Lip Balm Wrangler

Friday, October 5, 2012

Balms I've Got My Eye On 10.5.12

I can't believe it's October already! I love, love, love October (well, I might be biased because my birthday is in October), but I really love fall, it's probably my favorite season. I hope you're all enjoying the new weather this season has to bring! Here are some of the balms I've got my eye on this week:

Aspen Glen Bath & Body's Ginger Ale

(via)

This sounds like such an interesting lip balm flavor. I keep coming back to this company, but since this is a fairly new company I'm always iffy about trying them out. Not that new companies are bad, a lot of the companies I love I came across by taking a gamble on a new company.

Long Winter Farm's Strawberry Jam

(via)

I've been recommended this recently and I'm definitely tempted to make another purchase from LWF!

Elegant Rose Boutique's Chocolate Orange

(via)

I love using Chocolate Orange balms when it gets a little cooler out, not sure why but I've been using mine like crazy this last week. I've never heard of this company before, which of course leaves me hesitant to try them.

Have you tried any of these balms or companies before? I'd love to know what you think about them!

Happy Friday!

--Christina

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Blue Q's Lip Shit

As you saw a couple weeks ago one of my best friends, Laura, brought back some lovely new lip balms for me from Canada and Maine. In case you missed it, you can find that post here. I don't usually like balms that come in tins, but I can't seem to stay away from the ones from Lip Shit (what a name, huh?). The flavor combinations are so awesome and just so unique, it's hard for me to resist using them despite not being in a tube. They have a couple more flavors I'd love to try!

Company: Blue Q Lip Shit

Flavors: Raspberry Lemongrass, Lemonade Hibiscus, and Coconut Basil. I didn't know what to expect of the Raspberry Lemongrass since I"m very used to the coconut lemongrass flavor of lip balms. The Raspberry Lemongrass is sweet and fragrant of tart raspberries and a little something else, which I'm assuming is the lemongrass. It's lovely, I use it many times a week! The Lemonade Hibiscus has a very clearly distinct lemonade scent, I love it! It's a sweet, sour fragrant lemonade with a little hint of floral from the Hibiscus..it would be a perfect balm in the summer. If you like lemonade or lemon anything, this is definitely one to try. I was iffy about the Coconut Basil because I was scared the basil would be too strong, but this flavor combination is amazing!! It's clearly sweet, rich coconut mixed with just a little bit of basil. My goodness is it AMAZING! I've never had basil before in a balm, but I'm totally digging it! All of their flavor combinations are so unique!

Wear: Since these come in tins you kind of decide how much to put on and how much balm that goes on your lips depends on how much pressure you apply when scooping the balm out of the tin. I actually dip my lips into the tin so I don't have to touch it. It looks silly, but it keeps the germs from my fingers away from my mouth! I circulate the tin along my bottom and top lips and by this method I get great coverage! Also, the lip balm lasts for 2+ hours on my lips. It's incredible!

Packaging: These balms come in little tins that are aluminum and silver colored on the outside with graphics on the label that are silly and a little out there. I get a retro vibe from them. They're so cute! The weight of the balms is .3oz/8.5g.

Price: $6.49 per tin, which is a bit steep for me for one tin, but it is the weight of 2 tubes of lip balm and the price of 2 lip balms if they were $3.25 a piece.

Overall:
Pros: Flavors!!, Wear, Packaging
Cons: Price

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 twists, these tins are awesome! I've never loved a lip balm tin before, but I L O V E these! A must try, at least once!

Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Beeswax, Flavor, Lanolin, Vitamin E, Organic Comfrey Leaf Extract, Rosemary Extract.

Have you tried this lip balm company before? What did you think of them? Do you like lip balm tins or tubes better?

I just saw that they added a couple of new flavors to their line up today (10/4)! And one in their natural body line too!

Additional Orange Thyme Balms

Okay, I'm addicted to Orange Thyme balms. I admit it...there, you happy now? I probably have more Orange Thyme balms than anyone, ever! I just can't stay away from them and I'm pretty sure I have almost every flavor and will continue to purchase more and more flavors from Rachel. They're just SO wonderful! There are few companies (Orange Thyme, Epically Epic, Long Winter Farm, etc) where I will continuously purchase from them time and time again, mostly without hesitation (my bank account hates me most of the time, so if it's not super necessary I have to take some time to think before I buy).

