NOT SO LUSH LIPS (Lush Lite Lip Balm)

Member Name: coolcam7

Product:	Lush Lite Lip Balm
Date:	15/06/04 (365 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: looks nice on lips, smell is not overpowering, made only from natural ingredients

Disadvantages: not very moisturising, hard to get out of pot, waxy and grainy consistency, price

A couple of months ago I decided I needed a new lip balm so I headed to Lush, one of my favourite shops due to their ethical aims, products containing natural ingredients, reasonable prices and above all the effective, delicious smelling products. I have previously tried Lush's Lip Service but wanted to try a different lip balm. The choice of lip balms today is usually rather bewildering but the only other lip balm that Lush sells is Lite, so my decision was made for me; I decided to purchase it and see how it compared to Lip Service.

*WHAT IS IT?*

Lite is a lip balm which uses plant mallow, shea butter and beeswax to soften the lips, soothe areas of dryness and offer some protection against the elements. The rest of the ingredients are also natural; it contains no synthetic chemicals. It is supposed to be for people who are allergic to cocoa butter which is the main ingredient in Lip Service or for people who just prefer a lighter feel to their lip balm. I tried Lip Service last year and found it to be very moisturising but a bit greasy if I was over-generous in my application.

*PACKAGING*

Lite comes in a small pot with a screw top lid which has the use by date on it. This is a fairly important feature of the lip balm, as it is made of natural ingredients they will eventually go off so this isn't something you would buy in advance and leave in your cupboard. However the longevity of the lip balm is quite durable, mine expired almost six moths after the date of purchase. Lush like to keep their containers plain and simple because they aim to keep packaging to a minimum in order to minimise waste which pollutes our environment, while the pot isn't particularly impressive it serves its purpose well. The one disadvantage to having a pot of lip balm is that obviously you have to apply it with your finger; in this respect a stick of lip balm is more practical and less messy.

*APPEARANCE AND SMELL*

The lip balm is white with a slightly mottled appearance. This is rather hard to describe but if you've seen a synthetically produced lip balm then you'll know they have a very smooth appearance, one colour throughout with no imperfections. Lite has a more blotchy appearance which is simply an indication that it contains natural ingredients; there are no nasty chemicals in there to smooth its appearance. I find it quite reassuring to know that something which I am putting so close to my mouth doesn't contain anything synthetic. The smell of the lip balm is quite subtle, which in my opinion that having something really strong and over-powering, and also rather vague. I'd have difficulty identifying a particular ingredient from the smell but it is a pleasant slightly floral scent. Roses are listed on the ingredients so I presume this must be the smell but it isn't immediately obvious from the initial sniff exactly what is stimulating your senses. If you don't like the smell of roses then I wouldn't let this particular aspect put you off because it is certainly not a strong smell, in fact it is only slightly floral.

*EASE OF USE*

Well it definitely doesn't require any expertise! As I've said before I do find stick lip balms to be more practical because it avoids getting greasy fingers and is more economical in that you don't lose half of it on your finger, however there are some advantages to having a pot rather than a stick. I found before when I had a stick lip balm from Natural Collection that as it got older and had taken a bit of a beating in my bag the clippy bit at the bottom that held the lid on became ineffective and the lid would loosen and slip off fairly easily in my bag. There are no such problems with Lite, the pot is made of sturdy plastic and a screw top lid prevents it from falling off. Applying the lip balm is easy simply rub your finger on the lip balm and then over your lips! This is a simply process unless you have long nails. Pots of lip balm are simply not designed to people with long nails; I found that the longer my nails were, the greater the tendency for the lip balm to squidge up under my nail was, you then have to remove this trapped lip balm with another nail and dispose of it on a tissue. This is far from ideal when you're in a hurry! Another problem I found was that when replacing the lid sometimes the thread of the screw top lid didn't screw on smoothly but got stuck. However this may simply be due to my cack-handedness rather than a design fault with the pot, so I'm sure not all people would experience this problem.

*RESULTS*

I have to say that I found the results distinctly average. I was not as impressed with this as I was with Lip Service and despite the fact that this is supposedly a substitute with a similar formula I actually found it to be very different. I found that in the pot the lip balm had a very solid consistency and when I put some on my finger it felt rather waxy, this is unsurprising considering one of the main ingredients is beeswax but it wasn't a particular nice texture like the smoothness of something like Vaseline, it was more tacky. When I applied it to my lips it also felt a little bit grainy something which I didn't experience with Lip Service. I do not thing this has such superior moisturising properties as Lip Service which made my lips soft, smooth and instantly sorted out dry bits. For these reasons I prefer Lip Service to Lite; however in defence of Lite I was impressed with the appearance when I wore it, my lips were not glossy or sticky in any way and it looked natural. It also wasn't greasy at all even when I put quite a lot on I did not experience any greasiness as I had done with Lip Service. The smell wears off after several minutes or at least you become accustomed to it, if you should accidently lick your lips while wearing it then rest assured it actually tastes quite nice too!

*VALUE FOR MONEY*

A 12g pot of Lite will set you back £3.45 which compared to something like Vaseline (99p for a little tin) or Carmex (£2.49 for a little tin) is actually quite expensive for a lip balm. Considering the fact that this lip balm didn't have very good moisturising qualities I don't think it is very good value for money. Of course the price can be justified by the fact that all the products are natural and therefore I would expect to pay a bit more for it, however Lip Service I'd say is worth the money because it really moisturises well and keeps lips soft but Lite doesn't fully achieve this. For that reason I do not think it is very good value for money. Something like Blistex costs about £2.79 in Boots and provides all the moisturisation I need so if I get really dry lips I'll stick to that.

*WHERE TO BUY*

The ONLY place to purchase Lush products is from Lush shops which are nationwide; the number of shops seems to be growing rapidly so there is likely to be one within travelling distance of you. If not you can purchase the products directly from the Lush website, I have used this service and found it very efficient but bear in mind that you will have to pay delivery charges.

*OVERALL*

In conclusion I would not recommend this lip balm because it is not very effective at moisturising lips and I do not like its texture. If you are not allergic to cocoa butter then I would recommend you stick to Lip Service instead. If you have long nails or do not like pot lip balms then steer clear of this one. The only people I would recommend this to are those who don't need a very moisturising lip balm, so perhaps it is most suitable for summer when lips aren't so frequently exposed to the cold and wind, because it does look good on. I would also like to mention that it seems to be more effective when you wear it overnight, perhaps this is because it spends a long time on your lips without the risk of being licked off, so there is a greater chance to moisturise! Also the grainy texture is less likely to irritate you at night. As a rather average product at a higher than average price I will not be purchasing Lite again I would recommend Lip Service though.

Thanks for reading!

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