Chaptastic: The Best Chapstick/Lip Balm Blog Ever

One Last Job: Crazy Rumors New Soda Pop Balms

2010-12-14T11:41:00.004-05:00

I know, we're supposed to be retired. But just when we think we're out, they pull us back in!!! The one and only thing that has the power to bring Chaptastic back to life is the announcement from our favorite company that it has a new line out.

That's right- Crazy Rumors just released their Soda Pop lip balms in Cola, Ginger Ale, Root Beer and Black Cherry.

There was a second where I almost wanted to be disappointed, you know? Surely they couldn't continue their amazing streak of making well-balanced, fun flavors of really effective lip balms (did I mention I ALWAYS have one on me?). And that would be okay, wouldn't it? I mean, even Rome fell, for crying out loud.

But...no. They did. And they did it so well we're not even going to write a big, long review. We're just going to get to the point and tell you that they're great, and possibly the best way to get through the winter. All the smooth-lipped deliciousness, none of the calories.

And because Crazy Rumors loves you, they're offering you 15% off all orders with code CHAP through the end of December (don't forget about their Candycane flavors!).

So, yeah. Get on that, and we'll get back to our Florida retirement home for a game of shuffleboard.

Sites We Dig: Labello Collectors

2009-09-09T16:00:00.001-04:00

Sprechen Sie Deutsch? I sure hope so, because Lipcare-fans.de, started by Labello-afficionado Janina Hirdler, is entirely in German. But that shouldn't stop you from clicking around and finding every possible version of all the Labello, Nivea and Liposan brand balms that have ever been made.

People, this is impressive.

Guest Post! June Jacobs Lip Renewal

2009-09-09T15:30:00.000-04:00

Today's poster is Ericka, whom we know nothing about, so we're just going to say that she's a very attractive, smart and succinct young woman with a bright future ahead of her. Let's hear it, Ericka!

Ever since I heard that most lip balms with petrolatum are made to get your lips hooked on balm, I’ve been purposely searching for balms without it. I came across June Jacobs Lip Renewal while on a spa vacation in Arizona.

[Note: This review refers to the product "June Jacobs Lip Renewal", NOT to "June Jacobs Lip Renewal with SPF 20", which DOES contain petrolatum but can be found for $12-20 -Ed.]

Price: $24 for ½ ounce.

Appearance: Capped toothpaste-style tube.

Glide: It’s not slick or sticky. You just notice a real softness and smoothness, which makes it good for guys who don’t want anything too girly or fruity.

Flavor/Smell: It’s pretty much colorless. I love the slightly citrus scent, and I felt like my lips were getting better, working better on their own.

Product Pluses: There are lots of natural ingredients like Shea Butter and others (I won’t get into it here ‘cause I know y’all will go online and search it out). The price is steep ($24), but I swear it lasted me a year!

Alas, my last tube has run out, and with the economy I’ll be slumming with cheap drugstore tubes for a while. I have definitely seen my lips do a backslide into petrolatum addiction. I give it 4 out of 5 tubes and might have given 5 if not for that price.

Updated: Oh Wow! For Lips

2009-09-09T14:25:00.003-04:00

We just got an update from Oh Wow!, the exclamatory lip balm makers we wrote about a couple of years ago. They've got a new look and a new formula. They write,

We listened to your comments from a couple of years ago and here is what we have: special flavorings give the aroma of the flavor, not taste. No need for users to lick their lips, thus licking off the moisture. They receive the optimum benefits of our ingredients: only coca butter and vitamin E (a few flavors contain essential oils).

I must say, they are true to their word: the glide remains truly excellent, so much so that when I applied it I actually said, "Oh...wow!" I kid you not.

High marks for the Island Delight and Mint Chocolate varieties I tried. They have unobtrusive yet enjoyable scents and no discernible sweetness. I still can't believe that such a lovely balm has so few ingredients! This would be a solid solution for vegans and anyone with sensitive lips.

They're updating their website (about time!...stay away from the Comic Sans next time around), but you can still order from it. $4.95 a tube and various discount bulk rates. Enjoy!

New Crazy Rumors! Fresh Squeezed

2009-09-08T16:30:00.001-04:00

I will deflate all the suspense we try so hard to build up in most of our posts right now: Crazy Rumors can do no wrong. This is no news to those of you who've read our glowing reviews of this darling company in the past, but we were especially delighted by their bright, refreshing and summery new line called Fresh Squeezed. I mean, just look at them!

Price: $4 each, totally worth it.

Appearance: Utterly charming. One of the things I love about their aesthetic is the careful attention to detail. Each flavor has its own lovely color scheme and each line (Perk, Brew, A La Mode, Gumball, etc) has its own look, and yet the products as a whole have a very cohesive look. Despite the many varieties, it's hard to mistake one flavor for another. These look fun, appealing and citrus-y.

Glide: Classic Crazy Rumors: smooth, slightly creamy and almost sinful to apply.

Flavor/Smell: Spot on with the citrus fragrances and flavors, probably owing to the essential oils contained within. There's Orange Juice, Lemonade, Limeade and Pink Grapefruit Juice. I can't decide which one I like best, and I'm not a big fan of grapefruit in real life. What makes these balms amazing is the balance between the flavors and the subtle sweetness- neither cancels out the other, and together they are not overpowering. I've always appreciated that they use the natural sweetener Stevia, and sparingly, at that. After use, a gentle scent hangs in the air that always makes me wonder, "Who was just peeling an orange in here?"

Lasting Power: Superb. 2+ hours, quick to soften lips, perfect for overnight application. I consistently use these more frequently than other balms, stopping only when I realize I may soon run out.

Product Pluses: 100% natural vegan ingredients (shea butter, soy wax, avocado, grape seed, olive and jojoba oils, Vitamin E, just to name a few), cruelty-free.

In short, 5 out of 5 tubes, and another winning effort by Crazy Rumors. If I woke and learned that no other lip balms existed but these I would mourn momentarily but still be content.

So...This Exists

2009-09-08T15:00:00.001-04:00

I didn't really want to link to this, but perhaps that would be a disservice to the small, slightly skeevy fraction of our readership. Apparently there's a need for a product line by International Body Labs called Boob Butter (sort of NSFW). They mostly make tattoo-related "butter" products, but they have a lip balm as well. Melon flavored, of course.

Looks legit enough with decent ingredients (there's a bit of over-emphasis on hemp as an ingredient). If only there weren't a douchey cartoon guy with a flavor saver and a girl with giant boobs on the tube. Or, you know, the word BOOB in giant letters. But I presume I'm not the target audience, so I'll let that one go.

Here & Gone- Almost

2009-09-08T14:30:00.003-04:00

So we have some good news and some bad news for you all.

The good news is that we'll be posting for the next couple of weeks after a long hiatus! Hurrah!

The bad news is that this will be the last month of Chaptastic. Boo!

The decision came after we realized we've been doing a disservice to our eager and astute readers by basically never having time to post. Rather than keep you in suspense with our sporadic and annoying schedule, we've decided to give up the ghost and pass the lip balm baton to the other, admittedly more dedicated bloggers out there who've already jacked our content, our rating system, and our guest post idea.

We have adored writing and reviewing for you and we are left with so many fond memories, not to mention piles and piles of lip balm.

So stay tuned for a little bit until our big adieu.

Ask Chaptastic: Recycling Lip Balm Tubes

2009-09-08T10:00:00.000-04:00

Dear Chaptastic,

Last year I recycled my chapstick tubes by sending them to the Eco Lips program. I couldn't find it on their page anymore. Do you guys have any idea if they still have that program available? I have many tubes to recycle!

Cheers,
Lose or Reuse

Good question, LOR. The Eco Lips recycle program does indeed seem to have disappeared. There's no explanation on their site, but Burt's Bees provides this entirely reasonable explanation for why they stopped their own recycling program:

The program was meant to promote recycling and Green living, but the lip balms we received in the mail were often over-packaged with bubble wrap and excessive taping. Instead of succeeding as a positive Earth-friendly effort, the program was creating un-recyclable trash. We regret that we have had to phase out this program, but hope that you will continue that recycling effort on your own.

The containers for most lip balms are made of #5 plastic, which is also used for things like yogurt, hummus, and medicine bottles. Unfortunately, #5 plastic is not often accepted as part of many municipal recycling programs.

However, Whole Foods, in cahoots with Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farm, has a Gimme 5 initiative that accepts #5 plastics in some stores. You should check to see if there's one in your area, since chances are you're throwing #5s in with the other plastics and it's getting fished out.

Another way to recycle your tubes is to repurpose them. My Lip Stuff creator Brea has these and other awesome ideas about how to reuse your tubes:

Salt & Pepper- Pour a little salt and pepper into clean empty tubes and toss in your bag for a little salt and pepper at work or whenever you are on the go eating.
Perfume refresher- Don't have a travel size perfume? Soak a cotton ball in your favorite perfume (or essential oil) and stuff inside an empty lip balm tube. When you need a refresher, just remove the cotton ball and swipe on! Also great for tossing in a drawer for freshness, or even coat pockets when they are stored for the summer.

How do you recycle your tubes?

Contest Winners

2009-04-20T13:00:00.000-04:00

The suspense is over! We had a last minute entrant a the end of last week so we decided to take an extra day to deliberate. We chose the top ones based on creativity, humor and best use of tubes. Our choices for the winner and first and second runners up for the "All Your Balm Are Belong To Us" photo contest are:

Sabrina: "Fraubello"

Amazing effort, Sabrina! If I had my childhood to do over again, I would certainly have made my invisible friend out of lip balm.

Liisa: "Lip Balm Ballet"

Could not stop laughing at Liisa's photo for some reason. Those tutus are far too cute, but it's the "couple" at stage left enacting the Swan Lake-esque lift that really gets me.

Shannon: "House of 1000 Lip Balms"

This photo seems simple at first, but if you check out the full original entry you'll see there's a lot going on- it's like a full on party in that tiny house, complete with some tube-on-tube bedroom action. I particularly like the hat-stylings to the left.

Congratulations to the winners, and a hearty "thank you and you're awesome!" to everyone who entered. Sabrina, you'll be receiving a gift pack of lip balms from FOC (friend of Chaptastic) Zum Kiss as well as some other goodies and Liisa and Shannon you'll be getting some snazzy tubes in the mail.

Crazy Rumors: Hibiskiss & Bonus

2009-04-17T14:00:00.000-04:00

Chaptastic's perennial favorite Crazy Rumors has a new line of all natural, vegan lip colors called Hibiskiss. Sure, technically they're not lip balms, but they certainly do moisturize like a balm and they have the same awesome shea butter and jojoba oil base that we love so much. Plus, they're very pretty, hibiscus-flavored, lightly sweet and come in six (slightly sparkly) colors. The slender, .09 oz tubes go for $6 a pop, and for now Crazy Rumors is running a deal where you can buy six for the price of five.

And if that's not enough to whet your appetite, if you order three or more HibisKiss Lip Colors they'll throw in in a special edition Red Hibiscus Lip Balm at no charge. Check them out!

(P.S. The reason I'm not reviewing these is that I have notoriously bad luck with any sort of lip color, especially anything involving the slightest shimmer. I end up looking like a bit like a drag queen even though the exact same color looks fabulous on my friends.)

Guest Post! Tarte 24-7 Natural Lip Sheer

2009-04-17T10:00:00.000-04:00

Today's guest poster is our good friend Natalia, and awesome and creative (did I mention lovely?) gal who is currently living in Paraguay and runs the highly recommended blog called Guide to Paraguay. She's got some nice things to say about Tarte's Lip Sheer line. Vamos, Natalia!

Living in Paraguay, I don't have to deal with the extreme weather I suffered through in my former home, New England. My lip balm needs changed as soon as I stepped off the plane into tropical heat, a glaring sun, and a population of women well-versed in the Latin tradition of looking put together at all times. While recently visiting the States I greedily lunged for a box of unopened balms proffered by Chaptastic co-founder (and, full disclosure, good friend) JavaJive and walked away with some tubes of Tarte's 24-7 Natural Lip Sheer. After a couple of weeks of testing I am happy to report that this product meets all my newly discovered lip balm requirements. If you live somewhere that's hot, hot, hot read on.

Price: $14 Ouch. Time for the sliding scale and justifications. When judged as a lip balm, the pricetag is ridiculous. For a lipstick- sorry, lip sheer- it is pretty normal but that does not make it any less painful. Think about what you can buy with $14... well, probably not much these days, come to think of it.

Appearance: A glammed-up version of a standard plastic tube - it has a lilac brushed metallic coating. Only the product name and SPF are on the tube, all other information is on the box. I suppose this makes it look more upscale and similar to makeup.

Glide: Conflicting signals: the consistency looks more like lipstick than lip balm, but the feel of the tube and lack of lipstick-bullet shaped top make it look more like lip balm as a whole. In the end I landed on lipstick-like glide since it is not as slick or greasy as balm can be.

Flavor/Smell: No flavor and the smell was again reminiscent of lipstick. Comes in day/event-themed colors like Tuesday and Champagne Brunch. [The colors on the Sephora site don't really match the colors in real life, just to warn you -Ed.]

Lasting Power: It soaks into your lips pretty quickly so if you are addicted to the supple-surface feel of lip balm you may want to consider applying your favorite non-pigmented balm on top. As previously mentioned, I have been using this product in intense heat, meaning I am constantly chugging water from bottles and glasses (barely leaves a lip mark) and wiping sweat off my face. The sheer color has surprising lasting power, still discernible after a couple of hours. However, only women who have trained themselves to detect who is wearing "natural makeup" and who is actually sans makeup will be able to tell (men won´t even notice). In theory this is similar to the color giving properties of gloss, but with this you can actually rotate your head without ending up with a mouthful of sticky, gooey strands of hair.

Product Pluses: The aforementioned "natural look," SPF 15, and it can also double as a blush with the same easy blending as Tarte's Cheek Stain (at half the price).

4.5 out of 5 tubes. The fact that it can do double duty as blush is a major bonus, especially if you´re traveling. Plus I like that I can use it both during the day (color: Wednesday) and for going out (color: Friday) and not feel like I have 20 lbs of greasy lipstick on. For lip balm addicts the downside might be the fact that it really is more of a lip sheer not necessarily made for constant OCD reapplications.

Blue Q: Pun-tastic

2009-04-15T15:00:00.000-04:00

Perhaps a message to the IRS? (Kidding! Please don't audit me.)

Via Perpetual Kid.

Guest Post! Burt's Bees Tin

2009-04-15T14:00:00.001-04:00

We have a strong Canadian following here on Chaptastic, possibly owing to the fact that our northern brothers and sisters posses an inborn affinity for lip balm, given the weather. We welcome this guest post from our Canadian correspondent, Victoria. Mush, Victoria!

Living in Canada can be very hard on the skin, especially the lips. I've tried Blistex, Polysporin, Carmex and a terrifying amount of cheap store brand chap sticks. Also, being environmentally friendly (who isn't theses days), I wanted to find one without the dreaded petroleum jelly. I found it the holy grail of all lip balms - Burt's Bees.

Price: $4.99 CAD at Shopper's Drug Mart (can be purchased at Drugstore.com for $2.99 USD)

Appearance: Comes in a little orange tin with a bee printed on. Not too feminine, so guys can carry this lip balm around with them. Its nice and flat; I keep this in my jeans and the tube version in my bag.

Glide: Wonderful. I store this in my pocket so it's warm and creamy, but when cold it can be a little hard to apply. Although it's in a tin I put my lips directly up to the tin to apply, a move that garners weird looks on the subway but is well worth it.

Flavor/Smell: The smell is peppermint, thanks to the peppermint oil in the balm. I personally love this, but other with sensitive skin and/or noses may find it irritating. The best feature of this product is the flavor - none. This minimizes the desire to lick off the balm.

