This week, Value for money assesses four varieties of lip balm
Creme de la Mer
€57 for 9g
Um, €57 for lip balm? Really? We bought this in BTs – obviously – and the sales assistant assured us we would not regret our purchase. We were promised plumper, fuller lips, thanks to its “miracle broth”. Miracle broth? Hmmm. It’s too early to say if our lips are plumper, or indeed if plump lips are something we want, but we can say that this is a very, very good product indeed. It tingles pleasingly upon application, has a nice menthol flavour and a small tub will last months, although for €57 we’d want it to last until the end of time, frankly.
Verdict: Very good but . . .
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Burt’s Bees
€3.95 for 4g
We have long had a soft spot for this eco-friendly company. Even though Burt’s Bees was taken over by the less eco-friendly sounding Clorox bleach company, we are still quite fond of it. The product is made with beeswax, coconut and sunflower oils and all manner of other things you could just as handily eat. It comes in a stick form and, once it is slightly warmed, goes on very easily . When it’s cold, however, it is not so great in the application stakes. It is not excessively greasy, stays on a long time and delivers top notch results for a low cost.
Verdict: The bees-ness
* * * *
Kiehl’s Lip Balm
€14 for 15ml
Kiehl’s has been in the lip balm business for more than 100 years and has a very good reputation for delivering top quality products at reasonable prices – and this lives up to that reputation. It took a long time to absorb although it did eventually soak in and left behind noticeably moisturised lips. It has an SPF of 15 which gives it an edge if you’re an outdoorsy type or the lounging-by-the-pool-on-your-holliers type. It is very greasy before it sinks in. we were a bit disappointed that it was devoid of taste – and yes we know that even discussing the taste of lip balm makes us sound like Homer Simpson
Verdict: A fine product
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Carmex
€3.15 for 10g
This is the cheapest of the lip balms and the most widely available by a massive margin. It is also the only one to attract claims from some quarters that it is addictive and there are pages devoted to its (entirely fictitious) addictive properties on the web. You won’t get hooked but you might well love it. It is wildly popular and the packaging tells us that 130 tubes are sold every minute. It is available in tubs, sticks and squeezable tubes with rounded tops for easy application. It is also excellent and very cheap.
Verdict: Hard to beat at this price
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Is there something you would like us to test? E-mail suggestions to pricewatch@irishtimes.com
