Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Dr. Hauschka Lip Care Stick

I didn't know about Dr. Hauschka until I went into a Sephora and had my mind blown by how many "upscale" lip balms there are out there. Dr. Hauschka, particularly, made an impact because there aren't that many products out there named after actual people. George Foreman Grill, Dustin "Screech" Diamond Sex Tape...the list is short. The name of this line of skin care makes you feel like Dr. Hauschka made it just for you, like he was in his German country cottage with a mortar and pestle grinding up freshly picked herbs, just about to make a house call (or a Hausch-call!) to you.

Price: $12.95. That is not a typo.

Appearance: The lipstick-style cap and twist mechanism that so many frou-frou slash foreign balms seem to favor.

Glide: Goes on easy and a tad oily. Pleasant.

Flavor/Smell: Like a fresh orange rind. No, more like orange soap or perfume. It's a very intense scent. It contains lots of essential oils like limonene, citronella, geraniol, citra, linalool and farnesol, many of which are found in perfumes. Why that many are necessary in one stick, I have no idea. There's no orange flavor or sweetness.

Lasting Power: Eh, I don't know. I'd say about an hour or two. I never get the feeling that it quite absorbs into my lips completely, but it softens them very quickly. It's not the best for harsh cold and wind, so if you're an indoor guy/gal then it's pretty good. It also contains alcohol, which I think may cancel out the moisturizing properties of some of the other ingredients.

Product Plusses: The other ingredients include castor, jojoba, rice germ and sweet almond oils; rose hip, rose petal, anthyllis and carrot extracts; shea butter; candelilla, carnauba, rose and jojoba waxes. Holy moly. That is a looot of stuff. It's also organic and cruelty-free. No SPF.

This is a good stick, especially for anyone with sensitive skin, but the price is a too prohibitive for a stick with the same basic ingredients and effectiveness as other natural balms (sans the linalool and anthyllis whatevers). It's fancy, but it won't work miracles.

4.0 out of 5 tubes.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Those essential oils are actually used as preservatives. You'll find them in a lot of natural products. Especially ones produced in Germany, because their federal association for German manufacturers of drugs, supplements, cosmetics and personal care products is really strict about what can be called "natural".

They also do use them in perfume as well.

6:17 PM  
Blogger JavaJive said...

Thanks, Erin!

6:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i bought this today and the price is ridiculous, NZ$26. It works ok I guess, not too greasy but not very long lasting either.

1:47 AM  
Anonymous jenni said...

I found a excellent lip balm. It's made by a airline stewardess. Its called Island Kisses. It's not greasy and stayed on for 6 hours. I was so amazed. Had a couple of friends try it out. There love it. The site is www.myislandkisses.com. This balm is wonderful and no lie I see an improvement in my lip texture

5:28 AM  

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