Company: Orange Thyme

Flavors: Blueberry Pomegranate, Chocolate Pomegranate, Peaches and Honey Cream, Grapefruit Strawberry, and Ginger Peach. I didn't really know what to expect of the Blueberry Pomegranate, since blueberry and pomegranate balms are so iffy when not combined. I think I smell a bit more blueberry in this than pomegranate, but regardless it's pretty nice! It's not too sweet and not too fruity; both of which I really enjoy in a balm, but I won't knock the flavor for personal preference. The Chocolate Pomegranate is a strong chocolate scent with nice undertones of sweet pomegranate. It reminds me of a chocolate covered cherry. It's quite pleasant! If you like chocolate, you'll like this one. The Peaches and Honey Cream is a nice light scent, you can definitely tell there's honey in there! I'm not a fan of honey so this isn't my favorite balm, but it is a nice sweet, creamy scent with a soft scent of peaches. It's slowly growing on me as I write this. I thought that I would really love the Grapefruit Strawberry because I thought the balm would be a sweet, fruity balm. I think I smell more Grapefruit in this balm than Strawberry, but it's not the sour and tart grapefruit that I was looking for. It also reminds me of a floral balm for some reason, I don't know why. It's not awful though! The Ginger Peach is probably my favorite balm out of the bunch! I've wanted this balm for a long time and I'm so glad I finally got it. It's a perfect blend of spicy ginger and sweet peach, but not crazy over powering on the ginger (which is great because I'm not a HUGE fan of ginger). It also smells like there's a bit of coconut in it for some reason; the coconut Rachel uses in her balm is pretty distinct and I can swear I smell it in mine!

Wear: These balms always go on so smooth and last forever! I've never had a single complaint with how these balms glide on. There's really not much else I can say about these.

Packaging: These balms come in your average sized lip balm tube with colored labels to match the indicated flavor. The labels have a cute little border around where the flavor name goes and the flavor name is displayed in a font that makes it look like it's hand written. I really like the design of these labels.

Price: $3.25 a piece, really not bad at all! Rachel also has a sale at least once per season.

Overall:
Pros: Flavors, Wear, Packaging, Price, everything!
Cons:

Rating: 5 out of 5 twists! If you STILL haven't tried Orange Thyme balms, I don't know what you're waiting for! They're absolutely wonderful in every way. There are so many flavor options, there's got to be a flavor for every taste.

Ingredients: Cocoa & Shea Butters, Candelilla Wax, Natural and Essential Oils, Avocado Oil

What Orange Thyme flavors are your favorites? Which flavors are you still waiting to try?

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

My Haul This Week 10.3.12

The packages keep on rollin' in! I think for my birthday I'll spoil myself with some new boots, some new clothes, and...you guessed it..some new lip balm! Not that I really need any excuse to spoil myself with such things, as you've seen by now I buy lip balm all the time with or without a valid excuse. The same goes for a cute top or a new pair of boots, except I'm a little more reserved with those. Any who, here's what arrived this week:

Lippincott Soap Co.

Lee's Bees

Sweet Creek Herbal Care

I just noticed that all of the balms I received this week are oval tubes, awesome! I love lip balms that come in oval tubes.

What have you received this week? Anything completely blow your mind?

--Christina

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter

So this is something new I was thinking about trying...instead of my usual "Balms I've Got My Eye On" on Tuesdays (I'll switch them to Fridays), I thought I may switch it up a little and do some lip color/lip gloss reviews. I've been using lipsticks/lip colors a lot recently and I'm kinda lovin' it. I never really messed with lip color when I was a kid or in my teens, I think mostly because I was kind of a tom boy and really just loved eye shadow. I don't know what got me to do it, but a couple of weeks ago I just picked up some lip stick and other things and started playing around. What do you guys think of this idea? If you're completely opposed to it, this won't be a regular thing. I like to get your input on these things because, well...I do this for you! And I only want to post things you'd want to read.

Red Velvet

Company: Revlon

Candy Apple, you can see the design pressed on the side of
the tube

Color: Candy Apple (035) and Red Velvet (040). The Candy Apple is a nice bright red. It's really nice, I was trying out red lipstick for the first time and I really liked it.The Red Velvet is a deeper, dark red color. It's nice when I'm feeling "edgy" I suppose haha. I'm really happy with both color choices. I'd really like to try the other colors they offer, maybe in some pinks and neutral colors.

Wear: Since these are a lip butter lip color, they go on very smooth! This was kind of my transition into lip colors since it went on like a balm. The color goes on nicely, about two coats and you've achieved the color of the lip butter. I like that it's still a bit moisturizing in the beginning since lipstick is just so drying. In the picture I thought it may be useful to show you what the colors look like on skin and on paper since I'm fairly tan and colors may look a bit different on my skin.

Packaging: These come in tubes with caps colored to match the color of the lip butter. Two sides of the case have grooves/ridges in them and the two other sides are smooth.

Left: Candy Apple Right: Red Velvet

Price: I think I paid about $6-7 for this, which is high compared to the lip balms I buy but I suppose that's not too bad for a lip stick since they cost more.

Overall:
Pros: Color, wear, packaging, price
Cons:

Rating: 4 out of 5 twists. These are pretty great lip colors and I have been using them pretty frequently. I like that they're smooth and not just a lip stick, they could be a bit more like a lip butter though.

Have you tried these Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters before? What did you think of them? What do you think of me including reviews on lip sticks/lip glosses?

Monday, October 1, 2012

Wrangler's Monthly Wrap Up: September 2012

Boy, September seemed to just fly by! I received tons of new lip balms and tried many new companies. As we started transitioning into fall, lots of companies started adding fall flavors to their lip balm lines and I was surprised I actually liked them! But, I'm still loving a lot of what shops were offering in the summer. Here are some of my favorite things from this past month:

The lip balms my friend, Laura, surprised me with after her vacation.