Where's the balm? (Boots No7 Protect and Perfect Lip Care)

Member Name: Tracy_1127

Product:	Boots No7 Protect and Perfect Lip Care
Date:	18/07/09 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: see review

Disadvantages: see review

I have a number of lip balms, normal Lypsyl tubes and little pots of magic balms and even a small tube of Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream which I use if my lips get really dry so when I saw the No 7 Protect & Perfect range had a lip care item I decided to buy some. Being a bargain shopper I went online and found it cost £8.60 for a 10ml tube from Boots so I hotfooted it over to Ebay and picked one up for £1.99 including p & p. Bargain!

The Protect & Perfect range is, as you all probably know, meant to slow down aging signs. Lips are prone to vertical lines on and around them as we get older and I've got a few of these so this sounded perfect for me. This is described as a balm and claims to "retexturise and firm" and provide moisture for your lips for 24 hours. Contains lipo-peptides (haven't a clue) to smooth away roughness and their patent pending antioxidant complex to help protect lips from the environment. That's a lot of claims right there and I was sure it wouldn't live up to them all!

The product is hypo-allergenic and comes in a pale blue box with all those claims on the back, a list of ingredients on the side which I won't list as there are so many chemicals in there and the name of the product on the front. Inside the tube is a small 10ml in size and has a screw lid. Under the screw lid is a shaped piece of plastic with a hole in the centre so you squeeze the product through the hole then apply it using the slanted plastic tip.

So onto the test. I decided to apply this right away and without smelling the product I put some on my lips. Big mistake for me! It smells really strongly of vanilla and I hate the smell of vanilla! I looked in the mirror to see what it looked like and found I had a white mouth! This is a cream rather than a balm even though Boots call it a balm and it goes on white. No applying of this without a mirror then. Boots recommend you apply it both on your lips and around them a bit which would be ok if it was clear but imagine putting some of this on and going about your business with a white clown shaped mouth on?!

So I blended it in so the white was gone and dared to lick my nasty vanilla scented lips. It is probably supposed to taste of vanilla but it's strange, it does and it doesn't. It's like it's sweet to the taste at first then a bitter aftertaste hits you. Not pleasant.

But in the name of research I left this on. The problem I realised straight away was a lack of oiliness to the product. I have very dry lips that are prone to cracking and bleeding and like a nice oily balm to soothe them and prevent this cracking but this is like you've rubbed moisturiser over your lips and need to apply lip balm separately. It didn't moisturise my lips anywhere near enough and by the end of the day without my usual balm I had some cracks appearing.

My lips didn't look any different to normal except they looked drier. When I rubbed my lips together I could detect a faint creamy feeling for a while after applying but not an oily sensation. Re-applying of course brought back the awful smell, the white mouth effect and the bittersweet taste but nowhere near enough moisture for my lips.

I'm trying to think of a plus to this product because I always seem to be quite harsh in my reviews but except the fact I got this for such a great price I can't find one! If I'd paid full price I'd have been really annoyed. I suppose if you like the smell of vanilla that could be a positive for you but that's it.

Overall it smells bad, tastes bad, doesn't moisturise dry lips, costs alot from Boots and really isn't worth buying. I don't recommend it and mine's going in the bin!

Summary: Not recommended