Softlips Organic Collection

I am about to be extremely angry. I have written this review THREE times to post only for my computer to shut down once and my draft get saved TWICE and then erased for no reason TWICE! Someone really does NOT want me to post this review! Ugh! After such a LONG delay, here it is!

The newer labels are the ones that are more
vibrant (orange and green, Papaya and
Peppermint, respectively). I love those new labels!

Company: Softlips

Flavors: Honeydew, Pomegranate, Acai Berry, Papaya, and Peppermint. The Honeydew is not like honeydew at all, its one of my favorite fruits and I was really looking forward to this balm but I was highly disappointed. I can't even describe what it's like. It doesn't even seem like a fruit to me. The Pomegranate is a little more accurate, it's a tart scented balm but still no real hint of sweet or anything amazing. The Acai Berry is the best scented of these three, it's clearly an exotic berry of some sort but I have nothing really to compare it to since I've never eaten an Acai Berry and I don't have any other balms that are Acai flavored. The Papaya is AMAZING. Definitely one everyone should try. I do NOT like papaya the fruit (unless it is dried) but oddly enough I love this Papaya balm. It is sweet, fruity, and just all around amazing. The Peppermint is also just PHENOMENAL. It's very minty and cool and tingly to the lips. Love these two!

Wear: Very smooth, as is typical with Softlips balms. Since the tubes are smaller in diameter than your average tube of lip balm, a couple more applications are necessary but totally not a hassle to do so.

Packaging: Those cute, thing, white tubes that I love so much. I don't know what it is about them but I love these little guys.

Price: Around $3 which isn't bad for an all natural, organic balm. Some places have it a little closer to $4 or a little over, like Walgreens or CVS but those places usually have more expensive balms.

Overall:
Pros: Variety of flavors, price, packaging, wear
Cons: Some flavors are not very accurate/pleasant

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 twists for the entire collection. For Papaya and Peppermint alone, 5 out of 5 twists, must haves!

Have you ever tried these balms? What did you think of them?

Apologies for the delay!

I am so sorry to keep everyone waiting for reviews this week! Life has been super hectic with finals and a new tenant moving into my condo causing stress on my roommate and I. I visited my parents this weekend hoping to post reviews away from home but in my haste I forgot my bag with my laptop in it (updating from my iPhone right now and it would be hard to write a whole review on this, plus I'd have no pictures so the reviews would be rather dull). Ugh! Finals week has definitely had its effect on me. I promise to post by Monday! I will also post Thursday as usual. Thanks for being so patient with me! --The Chapstick Wrangler

Yay! This blog is 4 months old!

I just wanted to post and say a giant THANK YOU to all of my readers. In the last month the views on my blog has shot up over 2,400 views! The last three months had been exactly 1,000 views a month. I don't know what happened this past month but I'm glad it did!

I'm glad so many of you find my blog entertaining. It also makes me SO happy that so many of you decide to write me, either by commenting on posts or e-mailing me. I really appreciate it. I love any and all reader input.

When I started this blog 4 months ago, it was just an idea that popped into my head and that I talked over with my boyfriend. I intended to actually start it the 1st of January of this year, but because I was driving back and forth in a car from San Francisco to Los Angeles (we were looking at apartments which also took away any time to start by my deadline)...it wasn't exactly possible. It's because of my boyfriend that I'm called The Chapstick Wrangler. When I was trying to think of ideas of what to name my blog, he just looked at me and said "You're The Chapstick Wrangler!" And thus, the name and blog was born.

Within the first 4 days or so I had gotten up to 35 views (half of which were probably from my boyfriend, his mom, and myself on our various devices). We...I...never, EVER thought my blog would get more than MAYBE 50 views. My writing is poor, my stories are long, I ramble a lot and where am I to tell others what a good or bad balm is? Then I reminded myself that I had (at the time) a collection of lip balm greater than 150 tubes (it's closer to about 300 now) and possibly knew a thing or two about lip balm.

With all that being said, I just want to say thank you once again for reading. Without readers, this blog would go unread and my motivation to keep it going would be long gone. Thank you, also, for giving me a good excuse for having such a large collection of balm.

I would love to hear any recommendations that would make this blog better, what you like about the blog, and what brands you've tried that I've reviewed and what you think of them.

--The Chapstick Wrangler

Lip Love Natural Lip Balm

I have to admit, I had never purchased anything from Etsy.com until the last couple months. In December, I think, was the first time I had considered checking Etsy.com for lip balm. And one of the first brands I came across was this one. I don't know why I was always so hesitant about ordering from Etsy, perhaps it was because I knew I'd be opening Pandora's box and be ever so consumed in buying and trying new balms. It took me a while before I actually decided to purchase from this company and a while for me to actually write up a review, so let's get to it now shall we?

Company: Lip Love

Flavors: Pineapple Tangerine, Black Raspberry, Lemon Drop, and Mint Truffle. The Pineapple Tangerine is dead on blend of sweet tangerine and tangy pineapple.If I breathe the scent in for too long it becomes a little overwhelming but then again I'm sure most people don't inhale the scent for 30 seconds or more in one sitting. The Black Raspberry is an interesting scent, I'm not sure what an actual black raspberry smells like but I'm going off of my Black Raspberry Vanilla cream from Bath and Body Works. It's hard to describe what it smells like, it's very perfume like. I'm not sure if I like it too much. Obviously I was going to buy the Lemon Drop as a good "flavor" point, something easily comparable to other lemon balms in my collection. I was a little disappointed, this smelled not exactly like lemon in my opinion. My best description of it would be a sour citrus scent with a little overwhelming scent of a medicated/menthol balm. The Mint Truffle is pretty dead on chocolate and mint combination. It is probably the strongest scented of the bunch. I smell a little bit of nuttiness as well. I wasn't particularly fond of really any of these, there was something about them that just didn't work for me. These balms also have natural sweetener in them but I found myself really trying to avoid licking my lips because it just wasn't good tasting to me.

