Lip Care

I have quite the history with makeup and my lips. In high school, I developed a severe case of eczema on my upper lip. Nowhere else. And it was unsightly, to say the least. Since then I've had a tumultuous relationship with makeup and skincare. Some made it worse, some made it better. A lot of times, the "made it worse" scenarios turned me off from putting anything on my face for years. Recently I've made peace with it and have taken much better care of my skin, paying closer attention to signs of an impending eczema flare up and reacting quickly.

For the past few months, it's been the big push for Fall 16 designs. I've been holed up at home, swatching and mainly spending my time in front of the computer. When I'm stressed or deep in thought, I bite and gnaw at my lips nervously. And last month, I realized the occasional moisture my lips get from leftover face cream was not enough. My lips were starting to crack and peel.

So, I went on the big hunt for lip balms. A lot of the drugstore brands did nothing but coat my lips in an annoying wax layer, while some started to bring out my eczema. One ingredient that brings out my eczema is sunscreen, so any products with SPF is automatically off the table. So many companies add SPF to everything they can, and when it comes to lip products, my skin can't tolerate it. (I'm also uncomfortable with inadvertently eating sunscreen all day.) 

Anyway, here's what I ended up with as my favorites:

The Chanel Hydra Beauty Nourishing Lip Balm is amazing. I started slathering that on before I went to bed and woke up with lips that were buttery soft. It has the slightest fragrance that is very pretty and not irritating. I also enjoy the larger diameter jar that it comes in. I always find with these pot-style balms that eventually my nails dig in once it gets low. While the balm is mainly colorless, there's some Chanel Magic in there that gives your lips a "your lips but better" look.

The Glossier balm dotcom is also one of my favorites. It has a silky texture, not sticky and I find it absorbs quickly. It's a universal salve, for dry skin, cuticles, etc., so I like carrying this one around in my bag. If I don't feel like reapplying my lipstick, I smear some of this on and it remoisturizes and evens out whatever lip color I have left. And since it's in a tube, any lip color I get on my fingertip doesn't end up in the rest of the balm.

And the Herbivore Coco Rose Lip Conditioner is a lovely rose-scented balm. It is a little hard in the pot, but once you warm it up with your finger it's lovely and light. It's one of those products that just makes you feel pretty.

For those low-maintenance days, I'm really digging the The Korres Jasmine Lip Butter and Dinoplatz Lip Balm.  The Jasmine Lip Butter has a teensy whiff of cocoa and the Dinoplatz in "Spilled Wine" has the freshest berry scent. Both colors are subtle, but just enough to add a little something. The Korres evens out my lip color and the Dinoplatz adds a nice hint of red wine stain.