Ben & Jerry's: Now For Your Lips As Well As Your Hips! (Ben & Jerry's Choc Chip Cookie Dough Lip Balm)

Member Name: collingwood21

Product:	Ben & Jerry's Choc Chip Cookie Dough Lip Balm
Date:	14/05/09 (321 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good quality, Natural organic ingredients, Very cute packaging

Disadvantages: Not suitable for vegans, Scent is weak and fades quickly, Hard to get last bit out of the tub

Those of you that know me are probably wondering what on Earth I am doing writing about something as girly as lip balm, and whether I was either (a) having some sort of early onset mid-life crisis, or (b) had won the lottery and was therefore feeling justified in buying something fancier than the basic cosmetics that normally populate my house. I guess you would be justified in making these assumptions. After all, I am the sort of person who normally just uses boring old Vaseline to treat dry and chapped lips, has never set foot in Lush and who wouldn't know designer toiletries if I fell over them. But fear not! I haven't so much gone mad in that I am buying fancy lip balm, it is more a case of having gone mad because I've bought something with Ben & Jerry's branding on it. Which is entirely different.

The whole thing started back in February, when I was innocently browsing the Ben & Jerry's website, (www.benjerry.co.uk), I think possibly with the idea in mind of writing or updating a review. But as I was doing so, something caught my eye. Lip balm. On a website devoted to ice cream. Well, I thought, how could this not be investigated? I opened the link to the Ben & Jerry's store, and there indeed was a selection of their own-brand lip balm. Better still, it was produced in miniature ice cream style tubs and scented after popular flavours, three being available at that time - chocolate chip cookie dough, mint chocolate cookie (has this one ever been an ice cream flavour in the UK I ask?) and chocolate fudge brownie. I later heard that there was also had peanut butter cup, but I have never seen it on the UK site, despite checking it a few times since. They were priced at £3.99 per tub (same as the ice cream, coincidentally), but at the time I was shopping there was a special offer where I could buy two for £6, and I went for this instead (forgive me for being unable to recall exact postage amounts all this time later, but the total amount for the twin pack with delivery came to under £7). As resistant as I usually am to such products and to impulse buys, I found myself reaching for my credit card - perhaps my only defence being that I am a fan of Mr Ben and Mr Jerry and was trying at the time to resist their offerings, so this was the nearest I could get to satisfying my craving. Yes, it sounds pathetic to me too, but there we are. I bought them.

About a week later, I received a padded envelope containing two of the cutest things I have ever set eyes on. The lip balm tub is a scaled-down version of the instantly recognisable ice cream equivalent (although made in black plastic rather than flimsy cardboard), with the lid being about the size of a 20p coin. Uncapping the chocolate chip cookie dough tub, I am greeted with a dark yellow solid (4g or 14oz of it to be exact) that gives off a faint sweetish aroma that is certainly very pleasant, although does not immediately call to mind either cookie dough or chocolate chips. Well, it does just about smell of cookies if you stick your nose right into the tub and inhale deeply, but certainly all you get is the nondescript sweetish smell if you just sniff at it or have it on your lips (by way of comparison, the mint chocolate cookie flavour - the other tub in my twin pack - does smell strongly and distinctly of what it is scented after, even when worn on the lips). Being in a squat little tub, you cannot just rub it straight on to your lips as you would a stick - this is one for using your finger. The content feels very hard as it is based on a beeswax recipe rather than the petroleum base you get in a lot of lip balms (although this does make it unsuitable for vegans), and when my tub was new I found it quite hard to actually get any out of it at all. As I used it and the balm began to soften and get an indentation in the middle, I found it easier to remove and use.

The balm was obviously good quality, and made from a list of natural, organic ingredients - mostly things you would recognise as being moisturisers, but also including natural skin soothers and items with antibacterial properties. Intriguingly, the final ingredient listed is St John's Wort (popularly known as "nature's Prozac"), but I'm guessing it is included for the antibacterial element rather than to stop your lips getting depressed! I was pleased with how well the balm kept my lips feeling soft and moisturised for a considerable time after applying it, although the scent was disappointing, especially for the chocolate chip cookie dough variety, where it fades almost as soon as you put it on. Given that you buy these things for the "flavour", that is quite a big negative point in my view. However, the tubs last quite well, with both of mine still going after three months of regular use, although the last third of the tub is quite difficult to get out, especially if you have big fingers. To me, this gives fairly good value for money relative to the price paid, but boring old Vaseline still works out as the best you can get for the price in my books.

I suppose the big question is, would I buy this product again? Well, the novelty value has now pretty much worn off, and given how weak the scent/flavour is the answer would be no - for myself at least, I might be tempted to get one of the twin packs as a gift for someone else, though. For me, the next time I buy a Ben & Jerry's product it will be something I can put in my mouth rather than on my lips!

Recommended - For girlier girls than me, For Ben & Jerry fanatics, For giving as gifts.

Not recommended - For vegans, For people who want maximum value for money, For giving to me as a gift.




Ingredients: Beeswax, organic soybean oil, organic virgin olive oil, flavouring, organic jojoba oil, organic hemp seed oil, shea butter, vitamin E, rosemary extract, stevia, organic calendula, organic comfrey, organic St John's Wort.

Summary: Beeswax lip balm inspired by Ben & Jerry's ice creams