Lasting Power: Hours. I can put this on and go about my day. Its waterproof, so you can feel free to drink away (I sometimes lick my lips, but with this the balm stays intact). I put it on before I step outside, and it's great for "winter proofing" your lips.

Product Pluses: Environmentally friendly packaging, printed on recycled paper. 95.29% natural. Not tested on animals. Social responsibility- the company partnered with Habitat for Humanity to build the first affordable green housing.

4 out of 5 tubes. Wonderful product but hard glide if cold, also no SPF.

LAST CONTEST DAY: Send Us Your Photos

2009-04-15T12:30:00.003-04:00

Today (midnight) is the last day for submitting your photos! You're probably also busy standing in line at the post office to make sure your taxes aren't late, so if you miss the deadline by a couple of hours we won't hold it against you.

To reiterate, we're calling for the most interesting photos of your vast collection of tubes and pots. The best photo wins an awesome prize pack and a gift certificate to a yet-to-be-determined-but-awesome balm store, and two runners up get a little somethin' somethin' as well.

Here are all the the entries so far (most recent at top). Not going to lie, we may have a winner in mind already. If you've already sent your photo in and wish to up your game, feel free to re-submit!

Rosanna: "Chap" & "Is It Spring Yet?"

Liisa: "Lip Balm Ballet"

Kate: "I Think I Need a Bigger Purse..."
(Full set at Flickr)

Sabrina: "Fraubello"

Kristi: "Addicted"

Marianne: "Earth Friendly"

Shannon: "House of 1000 Lip Balms"

xmrsPonce: Untitled

Christine: "The Chapstick Initiative"

ChapNews Vol. 18: Glossy Robbery

2009-04-15T11:00:00.000-04:00

I can't help think that one of our readers was behind this story from 1010wins:

Police want to know who made off with 74 tubes of "Beauty Rush'' -- worth about $1,200 -- from a suburban New York Victoria's Secret store.

Clarkstown police believe the cosmetics went missing from a bin sometime Saturday. The store, in the Nanuet Mall, reported the theft on Sunday.

Police are reviewing surveillance footage for clues. They say tens of thousands of dollars worth of lingerie has previously been lifted at that outlet, the Palisades Center in West Nyack, and in Westchester County.

Sgt. Harry Baumann says some of the items may eventually be sold on the Internet.

If you need help fencing the stolen merchandise, give us a holler!

Peeps Lip Balm

2009-04-08T12:00:00.000-04:00

Just in time for Easter! Erin Zimmer at Serious Eats reviewed these balms and had this to say:

Peeps-flavored lip balms do in fact exist. Available on Amazon for $3.99, or apparently in the Target $1 bins, they come in four different marshmallow cream flavors: grape, strawberry, vanilla, and cotton candy. The best part? None of these are even real Peeps flavors.

I wonder if they explode in the microwave. These would make great egg-stuffers!

Beeceuticals Bee-Yond Lip Balm

2009-04-08T10:00:00.000-04:00

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.

DIY: Chocolate Honey Balm

2009-04-06T15:00:00.002-04:00

This Instructable by Belsey on how to make Chocolate Honey lip balm has made me unexpectedly hungry. I wish I had the follow-through to actually collect all the ingredients and equipment to make my own lip balm (I know there are kits out there), but after amassing so many various sticks over the past few years the effort seems a bit moot.

Anyway, enjoy, and let us know if you try it out!

Blamtastic! Lip Balms

2009-04-06T10:00:00.001-04:00

Remember the adorable sisters, Lily and Melanie, we wrote about who started their own lip balm business called Blamtastic? Well, they tracked us down and sent us some samples of their tween-riffic balms, and we have pretty much only good things to say. I mean, I think we're only allowed to say good things: not only are they not even teenagers yet, but they run a business, and that's so much more than I can say for myself.

Price: $2.99 each.

Appearance: Bright and cheerful with a middle school vibe. I love the Boys vs. Girls selling point: girls obviously like purple and pink and flowers and boys are way more into black and green and aliens. I mean, these girls get it.

Glide: Very nice. Light, smooth, effortless and neither sticky nor waxy.

Flavor/Smell: There are so many varieties! I tried Lemon-Liscious, Sassafrassy Root Beer, Cherry Nilla, Green Apple and Sour Cherry. Lemon-liscious smells and tastes EXACTLY like Lemonheads candy (which, in my opinion, is a thousand times better than actual lemons). I found the Sassafrassy far too sweet- anomalously so, in fact, because the other flavors were just pleasantly sweet; I had to wipe it off even though I really enjoyed how it smelled. You will lick these off your lips because they are tasty. I would probably have just eaten them with a tiny spoon in middle school when I went through my voracious sweet tooth phase.

Lasting Power: Two hours at least. They instantly soften your lips and keep them that way.

Product Pluses: SPF 15, no petroleum or parabens. And they come with candy! I got Pop Rocks and jellybeans. Made my day.

I could easily see these being flashed at the Nickolodeon Kids Awards. I certainly hope they get picked up by the big retailers. The gift boxes are adorable as are their lip balm sleeves, which can clip to anything. Blamtastic also makes cute party favors- check out their well put-together site. I think these are the perfect balms for kids, and I'll be keeping my Lemon-Liscious close-by for when I need a nostalgia break.

4.5 out of 5 tubes.

Guest Post! Cherry Wet n Wild Jumbo Juicy Lip Balm

2009-04-03T12:00:00.004-04:00

Loyal reader Holly sends us this review of Wet n Wild's Jumbo Juicy Lip Balm. Who doesn't love Wet n Wild? That used to be my go-to section of the drug store makeup aisle before every high school dance (and now before every interview, recession-style) Eyeliner for 99 cents? Sure, it feels a little like chalk, but it's 99 cents! Show us the way, Holly!

Well, I've always been a self-professed lip balm addict. It's probably been at least 20 years that I've been a "slave to the evil stick". Recently, my 8 pack of fruity-flavored LipSmackers dwindled down to two nubs and I knew I had to act fast. I found myself wandering aimlessly around Walgreens in search of the new "holy grail" in lip balm, and this was one of my choices. Wet n Wild never let me down in my blue-eyeliner days of youth, will it this time?

Price: $2.99/tube.

Appearance: This is the porn star of lip balm tubes. About 3 times the size of a regular tube of lip balm, I don't think you'll be able to discreetly carry this in your pocket without someone asking, "is that lip balm in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" Also, the packaging from the photo is deceiving, my tube had a silver-glittery background with a cherry design and female figure posed provocatively. Clearly, this isn't your mother's lip balm.

Glide: Very smooth, like a 19 year old stripper's cellulite-free rear (bitch!). Testing environment was in a warm climate, but I think it would still glide fairly well in cold weather.

Flavor/Smell: I chose the cherry flavor. The aroma is very-cherry and is reminiscent of the classic Luden's Wild Cherry throat lozenges that really don't do anything for sore throats, they just taste good. Despite that, the scent is not overpowering. There is a very slight sweet taste after application, but it probably wouldn't interfere with any eating, smoking, or other orally-oriented activities (ahem) and actually might enhance them. Also, there is a very very slight tint to the balm, however, I think even a heterosexual male could get away with using it and no one would be the wiser, but would he want to? I'm thinking that would be a "NO".

Lasting Power: Surprisingly good! I applied it somewhat generously after exfoliating my lips. Then for some reason, I went on a vacuum-cleaning rampage in my apartment. After a full hour, my lips still felt protected without reapplication being necessary. The balm itself has a slight waxiness, so I would say it is more about keeping moisture in than actually providing moisture.

Product Pluses: Long-lasting, good scent. 1 tube will last 3x the normal tube. Comes in many other fruity flavors also: Tangerine, Sour Apple, Lemon/Lime, Watermelon, Strawberry, Red Raspberry, Boyz 'n' Berries, Kiwi Strawberry.

Product Minuses: Portability - you might need a bigger pocket or purse for this monster tube. Also, if you're looking for a lip balm with shine, this isn't it.

Rating: 4 out of 5 tubes. Good stuff, but I'm still searching for that perfect tube...

Chaptastic Q&A: Labello Change?

2009-04-03T10:00:00.000-04:00

We don't know everything about lip balm even if it does look that way sometimes. Occasionally we post reader questions about mystery balms and the like, and we hope that you, dear reader, might have the answer. Today's question comes to us from Alex.

Just a loyal Labello user for years and years. I noticed the last time I was in Mexico and bought a tube it didn't go on nearly as smoothly as it had in the past. I tried a couple different tubes and yup...same problem. It's like the formula has hardened. My favorite chapstick!!! Ruined???? Have you heard this / do you have any info??

-Hardened

Dear Hardened...okay, we made up that Alex signed off as "hardened" (sounds kind of dirty anyhow) and actually we have no clue. The only Labellos I have are from a couple of years ago, and they're still pretty good.

Have any of you noticed a difference? Comment away and help solve this mystery!

Show Us Your Balm Contestants!

2009-04-02T16:00:00.003-04:00

Your tax deadline and the last day of entry for this year's Chaptastic photo contest is one and the same: April 15!

We're calling for the most interesting photos of your undoubtedly vast collection of tubes and pots. The best photo wins an awesome prize pack and a gift certificate to a yet-to-be-determined-but-awesome balm store, and two runners up get a little somethin' somethin' as well.

To give you a little inspiration, here are the awesome entries so far:

Kristi: "Addicted"

Marianne: "Earth Friendly"

Shannon: "House of 1000 Lip Balms"

xmrsPonce: Untitled

Christine: "The Chapstick Initiative"

You guys are a hoot. Keep those photos coming!

Eco-Sensual Balm: Peacekeeper

2009-04-02T10:00:00.002-04:00

Here's an old joke: What does a beauty products company that donates all of its after-tax profits to women’s health advocacy and urgent human rights issues sell?

Cause-metics.

The company's name is Peacekeeper and they really do use the tag "cause-metics" as well as the motto "Deep healing for your lips and the world". Indeed. They make all sorts of natural products, one of which is the Eco-Sensual Lip Balm, which won one of Self Magazine's 2008 Health Beauty Awards.

Price: $3.18 on the site, $4.00 at places like Urban Outfitters.

Appearance: Standard size, clear tube, there it is on the right.

Glide: Easy, smooth, slightly greasy.

Flavor/Smell: Miiinty! That great "real" from-the-sprig mint smell that wakes you right up. No sweetness.

Lasing Power: Softens really well, but doesn't last longer than about an hour.

Product Pluses: 100% vegan, cruelty free, all natural, profits to a good cause.

3.5 out of 5 tubes. Does the job decently but lacks strong performance or any zazz. I like my lip balms with jazz hands.

Lano Lip Balms

2009-04-01T10:45:00.000-04:00

The good folks at The Lano Company sent me some of their Lano Lip balms to review a while ago and I put it off because of my aversion to potted balms. That was unfair, I now realize, because theirs is a pretty decent product, so here is a much-awaited writeup.

Price: $6.99 per pot. A liiiittle pricey.

Appearance: Shiny! I was actually sort of amused by how much I liked the metallic screw tops on the clear plastic bottoms.

Glide: Not great. I mean, okay, I have a bias against potted balms in the first place because of the sticky finger thing, but these balms take that to an extreme. Rather that being a bit firm to the touch, as many potted balms are, they are incredibly soft; I would describe it as a Vaseline or VapoRub- like texture (Lano Lip doesn't use wax). The balm is sticky and gooey to the touch but feels okay once it's on.

Flavor/Smell: Lano Lip comes in four varieties: Dreamsicle, Wintergreen, Strawberry and Unscented. The Strawberry and Dreamsicle are pleasant smelling but the Wintergreen is a car air freshener strength of minty. None of them is at all sweet, which is an interesting surprise. You expect the Dreamsicle to taste of citrus but it doesn't. Hey- anything that shaves down the number of ingredients and doesn't enable my licking habit is fine by me.

Lasting Power Fantastic! I could still feel it working even two hours after application. I wish I'd had these when it was colder outside. They would have been great lip protection against the whipping wind.

Product Pluses: SPF 15 in the Strawberry and Unscented, cruelty-free, no beeswax, simple ingredients (lanolin, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil and vitamin E).

I can't stand the goopiness, but I'll get over it for the lasting power. Remember, some people are sensitive to lanolin, so these may not be for everyone.

4 out of 5 tubes.

ChapNews Vol. 17: Addiction (Again)

2009-03-31T16:30:00.000-04:00

It seems that lip balm addiction is the go-to "human interest" story for a lot of newspapers and TV stations. It's sort of weird because it's such a non-story on its own as a concept, but when you add in the INTERNET, suddenly it's worth spending four minutes reporting (sorry, Darfur!). I will do commend Kesshia Peyton (who no doubt included this little gem in her reel) of WKRG News Pensacola for actually trying to debunk the addiction myth:

If you think you're addicted to your lip balm, it could be all in your head. There's a lot of chatter online from self-proclaimed lip balm addicts. But dermatologist Dr. Marcia Driscoll says, right now, there's no hard, scientific evidence that it's a real problem.

"True addiction is thought of as something that is a physical dependence. That is, that if you take away the lip balm, would the person have a withdrawal syndrome?" said Dermatologist Dr. Marcia Driscoll.She says the urge to gloss could be more of a 'psychological' dependence - a habit that can start by simply having chapped lips.
"Sometimes it's a chronic problem because of an allergy or a chronic irritant exposure," said Dr. Driscoll.

The culprit could be the fragrances added to your lip balm. Switching to a petroleum-based product might help. Lanolin and sunscreens can sometimes be an irritant to your lips. Also sun, wind, cold temperatures, licking your lips, toothpaste and even dental floss can cause problems.

I don't know who's flossing so hard they're chapping their own lips, but listen to the doctor. Everyone is different, so consider switching to a more effective, less irritating balm if you're over-using yours.

(If you can't see the video below, just go to the site I mentioned above.)

WKRG.com

Guest Post! Lizard Lips

2009-03-31T16:00:00.000-04:00

"Beachgirl5" sent us a review of Lizard Lips so enthusiastic we couldn't not share it with you (or resist ordering it immediately). The motto of the company that makes it is "Lip protection for the highly adventurous". We don't know much about her, but she's clearly got her priorities in order desert island-wise. Take it, lady!

I've been a lip balm addict for as long as I can remember. I have to have it - even under lipstick. It's a must at night and definitely outdoors. Seriously, if I could only take one item to a deserted island, it would be lip balm (sunglasses would be a close second).

How I found it - I think a friend initially gave me Lizard Lips back in the late 90's. At the time, it was in a round tin. The tin was kind of a pain, but I loved the product so kept using it. Over the years it evolved into a tube and it's been a bit hard to find here and there, but it's still my all time favorite and it's at it's best now.

Price: The price varies depending on where you buy it. It's $1.99 on Amazon and I've seen it for more on other herbal-type websites. I've also seen it with lower promotional pricing in stores occasionally. It can be purchased on the Lizardlips.net website in packs of 4, for $7.99 (so again, around $1.99 each).

Appearance: The appearance is very fun and eye-catching. Lots of color and, of course, the lizard [in the fine tradition of animal lip balm mascots like Badger Balm -Ed.]. I think it's appealing to all ages and brings out the kid in everyone.

Glide: The glide is one of my favorite features. It goes on very smoothly and feels soft. It's not waxy or heavy and doesn't leave you needing more a short time later.

Flavor/Smell: The original only came in a mild vanilla, which they still offer. Now, I'm typically not a vanilla fan as it can be too sweet and heavy for my taste, but this vanilla, I love. More recently, I've found additional flavors in Raspberry Creme, Tangerine Dream and Cool Mint. I'm not much of a sweet flavor person so tend to be really picky about these types of flavoring, but I like all of them. None of the scents are too powerful or offensive.

