Review: The Body Shop Cocoa Butter Lip Care Stick

I was super excited to get this review up since I already know this is going to be one of my favorites of 2011!  I haven't been this surprised and pleased with a product in a long time.  I have tried many lip balms: Carmex, Rosebud Perfume, Burt's Bees (both original and pomegranate), Nivea, ChapStick, Blistex...I think the only "popular" lip balm I haven't tried so far is EOS and I've heard across the board that it's not "that" moisturizing so I'm pretty sure it's mostly hype and interesting packaging at work there.  In any case, after this lip balm, I'm not going to be switching any time soon.

A handy mini stick that offers extra-intensive melt-on moisture for the lips, thanks to its innovative concentrated format. Melts and glides over skin as you apply, leaving it feeling soft, smooth and supple.

Purchased for: $8 @ The Body Shop. Mad pricey online but I've heard you can get it cheaper off-line/in-stores. I'd actually still buy it for $8 since lip balms last forever for me and I don't mind spending $8 for something that'll last me at least a year.

Scent: Chocolate with a hint of coconut. I guess that's the scent of cocoa butter ^^?

Texture: Silky smooth, glides on beautifully.  This is supposed to "melt" at body temperature so if you think this is applying "waxy," just roll it between your hands and warm it up a bit.  It should literally feel like butter is gliding over your lips.

Moisturizing Power: If I put this one once, my lips are moisturized for a good 18-24 hours.  It varies on days I eat a lot ^^  But normally I just need to apply this once a day right before I go to sleep and my lips are ready for lipstick the next morning. I've personally never needed to re-apply more than 2x a day though.

Ingredients:

Cocoa butter

Is an excellent moisturizer that melts at body temperature, leaving the skin feeling soft and silky smooth. Enables the development of community projects such as schools and village wells, in addition to providing small-scale farmers with income to support their families. 

Organic beeswax

Moisturizes and helps to condition dry skin, especially on your lips and around the fingernail beds. Acts as a barrier that helps to seal in moisture. Helps to keep product texture consistent when used over time. Plays a part in protecting and preserving the forest as well as providing necessary income for the beekeepers, an increasing number of which are now women.

Sweet almond oil

Provides essential fatty acids that help to repair the skin's moisture barrier, thus helping to restore moisture, smoothness and suppleness.

Organic olive oil from Italy

Is a natural moisturizer for normal to dry skin. It also helps condition hair, and give it a silky shine. Our olive oil is organic, and comes from our Community Trade partners in southern Italy.

Coconut oil

Organic Virgin Coconut Oil helps to condition the skin and hair to make you smooth, soft and deliciously scented. It also supports small, organic coconut farmers in Samoa, where there are few opportunities to earn a decent wage.

Hydrogenated Coconut Oil, Beeswax, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Butter, Flavor, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate, Propylene Glycol, Water, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Extract, Ammonium Glycyrrhizate, Calendula Officinalis Extract, Tocopherol.

Overall

Good:
- Smells delicious. If only I could eat it.
- True buttery texture, glides beautifully.
- Lots of moisturizing ingredients.
- Hygienic stick form.
- Fair trade yo!

Bad:
- Definitely leaves a residue.  I find it a "protective" residue but I can see people not liking it.
- Not cheap but for something that lasts up to or over a year, it's fine by me.
- I don't look for SPF in lip balms but other people might want to have that.

This has great reviews on Makeup Alley (4.3/5.0 out of 137 votes + an 83% buy again) and the reason I bought this in the first place.  There have been complaints that this feels "greasy" not "buttery," that it's not moisturizing enough, and that it just "sits" on your lips/doesn't absorb.  I can see where the "greasy" & no absorption complaint comes from because this definitely leaves a residue on your lips, but to me it seems like a "protecting" residue and I like it - really odd since I usually hate products that leave a residue. 

I also have to admit I don't have particularly dry lips, I get chappy on windy days and I lick my lips a lot, but it's not that severe or anything.   Sooooo~ this chapstick may not be good enough for those who need more conditioning or cannot stand residues ever.  I'm also going to say that this is not the cheapest chapstick and that there are probably cheaper yet equally effective balms out there. Ultimately, this works well for me and has all the characteristics I want in a chapstick: in stick form (I hate "jar" balms...fingers *ew*), smells good, applies silky smooth, moisturizes my lips, and doesn't need to be re-applied too often. So, yeah for me I like it a lot and I totally recommend this for peeps with moderately chapped lips.