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.

MintGlaze FX Lip Treatment

It never fails. Temperatures drop, heating is cranked up and my lips dry out instantly and crack. The whole thing is painful, not to mention how bleeding lips are not my best look, Halloween or not. The cure this fall has been extremely effective, not to mention multi-functional.

MintGlaze FX from Cover FX is a lip treatment that serves a double and triple duty as a primer, plumper and moisturizer that also gives some sun protection. It has a minty tingle that had me worried for a couple of seconds, but it never irritates my already tortured lips and instead makes them look and feel better within minutes. The plumping is a result of the glaze's hydrating action and the way it locks moisture in. It's a little sticky at first so I'd recommend giving it at least 15 minutes before applying your lipstick.

MintGlaze FX comes in a little tube with a doe-foot sponge applicator. It doesn't only look like a lip gloss- the shiny coat it creates is actually nice enough if you prefer a nude lip look. I find that applying it about 3 times a day is all I need to maintain healthy lips, at least under current conditions. I'll probably apply more once winter gets here and the weather is blistering cold, but I expect similar results.

Bottom Line: a real winner.

MintGlaze FX Lip Treatment ($22) is available from Sephora.