Review: Maybelline Baby Lips (Blush Burst)

Hello again!

So, to my knowledge, the Maybelline Baby Lips line of tinted lip balms are not vegan. In fact, I hear Maybelline tests on animals. I haven't researched this, but I keep coming across people claiming so. It's definitely something to keep in mind if you are vegan and/or against animal cruelty.

That's not to say that I'm not against animal testing -- I am.

However, these are very popular, and this is one of the only non-beeswax lip balms you can find in the drug store. I think it's worth looking at as a beeswax-free option for those of us in dire need of them, especially since they are easy to find. I got mine, in the color Blush Burst, at CVS as an impulse buy when I was picking up my medications. Here's a picture of the back of my packaging (highlighting mine).

Boy, once you start using lip balms with only five to eight ingredients total, you really start wondering what some of these other ingredients are even for... Naturally, I recognize petrolatum and shea butter, and I see honey in there also. (I don't think I'm allergic to honey, but because I don't consume it normally as a condiment or flavoring, I don't actually know that for a fact. Gonna find out, I guess!!)

So, yes, this is scented -- it smells like SweeTarts, or another fruity candy, like perhaps Pixy Stix. My delight is palapable!!

It is not really what I would consider flavored, although in comparison to a completely unflavored option like Blistex Simple and Sensitive, this is notably more pleasant if I lick my lips a little.

Blush Burst is a Limited Edition as part of their "Pink'ed" collection.

The wax is peachy-pink, but as for leaving any tint of color on the lips, I don't see any at all. This would be my preference, anyway! I blotted my lips on a tissue and there was no transfer of color to the white Kleenex, though, so I'm inclined to think it's little more than a clear balm. I understand some of the other colors have some payoff, though, if you're into that.

The formula feels pleasantly silky, if a little thin, and not too slippery.

I'm not wild for it. Honestly, it feels very similar to other candelilla-based lip balms in my collection. But to be honest, I don't find any vegan lip balm I've tried to feel incredibly moisturizing and hydrating. It seems like they're either on the dry side or on the wetter side of being so slippery they apply very thin and don't last very long. It's just nice to have a protective and comfortable coating sometimes, especially overnight. For me, it's often more about the comfort and pleasure the scent brings me combined with the staying power, and I do like the scent of this.

I do not know that the entire Baby Lips line is beeswax-free, especially since there's lots of variations, like the line that is medicated. I would definitely check the label on any of them before purchasing any.

On a more shallow note, the packaging is fun. It's a bit bigger than a standard circular ChapStick or Lip Smackers tube, but holds the exact same amount of product (.15 FL oz). It feels durable. The cap is more reminiscent of a lipstick tube than a lip balm tube because it's long and goes over the tube with a nice click, whereas most lip balm tubes have a small cap that just goes over the very top. Some may find the design or colors childish, but the part of me that misses LipSmackers appreciates this...

I got mine for $4.59 at CVS.  With sales tax, that was basically $5 -- $1.50 more than most other lip vegan balms. I've heard they're a dollar cheaper at Target and Walmart, which puts them at about the same price as most of the others I've tried. However, since I didn't have to buy it online in bulk and pay for shipping, as I do with nearly every vegan balm on the market, paying a bit more to have it immediately was fine with me.

TL:DR; While not really vegan or hypoallergenic, the Maybelline Baby Lips in Blush Burst is beeswax-free, smells like candy, and is available in more stores than most vegan balms. For some, it may be an acceptable option.

One year!

Man, it's hard to believe it's been a year since I completely quit using lip balms with beeswax and switched to hypo-allergenic/vegan balms. What's sad is that I still miss those balms... especially the strawberry ones.

The damage wrought to my skin for almost a year prior to switching to vegan balms took several months to fade, but it is gone now. I am truly thankful there are people out there creating products I can use and that I can afford to be picky because there are choices.

Review: Hurraw! (Lemon, Grapefruit, Mint, Black Cherry Tinted)

Hey, it's 2014! What's up??

A while ago (like... months!) I got this fistful of beauts from Hurraw! Their packaging is lovely and they have a nice variety of flavors, mostly for $3.79 (a few are $4.29). Some of the products themselves are colored -- i.e., the grapefruit wax is the color pink! This is pretty unusual, as far as I've seen in the world of vegan lip balms! I hate to be so shallow, but the fact that their balms have color really excited me!

