Following in my quest to change my dependence on Palmer's Cocoa Butter Lip Balm, I recently purchased Carmex Lip Balm. This lip balm comes in a round white tub with a very distinctive yellow lid, so it's quite easily spotted on the shelves. I bought mine for £2.49 from Boots, for a 7.5g tub.

The tin is easily opened and the lip balm inside is also yellow in colour and quite solid. It's applied using a finger or a makeup applicator and because it's fairly solid, it's easy to get just the right amount of balm out. The lip balm smells of Play Doh, for those of you who remember what that smells like. It's similar to marzipan and it's not the most pleasant of scents, although, once the lip balm is applied, it doesn't linger for a long time.

Once on the lips, this balm causes a stinging sensation, similar to a burning, so this might not be the best thing to put onto heavily chapped lips and it might be better waiting until your lips are slightly less painful. Due to my OCD, my lips never manage to get that chapped, so I could be wrong. It's a nice stinging sensation though and what it signals to me is that it's working.

The balm feels quite thick on the lips and is fairly shiny. It also stays on for quite a while (unless you like marzipan and lick it off!), but I must warn you that it doesn't taste like marzipan.

It does work though, and my lips feel better after having applied this Carmex lip balm for two weeks. I do feel that my lips are becoming used to this and that I might need to change it for another for a while.

One hint for you, if you have long nails. Because the balm is level with the rim of the tub, it's fine to begin with, but once you've used a bit of it, it will become harder and harder to get the lip balm out without getting it all stuck under your nail. One solution is to use the balm from one side, so you would end up with a line diagonally from the top to the bottom. This means that you can get the balm out without having to scrape it from under your nail all the time.

Looking at the Carmex website, this is a really small company, with only 100 employees and it's still family-owned. The family is very proud of all the places that Carmex has been spotted, listing things such as an episode of 'Sex and the City' and an episode of 'Will & Grace' where a character has been seen using the Carmex brand. How sweet! But despite the size of the company, this lip balm is very widely available.

In conclusion, it works, it provides a nice tingly feeling and for the price, it lasts for ages.