Lasting Power: As mentioned above, the lasting power is great. Many lip balms actually dry out your lips (I've read this is due to the petroleum found in many), which requires you to keep reapplying constantly. Not the case with Lizard Lips. It lasts really well aside from eating (or possibly kissing!).

Product Pluses: All the above - pleasant scents/flavors, feels great on, lasts well and is moisturizing and healing. Because of the great ingredients, I've even used it as a healing agent for dry skin spots or bug bites. Oh yeah, and the SPF22! I live in Arizona and I have yet to end up with sun burned lips.

Can I rate it a 10? Ok, 5 out of 5 tubes!

Chopsaver: The Balm for Musicians

2009-02-27T11:00:00.002-05:00

Chopsaver is the only lip balm I've ever seen that's created for a demographic as specific as musicians. Usually lip balms are for "people who get chapped lips", but not Chopsaver! I mean, musicians actually have to use their lips to perform their jobs. Imagine if you had to type with your mouth all day. I can imagine that would cause a bit more wear and tear than you're used to. I can think of another group of professionals who also use their mouths for money, but come on- this is a family blog!

Chopsaver was created by Dan Gosling, a professional trumpet player who grew tired of "the chapping, swelling and soreness that can strike your lips when you play a wind instrument". Check out the site- you can read all about how he developed it and read tons of testimonials from a lot of prominent musicians, including a didjeridoo player!

Crazy Rumors: A La Mode

2009-02-26T16:52:00.000-05:00

If you've been reading Chaptastic for a while, you know by now that we kind of have a little crush on a Brooklyn lip balm company called Crazy Rumors (shhh...don't tell them!). It was love at first glide in 2006 when we first tried their Perk and Brew balms, which include delightful flavors such Irish Cream, Orange Bergamot and Ginger Peach. Could it get any better?

Yes, it turns out. Crazy Rumors has spent the time since our last review tirelessly developing fun new balms such as those in their Gumball and Candy Cane lines. But the pièce de résistance of their efforts is undoubtedly the ice cream parlor-inspired A La Mode line.

Price: $4.00 each on their site and elsewhere online, including Amazon (check out the coupon in the right sidebar!).

Appearance: Standard .15 oz. clear tube, labels as adorable as the Perk and Brew ones. Retro styling with a pop of bright color- fun and sophisticated.

Glide: Still one of the best glides I've ever come across. Always smooth and creamy, even in cold weather. It's like a little spa visit for your lips.

Flavor/Smell: What impresses me most about Crazy Rumors is that they don't just pick the obvious flavors like chocolate or strawberry. The varieties in A La Mode include Mint Chocolate, Almond Fudge, Raspberry Sherbet, Orange Creamsicle, Banana Split and my favorite, Pistachio. I found the Banana Split to be a little too fruity and lingering (and I love bananas), but others, like the Almond Fudge and Pistachio, were subtle and entrancing and as dead-on as the real thing. I'm not going to lie- sometimes I pull them out just to sniff them. They all have a touch of the naturally sweet herb Stevia so they're just barely sweet, which is perfect because otherwise I'd have eaten them all already.

Lasting Power: A wonderful 2+ hours. Every time I put some on I go hours without having to reapply without even noticing. Works wonders overnight, too- softens and helps exfoliate lips after a long day in the winter wind. I find myself wishing they weren't so effective so I could use them more often!

Product Pluses: 100% natural vegan-friendly ingredients (shea butter, soy wax, avocado, grape seed, olive and jojoba oils, Vitamin E, just to name a few), cruelty-free, freakin' cute.

5 out of 5 tubes.

Am I biased? Maybe. I'm not as floored by the A La Mode as I was by their Brew balms, but these still perform far and above other "good" balms we've reviewed. Crazy Rumors is seriously first on my Top Ten Desert Island Lip Balms. Oh, wait- if I were on an island it would be sunny so I should choose a balm with SPF for the top of the list. So second, and only for pragmatic reasons.

By the way, there is a good chance we'll get to go on a behind-the-scenes tour of Crazy Rumors sometime soon!

Guest Post! Avalon Organics Soothing Lip Balm

2009-02-26T13:00:00.000-05:00

We have a slew of guest posts on backlog (apologies to those of you who've been waiting forever for us to get our act together- Ed.), so expect a lot of them in the next few weeks. Today we're putting up a second guest post from Becky, who you may remember from such guest posts as Einstein Lip Theory Hydrating Cream. She was not impressed at the time. What will she have to say about Avalon Organics? Put it on the line, Becky!

"Being 16 years old, I have nothing better to spend my money on than a tube of sweet balm every time I visit the drug store. And although I had seven tubes of the stuff on their way from Ebay (yeah, my addiction knows no limit), once I saw this beauty I knew it had to be mine."

Price: I live in Canada, and it was $3.99 ($2.86-$4.95 online- Ed.). But this is a GINORMOUS tube (.25 oz or 7 grams), so you're getting a lot.

Appearance: Really eye-catching, which is what attracted me to it. I guess the only downside is that it's so big and doesn't fit in tight jeans pockets so well.

Glide: Absolutely heavenly. Not greasy, and very fragrant the minute you pop the lid.

Flavor/Smell: It doesn't taste like anything, but it smells like oranges (there's lots of Vitamin C in this one). Mmmmm.

Lasting Power: A while. I haven't yet let it dry out completely on my lips, since I'm always pulling out a tube and smearing it on as reflexively as I blink. Hah.

Product Pluses: Big=long-lasting. Pretty. Colorless on lips. Uncommon, which is always trendy. And the label says it has 'antioxidant protection', so that's gotta be good, whatever that means. AND the rotating part (the part that raises the actual balm) is at the top instead of the bottom. Neat-o.

4.5 out of 5 tubes, because my mom always says nothing is perfect.

PSA: Sweet Action Ice Cream Opens March 6!

2009-02-26T12:23:00.005-05:00

You all know and love Sam, my partner in crime here at Chaptastic. She likes camping and isn't a big fan of mint in her lip balms. What you may not know is that she moved out to Denver, Colorado a while ago and she and her man Chia (who we once convinced to do a guest post) built an ice cream store!

Seriously- an ice cream store. How great is that? It's called Sweet Action Ice Cream and it's set to open on March 6, 2009 at 4:00pm at 56 Broadway in Denver.

So if you live in the Denver area or in any state that touches Colorado, you had better go and tell me just how delicious their handmade ice cream is.

Stay tuned today for more ice cream news- Crazy Rumors has a new line out!

All Your Balm Are Belong To Us (Contest!)

2009-02-12T12:00:00.002-05:00

If you read Chaptastic then you've got to have more than one lip balm hanging around the house. More like four or five, right? Or maybe ten? Some of you, I'm sure, are crazy lip balm hoarders who clutch your balms and cower in damp corners in the dark and whisper, "Preeeecious...".

Well, get out of the dark because we want to see your collection! In fact, we're offering a super-awesome gift pack to the top three people who send in the most creative photo of their impressive collection. I emphasize creative because it's easy to dump them all in a pile and snap a picture, and I know a lot of you are much craftier than that. The winners will get a killer lip balm sampler (as if you need any more), hand-made cozies, and a gift certificate to whatever company ponies up first.

Send your entry to chaptastic[at]gmail.com by tax day- April 15, 2009. Good luck!

(Photo via Flickr, by safecage)

Biggs & Featherbell: Soul Kiss & Eskimo Kiss

2009-02-11T16:00:00.002-05:00

Is Biggs & Featherbelle not simply adorable? I'll give you a second to check out the website...

Am I right? B&F was started by two artsy sisters (neither named Biggs or Featherbelle) and has garnered a lot of press- Lucky magazine and Daily Candy, just to name a couple. Their products, which include soaps, body butter bars, and scrubs addition to two kinds of lip balm, are cruelty-free, vegetarian or vegan, and made from gentle, natural ingredients. You can find the balms online, at Whole Foods, and in many health food stores.

Price: $3.49 online.

Appearance: It's hard to see the balms in the photo above, but if you check out the site you'll get a better view. The tubes are standard size with black caps and the labels are brown, red and pink with cute font.

Glide: I had a hard time with them at first. It took more than a few uses to soften them up and get them to glide instead of rub. My Eskimo Kiss glides better than my Soul Kiss (why does that sound like a line from a bad R&B song?). At room temperature or warmer it takes a few swipes to get a thin yet functional layer. Neither is useful in cold weather unless you keep them right up on you in your pants pocket.

Flavor/Smell: Eskimo Kiss ("Minty Moisture") is quite minty whereas Soul Kiss ("Mega Moisture") has more of a tangy herbal scent close to the smell of tea tree oil. Neither is sweet, both are nice.

Lasting Power: A couple of hours, at least. I think these are definitely a spring/summer kind of balm because of their lightness. That said, they do soothe and soften lips wonderfully once you break in the glide.

Product Pluses: Few ingredients, and gentle ones at that. These might be ideal balms for those of you with very sensitive lips.

4.0 out of 5 tubes. Solid effort from Biggs & Featherbelle. Certainly makes me want to try all of their other products. I mean, come on- Heidi Klum uses their belly balm!

GeekFlirt.com Lip Balm Giveaway

2009-02-11T12:00:00.000-05:00

One of our past guest posters, Chrissey, alerted us to a site called GeekFlirt.com. According to the site, it's the "best geek dating site on the web", which I think is a euphemism for "best cyber site on the web". I could be wrong (do people still use the term "cyber"? Sounds so 1996). The site seems to be sincere about helping geeks find their soulmates and IM each other and rate each others' profiles in terms of hotness and junk.

Anyway, my point is, and this is in no way an endorsement, if you sign up with the site they'll send you a free lip gloss for registering. Do with that what you will.

Yes We Can: Obama Balm

2009-01-26T12:00:00.003-05:00

I'm filing this under "Things I Wish I Had Thought of Two Years Ago". I mean, it's sort of pathetic that we haven't yet made the "Obalma" pun, right? Or maybe we were just being respectful. Let's go with that.

If you're interested in bringing a little change into your routine and stocking up on the above balms, here's the info:

(1) Benjamin's Obama Balm, $4.99 on eBay. Apparently it's the balm that "does it all" and "won't rub you the wrong way", and it has a variety of uses: truth serum, meal enhancer, glass cleaner, just to name a few. You guys remember that just because we post about something it doesn't mean we endorse it, right?

(2) Obalm-Ah! Lip Balm Pot or Restorative Balm, respectively $3.25 (or 2 for $6.00) and $9.00 from themefragrance on Etsy.

(3) Obama Balm, call Colorlab at 815-965-2001 to order. They might still have some McCain Conditioner left!

(4) O-Balm-A Special Edition Inaugural Balm, $3.44 from herbanlifestyle on Etsy (come in packs of 18). Definitely the best-looking of the bunch, this Mocha Macadamia flavor blends the "essence of robust Kenyan coffee and soothing oil from Hawaiian macadamia nuts".

(5) Obalma Red, White & Blueberry, $10.00 for a superpack from Hawaiian surfer brand Shaka Laka. Also available: Biden Balm, Ham & Cheese Flavor.

Guest Post! Dr. Luv's Peach Fizz Balm

2009-01-24T12:00:00.001-05:00

There's a long list of guest posts to put up, but this one caught my attention because of the rating our guest poster Chrissey gave it. I could barely find a photo of the product on the whole internet (had to resort to eBay), so perhaps its makers realized how awful it was. I suspect it's still stocked somewhere, so consider this a warning. Enjoy Chaptastic's lowest rated balm ever. Go for it, Chrissey!

I looove fizzy drinks. Pop rocks is my addicting substance- I can eat packs and packs without stopping. While other kids do drugs and smoke, I have my Pop Rocks. So when I saw Dr. Luv's Peach Fizzy balm, I just HAD to get it. I was at Claire's with my assistant [a 10 year old suck up] and I bought it. The outside of the balm is appealing, but I'll get into that later.

Price: $3.50, but i got on sale for $1.50.

Appearance: Oh em gee. Its like a mini soda can with a light orange cream label with a peach in the middle and the words "Dr.Luv's Peach Fizzy".

Glide: Hard. Felt like rubbing a bar of soap on my lips. Ew. At first it was like chapstick then it got harder.

Flavor/Smell: Peach sparkler. Sweet and light peachy, and very very candyish.

Lasting Power: Ew. .25 seconds. I had to keep applying it before I got really pissy and threw it in the food court trash. [This is my favorite part- it didn't even make it out of the mall! -Ed.]

Product Pluses: None!!

Product Minuses: Oh my god. There's a warning label, and it barely covers ANYTHING. I got chapped lips, and they ached and felt itchy. Plus my lips started peeling.

Overall: .0000001 out of 5 tubes. I think instead of spitting into they eyes of my enemies I'll give them this balm.

Ouch, y'all, ouch. Also, don't get on Chrissey's bad side.

Quease Ease Lip Balm

2009-01-23T16:30:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting product from erbavivia, the baby and mom-to-be organic product site. They have a balm called Quease Ease that's meant to be used by pregnant women to calm the stomach. It contains ginger and peppermint essential oils as well as a bunch of organic good stuff and sells for $9.00 a pop. Sounds like a great idea if it works, or even if you just think it works. Placebos are a beautiful thing.

Say Yes To Carrots: "C Me Smile" Lip Butter

2009-01-23T16:00:00.001-05:00

I love companies with sentences for names, like Kiss My Face. So it's only natural that while standing in line at Walgreens I'd notice Yes To Carrots (okay, not technically a full sentence- verb implied?). Since I rarely say no to carrots, I was an easy sell. I was intrigued by the emphasis on carrot oil, something I don't think I've come across in a balm yet, and by the variety of flavors (Berry, Mint, Citrus and Melon). Yes to Carrots has an intriguing line of bath & beauty products, and if they're anything like this balm, I have to try them.

Price: $3.69

Appearance: Standard .15 oz tube, simple graphics, unisex appeal.

Glide: Veeerrry nice. Smooth, not at all slick or oily and not thick or sticky.

Smell/Flavor: I tried the Carrot variety, so I won't speak for the other flavors. I can't say it smells distinctly of carrot, but the scent is pleasant enough. It's sort of a mellow citrus with a hint of coconut. Very unobtrusive. No taste or sweetness.

Lasting Power: Not bad. A couple of hours, at least. It's the kind of balm you put on and forget about until a while later when you're wondering why your lips are so soft. Great for use before bedtime.

Pluses: 95% certified USDA organic ingredients (coconut, olive, jojoba, and sunflower seed oils + shea butter, beeswax , vitamin E + carrot, pumpkin and melon seed extracts- see site for full listing). No animal testing. Paraben and petroleum free.

No minuses stand out. It's an exceptionally pleasant and effective balm, probably worth a shot for those with especially sensitive lips and definitely guy-friendly. Don't know what "wow" factor would make it a perfect balm, but I totally dig it. 4.5 out of 5 tubes.

Etsy Labs: How to Make Lip Balm

2009-01-20T16:00:00.000-05:00

Speaking of the recession, maybe now's the time to think about investing in lip balm. It's cheap to make and you can sell the excess if you brand it well enough.

That's where Etsy, my favorite DIY marketplace, comes in. Etsy Labs published an excellent step-by-step how-to (a year and a half ago...we like to be fashionably late) with great pictures and resource lists (also check out therapygarden.com for supplies).

Take a look at their many other posts on how to do everything from make boxes from recycled paper to make simple jewelry. Also sign up for their fun-looking classes in Brooklyn. Which reminds me- why haven't I gone to their weekly Craft Night yet?!

Bacon-Flavored Lip Balm

2009-01-20T14:25:00.001-05:00

It had to happen, right?

To the company's credit, Bacon Salt is fantastic- it has no calories, no fat, and, strangely, is vegetarian. They also sell Baconnaise.