I wish I could review each of these scents in depth, standing on their own, but truthfully, I just haven't been using any of them. Because they're so cute, with their bright colored labels and nice design, I wish I liked them a whole lot more! They're... okay...

Sometimes I think whether something like a balm or a gloss is good or not is purely personal preference, both scent and texture-wise! These just unfortunately don't work for me. They are very thin-feeling on the lips. They go on exceedingly slick and slippery. If you like a thinner, lighter, very slick balm, these might be for you! They are very buttery-smooth and silky-soft when you're applying! By far the softest I've tried! Actually too soft, for me. I don't feel like I can use much pressure or I might crush the product, and I don't like the feeling that the product is slipping off my lips. That's how thin it feels to me... like it doesn't have much cling.

This is entirely just personal preference as to what I like to feel on my lips and what I don't. Everyone's different! And since lip balms are the only lip products I use, I am a bit picky.

The lemon scent uses lemongrass, which I suspect is why it is too sharp-smelling -- like a lemon-scented cleaning product -- for me. It's less citrus juice-y and more grassy and green, or something. The smell really icks me. I would just throw this away if I didn't want to keep looking for a lemon balm that I like and use this as a comparison point!

I'll probably use the grapefruit one, since that's one of my favorite flavors for vegan balms. It's okay! But I don't like it was well as Hugo Naturals grapefruit balm. (Crazy Rumors are also just "okay.") If you're going grapefruit, get the Hugo, is all I'm saying. It's worth it.

The black cherry flavor has a tint. I'm not a tinted lip anything girl, but this is not a red tint. It's hardly even a pink tint! I think I'll use this one, too, since on my lips (which have all the color I want naturally) it's not very noticeable.

I haven't used the mint enough to gain any appreciation for it since I have spearmint and peppermint from The Gnarly Whale in rotation, but mint is such a basic scent for lip balm, I'm sure I'll get use out of it eventually. Scent-wise, it's more on the peppermint side.

Similarly, I can't comment as to the staying power of these. I haven't worn any of them enough to notice them either needing constant reapplication or hanging around on me.

It's just hard to imagine getting to like any one of these in particular, since I don't reach for any of them. Sorry, Hurraw! I like your style, I am really excited by the simple fact that your balms have colored wax, and I appreciate your range of scents. I just don't think you're for me. I wish I loved you!! But I'm going to use this grapefruit balm for sure.

TL;DR: If you like very slick formulations, you might like these! These aren't my favorite, but they're usable.

Review: The Gnarly Whale (Peppermint and Spearmint)

When I was choosing balms from The Gnarly Whale, I found a coupon for a free peppermint balm on top of the three I was ordering. Honestly, I'm not the world's hugest peppermint person, but I was so into their strawberry balm, I really wanted to try the most flavors I could, so I went for it!

Peppermint: This smells just like candy canes. That's all you need! (Since the first lip balm I ever used was Bonne Bell peppermint that I got in my stocking for Christmas, I have a strong association with the classic red and white packaging of it, but I probably haven't used peppermint lip balm since.) This is a really strong scent that lingers. Mint can be a scent you associate with everything from ice cream and candy to toothpaste, and in my opinion this is very strong like fresh mint, but has a candy-esque note to it after the initial strong mint smell hits you. Peppermint's not my fave, but I would definitely put this in any candy cane lover's stocking. It is like a candy cane in balm form.

Spearmint: Yum. Like the peppermint, this scent is perfectly present and identifiable. To me, spearmint smells softer than peppermint, and because I prefer spearmint to peppermint in general, I prefer this balm to the peppermint one! They're both exactly what you would want them to be, though. This spearmint balm reminds me of any number of spearmint chewing gums (like Wrigley's), and I find it really great to put on right after I brush my teeth, especially before bed. It makes everything feel so fresh and clean.

Lip balm-wise, I've always loved the more green mint/spearmint flavors. I used up many Blistex Medicated Mint and EOS Sweet Mint balms. Finding a great replacement for them is invaluable to me.

Both of these balms are perfectly smooth in texture and have nice staying power. I use the spearmint one pretty much every night (it's the balm I keep on my bedside bookshelf currently) and I have yet to run into any graininess in the tube. Smooth, minty sailing.

