A stick that I won't be sticking with (Logona Lip Balm)

Member Name: carly_pussycat

Product:	Logona Lip Balm
Date:	07/11/07 (126 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It does work, cheap, no fragrance

Disadvantages: I don't like the feeling of it on your lips . . . like lipstick

This year I was lucky enough to get on the testing panel for The Green Beauty Bible (organic/natural sister book to The 21st Century Beauty Bible). I was quite unbiased when testing most of the products because I didn't know most of the brand names and therefore had no idea of the price or their reputation either. I had ten things to test and this was the lip balm.

It's a pretty functional plain looking lip balm tube so I was hoping it would be one of those products where they'd put more thought into how it works rather than how pretty it is. It is by the same company who made the face scrub I tested, Logona, so I was slightly biased towards expecting this product to be good as the face scrub had been relatively impressive. The lip balm comes in a standard sized twist up tube which works well and twists up and down without getting stuck.

(",) Using the balm (",)

Doesn't really take a genius to figure about what goes on here does it? ;) So it slicks on pretty easily but it feels quite thick and waxy. I try my best to reserve judgement because some of the more intensive balms are thicker to fully moisturise and plump your dry lips back up. It doesn't really look obvious when you wear this because it's transparent, but it does give your lips an attractive moist looking sheen. It has no real scent either, apart from a whiff of Castor Oil, so if you don't mind that smell it is fine. A bloke could definitely get away with using this balm.

If I am perfectly honest, the texture of this was so thick that I really wanted to wipe it off after 5-10 minutes but due to the fact I had to give it a fair test for the book I left it on for an hour or so. After that I just had to wipe it off and give my lips a break before reapplying it. I am not sure why I find thicker balms so unpleasant but they feel to me like lipstick (which I hate). Looking at the ingredients I see that Castor Oil is the first ingredient and this explains a lot - castor oil is very moisturising (helps nappy rash etc!) but it is really thick, heavy and oily. The only lip balm I've used which was this heavy before was one including SPF protection, and this doesn't. On the plus side it makes dry lips feel soothed from the first application and does not wear off quickly if you talk/eat/drink so it'll stay put if you want it to.

After a few days I found that the results were underwhelming for the unpleasantness of wearing this balm. It kept my lips reasonably moisturised if they were already in a good condition but it wouldn't heal cracks like my usual Body Shop Lip Butter would.
The major advantage of this lip balm is that it's not mineral oil based, which things like Chapstick are, because mineral oil products can set up a cycle of dependency where you need to keep reapplying the product to maintain the same effect and your lips are never ok without it. Other advantages are that it's easy to carry around and apply being in a stick form rather than a pot, it stays on very well and it does give a nice natural moist look to your lips. It would be a nice balm to use if you are a lipstick wearer because it feels just like that, but if like me you dislike the feeling of lipstick you may dislike this too.

I can only find a few websites with this product included and they're American stating that the product costs $3.50 which will equate to about £1.75. I think that would be a very good price for this product if you don't mind how it feels on your lips.

See www.logona.co.uk for more information on the brand.

Summary: A stick that does do the job but gives a feeling I'm not overkeen on whilst wearing it