Extremely cute badgers disappoint... (Badger Balm Lavender and Orange Lip & Body)

Member Name: vanillawinegum

Product:	Badger Balm Lavender and Orange Lip & Body
Date:	16/07/09 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastically cute packaging makes for a lovely (small) gift

Disadvantages: Frankly, disappointing

I would really really like to like this product, if you know what I mean. Badger Balm is a very cool brand: a very honest, ethically-driven company with a very attractive website that delivers their caring and sharing message to the world with the utmost levels of cuteness.

I have even found myself going back to health shops to slather their testers on to my arms when I've needed a lift (Sleepy Time Balm and Muscle Soothe Balm are especially gorgeous and aromatherapeutic, if there is such a word) but I have to say it, I am not impressed by their Lavender and Orange balm.

For a start, this is a strange combination of scents/ flavours. The lavender seems to interfere with, rather than complement, the citrus-y smell. Texture-wise it's a bit solid, too, and I've found myself scraping some off with my nail in order to apply a decent amount to my lips, in favour of repeatedly rubbing my finger in it (vigorously).

Oh dear, this is beginning to sound rude...! (I didn't mean it, honest!)

The balm gives an OK gloss to my lips, but that's really indicative of the fact that it doesn't absorb into them sufficiently. At £3.99 for a tin, I expected more; for a company who spent this much time on very sweet and appealing packaging, complete with badger-hybrid character on the front (I'm not sure what he's been crossed with, I shall have to take advice on that one) and the little paw prints around the edge of the tin, I definitely expected more from the stuff inside it.

The ingredients: Organic extra virgin olive oil, castor oil, beeswax, aloe extract, CO2 extracts of rosehip and sea buckthorn and essential oils of lavender, sweet orange and blood orange.

Okay, maybe the lack of softening ability is caused by the sheer amount of astringent ingredients (the citrus/ orange extracts and lavender) or perhaps it's the olive oil and beeswax base. Other lip balms I have been most impressed with in the past have contained substantial amounts of shea butter and/ or cocoa butter with smaller hints of other herbal extracts (probably added for the sake of great scent/ pure showing-off factor).

Having said that, I've just been on to the Badger Balm website, which is based in the USA, and noticed that this balm is no longer on their product list. Interesting! More interesting still is the addition of newer balms boasting vast quantities of coconut oil and vanilla extracts...

Oh baby. I hope our UK stockists catch a whiff of these soon.

I expect to be writing a gushing review about Badger products soon!

Summary: Badger are worth keeping an eye open for; v. pure ingredients (and intensions)