The Gnarly Whale's balms go for $3.50 each, but if you Google, you might have luck finding a coupon, like I did. I'm very pleased with 3 out of the 4 balms I've tried from The Gnarly Whale. More on that fourth one later!

TL;DR: The Gnarly Whale is great and their mint scents are spot-on! Spearmint's my jam, but the peppermint seems perfect too, if that's your jam!

Review: The Gnarly Whale (Strawberry)

One thing I discovered fairly quickly in searching for vegan lip balms is that if they are scented at all, it's usually a citrus scent -- orange, lemon, grapefruit. Sometimes it's a combination scent like orange+vanilla, but many of them use citrus extracts of some type as ingredients, so there you go.

My favorite lip balm flavor is strawberry. (Second is spearmint!) I think I acquired this great love via Bonne Bell products in high school. If not due to classic strawberry-flavored LipSmackers, then certainly Strawberry Sparkler lip gloss or other strawberry-flavored things that have been discontinued in years since. If it was strawberry+cream, so much the better! I seem to recall some kind of little pot of strawberry gloss that had an "and cream" sort of flavoring; I think it might have been a milkshake or malt flavor.

However, I've seen almost no vegan strawberry lip balm!

More commonly, I have seen a general "berry" flavor, as if that is the same thing. It's not. I don't go for raspberry at all.

I was given a tube of strawberry lip balm from The Gnarly Whale for my birthday; my best friend bought me a whole slew of different kinds of balms off of Etsy!

I had not considered buying lip balms off Etsy for a few reasons. Mostly, I just wanted to be able to pick lip balm up at the grocery store, or at least Ulta. But also, I want to be able to have a consistent go-to that I don't have to pay shipping fees for. I want to trust the product will be the same every time I buy it. I want to have faith that I'm not buying some wonky batch of wax from someone who isn't 100% transparent about their ingredients. No offense or disrespect to anyone, because I'm sure there are people out there on Etsy creating some lovely, consistent, 100% vegan products! I'm just extremely protective of my face at this point, and I don't want to endanger my recovery!

The Gnarly Whale has a lot of good feedback on Etsy, lots of products, a nice website, and a sincere stance on their desire to create vegan cruelty-free products. Mostly, so much five-star feedback swayed me it was okay to try this product. So did the fact that I could Google about the product and find reviews.

I'm so glad I did! Their strawberry balm is almost exactly what I've been missing since having to give up traditional beeswax balms.

The strawberry scent is lovely, fresh, and not sugary or fakey as many faux-fruit flavorings smell; it smells like strawberries. It's a nicely saturated scent.

It's not as slick a formulation as LipSmackers, but it's one of the longer-lasting vegan balms I've tried. When I put some on, I don't need to reapply it again five minutes later. It is a softer balm than Crazy Rumors. Crazy Rumors balms feel very firm against my lips and can take a few swipes to warm up and spread, whereas The Gnarly Whale's formulation feels more malleable and willing to transfer. (Am I just crazy? That's a rumor.)

As with many balms that use candelilla wax, sometimes in the tube, this can become gritty or bumpy, but I don't mind this (it softens if you keep it in your pocket for a bit, if this is some kind of dealbreaker) and the scent and flavoring and feel of the product to me makes it the best vegan balm I've tried.

YES. THIS IS THE BEST VEGAN BALM I'VE SO FAR TRIED. And it's not even citrus.

I bought myself a back-up tube and used the opportunity to order a couple more scents, which I'll also share my feelings on. At $3.50, they are priced pretty much around the same as most other vegan balms, but on their Etsy you can get a 3 for $9 bundle.

TL;DR: Perfect strawberry vegan balm that doesn't make me feel like I'm using a product that isn't on par scent-wise or performance-wise with beeswax balms. I recommend this balm highly. The Gnarly Whale is good stuff.

Review: Crazy Rumors Lip Balm (Pink Grapefruit Juice)

Since I liked the Hugo Naturals Grapefruit lip balm so much, I was eager to try the Pink Grapefruit Juice scent from Crazy Rumors. So eager, in fact, that I got three of them...

Crazy Rumors has a really wide selection of scents/flavors! In the world of vegan lip balm, scent and flavor can be hard to come by and very limited. I've mostly seen citrus and vanilla scents. To see that they produce so many varied and unique flavors is great. I do believe, with the small selection of flavors I've tried, this may mean they can be a little hit-and-miss, but we'll see.

