Battle of the Balms

I know it's summer, but I still use lip balm every single day. It's just a habit. Of course, since it's warmer and my lips don't get super dry and chapped I just use lip balm once in the morning and once right before bed.


The first one I want to talk about is a favorite of many beauty bloggers/vloggers. That's right, EOS, that famous colorful egg-shaped balm. I must say, I'm a big fan of the packaging. It's so cute and small and different!

The first one I bought was Honeydew, which smells amazing, and it's not overpowering. More recently, I got Summerfruit though the smell of this is really weird. I don't know what it is, but a fruity smell does not come to mind. The formula is slightly waxy and there is no taste. It feels like you're putting a layer of something to lock in the moisture already on your lips, but I don't feel like it adds extra moisture. I think this is a great balm to apply before applying a lipstick or other lip product, but for me it's not strong enough on it's own, especially during the winter.

EOS lip balms retail for around $3.29 at Ulta or Walmart.


Next up: Burt's Bees! This brand is well known across the country. I got a 4-pack tin during the holiday season that came with: the original, mango butter, pomegranate oil, and the one with açaí berry extracts.

 

Burt's Bees formula is more moisturizing so I like it better for all day wear in the winter or nighttime wear for the summer. No taste again, but the original smells minty and the others smell like the special ingredient they have. Oh, and they tingle! One thing about this balm is that if I wear under brightly colored lipsticks, I feel like it makes the lip color tamer, which is a good or bad thing depending on how you feel.

Burt's Bees lip balms retail from $2.99 - $3.99 in most drugstores, Walmart and Ulta.

Finally, I'd like to talk about the fresh SUGAR lip treatment. I have small sample sizes of the original and the rose tinted one. Although it says lip treatment, it doesn't feel super heavy on the lips, nor does it tingle. It is very moisturizing and feels very luxurious to put on but the hefty $22.50 price tag for a full size is not so pretty. However, they are one of the few lip products I know that have SPF 15 in them, so that's a plus. These can be found at Sephora.

Another lip balm I'd like to mention as my all time favorite so far is the Aquafina lip balms. I don't have any pictures because I don't own any of these right now since I'm trying out other ones, but I LOVE them. They are so moisturizing that I'd just have to apply once in the morning and once in the night, even during the dead of winter. Not kidding, these helped my lips stay perfectly smooth throughout last fall and winter. I definitely noticed a difference when I ran out of these and started using EOS.

Here's a link of the pack that I got, though I bought mine at Walmart. However, I don't think Walmart sells these online.

http://www.dollargeneral.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11896049&CAWELAID=1198527849

Benefit's Some Kind of Gorgeous Foundation

As with most Benefit products, this one has cute packaging as well. It's supposed to be an old timey record. I got a mini size of this with my Benefit Tan About Town set. It also came with a mini Badgal Lash which I reviewed in my last post and the Hoola bronzer.

Starting off with the positive: along with the nice packaging, this foundation feels really light on the skin but gives great coverage. I find it worked best when applied with my fingers. I tried using a brush and a sponge didn't really like the outcome.

I'm sad to say the good stops there. This product is a cream-to-powder foundation which I personally don't like because you have to blend it in really quickly or it leaves dry, uneven patches. It makes the product really hard to apply. Even when using fingers, it starts to dry out as soon as it touches the skin so when you apply it turns out to be more of a powder.

And the biggest issue I had with this foundation was that it made me break out very intensely. I didn't realize at the time that this was the cause of my breakout, because I was changing up my skincare routine. However, I stopped using this foundation for 2 months and then randomly decided to put it on again one day and my skin immediately starting breaking out.

If you have oily, acne-prone skin be cautious when trying out this product.