I'm not balmy about this! (E.L.F. Therapeutic Conditioning Balm)

Member Name: pink_glitter

Product:	E.L.F. Therapeutic Conditioning Balm
Date:	31/08/09 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheap, nice sheen to lips

Disadvantages: gives a waxy taste, packaging looks rubbish

After reading a lot about e.l.f. cosmetics on Dooyoo and on beauty forums I was quite excited to try the brand, and finally placed an order a few weeks back.

e.l.f stands for eyes, lips, face and they are a company that started in the USA. They're big selling point is that all their products cost just £1.50 - apart from their new Studio range which are £3.50, but they say they do not compromise on quality. Sounds fab for these credit crunch times.

The product comes in four different flavours, each a different colour. I purchased the purple one which is called Blackberry crème. The others available are Strawberry Crème (pink), Vanilla Crème (yellow) and Orange Crème (Orange). Despite being different colours, the balms go on clear so if you want the orange flavour you don't need to worry about having orange lips!

These balms are infused with vitamins A and E as well as Shea butter to help moisturise the lips and prevent chapping.

I'm not really sure why I bought this particular product, the therapeutic conditioning balm, as essentially it's just a lip balm and I have loads of lip balms already. When my order arrived however, this was the first of the products I tried out and I've been using it on a daily basis since I received it, which is probably due to the fact I keep it on my desk where I sit everyday and see it more than anything else.

The product came on a card which I thought a little unnecessary. As far as I'm aware the e.l.f. brand is only available online, and although a lot of these products come packaged in a similar way I didn't think there was any real need for the card.

The actual plastic casing of the lip balm looks very cheap. It's white with silver writing on one side and a clear lid. The actual tube is long and thin as you can probably see from the picture and the balm twists up from the bottom.

The purple lip balm has a sweet, fruity scent to it, and glides onto the lips very smoothly and easily. It seems to melt slightly on contact with the lips, so there is no need to press down with it.

The balm has quite a waxy texture, but once on the lips it feels quite slippery. It gives my lips a very subtle sheen which looks quite nice, but as mentioned earlier has no colour to it. One problem I have found is that if you apply too much it can actually look almost white and sort of cling to dry skin on the lips, so it's best to go easy with this stuff and not overdo it.

I've found the Blackberry Crème version that I have tastes really quite nice, a downside of this though, is of course I keep licking it off. Another problem with this product is that I actually feel like I can taste wax, especially after I've been wearing it for a while. It's almost like I get a waxy taste in the back of my throat which as you can imagine is not exactly pleasant!

The balm is quite moisturising and does seem to help my lips especially when they are feeling dried out. The effects of the balm last around half an hour I would say which means frequent re-application, but unfortunately it only takes around 30 minutes for me to lick the whole lot off!

This product costs £1.50 from www.eyeslipsface.com

Overall, this is quite an average product I feel. For a lip balm it tastes is cheap and I like the sheen it gives my lips. On a more negative note however the packaging looks naff and I seem to swallow half of the stuff as I always end up with a waxy aftertaste! There are better lip balms out there for a similar price, so I probably wouldn't recommend this one.

Summary: OK, but not the best ever