Guest Post! Perfumeria Gal Madrid- Apple

2009-01-15T16:45:00.001-05:00

Today's poster is Eva, who brings us a review of a boutique balm. If you like vintage posters of naked French ladies on bikes and monkeys drinking absinthe, you'll probably dig the art nouveau slash vintage aesthetic of the Madrid-based company Perfumeria Gal and their fragranced, tinned lip balms. How about it, Eva?

Hey I'm Eva, I live in L.A., and I like Pinkberry and Chapstick. I picked this up at Abbot Kinney, this very upscale shopping street right by my house. I went through every store on that street, and this was the only thing I could afford. I loved it so much, I eventually picked up the whole set. It comes in orange, tropical, violet, strawberry, and my personal favorite- apple.

Price: I got this for around $3.00 (up to $6.00 online-Ed.).

Appearance: Awesome! All of these tins have pictures of these lovely women on them, and they all have cool designs around the sides. I love balms that catch my eye, you won't ever see me carrying a drab tube around (my only exception is Lipsmackers Vanilla, because it smells so good).

Glide: Its very sticky, and has lots of shine to it. It glides on a little too well, because it is a pot based balm. Whenever I apply, I have to have a napkin nearby because so much always ends up on my finger. This means I pretty much can't bring it anywhere- I only apply at home.

Flavor/Smell: It has a very strong scent of apples, but if you accidentally eat some of it you won't taste anything at all. I like this in a balm, because when one tastes good I'm tempted to eat it, and that's just nasty. Anyway, the actual balm is bright green to match its cover. All of the pots have exotic coloring.

Lasting Power: I don't really know, because this stuff smells so good I reapply it every five minutes :-D

Product Pluses/Minuses: Well, this is a petroleum-based balm. I'm not sure if this is a plus or a minus- I don't personally mind. The only thing I really can't stand about this balm is that it gets all over my fingers.

3.5 out of 5 tubes. I just can't get over the sticky fingers.

ChapNews Vol. 16: Lip Balm, By and For Tweens!

2009-01-13T16:15:00.002-05:00

Well this is just about the cutest thing I've ever read (admittedly, I am biased towards all things lip balm-related). From the Gwinnett Herald:

Slip of the tongue leads to sisters' business in Alpharetta
ALPHARETTA – Research and development. Market surveys. Product testing. Product placement. Not exactly the kind of terms expected to come out of a fifth-grader's mouth, but that's what happens when she starts her own company with her younger sister.

Lily, who just turned 11, and Melanie Sandler, age 9, are the founders of Blamtastic, which manufactures lip balm for the younger set.

"One day I was actually looking for my lip balm. I said 'Where's my lip blam, I mean balm," Lily said.

Her mother, Rethan Sandler, told her that would be a good name for a lip balm company.

"And that's how it all got started," she said.

These two bright girls started Blamtastic, a "mom-owned company run by kids". Blamtastic sells a line of balms featuring nine flavors with names like O.M.G (Oh My Grape) for the ladies and Alien Invasion for the fellas. (They followed the first rule of business: boys don't like pink or fruit.) They also offer lip balm clip sleeves and party favors. Their balms contain SPF 15 and are made with no petroleum, no parabens and no animal testing. Pretty nifty! I haven't tried them yet, but I swear if I were still twelve I'd totally buy the Sassafrassy Rootbeer flavor. Have you seen them (the balms, not the girls) where you live?

Sites We Dig: Crazy Rumors Update

2009-01-13T13:08:00.007-05:00

So you remember how two years ago (!) we fawned over Crazy Rumors' delicious lip balms and gave them a perfect rating and kept recommending their 100% vegan and organic line of awesomeness?

Well, they're at it again. Not only have they revamped their web page, which is now tres chic, but they have a new line of Gumball and A La Mode balms in addition to their great Perk and Brew lines. Any day now we will be getting samples of the new sticks and we'll let you know all about 'em, for better or for worse. Although I can't image the latter situation- I still adore my stick of Orange Bergamot, which I apply every night before bed, and I think I have one Crazy Rumor stick in every bag I own. I would buy them all if it weren't for this darn recession (which, by the way, is my go-to reason for being a cheapskate these days).

As always, there's a deal where if you spend a certain amount you get a free stick (spend $24 (pre-ship) get 1 free lip balm of your choice, 2 @ $48, 3 @ $72, etc.). Oh, and check out their festive Candy Cane line from the holidays- they're now on sale. I'm dying to try the Pear & Peppermint.

50% Off Kiss My Face- TODAY ONLY!

2008-12-10T12:20:00.005-05:00

And just to make it up to you, we're tipping you off that Kiss My Face, maker of some of our most highly rated sticks like Mango Melt and Treat Mint, is having a half off sale on their site. All their products are natural and organic and they sell everything from shampoo to deodorant. If you're familiar with their products, many of which you can find in-store at places like Whole Foods, then you'll know that 50% off is a good deal (then again, when isn't it?).

Don't Call It a Comeback (2009)

2008-12-10T11:19:00.006-05:00

Before you say anything, Chaptastic would like to offer our apologies for running out on you earlier this year. Don't worry, there wasn't anyone else. More importantly, it wasn't you...it was us. We just sort of got burned out. Turns out it takes much more effort and motivation to blog about lip balm than something legitimately important like, say politics. And yet, it must be done! We're ready to come back, if you'll have us. How about we give you until the end of the year to respond? We'll check back the first week of January.

Vintage Sister Lip Balms

2008-05-28T14:04:00.003-04:00

We love well-branded companies, and Vintage Sister takes the cake in that department. Whoever does their graphics and illustrations is a genius of adorable. They started the company out of of nostalgia for their childhood balms, a nostalgia that's evident in their retro sliding tins and 50's-esque sass. Their motto is "distinctive lip balms for distinctive tastes", and with choices like Chardonnay, Orange Truffle, and Devil's Food Cake, there's bound to be something in their line of more than thirty flavors that appeals to you.

Price: $3.95 for .25 ounces.

Appearance: Fun to open small slide tins (1" x 2"), each with a different cartoon character for each flavor and fun fonts and colors. I got a report from a friend that some of the tins pop open and get linty if they're in a bag, but mine stayed shut.

Glide: Depends on your fingering method (you dirty, dirty minds), but they're generally pretty soft at room temperature without being goopy. Takes a couple of swipes to get a comfortable amount on, but the balms are nice and soft with no stickiness or greasiness.

Flavor/Smell: So many to choose from! I tried the Devil's Food Cake, Peace of Mind and the Chai Tea, and I found something to like about each. The balms themselves are just barely sweet and smell spot-on: they match their descriptions but aren't overpowering. I managed to simply enjoy, instead of eat, the Devil's Food Cake.

Lasting Power: What the balms have in cuteness and fun-factor they lack in lasting power. They'll soften decently if you aren't acutely chapped, but I would stick to using them in the summer when that doesn't happen often.

Product Pluses/Minuses: Honestly, I'm really distracted by how fun these are. I want to get all of the flavors and line up the little tins by color and just stare at them. The ingredients look un-scary (although there's not mention of what the "color" and "fragrance" additives are) and for once I don't mind having to use my finger to apply.

Entertaining product, could use a tad more lasting power. 3.75 out of 5 tubes.

P.S. They do custom gift sets for weddings and the like.

One-Armed Lip Gloss, Not Just for Surfers

2008-05-28T09:45:00.007-04:00

Saw this story about shark attack survivor and surfer Bethany Hamilton and thought it was cool and innovative, not to mention beyond courageous. Via Fashionista:

Remember Bethany Hamilton, the heroic teen surfer whose arm was taken by a shark? She's fully recovered and... designing lip gloss.

Now 18, the Hawaii native has a line of lip products called Stoked that you can push up and down with just one arm.

They sell on Amazon for $4.50 and could probably be useful even if you're not an invincible surf baby, but instead a really busy girl carrying coffee and keys in one hand, and a handbag and a cell phone in the other.

Pop Secret Lip Balm

2008-05-16T13:15:00.004-04:00

This is the lip balm that only a lover of Jelly Belly's Buttered Popcorn Flavor (gag) could tolerate. Rest assured we will never review it- want to give it a try?

Get it and other amusing flavors at Perpetual Kid.

Indigo Wild for Mother's Day

2008-05-08T16:32:00.003-04:00

You guys may remember the company Indigo Wild, whose Zum Kiss lip balms we wrote about last year? If not, you should head over to their eye-catching site and take a look at their balms and their huge range of fantastic products like all-natural handmade soaps, candles, body lotions and aroma mists (I've gotta get a hold of some Zum Bum). They have some darling gift packages available just in time for a belated Mother's Day.

You may notice we have an ad up for Indigo Wild in the right sidebar, so this may sound a bit like an ad, but don't worry- we put that sucker up for free. Actually, the only paid ads we have on are the Google ones, on which we make about three cents a day. That's about three balms a year. Awesome!

Chaptastic loves supporting a home-grown, crafty company. Oh, and check out their Dirty Words, a list of synthetic ingredients that they never allow into their products.

Guest Post! Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula

2008-05-01T16:45:00.005-04:00

Here's another stick we've heard a lot about and seen over and over again in stores (especially Bed Bath & Beyond for some reason) but have yet to try. Below, our fearless guest poster Becky does the dirty work for us. Andale, Becky!

When I first stumbled upon Chaptastic (and I’m wicked stoked that I did), I couldn’t believe there was no mention of Palmer’s fine products (our bad- Ed.). It’s been a well-kept secret, but I intend to change that. Palmer’s is my favorite lip balm. I have used it for about 5 years and haven’t bought any other kind since.

Price: $3.29 on drugstore.com and $2.70 on Palmer’s website. Or, you can save yourself the S&H and buy it at your local Walmart for $1.83. Considering it will last a good few months, I don’t think upwards of $5 would be too much to ask.

Appearance: Mostly white, swirly blue background interspersed with orange and brown. 3 ¾ inches high, ½ ounce size.

Glide: In the beginning, this lip balm applies itself grudgingly. After the first few applications, however, this cocoa butter stick goes on like, well, butter.

Flavor/Smell: I haven’t quite decided what it smells like yet— I alternate between vanilla and marshmallows. Whatever it is, it’s subtle, not overpowering. Flavor— hardly any.

Lasting Power: If you’re a compulsive balm applier like me, you’re reapplying every couple hours whether you need it or not. For the practical person, you could easily go 3 hours, depending on how much you’re talking, pursing your lips, and smacking. It definitely hydrates well. Some balms, like Burt’s Bees, actually dry my lips out more. Not this one.

Product Pluses: It’s not just for lips, but also advertises “on-the-spot moisture for marks and rough, dry skin.” When a particularly nasty cold has my nose red, dry, and tender, I put some of this cocoa butter on for instant, soothing relief.

Lastly, I have never lost this gigantic stick. Balms that are only .15 or .07 ounces in size are easily lost in a purse or forgotten in a pocket. It’s the best lip balm I’ve ever tried, so I’m tempted to give it a 5, but I know there might be something better out there, so I’ll stick with 4.5 out of 5 tubes.

ChapNews Volume 15: Gloss Increases Cancer Risk

2008-05-01T16:08:00.004-04:00

One of the reasons we always mention if a tube has SPF is because it's incredibly important to protect your lips when you're out in the sun, and there's not better way than SPF. Well, until they invent lip hats, that is.

It's no secret that shirking sunscreen will leave your skin vulnerable to UV rays, which could potentially cause skin cancer. Your lips have even less protection than the rest of your skin does- they lack the pigment, hair and thickness of body skin, making them especially susceptible to damage. Turns out that using lip gloss, or anything that increases lip shine, can increase the risk of cancer. This MSNBC article states:

Some dermatologists say that slathering on shiny lip glosses can actually increase your risk of developing skin cancer. Of course, wearing any lip product without SPF doesn’t exactly shield the thin skin from sun damage. But the slick, shiny nature of the gloss could be making the sun’s UV rays hit harder, some experts say.

“These lip glosses can make more of the light rays penetrate directly through the skin instead of getting reflected off of the skin’s surface,” says Dr. Christine Brown, a dermatologist at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. (You're covered, however, if you wear lip gloss with SPF.)

At worst, say some dermatologists, the resulting sun damage can lead to potentially fatal forms of skin cancer. An estimated 3,500 new cases of skin cancer of the lips are diagnosed each year, and 90 percent of those cancers are squamous cell carcinoma. While that form of cancer isn't usually particularly serious, it can be more aggressive on the lips than on other parts of the skin. If left untreated, it can cause disfigurement, and in very few cases, it can spread to other organs and become deadly.

So if you use lip balm or gloss, make sure it has SPF, or that you apply a layer of something with SPF underneath. Read the whole article to find out what can happen if you don't.

LypSyl Moisturizer Original Formula

2008-05-01T15:49:00.000-04:00

Remember the reader who emailed us trying to figure out the identity of her label-less mystery balm? One of our intrepid readers discovered that it was LypSyl, a Swedish brand of lip balm that has recently undergone a face lift. I picked up a tube at my local CVS and tried to figure out if the Swedish hold the secret not only to great red candy fish but to lip balm as well.

Price: $2.99 in store, various prices online.

Appearance: Not gonna lie, I bought it because it looks weird. Slightly taller than a gluestick, it's a fat, flattened, elliptical-widthwise tube with a bee-shaped slider on the side instead of a twist ring. Whimsical. The site says something about "one-hand application on the go", and I must admit it is kind of handy not to have to twist anything to advance the tube. It seems like there's a lot of wasted space, however, because the balm only takes up about 70% of the casing. Maybe this isn't so with the thin tube or the pot.

Glide: When I first bought my tube it was really hard, but has apparently softened over time. Definitely performs better in warmer weather- it's like a brick in the winter. Once you warm it up it goes on pretty easily and without any stick, although it's hard to get used to the elliptical tube shape.

Flavor/Smell: The Original Formula has a strong yet pleasant mint scent and no sweetness. Other flavors include LypSyl Moisturizer HoneyBerry, LypMedication with Eucalyptus, LypRadiance Honeyrose, and LypSensitivity with Aloe Vera.

Lasting Power: Pretty darn good. It softens my lips very quickly and if I weren't my job to constantly reapply lip balm I might have forgotten to do it entirely.

Product Pluses/Minuses: Great mix of tried-and-true ingredients such as coconut oil, beeswax (Pure Swedish!), shea butter, and Vitamins A/E. Still petroleum-based, alas, but at least I can pronounce all the other ingredients.

Took me a while to warm up to LypSyl, but now I'm a fan. It's a reliable if idiosyncratic tube, so maybe the Swedish do know about more than just chefs. My theory is that they stole our bees. 4.5 out of 5 tubes.

Site We've Been Digging: Bag Lunch

2008-04-29T12:46:00.004-04:00

This is old news, but Bag Lunch makes some of the most fun lip balms out there. You can choose from an endless variety of tasty balms from the diner-esque menu, everything from Pancakes and Syrup to Tropical Mai Tai. You can also buy sets of "Breakfast" and "School Lunch" balms for a mix of familiar flavors. They also have a customize feature for your next wedding or birthday party. Check out the site and indulge.

N'Sync Lip Balm- Admit It, You Had It

2008-04-28T14:36:00.003-04:00

I didn't, but if I'd known about it I probably would have bought a set with all my minimum wage money. Come on, eBay- why don't you have them?!

Guest Post! Natural Ice Sport

2008-04-25T13:58:00.004-04:00

Here's a long-delayed guest post (there are lots of those coming up in the next few weeks) from one of our repeat guest posters, Rayfreester. You may remember her from such posts as Chapstick® All Natural. Here's her take on another chain store find.

