Cold Sperm on my lips? ;o) (Other Lip Balms)

Member Name: Fishbulb

Product:	Other Lip Balms
Date:	07/05/03 (1117 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Top quality product, Known brand, Slightly novel/different to similar products

Disadvantages: Perhaps overpriced, Will probably be discontinued as it's out-priced even instore!, Just another lip balm!

<<<Since this is the 'Other Lip Balm' section - let me make it clear from the beginning that I'm writing about the Body Shops' latest offering in the lip care department. Lip Butters!>>>

For those of you who know me, I'm very much a 'take me as you find me' person (not in a sexual way of course, couldn't have people taking me left, right and centre - I want to make that clear now. I mean in the physical sense. And again, let me clarify people that I mean - what you see is what you get!! +++

+++ At this point, it's another day to when I wrote the details above I've just re-opened this document to complete and amend the details I'd written previously so I can indeed post this opinion and I must apologise, as I have no idea what I was talking about with that opening statement. I can assure you that it was undoubtedly hilarious in all it's hilarity, although I've now forgotten why, so I'd best just get on with the reviewing portion of this chatter.

I tend not to bother too much with The Body Shop products as a whole. Although they do have some fabulous ranges in these days, most of my favourite products have been discontinued over the years and with the invention of the Boots Advantage Card along with a whole new generation of shower gels/foams/puffs etc I tend to go elsewhere for my cleansing products so it was a bit of a surprise to find myself in the Body Shop one afternoon happily purchasing some bits and bobs.

Well, truth be told, the weather had started getting a little warmer and along with the warm weather in my house comes the stinky feet that Mr Fish owns.** I was looking for something to help with those (which I found) and the lip-balm was an impulse purchase. Whoops, sorry, Lip Butter, not balm. There were no prices on display by this product when I bought it and had I not been so shocked by it at the till I probably would have put it back. It cost me £
4.50.

** He does not own additional or supplementary stinky feet, merely the ones that he uses to propel his little legs into action each and every morning. Having an additional set of stinky feet would be not only weird, but also insane!

For my birthday last year I got among other things a selection of Body shop goodies including the most fabulous pot of body moisturiser (called Body Butter) in a Mango scent. The lip butter's come in identical packaging to these moisturisers (except smaller obviously) and they are available in the same range of scents. (Although the body butter version is also available in Sesame, Olive Honey & Soya varieties which the lip butter isn't!).

The pot looks not unlike any normal lip balm pot, although the lid is slightly larger than the body of the pot so it's a sort of mushroom shape. The pots are in different colours depending on the scent contained inside. Available in Mango, Melon Seed, Grape Seed, Papya, Brazil Nut, Shea, Coconut and Blueberry - all in matching packaging. (Green for grape, brown for nut etc etc) For the purpose of this review (to Quote Jesse from The Fast Show) "I are be mostly eating nuts" that is to say, this review will focus on the Brazil Nut version.

The pots as well as having appropriate colourings also include a rather arty photo on the top of the relevant scent. Nuts for nuts, grapes for grapes. They have a '70's' kind of feel to them, chunky plastic, strange colours. But who cares about the packaging right?

For me the scent of a lip balm is a very important thing. It is a personal thing too. Mr Fish tends to like minty balms and lemon ones where as I tend to prefer a scent that is less provocative on the old smelling device after all, my lips are directly beneath it I don't want to wander around smelling something strange all day. This brings me rather nicely to the point of the scent of this balm/butter. Stick you
r nose in the pot and you'll notice several things. First and foremost, stick it in too far and you'll get a nose covered in gunk. Secondly, the butter has a great scent, very subtle. It's a powdery caramel aroma with a slight hint of both vanilla and nut. The beer and wine tasters among us would perhaps even indicate a lingering of a lightly roasted coffee. (Now, I know that this sounds like a foul concoction to put upon your kissing tackle, but it's really not) This also sounds a bit pretentious, but it's really what it smells like. A couple of years ago I had some sun bed sessions and I bought a cream called Caramel spice, it had an almost identical smell to it!)

The butter itself is a creamy off-white colour. It's not translucent by any means way shape or form - looks like a small pot of cream. The texture is something that is inconsistent with standard lip-balms. It doesn't even have the slightest greasiness to it at all. My butter came sealed up (as should yours should you buy one) but I had to contemplate for a moment or two if it did when I first used it, as there does appear to be random bits in it. Small fragments of nut perhaps? Undetectable by the human eye (as they're the same colour as the butter, not because they're atom sized) but you certainly feel them on your fingertips when you're about to apply it. I suppose that these bits are to exfoliate your chops to provide a better product. The texture is like that of a good quality hand cream, hard at first and most definitely more of a cream than a balm.

As for the way it looks on your lips. Well, it is a lip treatment as apposed to a cosmetic thing so don't expect to have a supermodel pout after using this. It does leave a pleasant and non-greasy sheen on your lips though - very healthy and natural looking. Although Boo-Ya-Hiss for the Body Shop for not putting in any UV protection. It does also look great over lipstick and although
not as glossy as the current trend of lip-cosmetics at least this won't get stuck to your hair and drag your lip colour across your face!

Here's a list of ingredients for those of you who are interested and all the standard bumfph that goes with an opinion. While we're on the subject these ingredients are on a small sticker on the base of the pot. I would have thought that they were slightly different for each type, but please ask in the shop for the details if you have any allergies as it was most difficult to get the sticker to reveal the details. It came off in one foul swoop but then I spent a while picking it apart!

Incidentally, this version (Brazil Nut) does actually contain "rich Brazil nut oil, to melt on your lips and moisturise" so I'd hazard a guess at the fact that it's probably not suitable for those of you with nut allergies. It's also worth noting that if you're allergic to bee by-products - beeswax/honey etc or sheep that you may not be able to use this either!
Childishly, I found the list of ingredients amusing, particularly the one with cold sperm in the middle!

Ingredients
Butyrospermum parkii, Ricinus communis, Brassica Campestris/Aleurites Fordi Oil Copolymer, Cera Alba, Bertholletia excelsa, Lanolin, PEG-8, Beeswax, Aroma, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Silica, Tocopheryl Acetate, Ammonium Glycyrrhizate, Tocopherol, CI 77891, CI 19140, CI 15850.

The tubs are 10ml of product for the price of £4.50 each. (45p per ml)

Summary: