Crabtree & Evelyn Lip Butter

This little things, Crabtree & Evelyn Lip Butters, are addictive. They're cute, they smell good, taste sweet and deliver serious moisture and nourishment to parched lips. The packaging promises they'd make a popular stocking stuffers next holiday season, but also that men would most likely avoid them at all costs- I can't see the guys reaching for these Laura Ashleyesque looking tubes. It's a shame really, so I hope Crabtree & Evelyn come up with a similar product for their men's line. The ingredients, shea, cocoa, illipe, and kokum butters, mango oil and beeswax can do wonders for parched manly lips.

Cats, on the other hand, find the lip butter tubes the perfect size for batting around. I left one on my dresser only to find it the next morning on the dining table. They butters now live in my various drawers and purses. The new lip butters come in three scents/tastes: Creamy Mint, Vanilla Brûlée and my favorite, Citron Creme & Honey (similar to their Citron body line). All are lightly flavored, but Vanilla Brûlée is the one that lingers the longest, though the scent of all three disappears within a minute.

All three Crabtree & Evelyn lip butters feel like you're actually applying thick melted butter to your lips. It's a little weird at first, but I was sold once I realized how effective this treatment can be when I really need it. I'd recommend gently exfoliating the lips and then applying the butter as a night treatment or simply slathering it on when out and about on a windy day, especially if one is wearing a matte/dry lipstick.

Crabtree & Evelyn Lip Butters ($7.5 each) are available from C&E stores and online at crabtree-evelyn.com. The press samples for my consideration were sent by the company's PR.

Photos by me, lovely model is Giselle.

Julie Hewett Ruby Organic Camellia Balm

I go through a lot of balms and lip treatments during the winter (and only slightly less in the summer months). I have soft spots for nicely tinted balms that multitask and function as part of the overall look. This Organic Camellia Balm from Julie Hewett is one of my favorites of this category because it has everything I like.

The texture of the Camellia Balm is rich yet not heavy or goopy at all. It goes on in a thin layer with an almost glossy finish and makes my lips feel better instantly. I can't guarantee how much active ingredient is in this Julie Hewett product, but camellia seed oil is listed first on the box, and the balm's performance is quite outstanding, so I reach for it often.

Ruby is a sheer pink-based red. My lips are much darker than my wrist, so I don't get nearly as much color, but worn on its own, Ruby keeps my lips from appearing washed out. It also makes a great base for lipstick I normally find too dry. Julie Hewett also recommends using Camellia Balm as a cheek tint. I was brave enough to try and really liked it- Ruby is easily sheered using nothing but fingers and gives my face a very natural and healthy flush that doesn't even look like makeup. I didn't experience any skin issues as a result- on the contrary- I find it pleasant and softening.

Bottom Line: lovely and useful.

Julie Hewett Ruby Organic Camellia Balm ($18. This products also comes in nude and rose as well as in stick and pot forms) is available from juliehewett.net.

All photos are mine.

Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics- Iceblush Lip Shine

Lip Shine from Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics is basically a shiny tinted lip balm. I've had it for months but only started to fully appreciate it when it dawned on me to actually follow the Youngblood instructions and apply it with a lip brush either over a lip pencil/liner or over a liner+lipstick that you want to both cement into place and make them shine. That was a serious lightbulb moment.

As it is, Lip Shine is a fabulously comfortable-to-wear product, full of extracts, emollients and other feel good ingredients that make it very soothing even for my very picky lips. Its stick factor is minimal and it has very nice glossy sheen. What makes it outstanding is the way it stays in place and doesn't budge. Still, I didn't reach for it as often as I should have because the color I was sent, Iceblush, is completely invisible on me. It has some pigment, as you can clearly see in the swatch, but my natural lip color is much darker. But once I've started using it as directed over other (and usually dry) lip products, Lip shine has become an easy choice. I especially like it over chubby lip crayons (Bobbi Brown, Trish or Shiseido) because they are softer and quicker to fill up the lip.

I've had a quick look at the darker shades of Lip Shine while at Henri Bendel in NYC. Crush is a dark plum and Jubilee is a red raspberry. I didn't test them on my lips but they seem to have a good amount of pigment so I can see them joining my arsenal at some point.

Bottom Line: definitely worth your time (as long as you don't mind the strong vanilla scent).

Lip Shine by Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics ($17) is available from Henri Bendel (in store only) and ybskin.com. This review is based on a free press sample sent by the company.

All photos are mine.