Beeceuticals Bee-Yond Lip Balm

Spring is here, folks, and we have just the balm for you to start enjoying it with. Beeceuticals Organics (motto: "Health from the Hive") makes a line of USDA Certified organic, holistic honey-based products like shampoos and eye creams with all sorts of other alluring and amazing-sounding ingredients.

Their delightful lip balms come in Blueberry, Raspeberry and Peach (they used to also have Strawberry, Natural and Peppermint, but I don't see them on the site), and are made with only seven ingredients, all of which are Fair Trade certified.

Price: $3.99

Appearance: Love, love, love, love, love the packaging. The scalloped edges, the simple color scheme, the little man-bee hugging a tiny Planet Earth. You know how sometimes you want to buy a book just because it has an eye-catching cover? Same for these balms.

Glide: Very nice. Light, smooth and perfect for warmer weather. I tried using these in the dead of winter when my lips were dry and rough with disappointing results, one of which is that they lock up solid when they get cold, making it impossible to apply deftly. A few weeks after opening mine I could see little shea butter clumps, so you may want to keep the tubes in a place where the temperature doesn't vary too much.

Flavor/Smell: I like the varieties they offer, and I think the Peach is my favorite. Each one smells bright and fruity but none has a specific flavor or sweetness.

Lasting Power: Not good in the winter, maybe half an hour, but much better recently (although it could be I'm drinking more water), perhaps up to a couple of hours.

Product Pluses/Minuses: I like that I can pronounce all the ingredients (Organic Olive Oil, Organic Beeswax, Organic Shea Butter, Organic Almond Oil, Natural Flavor, Organic Holistic Honey Blend™, Organic Fair Trade Certified™ Cocoa Butter) and that they're organic, because things labeled organic make me think I'm a good person. Cons are the aforementioned shea butter balls that eventually appear, giving a rough texture to the application surface, and labels that peel off faster than they should (could have just been my batch).

Reliable and cheerful warm-weather tube. 4.25 out of 5.