So here's another one from me. This is a review for Natural Ice Sport. It's made by Mentholatum, which also makes Soft-Lips. Coincidentally, Mentholatum was bought out by Rohto, which makes the balm in those Japanese commercials you guys post. It was in a spiffy Walgreens display, and I picked it because I recognized most of the ingredients but mostly because I really liked the label color scheme. This was pretty much a random pick, I guess. In hindsight, it probably wasn't the most fitting choice for me: it has SPF 30 and not only do I not participate in any outdoor sports, but I live in the Pacific Northwest, which is famous for rain.

Price: $1.99, normal for most lip balms.

Appearance: Really spiffy, I bought this one merely on looks. It has a pleasant contrast of dark-blue purple and light yellow orange with some white, there's even a sort of sunburst on it, no nonsense font with outlining it sort of feels like an athletic shoe or a computer wallpaper. It's pleasant, striking and unisex.

Glide: Fabulous, smooth, easy, but with plenty of control. It doesn't really coat, but leaves a light layer of non-greasy moisture. Nice.

Flavor/Smell: Although no flavor is stated on the package, it has some light orange juice scent to it. It also has some menthol that gives it a mint-ish smell and a tingle. No real taste to it but it smells like a mentholated cough drop in a citrus flavor in a non-offensive and good way. Also you can't taste the sunscreen, which is always good.

Lasting Power: 5 to 15 minutes, tops. GRRRR, my spiffy stick with fabulous glide and a nice, non-offensive scent has next to no lasting power! The last ingredient on the list is petrolatum, so there's no wax to stop it from absorbing right in. However, my lips do feel moisturized afterwards.

Product Pluses: SPF 30, aloe, vitamins D/A/E, and .01 more of an ounce than your average stick.

It's a good price, easy enough to find if you live in the States, has a nice scent a a bit of a tingle. The flavor and package are unisex and spiffy. The only thing about this balm that I don't like is the short lasting power and the fact that it has petroleum products in it. I'll give it 4 out of 5 tubes.

Have you tried Natural Ice Sport? Do you agree or disagree with our guest poster?

Fred Flare's Next Big Thing - Deadline May 2!

2008-04-25T12:02:00.006-04:00

Chaptastic hearts Fred Flare, so once again we're encouraging all you crafty types to put your skillz to use and enter their "Next Big Thing" contest. One of our first reviews was for Heather Joy's lip balms, which we loved, and don't you know it she won the NBT 2006 contest. Coincidence or Chaptastic bump? Check out their FAQ for all the information. Get on it, get famous, and let us take the credit. Deadline is next week!

ChapNews Volume 14: Lip Balm Lab

2008-04-23T18:43:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago the New York Times had a cute article about junior high girls taking a weekend seminar called Cosmetic Chemistry at Boston's Museum of Science. I would have loved this at that age.

Dr. Huang, whose mother used to work as a chemist who formulated shampoos, designed the course last year with fifth to seventh graders in mind. She wanted to pique young women’s interest in science by teaching them a bit of chemistry about everyday consumer items, she said.

To stoke the students’ curiosity for cosmetic ingredients, Dr. Huang simply invoked the gross-out factor.

“Cochineal beetles, if you squish them, give you a beautiful carmine red that is used in some lipsticks,” she said. “Why would you want to eat that, right? It’s gross.”

Not only do they get to learn about what's in the cosmetics, but they got to use the lab to make their own products.

Luci Proud, 12, of Braintree, Mass., decided to make vanilla lip gloss. Into her jar went a spoonful of coconut oil, a spoonful of petroleum jelly and a dollop of aloe vera. Ms. Proud, a seventh grader, said that she had decided to take the class because her mother had recently instituted an organic-only rule at home.

My favorite quote was from Ms. Cornelia Bendel, who after the seminar concluded,

“O.K., so there’s no pig fat in lipstick, but people are still spending hundreds of dollars on a tube of fatty goop,” she said. “You could just make that at home.”

Adorable! The Times also provided the lip balm recipe used in the lesson.

(Image via NYTimes)

Miss Oops Pucker Protector

2008-04-23T17:41:00.000-04:00

Got a tip from a Chicago friend about Miss Oops, a company that makes "beauty-saving, problem-solving" products. Their line includes, among other wonders, a sponge that removes deodorant marks and other makeup messes, a "Popper Stopper" that prevents your belly button from showing through clothes, and JAKS, "the latest trend used to cover butt-crack and muffin tops". I guess chapped lips are pretty embarrassing, too, so thank Buddha there's the Miss Oops Pucker Protector. "It's a lip balm. It's a lip gloss. It's both!" Their line, not mine.

Now, I know. This is Chaptastic- we do lip balm, not lip gloss, but occasionally we do make an exception, and in this case I thought it a decent expenditure of my time to see if the Pucker Protector really does live up to its claim of being a balm, let alone a good balm.

Price: $14.00 plus S&H. Yowza.

Appearance: Makeup city, all the way down to the pink lip goop and the fuzzy applicator stick. This is not one for the sporty.

Glide: Good, I suppose. I'm more partial to markers over a paint and brush, but once you unscrew the cap and pull out the soft-tipped applicator wand the product goes on pretty easily, although I found I needed a few passes back and forth on the lip because the wand tip has much smaller surface area than your typical tube. Takes a few more seconds.

Smell/Flavor: Fairly generic but pleasant mint scent with sweet but not cloying mint flavor. That's something that surprised me, actually- a gloss that doesn't smell like berries or flowers.

Lasting Power: You know, it's actually pretty great. I put some on at the start of a night out and didn't have to put on lip balm all night. Sure, maybe the alcohol distracted me from my bodily needs (although it usually does quite the opposite), but this stuff actually hydrates! And its minty scent covered the tequila breath very well.

It's also shiny, shiny, shiny. And it stays shiny for quite a while, so the modest and work-appropriate among us should keep that in mind.

Product Pluses/Minuses: SPF 30. Can't stress how important SPF is, especially now that it's warming up out there. Has a bunch of unpronounceable ingredients, but so does that pop tart you're eating. Actually, it does contain salicylic acid, for those of you who have sensitive lips.

It's a gloss, yes, but it's a pretty darn good lip balm, too. So if you're looking for something to wear with that new Wet Seal sequined tube top and can't bring yourself to pull out the lipstick, this is a good alternative. Mine lives in my "going out" purse, desperately waiting for its once-every-three-months use.

4 out of 5 tubes.

Old Navy Green Apple Mint

2008-04-23T14:44:00.001-04:00

I buy a lot of Old Navy. Some days I look down and 90% of my outfit is from that store, and on some days I have the thought "I'm wearing too much Old Navy to go into Old Navy." I've been amused by Old Navy's recent turn towards "serious" fashion and by their ever-expanding impulse item area near the register. No longer are the days of doggy chew toys (where is that mascot dog, anyway?). Now there are candles and fancy incense diffusers and journals and damask wrapping paper. It's all about class, people.

Among the new items is, of course, lip balm, which Gap (same store, more boring and expensive clothes) has been carrying for ages. A few weeks ago I picked up a particularly happy looking squeeze tube on an ON recon mission, despite my aversion to squeeze and goop. I was going to write a review on it until I found an awesome review that lip balm addict Njchicaa had written Viewpoints.com, and if it ain't broke then why fix it. You can read the whole review here. Here are some of the parts I particularly agree with:

Old Navy Green Apple Mint Flavored Lip Balm is a sheer and extremely high gloss product. The extra gloss just doesn't work for me as I'm a teacher. I can't go into work with a porn star mouth (Ed.- best description ever).

Aside from the shine issues, this lip balm dispenses easily from the squeeze-tube and smoothes across lips without effort. This balm creates a decent, satisfactory layer of [balm] on my mouth. Unfortunately it doesn't last on lips very long if you are speaking, eating, drinking, etc. This product disappears fairly quickly after application if you are doing anything more than sitting quietly at a desk.

Desk jockeys rejoice! I'd like to add that this smells and tastes exactly like green apple Jolly Ranchers, which I had a long and torrid affair with in junior high. The peppermint is sort of an after-thought, and brings up the rear after the sweet green apple flavor. They don't quite go together, but it's not a disaster. Sort of like most Old Navy products.

The rundown: $3.50 per, easy on the eyes, giant squeeze tube, lots of candy-ish and strange sweetness/flavor and scent, doesn't last very long. No SPF, lots of scary-sounding ingredients, really a gloss masquerading as a balm. Don't think this one's going into my bag, but it's fun to look at. 3 out of 5 tubes.

We're Back, Baby!

2008-04-23T11:35:00.001-04:00

I swear this time.

That was a little too much Sapphyri, even for me.

Update: Sapphyri's Lip Chap

2008-04-10T16:01:00.002-04:00

It's blowin' up, y'all. Check out her new video ad covering Lil' Mama's hit "Lip Gloss". I think I like her more and more.

New posts coming next week!

New Product Watch: Saaphyri's Lip Chap

2008-03-07T11:50:00.004-05:00

So, uh, apparently one of the girls from Flavor of Love 2 is launching a business venture. Saaphyri Windsor, who won the FOL spawn and Monique-helmed Charm School, is launching her own line of "Lip Chap" balm (flavors include vanilla, mojito peach and cookie dough, among others). I found this explanation (verbatim) on her website:

SAAPHYRI IS KNOWN AS THE "ONLY" GIRL NOT TO RECIEVE A NICKNAME FROM FLAVOR FLAV, BECAUSE SHE GOT INTO A FIGHT WITH ANOTHER CONTESTANT WITHIN MINS OF ENTERING THE MANSION ON FLAVOR OF LOVE 2...WHICH LEAD TO REALITY TELEVISION HISTORY WHEN SHE SAID TO THE GIRL "DO YOU WANT SOME LIP CHAP" WHICH WAS INSPIRATION TO LAUNCH THE OFFICIAL LIPCHAP PRODUCT.

Did you hear that? You can be part of reality show history! That's like, one degree of separation from the Flav himself.

There's a promotional video, but I refuse to embed the video on Chaptastic lest we all end up with mysterious mouth sores and a burning sensation tomorrow morning.

Okay, maybe that's harsh. I mean, the girl does elevate lip balm to new, erotic heights that I had never considered (terrific idea: lip balm vibrator). And she's collecting money through her line of weaves to help people with alopecia. But maybe...could you...just cover up a little? And stop treating the lip balm like you're trying to seduce it? And maybe stop licking your lips so much? Thanks.

A tube of newly exported Nivea (née Labello) for the first person to try Lip Chap and report back.

Product Update: Beekeeper's Blend

2008-03-05T12:28:00.005-05:00

More than a year ago we did a review of Beekeeper's Blend lip balm, which we found to be "delightful". At the time you could only buy Beekeeper's in Montana (or on the lip balm black market), but good news, everyone! Beekeeper's has opened up an online store called BB's General, and it's just brimming with all of their delightful lip balms and more. And it's old-timey quaint, too- the kind of online shop in which Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman would have felt very comfortable performing rudimentary improvised surgery. So check out their products (they have great gift sets) and their apiar-iffic puns (Bee Cause? I get it!).

Guest Post! Sephora Professionel Most Complete Lip Balm

2008-03-03T15:15:00.000-05:00

That may just win the prize for unnecessarily long and stilted-sounding lip balm name. Today's poster is Bess, who braved the money-sucking sea of spend that is Sephora to bring us this review (and Sephora plug?):

My name is Bess and I am addicted to anything you put on lips. Lips are the easiest thing to "make-up" in the morning and I love how I can slick something on and go! My signature "look" is to apply a chap stick with a sheer gloss over it (I'm loving Stila Lip Glaze in Vanilla, $20) topped with a tint of color with a nude lip liner (Digging Sephora Jumbo Pencil in Wood, $5). I came upon this Sephora chap stick while cruising the site and am in love with the moisture and smell it provides! Besides my obsession with everything lips I love to hang with my dogs and read a good book.

Price: On sale right now for $2, normally $5

Appearance: It comes in a minimalist white pot container and is slim enough to slip in your pocket without being too noticeable- great for application on the go. The text is printed write on the plastic so there is no chance of the paper getting all stained and torn. Since it is in a pot and not a stick you do get it on your hands which can be kind of inconvenient.

Glide: It goes on smooth and not at all waxy. It appears sheer also and not white--a trait I encounter frequently with pot chapstick.

Flavor/Smell: When you first apply it has a wonderful vanilla scent, then after about a minute the menthol kicks in and you get a bit a tingling and mint smell. Another couple minutes and your back to vanilla. It's just enough flavor to make you say "yum" but it's not over-powering.

Lasting Power: It stays slick for a couple hours- depending on if you're eating or licking your lips, and you can feel your lips really getting moisturized.

Product Pluses: It has vitamin E, mango butter and menthol. The website suggests it as a lip stick base- which I would also recommend, though your lipstick will look more sheer. I have also used this balm as a cuticle cream in a pinch and it has worked wonders.

If they would add sunscreen with broad spectrum protection and put it in a tube it would be THE perfect balm! 4.5 out of 5

The Case for All-Natural

2008-02-26T14:30:00.001-05:00

We've had a few conversations on Chaptastic about the merits of organic/all-natural vs. petrolatum lip balms. Some people claim that petrolatum (derived from the fuel petroleum; terms used interchangeably) doesn't really work as a moisturizer and that it causes irritation. Others swear by it, praising petrolatum as a great skin protectant and insisting that it's innocuous. Chaptastic has reviewed both kinds of balms, usually expressing a preference all-natural.

Personally, I'm on the fence. I use a dab of Vaseline at night but tend to prefer all-natural lip balms, which may seem contradictory. But I find that most lip balms that use petrolatum as a base ingredient tend to contain multitudes of other unpronounceable and scary-looking ingredients, whereas Vaseline has pretty much just the one scary ingredient.

Today I read the most compelling argument for keep all-natural. It's common sense: "Whatever you use, you will ingest small amounts of the product". So maybe ingesting petroleum and a variety of synthetic ingredients, however little at a time, is not the best decision. In fact, I wonder how much we swallow a year! Anyone want to bust out the math and appalling analogy (ex, a person eats enough lip balm in one year to grease all the axles in the Indy 500)? Or maybe it doesn't make a difference in the long run, considering all the other crap we put into our bodies.

What do you think?

Honeybee Gardens: Strawberry Champagne

2008-02-24T14:30:00.000-05:00

The motto of Honeybee Gardens is "We make products you can feel good about using". The company is, to put it mildly, quite adorable. It's president, Melissa Hertzler, writes a cute blog on the site and the company prides itself in making cruelty-free, all-natural cosmetics- everything from shampoo to nail polish.

I bought a tube the last time I was in Whole Foods, but you can also find them in other natural foods stores and of course online.

Price: $2.99 online. Sample pack of 4 available for $9.99.

Appearance: Standard sized, simple yet fun colors.

Glide: Easy like Sunday morning.

Flavor/Smell: The Strawberry Champagne is incredibly similar to Chapstick®'s strawberry tube, which I used to love. The smell, the taste...although Honeybee's is clear-colored unlike the alarming and artificial red of Chapstick®'s. Honeybee's is also a gentler version, much less aggressive on the strawberry flavor and sweetness. Can't say I know where the champagne comes in, though.

Other flavors are Tropical, Vanilla Pie and Orange Mimosa (perfect for brunch).

Lasting Power: Pretty darn good. At least a couple of hours indoors. Softens lips instantly.

Product Pluses/Minuses: I know I said it's like Chapstick's strawberry, but check out the ingredient comparison:

Chapstick Strawberry: [Active ingredients:] Padimate O, White Petrolatum (44%) (Skin Protectant) [Inactive Ingredients:] Arachadyl Propionate, Camphor, Cetyl Alcohol, D&C Red 6 Barium Lake, Fragrance, Isopropyl Lanolate, Isopropyl Myristate, Lanolin, Lemon Oil, Light Mineral Oil, Maltol, Methylparaben, Octyldodecanol, Phenyl Methicone, Propylparaben, Saccharin, Waxes

Honeybee Gardens Strawberry Champagne: Beeswax, coconut oil, jojoba, sweet almond oil, vitamin e, flavor

Which would you rather "ingest in small quantities throughout the day"?

