I haven't quite noticed a lemony or coconutty scent. When I first opened the tube I smelled a slight scent of coconut but since then I haven't noticed it. I'm hoping as I work down the tube it will be more noticeable (which at the rate I'm going may be within the next week!). Neon Narwhal is intended to smell like berries and coconut; I was expecting a very unique scent since I've never come across berries mixed with coconut in a balm. I can only smell a slight scent of berries over the cocoa. Nevertheless, I adore the cocoa scent. I don't usually like chocolate or cocoa or anything like that but I really do enjoy this balm.
Wear: It goes on incredibly smooth! And I feel like the cocoa base makes my lips feel all warm and soothed. I feel like it just melts into my lips. I love the way it feels going on. It lasts about an hour or so which is great.
Packaging: It's the same weight as your average lip balm, but in an oval tube! I love these oval tubes. To me they appear smaller than the usual tubes even though they're the same weight. I love the idea that I'm putting on a little, mini lip balm. Each one has a unique label, that gives you a sense that there's a touch of handmade. The balms are also filled over the usual spot that you'd expect the balm to stop so that's different and if you're like me and get annoyed when the cap scrapes the balm then you'll just have to be careful when taking on and off the cap till you've used it. Also when the balm arrives it's in a plastic shrink wrap that seems like you only need to pull off the part on the cap but then when analyzing the bottom near the wheel you use to twist the balm up, you see that the plastic covers that part as well. That being said it appears that the entire wrapping needs to come off but without it the label looks like it will wear down very fast. For this reason, I've kept some of the wrapping on three of the tubes and took the plastic off on the other two tubes. I like the way the plastic looks on the label.
Price: $3.50 plus shipping. Classic price for a handmade, natural balm.
Overall:
Pros: Oval tube, price, application, long lasting, variety of flavors, uniqueness of flavors, natural
Cons: Label without plastic feels like it'll fade, cocoa in some balms is a little overwhelming,
Rating: 4 out of 5 twists, I would definitely purchase again. I've never felt a balm go on to my lips like this one does, it truly feels like it's melting into my lips.
Flavors: Vanilla Pear, Chocolate Orange, Unicorn Farts, Yetti Breath, and Neon Narwhal. It should be known when buying this lip balm that each balm has an underlying scent of cocoa because of the cocoa butter used in the balm. The maker states that but boy did I underestimate it! It is really pleasant but kind of overpowers most of the scents of the balms, but I still find myself applying it over and over because it's just so wonderful. The Vanilla Pear definitely has hints of vanilla and a clear scent of pear that can be detected over the cocoa scent. It's a really great and unique scent, pear is such an underrated flavor of lip balm. The Chocolate Orange hits the scent dead on. The cocoa scent just brings out the chocolate scent in the balm and there is that characteristic scent of a sweet orange. It's absolutely delicious and perfect in every way. Unicorn Farts is intended to smell like cotton candy and spearmint and if you're patient you can smell the cotton candy over the cocoa. You can definitely tell there is something minty in the balm and something sugary like the long time carnival treat. This is definitely a combination I've never encountered before, it's unique and surprising. Yetti Breath is supposed to be a combination of lemon and coconut, two scents that I love more than any other so I was really excited to receive this balm. But the scent of cocoa really overpowered this balm and I haven't quite noticed a lemony or coconutty scent. When I first opened the tube I smelled a slight scent of coconut but since then I haven't noticed it. I'm hoping as I work down the tube it will be more noticeable (which at the rate I'm going may be within the next week!). Neon Narwhal is intended to smell like berries and coconut; I was expecting a very unique scent since I've never come across berries mixed with coconut in a balm. I can only smell a slight scent of berries over the cocoa. Nevertheless, I adore the cocoa scent. I don't usually like chocolate or cocoa or anything like that but I really do enjoy this balm.
Wear: It goes on incredibly smooth! And I feel like the cocoa base makes my lips feel all warm and soothed. I feel like it just melts into my lips. I love the way it feels going on. It lasts about an hour or so which is great.
Packaging: It's the same weight as your average lip balm, but in an oval tube! I love these oval tubes. To me they appear smaller than the usual tubes even though they're the same weight. I love the idea that I'm putting on a little, mini lip balm. Each one has a unique label, that gives you a sense that there's a touch of handmade. The balms are also filled over the usual spot that you'd expect the balm to stop so that's different and if you're like me and get annoyed when the cap scrapes the balm then you'll just have to be careful when taking on and off the cap till you've used it. Also when the balm arrives it's in a plastic shrink wrap that seems like you only need to pull off the part on the cap but then when analyzing the bottom near the wheel you use to twist the balm up, you see that the plastic covers that part as well. That being said it appears that the entire wrapping needs to come off but without it the label looks like it will wear down very fast. For this reason, I've kept some of the wrapping on three of the tubes and took the plastic off on the other two tubes. I like the way the plastic looks on the label.
Price: $3.50 plus shipping. Classic price for a handmade, natural balm.
Overall:
Pros: Oval tube, price, application, long lasting, variety of flavors, uniqueness of flavors, natural
Cons: Label without plastic feels like it'll fade, cocoa in some balms is a little overwhelming,
Rating: 4 out of 5 twists, I would definitely purchase again. I've never felt a balm go on to my lips like this one does, it truly feels like it's melting into my lips.
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