Ferdinand Home Store Peppermint

I found this stick at a display table for Ferdinand Home Store when Chaptastic visited the Renegade Craft Fair a month ago (yes, I'm that slow). I was first drawn in by their creative stationery, but of course as soon as I saw a bowl of these babies it was all over.

Price: I can't remember exactly, but I think it was something in the neighborhood of three dollars. It's DIY, it's a craft fair...I thought I would splurge. I can't find it on the Ferdinand site, though, so it may have been limited edition.

Appearance: This might be the best part of this stick (there are other good things). It's gorgeous! I don't think the pictures do it justice, and perhaps I should not have used cactii as a background. I love the clear casing and the contrast of the simple navy blue text (awesome font- look at the placement of that 'f') against the pink of the lip balm inside. I sometimes leave it out on my desk just so I can gawk at it.

Glide: This is an okay glider. It slides decently but it's a little bit gummy. It works well now, but I worry that perhaps in winter it might get a little hard. That said, it's pretty light on the lips and spreads evenly.

Flavor/Smell: No flavor to speak of but there is a not unpleasant light, waxy (almost crayon-y) peppermint smell. It's pretty weak, and you can barely smell it when it's actually on your lips. Since we don't have a category for color, I must mention here that it does add a subtle, natural, pink flush to the lips, much more subtle than the color of the actual stick suggests.

Lasting Power: Not too shabby, but could be a little more chic. Again, it's very light, so while it feels nice on un-chapped lips, I don't know how it would feel on really chapped, dry lips (read: winter weather). In other words, it'll keep your lips smooth, but I don't know if it'll get them there on its own.

Product Plusses: It contains no petroleum products and about four different types of natural oils (avocado, caster, palm kernel and coconut), which is always great, but there's no SPF (a common DIY quality). Aside from being a marvellous case study in design there aren't many more remarkable things about this stick.

A pretty, functional and perfect-for-summer lip balm.

3.25 out of 5.