Verdict: 4 out of 5 tubes. Solid performer.

ChapNews Volume 14: Jesus Trouble

2008-02-13T10:50:00.004-05:00

Remember how we wrote about novelty company BlueQ and its "Lookin' Good for Jesus" line of products? Well it turns out that some Roman Catholics in Singapore weren't too happy about the blaspheme-tastic products (yes, that's the pope on their website) and made a ruckus about it. Such a ruckus that BBC news, which only reports on the things that matter, picked up on it:

Catholics complained the cosmetics' marketing was disrespectful, full of sexual innuendo and trivialised Christianity.

About 15% of Singapore's 4.4 million population is Christian.

The products included a "Virtuous vanilla" lip balm and a "Get Tight with Christ" hand and body cream, featuring a picture of Christ flanked by two adoring women.

"Why would anyone use religious figures to promote vanity products? It's very disrespectful and distasteful," the Straits Times newspaper quoted accountant Grace Ong, 24, as saying.

How do we know those two adoring women aren't Mary Magdeleine and Jesus's mom? I guess the point is that we shouldn't put Jesus on any products that aren't actually of heavenly quality. Let's keep Jesus where he belongs: in the ceramics business.

Lip Balm Source: ETSY

2008-02-11T16:48:00.000-05:00

If you're anything like me then the thrill of the convenience store lip balm aisle has long faded- been there, done that. Seems like the only "new" balms to pop up in stores are the same old sticks that have been re-branded. How is the Finding Nemo lip balm any different from Disney Princesses one? I don't really want to pay ten bucks to find out.

So where do you go to find new lip balms (aside from on Chaptastic)? An excellent, nay, sensational source of new and quirky lip balms is Etsy, the DIY afficionado's dream online marketplace. Etsy is like the Wikipedia of handmade goods. You start looking for a crocheted tea cozy and the next thing you know you're shopping for origami earrings (check out the Shop By Color feature!). There are dozens and dozens of talented, inventive and vegan-friendly lip balm makers out there, just itching for you to stumble upon their Lime Sugar or Apricot Plum or Lusty Lip Lush or even Pink Lemonade balms. If you find something amazing, let us know!

Guest Post! Bonne Bell Lipsmackers Vanilla

2008-02-04T15:24:00.000-05:00

I can't believe no one has called us out for not yet reviewing Bonne Bell lip balms. I mean, they're quite possibly the most nostalgic products I've ever come across. I see one and suddenly I'm in 5th grade again playing with my Skip-It in acid wash stirrup jeans. Maybe Bonne Bell is infused with so many memories it makes it hard for one to look at the balm objectively. I think our guest poster Cathy may be faced with this bias, but we'll let it play:

Bonne Bell LipSmackers in Vanilla is my all-time favorite lip gloss. I have used Lipsmackers since first grade when they used to make the ginormous tube that came with a cord that you could hang around your neck (Ed. note: OMG, yes!). I was into the strawberry flavor back then.

Price: I found it online for $1.60 on Drugstore.com, but I usually buy it in person at Bartell's or Walgreen's.

Appearance: Cute and fun, but may be too elementary school-looking for certain occasions, although that's never stopped me.

Glide: Slick but not slimy, it slides on without any waxy residue.

Flavor/Smell: Smells like vanilla, but not in a cloying way and fades after you first put it on, so you don't smell like you used vanilla extract as perfume. Has a faintly sweet taste when you first apply.

Lasting Power: Lasts for a couple hours, but I am a chronic re-applier, so I re-apply even when my lips are not super dry.

Product Pluses: This is my go-to lip gloss. It's moisturizing, gives a bit of shine and smells nice to boot. Plus, it's cheap enough to put a tube in every purse, on your desk and in your night stand drawer and still have money left over for a fancy pants lipstick from Sephora (my addiction doesn't stop at gloss - it goes straight on to the stick, as well). Not to mention that you can feel great using it because Bonne Bell does not test on animals.

Rating: I give this stick 5 out of 5 tubes.

Ed.: You heard the lady. As for the "Isn't this lip gloss?" question...meh, it's close enough.

DIY: Lip Balm Cozy

2008-02-01T14:40:00.000-05:00

Aside from watching the Superbowl ads and picking out your Super Tuesday voting outfit, there's nothing exciting to do this weekend. So why not try this Lip Balm Cozy project from sewer extraordinaire Just Tutes. Check out her excellent taste in lip balm- do I spy Labello?

Like any cozy (check out the TV cozy she made), it's entirely too much effort to make but cute as all get out. It hangs on your keychain so you won't lose track of the slippery things. If you have a creative DIY lip balm-related project, send us a photo. In fact, we're about to announce our big 2008 contest, so maybe you should hold back your creative juices until we do.

If you're too lazy to sew, check out Roxypop Designs for the most adorable crochet lip balm holders ever.

Beyond Coastal Active Daily Lip Protection

2008-01-30T14:22:00.000-05:00

Beyond Coastal has a great philosophy: "protect, nourish, repair and hydrate". Can't argue with that, as those are the exact elements we all look for in a great tube of lip balm. The company makes all-natural, additive-free sunscreens and lip balm for active people in sunny places (or so it would appear from the images on the site). And they sponsor the US Open of Surfing, which I didn't know existed.

Price: $5.00 online.

Appearance: Taller and fatter than a standard tube, slightly smaller than a gluestick. Dial is at the top near the cap- always helpful if you keep yours in a jean pocket.

Glide: At first it's okay. You don't really discover the true nature of a balm's glide until after a few uses, and I discovered that this one's kind of a bummer. It's a little grainy and a little greasy and a little sticky, and slathers on a little, possibly owing to its larger surface area. I always end up wiping off a bit with my finger.

Flavor/Smell: Claims to be citrus-scented, but I cannot think of which particular citrus this is supposed to be, if citrus at all. Maybe citrus and soap? No flavor, per se, but there was a week where I kept thinking I was tasting or smelling metal (and freaking out over what kind of disease that meant I had) until I finally realized that it only happened when I used the balm. I suspect that may have been just my personal reaction to it, but that certainly was a first.

Lasting Power: It moisturizes for more than an hour. Actually, I don't know for how long exactly because I kept taking it off because of the metal phenomenon.

Product Pluses/Minuses: SPF 15 is great. However, I think it suffers from too many chefs in the kitchen- almost every moisturizing ingredient you can think of has been crammed into it: safflower, wheat germ, coconut, soybean, avocado, jojoba seed AND grape seed oils; shea butter, aloe vera, honey, yerba mate; beeswax, candlilla wax, carunuba wax...oy. If all that resulted in a wonderful, harmonious balance, that'd be one thing, but its performance is only so so. The upshot is, with all that great stuff, you know some of it has got to work. My advice: use it as a pre-exfoliator moisturizer.

Now, I wasn't out biking and snowboarding in the blazing sun, so maybe I didn't experience its full potential, but I give it 3.5 out of 5 tubes.

Find It: Mystery Balm

2008-01-23T12:04:00.000-05:00

Reader Cyla wrote to us, poetry style (or maybe that's my email's bad formatting), for help with identifying her mystery lip balm:

i was wondering about a chapstick.
i've had this one for about a year and this is by far
my favorite.
but after sooo much usage, it's running low.
people call it my gluestick because it has
an orange cap and orange twist at the bottom.
but the problem is, the wrapper is off.
it's a little shorter than the average
Chapstick and a little chubbier.
and the cap has ridges.
have you seen one similar?
the glide is a little oily, but it
lasts long, and its tropical,
pineapple-ish.
help would be greatly appreciated.

Any of you crazy lip balm hoarders out there have a clue for our brand name-less damsel in distress? Leave it in the comments...

UPDATE: Lip balm detective Jessica has identified Cyla's mystery balm as Lypsyl, which has apparently undergone radical image changes because I'm working on a review for that same brand and my tube looks completely different.

Guest Post! Pepsi Vanilla Lip Balm

2008-01-17T15:04:00.000-05:00

Our intrepid reviewer Pyramus continues his dollar bin journey of discovery...

Price: $1.00 at the Dollarama (see my previous review).

Appearance: Irresistibly charming. The tube looks like a tiny, burly bottle of Pepsi in a shade of plastic that will make you think either "Mmm! Vanilla cream soda!" or "That plastic is twenty years old and is yellower than Grandma's toenails". It's blister-packed onto a card that's also shaped like a bottle of Pepsi. The top third of the bottle (just above the label) is the cap, which pops off to reveal a twist-up stick about one and a half times as wide as a standard tube balm: the bottom quarter of the bottle (just below the label) twists to dispense. It's bulky for a pocket (or, I suppose, a small purse), but it looks great sitting on your desk or nightstand.

Glide: Melty. The stick looks solid, like pure beeswax, but as soon as you apply it to your lips, the heat turns it into a soft, buttery, only slightly waxy balm. If your lips are chapped or dry or otherwise sensitive, it's the best imaginable texture, because there's no painful dragging during application; it just glides on effortlessly. There's also no shine whatever, which, for a guy, is a big plus.

Flavour/Smell: Yum. It smells strongly of frozen cola, that sweet, spicy, citrusy scent that you get from movie-theatre frozen Coke, with an overlay of vanilla. The sweetness has been dialed down, so it's not something you have to sample with your tongue every few seconds until it's gone.

Lasting Power: Excellent; it's good for a couple of hours at least, presuming you can avoid licking your lips, and the product isn't sweet enough to compel you to do that.

Product Pluses/Minuses: Plus- inexpensive. Looks awesome. Smells good. Tastes nice. No shine. Minus- the tube is quite wide, which if you're used to those Jumbo Lip Smackers or have particularly wide lips might not be a bad thing, but it makes application a bit clumsy.

This gets a four out of five: I deducted a mark because the stick is so wide and because the plastic is kind of brittle (I'm on my second one and the cap on both was cracked).

Stay tuned for Pyramus's review on the Coke version next week. Maybe we can do a blind taste test.

Guest Post! Aquafina Hydrating Lip Oil

2008-01-17T11:25:00.000-05:00

Oh, guest posts. How I've missed you. We've got a backlog of these, so look out for a bunch of reviews from your fellow readers. Today's poster is MALE, fancy that. He's the mythically-aliased Pyramus, who'll be giving his review through a chink in the wall:

I am a guy who is a hopeless lip-glop addict; I have them in every room in the house, in every knapsack and coat pocket; if I accidentally leave the house without one, I have to buy one to have with me. I go through a lot of lip glop, and when I see an interesting one that 1) looks as if it might work well and 2) isn't girly, I can easily be convinced to give it a shot, since I'm always afraid they'll discontinue whatever one I happen to be using at the time. Last week I found a couple of Pepsi-branded oddities at a local dollar store and bought one of each (Ed. note: the second review will be posted shortly).

Price: $1.00 at the Dollarama, which is a chain of Canadian dollar stores. If they have them at a dollar store in a small Canadian city on the east coast, they must have them in a whole lot of other places, too, unless this is really the end of the line, where discontinued and presumably crappy products come to die (which wouldn't surprise me).

Appearance: Shiny. The packaging is printed on shiny silver-and-blue cardboard, the cap of the tube is a pearlized water blue, and the squeeze tube itself is gleaming blue plastic. The applicator is a slanted plastic thing with a big hole in it- probably my least favourite way to apply lip glop.

Glide: Like Teflon. The product is extremely slick and shiny, and the applicator practically slides right off your lips, leaving a thick, heavy coating of shine, as if you'd had your mouth upholstered with patent leather. (It's hard to control the amount you apply, since this is a thick liquid in a very supple, easily squeezed tube; the texture is like Blistex Lip Infusion only much, much thicker.) If you put on a tiny dab with a fingertip and circle your mouth with it, the shine is reduced to almost nothing, and the slickness is minimized, but even so, this is a very slidey, glidey product. I should have read the package: "maximum hydration and shine", it promises, and I don't know about the hydration, necessarily, but the shine? Maximum.

Flavour/Smell: Sugared Vicks Vap-O-Rub. It's described on the package back as a "clean, deliciously crisp flavour experience", so I guess that given the brand name (Aquafina is a bottled water marketed by PepsiCo), I was expecting "fresh mountain spring water", but it's really "overdose of menthol", which makes your lips tingle (and burn a little) soon after you apply it, and they don't stop tingling for a long time, either. Some people love this tingly mintiness; not me, though I can put up with it if I have to. But why would a product boast "calming botanicals" if it also contains enough menthol to make you think your lips are swelling up? They don't feel very calm!

Lasting Power: A while, if you don't lick your lips, which you probably will, because the product is pleasantly sweet, even though there are no sweeteners of any sort listed on the package.

Product Pluses/Minuses: Pluses- inexpensive. Strongly mentholated, if you like that kind of thing. Unbelievably shiny, if you like that kind of thing. Slightly scary name. Minuses- unbelievably shiny. Hard-to-control applicator.

Rating: 3 out of 5 tubes. Too menthol-y, too shiny.

Site We've Been Digging: Babybearshop

2008-01-14T10:23:00.000-05:00

I came across Babybearshop via an ad on a video I was watching about Pepsi lip balm on ExpoTV.com, which is like YouTube for product reviews and apparently what all the kids are doing these days (holding up products to a webcam and talking smack about them). I'm not going to lie, Babybearshop scares the hell out of me. I mean, look at those kids! I think they're stealing my life essense with their ocean-blue eyes. It's all very boho Park Avenue Children of the Corn, right? I'm sure when it comes time for me to waterbirth my child and carefully monitor his/her diet for carcinogenic food additives I'll love the site, but for now I'm a tad creeped out. Too many blonde, nude, cherubic babies, but GREAT baby shower gifts.

My point is, there is a lip balm-related part of the site called All the Better to Kiss You With. The company sells organic lip balm in vintage tins with "no artificial anything". Flavors are Lavender Vanilla, Chai Mandarin and Pepperminty. If you try them, do let me know.

Lather Lip Conditioning Balm

2008-01-11T10:25:00.001-05:00

I had a whole list of tubes I was going to get through and review (hence the delay) but I was stopped in my tracks by an unexpected addition. A few days ago my friend Natalia handed me a tube she got on one of her recent international flights. It's made by a beauty company called Lather, which got started in California in 1999 and now operates spas and boutiques in Scottsdale and New York. They make a wide range of holistic products and have a lovely and simple aesthetic.

Price: $6.50. Grumble.

Appearance: Like all Lather products, it's colors and fonts are simple and spare. Very unisex. I like that the text is oriented height-wise rather than length-wise. Also the turning wheel is a tad thicker than normal, which is nice. Not that any of this is something to care about, but there really isn't much else to talk about when reviewing lip balm.

Glide: Oh, man. This may be my all-time favorite glide. Smooth, easy, not too slick. Sometimes I want to put it on just for the feel of it.

Flavor/Smell: The tube I have is the Lip Conditioning Balm (sold on the site in a pot), which is different from the Lip Protector SPF 15 pictured but looks exactly the same. It's Unscented, but they also make Sweet Almond, Spearmint + Tea Tree, and a potted Lavender Lime variety. There is actually a very subtle and pleasing citrusy smell to the Unscented that I love.

Lasting Power: Great. I put it on this morning at around 9am and almost two hours later it still feels the way it did in that first few minutes of application. Despite the cold, dry air, my lips are soft and moisturized and free of the dry patches that have plagued them all winter.