Wear: The balms go on very smooth, it goes on a bit thin but it covers well so a little goes a long way. They last close to two hours which is pretty good.

Packaging: These are your average sized lip balm tubes with colored labels coordinated to the indicated flavors. The labels are paper labels but I just took off the plastic casing in such a way that it remained on the bottom part and only got removed from the cap of the tube.

Price: $3.25 a tube, not too bad for a natural, handmade lip balm.

Overall:
Pros: Price, Variety of flavors, packaging, wear
Cons: Something funky about the flavors

Rating: I'd give these balms a 2.5 out of 5. There was something I just didn't like about the balms, some were menthol-y, some I just didn't like. It was worth a shot, but I don't think I'll be purchasing again.

Orange Thyme: Additional Balms

Okay by now you guys probably realize that I love balms from Orange Thyme. I mean seriously, those balms are fabulous! If you haven't picked up a few from her yet, you should definitely go and get some. Lucky for me, and anybody else who seized the opportunity, she had a sale a few weeks ago on new summer/spring flavors! Yay! Of course I didn't hesitate to snatch up a few. If you always happen to just miss a sale or never know they occur, make sure to like Orange Thyme on Facebook to stay up to date.

Seriously these tubes are always so cute,
I always feel bad for unwrapping them!

Company: Orange Thyme

Flavors: Peppermint, Meyer Lemon Cupcake, Strawberry Lime Margarita, Coconut Lemongrass, Creamsicle, and Vanilla Pear. The Peppermint is AMAZING, it's minty yet smells a little sweet to me as well. It's like a candy cane, it's just perfection...everything I expect from a peppermint balm. The Meyer Lemon Cupcake smells just like a baked lemon desert, similar to the lemon cupcakes I whipped up last week. It's a great balm to have around when you want a baked treat without the calories...har har. Now the Strawberry Lime Margarita, I should mention that I've never been fond of margarita flavored balms or margaritas in general (tequila is just not my thing). I can sense a lot of lime but not a strong smack-you-in-the-face lime and a faint strawberry. It's not my absolute favorite balm from her but it is a good balm regardless. Now the Coconut Lemongrass is just PHENOMENAL. Definitely my favorite of the bunch. I don't know why I've never purchased Coconut Lemongrass balms before because they seem to be my favorite right now. It's just like candy, it's sweet and just all around wonderful. Seriously, invest in this balm. The Creamsicle is exactly like an orange dream bar. A perfect, not an artificial flavor in any sense, blend of orange and cream. Unlike the Orange Cream Burst from Chapstick, this balm has a very natural scent and is much more enjoyable. Don't get me wrong I also love the Chapstick version. When I was ordering I was going back and forth between ordering Vanilla Pear and finally decided not to because I had ordered so many balms already, but imagine my surprise when the freebie I received was none other than Vanilla Pear! Yay! I was so happy to have gotten it. Some vanilla pear balms I've come across give me this sick feeling and aren't exactly my favorite balms to use but this one is much more pleasant. It's a 50/50 mix of Vanilla and Pear but isn't overly scented like some of my others. It may be just me but I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of vanilla pear as a combination.

I had to make a second purchase after I
ordered the previous four because in my haste
I missed these!

Wear: SMOOOOOTTTHHH. Without fail, these balms are the smoothest. They are just absolutely the smoothest balms to apply.

Packaging: The tubes are your average sized tubes with cute colored labels that correspond to the flavor. The flavors are written in a very cute font, these balms are just all around adorable.

Price: $3.25 a tube, pretty great for a natural, smooth, amazing balm.

Overall:
Pros: Flavors, packaging, price, application
Cons: None!

Rating: 5 out of 5 twists, I'm never disappointed with a purchase from Orange Thyme.

Full Circle Beeswax Lip Balm

Two weeks ago, my boyfriend and I were trying to find something to have for dinner since it was late at night and every place to eat was closed. We decided to go to Schnuck's to find some groceries to make something. I thought it would be a long shot but, I decided to look for lip balm anyway. To my surprise, I found quite the deal and an amazing new balm for my collection.

Company: Full Circle

Flavors: Beeswax, it's minty! It's a wonderful mint lip balm. I haven't been without it since I purchased it. I believe when I first put it on I was talking to my boyfriend and in the middle of applying I said, "oh my gosh delicious, double mint gum". I don't think it's really like double mint gum, but it kind of reminds me of it. If you like mint balms, try to find this one! It's a perfect mint balm.

Wear: It goes on pretty smooth and just adds to the charm of this balm. I love putting it on and feeling the tingly sensation when it's applied. Nothin' much else to say here!

Packaging: A pretty basic tube. It's an average sized tube of balm, it's a white tube with a yellow label that has the company's name and "Beeswax Lip Balm" in big letters. It's pretty simple.

Price: Now here's the kicker, it's an AMAZING balm. And what's even better is...it comes in a pack of two...and...it cost $1.15! Two tubes for $1.15. That's amazing! I was stunned by how little I paid for this gem.

Overall:
Pros: Flavor, Wear, Packaging, Price
Cons: It's hard to find, can't buy online

Rating: 5 out of 5 twists. Try to find this! What's there not to love about this balm? Well...unless you don't like mint or cheap, great balms.