I've used these Pink Grapefruit Juice balms for about six months -- lost a tube in the wash by leaving it in my pocket and everything! So I've really put these through the wringer. They seem to rank between Hugo and Bee Friendly in terms of scent/moisturization. The scent is very light and the taste is also very minimal, but both are present enough to be so much better than unscented/unflavored. These are not saturated with scent or flavor.

In the tube, the wax is very, very firm-feeling against the lips. It will transfer, but it feels very firm. Luckily, it is smooth. (As I've said, I don't really mind the "grainy" feeling some vegan balms can have when their wax crystalizes a bit in the tube, but if you do, this is something to keep in mind. To each his own!) It's also buildable, so you can achieve the amount of lightness or heaviness you might need or want. They feel good going on, and I like this flavor in a neutral manner.

But I do feel like the Hugo one lasts the longest and has the most saturated scent/flavor. It smells like a literal grapefruit, and if you held them both out to me and told me to pick one, I'd take the Hugo flavor. Crazy Rumors' Pink Grapefruit Juice is smoother than Hugo, but I still like Hugo the best, I think, in terms of scent, flavor, moisturization, and staying power.

But if you don't want an overpowering scent or flavor and like a lighter balm, these are worth a try!  At $3.50, they're the general price of most balms I've seen so far, and Crazy Rumors has such a wide selection.

TL;DR: A nice balm with a mild grapefruit scent/flavor. Worth trying, but I think there are better grapefruit balms in particular out there.

Review: Hugo Naturals Lip Balm (Grapefruit) and Bee Friendly Citrus Natural Lip Balm

I decided to lump these into one post because they were the only two beeswax-free lip balms I could find at my local Whole Foods. I really pined for scented balms and these were the only scented balms I could find that I didn't need to order off the internet. Therefore they were the first scented beeswax-free lip balms I tried.

(Like before, I bought these, but came home and Googled to make sure they were beeswax-free. The Bee Friendly says so right on the label, but you know!)

It's unfair to compare these two things; it's unfair to compare any two lip balms, I think, as everyone has their own preferences for how slick or thick they like 'em, what is unpleasant versus pleasant in a scent, et cetera. But these are my thoughts. One does the job, and one doesn't.

Bee Friendly Citrus smells lovely, lemony and fresh. It is not flavored. It's a very, very thin balm. Possibly the thinnest I've ever tried! It doesn't seem very buildable. To my dismay, this disappears off my lips in about two minutes, if that. I don't know where it goes so unbelievably fast, since I'm not licking my lips. Does it just evaporate?? What a mystery. This is something I won't repurchase. I keep it in my purse, along with one of the Blistex Simple and Sensitives and another balm that rotates around. I can use this until it's gone, but it does nothing for me except provide momentary relief. For me it comes down to whether I want something that will stick or if I don't mind an extremely temporary touch-up. I believe this was $3.

Hugo Naturals Lip Balm in Grapefruit is the balm that became my go-to in the first several months I was beeswax-free, and is one I still enjoy even though I have many others to choose from now. Its smell is very sharp -- very grapefruit! If you're like me and you're accustomed to the fakey (yet delicious) scents of Bonne Bell products, the scent of this might stun you at first or come across as sour. But if you like the smell of grapefruit, this pulls no punches and doesn't sugar that sour scent up at all. Now that I'm used to it, I love the strong, real grapefruit smell.

This is a balm that is thicker and more like what I'm accustomed to in a more ordinary lip balm. In the tube, it can sometimes be grainy (I've discovered this of many balms that use candelilla wax), but I find that I don't mind this and in fact would prefer it to a slick, smooth balm that doesn't last at all. This one lasts on me, and that matters. It's buildable, too. I've used it up almost entirely; I would have by now if I hadn't been actively seeking out more balms to try. At about $3.50, the price is comparable to most any other lip balm, so I would definitely repurchase it.

I would love it if Hugo's range had more flavors. The only other ones I see on the site are Pineapple & Coconut and Vanilla & Sweet Orange, and none of these are flavors that I like!

TL;DR: Bee Friendly Citrus evaporates shockingly quickly; it's not worth buying, in my opinion. Hugo Naturals Lip Balm in Grapefruit smells strong, but sticks around effectively. If you're like me and want to pick up a lip balm at the grocery store, this is one I would recommend.