Product Pluses: Lather doesn't test on animals (member of PETA) and uses some exotic ingredients like vegetable jelly (?), squalane oil and extracts of Night Blooming Cereus. Sounds like a Harry Potter potion.

Verdict: 5 4.5 out of 5 tubes. Yeah, I know! The expense would normally give me pause, but sometimes I'm willing to pay for quality. If the rest of Lather's products are anything like this lip balm, I want them all. I might have to visit that NY spa.

UPDATE (2/26): Alright, I gotta knock it down a half point. The consistency is just a tad too thick to be a perfect 5.

Chappy New Year!

2008-01-05T13:49:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year, Chaptaddicts! Sorry for the puns and sorry, again, for the unannounced absence. Prolonged holiday traveling abroad really took its toll. It did, however, result in a ton more additions to an already comprehensive lip balm collection, so stay tuned for a bunch of reviews.

ChapNews Volume 13: Escape Artist

2007-11-28T18:43:00.000-05:00

I have been trying to warm up to a new balm in vain. Vain, I tell you! What started out as decent has turned into abysmal. More on that tomorrow. Meantime, enjoy this tidbit about a crafty criminal. It's like Houdini meets Shawshank, plus lip balm:

McNair has a history of escapes.

He has used lip balm to slip out of handcuffs, and clawed his way through a prison ventilation system to gain temporary freedom.

In his latest escape, he hid in a pile of mailbags and was shipped to a local warehouse before he began running down nearby railway tracks.

He was stopped by a local police officer looking for him, but managed to talk his way out of the arrest by convincing the officer he was someone else, and just out for a jog.

Guest Post! Blistex Lip Medex

2007-11-26T12:20:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but my lips are turning into sandpaper in this cold, dry winter air. What can bring relief? Today's poster is Melissa, who found us through Glamour's beauty blog. Fancy! Take it away, Melissa:

Chapstick is pretty much my addiction. I have gone through tubes upon pots upon sticks of every kind of lip remedy. I'm only 19, but I've probably gone through enough different kinds of chapstick to be considered 75. Basically, I have found my "holy grail" if you will, of a lip smoother, de-chapper, and all-around amazing product. It is in a heavenly blue pot, and it is called Blistex Lip Medex.

Here is a rundown of my fav chapstick:

Price: Usually around $1.49, depending on what drugstore you frequent

Appearance: I love the blue tub. It's a little bulky, but IT'S WORTH IT.

Glide: It's perfect. You have to use your finger, but once you put it on, it's like your lips died and went to heaven.

Flavor/Smell: Here's where people might have a bit of a problem with Lip Medex. It's definitely a menthol-y flavor and smell, definitely not something to wear if you're on a first date. But the product smooths and soothes my lips so well that it's worth it to wear everyday. If you have someone to kiss, just wipe it off. got my boyfriend addicted to this stuff, so you know that it works if a guy likes it (they have the driest lips!).

Lasting Power: It stays with you for a while, and it definitely hydrates chapped lips. I feel with most lip balms out there, your lips end up getting really greasy and waxy, and you end up needing to put more of the product on in about 20 minutes. Not so with Lip Medex. I usually don't have to reapply for at least 2 hours.

Product Pluses: Um, read above. It's so amazing. I usually put it on after a) I take a shower and I'm doing my hair or b) I just brushed my teeth. It's clear, and makes your lips look really shiny and healthy. And if you do have chapped lips, it WORKS.

My rating: 5 out of 5 tubes.

Kiss My Face: Lip Action, Mango Melt

2007-11-25T11:42:00.001-05:00

This will be Chaptastic's ~~third~~ fourth review of a Kiss My Face balm, so I'll keep it informal. I bought this balm for a few reasons:

1. I like a balm whose name issues commands when I'm too tired to do so. "Kiss My Face!" Other suggestions: "Make Me Lunch!" and "Do My Taxes!"

2. It states, in tiny letters, "The Bearer of this Balm has helped us contribute $1 to The Alliance for Climate Protection AND has softer lips". Both of those are true.

The organic product savants at Kiss My Face and Whole Foods joined forces to raise $1,000,000 for Al Gore's foundation, whose purpose is "to persuade people of the importance, urgency and feasibility of adopting and implementing effective and comprehensive solutions for the climate crisis". I hope that doesn't mean they have to sell a million lip balms because that might take a while.

This eco-friendly balm comes in punny flavors like Eco-cocoa, Berry Warm and Mango Melt. I tried the Mango Melt and I found it delightful. Soft, amazing glide, pleasant yet light fruity scent, no waxy aftertaste...just brilliant. Makes me want to start a slow clap.

5 out of 5 tubes.

The Lip Action line also comes with SPF 15, which is important even in the winter. $3.49 at Whole Foods- remember that $1 of that goes to Al Gore, bless his heart.

UPDATE: An anonymous commenter says that KMF's holiday flavors are "pretty fantastic".

Get REAL Peaches Lip Balm

2007-09-13T11:11:00.000-04:00

Ages ago we wrote about the company BlueQ in a SWBD post. BlueQ is the maker of retro-ironic-sassy products such as Dirty Girl shampoo, Looking Good for Jesus compact mirror and Virgin/Slut soaps (your pick, I guess). They also have a long list of quirkily-named lip balms, although some of our readers relayed to us that the packaging was better than the product. Recently I caught site of their new (to me, anyway) body care product line called Get REAL. The motto of the brand is "No fake crap", or more brilliantly, "Never keep a stiff upper lip"- both are written on their bright and cheerful tubes.

Cost: $2.99 at Whole Foods sans the cardboard and plastic packaging, $4.95 elsewhere with all the trappings.

Appearance: Adorable, of course. Who doesn't love 50s styling and font? There's lots of little messages to find on the label and the "BlueQ Food & Produce Company" stamp almost makes me feel like I bought it at a fruit stand.

Glide: Not bad. Not great, either. It takes a bit of effort to get it going, but it doesn't coat too thickly or have a sticky texture. Somewhere in the unremarkable middle of the pack in terms of good or bad.

Flavor/Smell: "Move into the country, gonna eat me a lot of peaches." Remember that song? I always think of it when I eat peaches. There's something very soothing to me about a peach, and luckily this lib balm gets the scent down rather well. It's present without being overwhelming, and the balm has a pleasant, subtle sweetness that's almost unnoticeable. Note: it may smell a bit too waxy on the first go. Other flavors are Mint and and Lemons.

Lasting Power: Definitely at least an hour, and that was even after applying while extremely chapped followed by eating a giant apple. Quickly moistens and protects.

Product Pluses: As the brand claims, it's 100% flavored and formulated with no added color or fragrance and it's cruelty free. Ingredients include shea butter, coconut and olive oils, Vitamin E and licorice sweetener. Yum.

I'd give this a solid 4 out of 5 tubes. I want just a bit more performance for all the eye-catching presentation. But it's definitely fun to have around.

Is This Thing On?

2007-07-13T10:32:00.000-04:00

Long time no see. It's not because we don't love you anymore, we swear. Things just got...a little intense, and we needed a break. We hope you can forgive us. As a consolation, here's a cartoon!

2007-06-19T15:57:00.000-04:00

The Chaptastic Lip Balm Diet & Workout Regimen©

1. Buy some Joey New York LipFIT Lip Gloss. JNYLFLG claims that it's unique blend of ingredients will help "inhibit appetite" and it's motto is "beautiful lips, skinny hips"*.

2. Follow up with 765 reps of lip balm application**.

3. If those don't work: start running 10 miles a day and eating only vegetables. Apply lip balm when lips feel dry. You'll be fit by July 4th.

*untested by Chaptastic Labs
** from FitSugar's list of unique ways to burn 100 calories

OMG Y'all: Barry Manilow Lip Balm

2007-06-15T01:49:00.001-04:00

So, in addition to the water bottles, shirts, plates, clocks, hand gel, blankets, dog shirts, and wine that the Barry Manilow website sells, there's also the fine product pictured here: "Music and Passionfruit" lip balm. If you were a Fanilow, you'd know that Music and Passion is Mr. Manilow's motto, or something.

I just...I mean...

Barry Manilow has a lip balm. What.

NYTimes Has Nothing Better To Write About

2007-06-07T10:51:00.000-04:00

The NYTimes has not one but two articles today about lip products. The first is about Lil' Mama (is it just me or is that just a smaller, cuter Lil' Kim?), a sassy teen rapper, Avril Lavigne collaborator, and erstwhile Sephora promoter who has a bangin' new hit single called "Lip Gloss". I like the way the NYTimes explains it:

Lil Mama is rap’s newest product placer. But instead of promoting cars or clothes or cocktails, she is glorifying something a little more innocuous in her hit song, “Lip Gloss.”

Lip gloss.

Over a spare, double-Dutch-friendly beat, Lil Mama, a Brooklyn-bred 17-year-old with sass to spare, rhymes: “I said my lip gloss is cool/My lip gloss be poppin/I’m standing at my locker/And all the boys keep stoppin.”

Holla. It's actually quite catchy. I'm already in the process of downloading it. It alarms me that I sometimes don't know about new hits like this until I read about them in the Times. What am I, 40?

The second article concerns more of what we're into, which is lip balm proper. This time it's the men folk who are getting the attention in this Fashion & Style article about guys who *GASP!* wear lip balm a lot. Another choice excerpt:

And every morning after he brushes his teeth, Mr. Yeager, 27, puts some of it on.

Since he started using Jack Black Intense Lip Therapy Balm about five years ago to soothe lips frequently chapped from airline travel, Mr. Yeager said he has been hooked on the “cool mint feeling.” So hooked that for his wedding last year he included the balm in a cosmetic gift pack for his groomsmen.

As the men’s market for moisturizers and sun protection has grown, so has the market for lip balm. Besides longstanding unisex standards like ChapStick, Blistex and Kiehl’s, macho choices like Jack Black, a line that exclusively targets men, are proliferating.

According to a 2005 report by Packaged Facts, a publishing division of MarketResearch.com, lip care products “are performance orientated, and chapped lips are a rugged sort of ailment that men can treat without feeling effete.”

Snoozeville. And since when are chapped lips a "rugged sort of ailment"? Oh, I guess when guys have chapped lips it's rugged, and when girls have them it's...just that time of the month.

Note to the Times: from now on hire us to do your lip balm coverage. I promise we won't make it sound so freakin' precious.

Guest Post! Einstein Lip Theory: Hydrating Cream

2007-06-06T10:14:00.000-04:00

Today's poster, Becky, reviews a balm that follows up on the Einstein brand we reviewed a little while ago. I think "caveat emptor" is the moral of this fable. Becky writes,

"So, I was OBSESSED with the Einstein stuff when I found the red pot balm in London Drugs but couldn't afford it. The jar looked SOOO adorable, so I assumed this stuff would rock and I promised myself that next time I popped into the store, that balm would be mine. I even had a dream about it. So, as you can probably imagine, my expectations were high.

But I came back to the drugstore a couple days later, buzzing with excitement and ready to spend 7 dollars on a tiny jar of magic. Unfortunately, they had none left! I was, instead, referred to another one of Einstein's lip balms: the pink hydrating cream. I hadn't researched this one and didn't quite know what to expect, and to satisfy my terrible disappointment, I took a chance and bought it. Uhg."

Price: $6.99 for a barely-there squirt of balm. Ew.

Appearance: Pretty container, of course. But open the lid and what do you find? This icky, creamy stuff that has the consistency of hand cream - not to mention the little orange balls inside that really serve no purpose except to look weird.

Glide: Smooth, of course, but I could just as easily rub this into my hands and call it moisturization. It's hand cream!! Plus it's very shiny on the lips and feels like water - which, actually, may be a positive for some of you if that's what you're looking for.

Flavor/ Smell: It smells alright. Tastes alright.

Lasting Power: A while, actually, but that's only if you commit to never licking your lips while it's on. If you lick, the lip balm will come off quite easily.

Product Plusses: Cute container, smooth application. And the name 'Einstein Lip Theory' is just plain awesome.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 tubes. Extremely disappointing. Not to mention that a week later I dropped the jar, causing all its contents to spill out on my carpet. Good bye, $6.99.

Guest Post! Alba TerraTints

2007-06-05T10:49:00.000-04:00

This guest post comes from Scrappy's super rad coworker Kira:

When a big ole' box (actually, a full-on fancy schmancy counter display) of lip balm arrives unannounced at your door, wouldn't you assume the nice gals at Chaptastic had something to do with it? Me too. But apparently not. (ed. note - holy crap, we're so jealous)

Apparently, I received this treasure chest of luscious lip balm as a free gift for being one of the first to sign up for an upcoming yoga retreat. I guess yoga + pretty tinted well-moisturized lips = a very happy yogi. (ed. note - om x 3)

There were six Alba TerraTint tubes in the box. Two colors I tried on and right away decided, "uhhhhh...no, I'm just not groovy enough to pull these off." These were Dawn (white chalky weirdly sparkly) and Kona (dark brown, really dark brown). The others I like very much: Garnet, Bloom, Sienna, Blaze. Garnet is my favorite - the sheerest, least sparkly of the bunch.

Price: 3.99

Appearance: Minimalist texty packaging, with a label that matches the tube color but tube color that doesn't quite match the lip balm tint. I'm probably getting into OCD Girl territory, but I'm a fan of branding that's printed right on the tube rather than on a label that's just going to get all tattered and worn and yucky after spending time in my jeans pocket or the bottom of my bag. Is it wrong to want my tube of lip balm to look as fresh as my lips when I put it on?

Glide: Fairly smooth as lip balms go, just a bit on the heavy side.

Flavor/Smell: Yummy peppermint tingles the lips with only a hint of minty smell and flavor (but I have a cold, so it may not be as subtle as I think).

Lasting Power: Maybe an hour? Would like it to moisturize longer (but again, I've been breathing through my mouth all day, so you might not want to trust me on that).

Product Plusses: The packaging tells me that calendula flower and jojoba oil are main ingredients. Sounds good to me. The web site tells me that Alba lip balms provide " SPF 18 protection in a versatile stick - perfect for lips, ears and other sensitive, sun-exposed areas." Ummm....sounds like they're talking about the non-tinted lip balms.

4.6 out of 5 tubes. With four colors to choose from (six if you count white and dark brown), there's a naturally tinted minty lip balm out there for just about every skin tone. A nice way to dress up your face for a night out on the town.

Guest Post: Chapstick® All Natural

2007-05-24T11:10:00.000-04:00

Today's poster is Rachel, aka rayfreester, blogger and lip balmer extraordinaire. But we'll let her tell you about herself, as well as give you a review.

I'm rayfreester, of are you awake? (it's fairly new and not really about anything yet) and I have been a Burt's Bees user for maybe five or six years- I'm only in my mid-teens. Only this year have I really tried to branch out to other lip balms occasionally. This development happened to coincide with Walgreens expanding its lip balm selection and putting it into its own section. The geography of my Walgreens aside, the new shiny lip balm area had many balms that they didn't carry before like Aveeno, the entire Chapstick line, Chicken Poop and many others. But what caught my eye was Chapstick All Natural, since Chapstick® isn't famous for it's great ingredients.

Price: $1.99, just as cheap as regular flavored Chapstick. No complaints here, but you'd think it might cost a little more with the better ingredients.

Appearance: Brown translucent with some sparkle or or something in the plastic. The words "all natural" in green with a water droplet on it to signify that it moisturizes. Sort of a cross-between a lotion bottle and a self-tanner bottle. Might not be unisex enough for some men, but isn't trying for a feminine appearance. Still has the Chapstick rounded cap that makes it easy to find in the dark. I'm not a fan of translucent tubes- I don't like seeing the gears. However, the look is, in general, attractive.

Glide: Pretty good, glides smoother and sticks more than regular Chapstick, but not as good as lip balms with a higher beeswax content. There is a slight graininess as you get more into to the tube.

