I love lip balms. I actually LOVE them. Every time I go out shopping I pick up a new one and with that being said I have about a billion of them lying around my room! I've tested a lot of lip balms and with a good few having the wow factor, I thought I'd pick up Carmex lip balm in cherry to join the hype and see what it was all about. I'm prone to flaky, chapped lips and anything that softens and soothes them is a big must, which is what Carmex promised and guaranteed. So far so good!

Packaging: the lip balm comes in a convenient little pot that fits right into your pocket or handbag and barely takes up any room. The packaging is very attractive with its bright yellow lid, the Carmex logo and a contrasting white tub which jumps out at you on the shelf. One thing I don't like about the packaging is that it's in a tub and the consumer is required to stick their fingers into the product in order for application. I'm a big hygiene freak and hate anything that encourages cross infection and would encourage consumers to ensue that their hands are clean before applying, as the pot will be nice and warm in your pocket making the perfect little home for bacteria and other nasties.

Application: upon buying Carmex I suffered from badly chapped lips and figured that I would spend a little more and get a product that promises the best. I actually really liked the taste and smell of the product and it seemed to work well during the first day or two, until my lips started getting worse. Using Carmex every few hours left my lips horribly dry and irritated, and I started to develop what looked like a burn mark around the top of my lip. The more I used Carmex the more irritated my lips became and I found that when the product wore away my lips would hurt and become really dry, almost like they were addicted to the product! I stopped using it after that and changed to my normal Chapstick which dealt with the pain, burning and irritation, taking a full week and a half for my lips to go back to normal.

I won't be buying Carmex again. I felt annoyed at spending nearly £4 on a product which caused me so much hassle and definitely won't be recommending this to anyone with sore, chapped lips.