When I worked retail and did people's make-up all day long, one thing that I always advised was to put on some lip balm right when you start your hair or make-up, and then when it is time to get any lipstick or liner or even lip gloss on your lips, it will all just work better.
And then I would enter the great "lip balm" debate. A customer would pull out their ratty, dusty tube of whatever from their purse...and I'd go into my spiel.
If you want your lips to be nice and smooth and soft for color application, don't use Chapstick. Don't use Carmex. Don't use Vaseline. They don't work in this case, though they are lovely for other things. For example, if you are skiing down a windy cold mountain and need to have a nice thick barrier between your lips and the air, use Chapstick. If you are feeling the happy little tingle of a cold sore beginning, use Carmex. And if you have dry cuticles or elbows and want to go old-school on them, use Vaseline. You can even put some of that Vaseline (petroleum jelly, people, ug) over the Chapstick when you're on the mountain, and really protect the hell out of your lips.*
Many lip treatments form an occlusive barrier that keeps moisture from escaping, but when you are about to apply color you need something that soaks into your lips so that color can actually grab onto the smooth, soft surface. If you put gloss or liner or lipstick onto a thick coating of a waxy balm, it won't stay...it will slowly start to slip off.
If you put on a bit at the beginning of your morning routine, blot your lips on something handy (I use the back of my hand, and then rub in whatever came off) and then apply your color.
And another thing...Carmex is not addictive. If your lips feel dry and peely after you use it, and you feel that you now need more lip balm, well, you're right. The menthol and camphor in Carmex are there to dry out and heal little cold sore boo-boos, and so if they are all over your lips they are going to do they're job.
Most of the lip balms I love the most are in little tubs, though that grosses some people out so then look for balms in tubes. You want them to feel a little slippery and moist, not waxy or stiff...sounds sexual, or is that just me?...I like Neutrogena, Bourjois, Burt's Bees, and an all-time fave, Kiehl's.
*That won't protect your lips from the sun, though, and that is another way your lips can feel really dry and awful. Sometimes people would tell me their lip balms weren't working, and then I would find out that they had been out in the sun for hours, and their lips were really burned and irritated! Use lip stuff with sunscreen, please oh please. Even if you tan or your skin is lovely and dark...you still need sunscreen.
6 comments:
I have a weird reaction to Burt's Bees. It's like it dries out my lips even more than they were before. Is it a beeswax reaction? What do you think? Instead, I prefer Soft Lips (recommended by my doctor) and the stuff Mac makes. Both seem to do a great job with no gross flaking.
Yes, if something leaves your lips (or your skin in general) dry or itchy or flakey, it is probably your skin's reaction to some ingredient it doesn't like.
I think I have tried Soft Lips, but of course it is on my shopping list now to check it out!
I LOVE Burt's Bees. Love it. I can't go a day without it, though I am intrigued by the Kiehl's stuff now. Sounds like a shopping outing is needed...in the name of research of course.
By the way, my husband calls Carmex "lip crack." I'll have to inform him that it's not true!
Soft Lips has menthol (if I remember correctly from trying it before). My picky lips are also sensitive to certain kinds of Burt's Bees: the little yellow sticks that have peppermint in them. I think there are little yellow sticks that are just beeswax, but not sure. Good Burt's Bees for me: anything in a pot and the little yellow stick in Pomegranate (it's tinted, if anyone cares). Wow, I didn't realize I had so much to say about lip balm. I guess that's cuz it's one of the cheaper impulse buys for me (even for high end lines). Savannah Bee Company is one that's worked really well for me (comes in little tins); I used to get them at B+BW, but I think they've disappeared.
"occlusive"??? ...um, yeeeah.
oh, one more thing: the WORST LIP THING EVER is Blistex Lip Infusion!! It bills itself as a "sheer liquid balm" and comes in a little roller-ball applicator. Super-drying and useless. The Blistex Fruit Smoothies are also terrible. I think I've given up on Blistex entirely. BLISTEX BAD!!!
Are there any good chapsticks in a tube? My husband loves the stuff and it would be fun to get him a yummy one to add to his birthday booty. However, there is no way that he would use one in a pot.
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