Flavor/Smell: No real intentional smell or flavor, just the the smells of the ingredients. It kinda smells like toasted coconut, rice milk and some type of nuts. There's no sweetener, so there is no taste, but the smell sticks around for a while and is bland without being unobtrusive. This balm could benefit from and essential oil.

Lasting Power: If your lips are pretty chapped it will soak right in and you will need to apply almost immediately, however with normal conditions it will last as long as you don't wipe it off or eat.

Product Pluses: No petroleum, no artificial ingredients, sunflower seed oil, jojoba esters, coconut oil, beeswax, mango seed butter (fancy!), natural vitamin E and shea butter. However no SPF and it won't withstand temperatures higher than 77 degrees (it says on the label, no other brands/types have this warning, as far as I know).

3.7 out 5 tubes for good glide with out being greasy, natural ingredients and low price. Points were docked for slightly pervasive coconut smell and sparkly tube. Overall though, a pretty good buy, I recommend it.

Product News: Simple Shoes CA-bana

2007-05-24T09:55:00.001-04:00

I love Simple Shoes. They make amazingly comfortable shoes and bags out of sustainable (and in many cases vegan) materials and have a really fun image and sense of humor. They have a new line of men's flip flops, and the Lifeguard Choice version of them comes with a tube of Burt's Bees and a lip balm holder!

Now, I like this idea in theory, but I don't know if I want to keep my balm near a) my toes and b) the ground. Maybe it's handy if you're a lifeguard, but I can only picture the cap being knocked off and sand getting everywhere. Don't those lifeguard shorts have pockets? Maybe if you're a lady lifeguard you don't have pockets, but maybe you could just leave the tube at your station while you're not rescuing people?

In short, buy some Simple Shoes.

Crabtree & Evelyn: Aloe Vera

2007-05-22T15:58:00.000-04:00

I always forget that Crabtree & Evelyn exists. Its storefronts are not as ubiquitous as L'Occitane's or The Body Shop's are, and I don't think the brand is popular with people under thirty. My only memory of C&E products is a sample sized gift pack of lotion, body gel and body powder that I received when I was in my teens and never finished (was doling out the goodness).

But when I do remember them, I'm always happy because they make excellent products. Last week I found myself in a C&E (which was located right next to a L'O, funnily enough) and of course I picked up one of their balms. Afterward, I Wickipedia-ed the company name, which I've always thought is one of the best skin care brand names, and discovered that it's named for both the crabtree, an ancestor to modern apple trees, and famed 17th century British conservation writer John Evelyn. Fascinating.

Price: $3.50.

Appearance: Simple cream-colored, standard size tube with the lovely green C&E font and a little illustration of the aloe barbadensis plant.

Glide: Remarkably like plain old Chaptastick®- the stick is firm but the glide is pretty smooth without being slick or oily. Goes on somewhere between normal and thick and feels great.

Flavor/Smell: Light scent of aloe vera, which is sort of like a leafy-green camphorous odor. No sweetness or discernable flavor.

Lasting Power: A little better than average. I'd say minimum two hours. Wonderful moisturizer.

Product Plusses: Non-petroleum (primarily soybean oil and beeswax based). Contains aloe vera (obviously), which is known to have healing properties. But no SPF.

4.25 out of 5 tubes. A reliable, functional jacket stick.

Trader Johann's Lip Balm Virtuoso

2007-05-10T09:57:00.001-04:00

Trader Joe's tops my list of places to shop, preferably when the line doesn't wrap completely around the store. My awesome pal, Mel, introduced me to the goodness that is TJ's and to confirm this she sent me some of their lip balm that she's super into. Mel's smart about pretty much everything, and I can now definitely say that she's smart on lip balm.

Price: 3 tubes for about 3 bucks. Brilliant.

Appearance: Trader Johann's (yuk, yuk) Virtuoso Lip Balm is housed in a green and white standard sized tube with an image of music notes underneath the text: Music to your Lips. Let's just hope this music isn't a harp or something equally Victorian.

Glide: Superb glide. Always ready to go and the coverage area is perfect.

Flavor/Smell: The Virtuoso is spearmint. Smells like gum, tastes kind of like gum - and can probably cover your bad breath.

Lasting Power: Apply and forget about it, lasts forever.

Product Plusses: 50% organic (half empty?), all the organic ingredients are standard with the exception of St. John's Wort (used to treat anxiety) and Comfrey ("In past times comfrey baths were popular to repair the hymen and thus 'restore virginity'", so, uh, promiscuous girls get on that), and SPF 15.

I'm into it. Trader Johann's Lip Balm Virtuoso scores a 5 out of 5.

Carol's Daughter

2007-05-03T14:18:00.000-04:00

There's a great article in today's New York's Daily News about Carol's Daughter. Here's our review of their Wet Shine & Lip Butter, from last August. Read up.

Catrix

2007-05-02T15:13:00.000-04:00

Catrix reminds me of the blonde chick, Juliet, from Lost. The one from the others that's totally not cool and who's all about fertility and science, to be vague.

This is because Catrix looks kind of cold like Juliet, it's all scientifical, and it's Wednesday. So, uh, my mind is elsewhere.

Price: $14.00 for one single tube.

Appearance: Gives off the same feeling that I get when I'm sitting naked under a gauzy top on a roll out of doctor's paper staring at a diagram of human lungs. That feeling would be cold, uncomfortable, and not sure what's about to happen.

Glide: Catrix's glide is phenomenal. It's smooth, the coverage is perfect, and it feels good on my lips.

Flavor/Smell: No official flavor, but there is a faint and pleasant citrus smell.

Lasting Power: Long, long, long time. This tube will get you through the day and then some.

Product Plusses/ Minuses: Well, it's got SPF 15 and some other natural stuff. But- it also is a "bovine-derived complex mucopolysaccharide cartilage complex", so probably not for the vegans or those not interested in bovine on their lips. This complex is found in various facial products to help heal those with dermatological issues. And, when using any bovine product it's imperative that the cattle it comes from are healthy.

Catrix is a great balm that kind of freaks me out. Maybe I'm being dramatic, but I'd rather go with the natural balms that cost less than $5 than pay for bovine. It's not that any problems have been reported, but I recently heard about how all the chemicals and animal extracts in the body products we use may reveal themselves to be not so good for our skin in the near future.

Despite the great performance, I'm giving it a 3 out of 5 due to price and the bovine factor.

NBC Investigates Addiction

2007-05-02T14:45:00.000-04:00

Ah, morning news shows. I love that the newscasters are always bright and peppy, but I also hate that they're always bright and peppy. I'd have to be on some serious meds to wake up that early and be cheery every morning.

Anyway, check out this piece that aired in January on NBC's The Today Show about lip balm addiction. My favorite is the woman who explains that she has strategically placed lip balm everywhere so she's never more than four feet away from it. Very pragmatic. I bet she's a reader.

Oh, and check out Kevin C., the Lip Balm Anonymous guy, looks like. I feel like Chaptastic and LBA need to have a rumble or something.

Guest Post! Dairy Queen Vanilla Cone

2007-04-30T16:45:00.000-04:00

Today's guest poster is Marissa, who has a GLOWING review for everyone.

Aprez vous, Marissa!

I am going to review the singularly worst lip balm ever made. Now, it does have the potential to be amazing; after all, who doesn’t like vanilla ice cream? (Vegans, but not my point.) Even writing this review made me throw up a little.

I found this tube on the checkout counter of a cutesy little accessory store for girls, and being the thirteen-year-old girl that I am, I bought it. Normally, I stick to more minty lip balms, but c’mon! Vanilla ice cream! I had to have it.

Price: Despite, being targeted at younger children with smaller pockets, the price is around three dollars. It’s high, but not too bad, considering you’re also paying for the Dairy Queen name. (NOTE: You can buy it here for $2.95).

Appearance: Viewed head on, this normal sized tube is rather cute. The signature DQ logo is smack dab in the middle for optimum product placement, and right under is the name of the flavor in a curly font. The images are flanked by a few starbursts that fully reminds me of funky-70s wallpaper. Now, start turning the tube, and focus you’re attention on the giant warning label, which reminds me that the lip balm, “HAS REMOVABLE CAP.” Thanks, DQ, I almost forgot!

Glide:Disgusting. Apply no pressure, and the lip balm barely touches my lips, let alone covers it in balm. Add the slightest pressure, and the entire stick smashes against my lips and smushes everywhere. It’s a lose-lose situation.

Flavor/Smell: This lip balm fully redeems itself where smell is concerned. Although it smells nothing like “vanilla cone”, it is almost a perfect imitation of the scent of butter cream frosting. If only it tasted like that. At first, the lip balm tastes like mountains of sugar attacking my tongue. The longer I left my tongue on my lips, the more intense the underlying flavor of...I can’t even describe it. It made me want to barf.

Lasting Power: A really long time- at least two hours. Which is bad, as it felt like I put glue on my lips.

Product Pluses: Not for use for children under eight. Now we can save at least a fifth of the population from the heck that is this lip balm.

Overall: .5 out of 5 tubes. I think I’ll carry this tube around just to smell it.

Rob Corddry is One of Us

2007-04-24T10:06:00.000-04:00

In Sunday's New York Times Magazine there is an article on comedian Rob Corddry, former correspondent on The Daily Show and current star of Fox's The Winner. The article (which is actually a thinly veiled blog meme) reveals that Corddry, in addition to owning over 1,000 albums, also has lip balm on him at all times:

Always with him: ChapStick. It’s in my pocket right now. There’s one in my desk drawer, one in my bag, one in my car and a few in the dresser. Probably 15 have fallen behind my bed. It’s become emotional for me. I just need it.

He gets it. He really gets it. From the photo, it looks like he, too, uses the Perez Hilton-approved Lab Series balm as well as Blistex, Burt's Bees and Rosebud Salve.

Site We've Been Digging: Sohum

2007-04-23T13:54:00.000-04:00

Tell me this isn't one sexy lip balm. I'm sold already just looking at it. It's made by Sohum Cosmetics, a Melbourne-based company with an intriguing line of sleek products made with alluring ingredients (what am I, their copy writer?). Gingerlily and mango candelier, anyone? Or perhaps frangipani body wash is more to your liking. If I had a real bathroom, I'd stock it full of Sohum.

Have you tried their lip balm?

Ablutions: Coconut Lemongrass

2007-04-19T12:30:00.000-04:00

Ablution is an actual word:

ablution \uh-BLOO-shun\, noun:
1. The act of washing or cleansing; specifically, the washing of the body, or some part of it (as in a religious rite).
2. The water used in cleansing.

It is also the onomatopoeia of a sneeze.

So, gesundheit, and let's review.

Price: $5

Appearance: Clear tube covered by a spa-like white label with a printed flower. Basic.

Glide: Great glide. The balm is thick enough to coat with one swipe, and it's thickness keeps it from being to greasy.

Flavor/Smell: I thought Coconut Lemongrass would smell like Thai food. In a good way. But it smells exactly like suntan lotion, with a lemon twang. It's a good smell, a bit strong, but it works.

Lasting Power: Hours. This one will keep on keeping on.

Product Plusses: 98% organic made with all sorts of yummy smelling organic oils and waxes. The Ablutions website has all sorts of info about the ingredients of the balm, and all their products. Transparency is key, folks.

4.30 out of 5 tubes

Another flavor I was able to try was Chocolate Orange Truffle: Same greatness as the Coconut Lemongrass, but with an even more amazingly tasty scent.

ChapNews Vol. 13: Talk About a Bad Grade...

2007-04-18T14:54:00.000-04:00

The Seattle Times reported last week that two sixth graders tried to incapacitate their teacher with lip gloss. Those girls are either really smart or really stupid.

Two 12 year-olds spent Thursday night in juvenile detention for allegedly trying to sicken their teacher — who has a severe allergy to strawberries — with a dose of synthetic strawberry-scented balm, applied to a drinking glass.

The girls, students of Sakai Intermediate School on Bainbridge Island, told police they considered using real strawberries, but did not want to kill their teacher, just provoke an allergic reaction, said Mark Duncan, deputy chief of the Bainbridge Police.

The girls' alleged motive? To avoid trouble for not getting parent signatures on a progress report.

"They thought if they could make the teacher sick, then the progress report would not be an issue," said Duncan. "This is 12 year-old thinking."

The teacher, Kasey Jeffers, had a reaction after drinking from either a water bottle or coffee cup — both were slathered in lip gloss — but avoided anaphylactic shock with medication, said Duncan. Her allergy is well-known at school and is so severe that her class is a strawberry-free zone, said Jo VanderStoep, principal of the 600-student school.

Oh, Wow! Lip Balms

2007-04-17T12:29:00.000-04:00

The first thing my roommate said when I showed her the adorable bow-shaped box these lip balms came in was, "Oh, wow!" How appropriate for a company whose name is that exact exclamation (which gives me ideas for other exclamations to use as company names). Oh, Wow! was started by Seth Adams from Apex, NC. The company makes a line of premium lip balms in seventeen fun flavors using simple, natural ingredients. The down home charm of the operation is epitomized by their similarly down home, virtually click-proof website.

Price: $4.00 each.

Appearance: Standard size, clear tube with sticker and scotch tape label. The label's font, much like the product website, is Comic Sans-riffic. That and the ubiquitous spirals give the tube an air of juvenile whimsy. The effect of the label plus the very colorful balms, which are tinted to match the various flavors, is very Crayola-like.

My qualm is that the flavors are not printed directly on the labels- instead there's a small colored sticker with or without a letter on it located on the bottom of the tube and you use a provided key card to cross reference the sticker with a flavor name (ex: blue sticker with a P on it = mint chocolate).

Glide: Smooooooth. One of the best I've encountered. Not greasy or oily, just a bit creamy, soft. Very satisfying. The balm itself is tinted, but it goes on clear.

Flavor/Smell: You like Jolly Ranchers and girly cocktails? Well then you'll love these balms! The sweet, fruity scents are incredibly strong and conspicuous, but I guess kind of fun if you like that sort of thing (ie, you're a 12 year old girl) and enjoy leaving gusts of strawberry fog in your wake.

They come in flavors like Island Delight, Raspberries and Cream, Creamsicle, Red Apple, Cantaloupe and Lemon Sorbet, to name a just few. Luckily they're unsweetened, and the flavor itself is subtle if you can get past the strong scents (they do have an unflavored balm, which in hindsight I wish I'd tried).

Lasting Power: Not stellar, maybe a couple of hours (does have a bit of that lick off factor), but they moisturize really well and it's a good choice for a light summer balm.

Product Pluses: Three ingredients: cocoa butter, vitamin E and flavoring. That's pretty amazing. No petroleum, waxes or fillers and they're vegan. Con: no SPF.

4.0 out of 5 tubes. Excellent glide, but the flavors a bit hit or miss and the presentation could use some work. I'd highly recommend them for kids, though.

Take a look at the gift giving recommendations. Someone with braces!

Are You The Next Big Thing?

2007-04-13T15:11:00.000-04:00

Chaptastic adores Fred Flare, so we're pimping THE NEXT BIG THING to all you crafty types. You may remember that we featured one of last year's Big Things, Heather Joy. What is all this, you ask? We'll let them tell you:

The NEXT BIG THING is a super fun annual contest here at fredflare.com where we invite our customers to present their amazing creations for possible sale on our website. This year we’re selecting 27 of our favorite items to be featured in an exclusive online boutique that will also include designer bios. If your work is chosen, we’ll place a wholesale order with you for the item you’ve proposed and will purchase the stock outright. This year we’ve added a fun new twist and will also be awarding a $1000 prize to the designer voted the “fred fan fave” by our awesome customers. Right on! The NEXT BIG THING contest is best suited for artists, crafters or designers who are serious about taking their business to the next level.

Right on, indeed. Get on it!