Looking After My Lips

 

Being a lipstick lover makes looking after my lips very important. Dry, cracked or peeling lips do not look good with that gorgeous bright pink lipstick! Due to medication I take, I suffer from dry mouth and that means I have really dry lips everyday. Add in air conditioning or heating and the weather and it is a recipe for constant dry lips.

Dry lips are also so uncomfortable and don't look the best either. These are my tried and tested products to keep my lips in tip top shape.

Lip exfoliation is something I only started to do this year but, have really seen a difference in the condition of my lips by doing so. I purchased this Lush Mint Julips Lip Scrub in July and it is so handy to keep around. Before this I used to make my own up. It is super simple - castor sugar, honey and a little oil (I used olive oil), mix together using enough to make a paste. Then gently rub into the lips. The Lush ones smells awesome though (like chocolate and mint). 

Exfoliating your lips helps to remove any dead, dry skin leaving behind soft, fresh lips. This is especially important to do before wearing any strong matte lip colours. They need a smooth surface to look their best. I exfoliate my lips 2-3 times a week just depending on the condition of my lips. 

I always have a variety of lip balms on hand. I find I need different ones at different or they suit different situations. I don't know if there is many people that have not had a Carmex Moisturising Lip Balm in their life. I am actually quite new to it (I used to be a Blistex girl). This came in a BellaBox and I have really enjoyed using it as an everyday lip balm. 

The Oralife Peppermint Lip Treatment is something I tried out on the recommendation of some people on Twitter. Supposedly it is used in hospitals for chemo patients. I use this at night as an overnight treatment or during the day when my lips are really dry. It is an AMAZING product and I have even turned family members on to it. I highly recommend it.

I know that little clear pot probably looks a little strange. Well it is my Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm SPF 25 in Vanilla & Lavender. I had to depot it as my dog chewed on the end and if I squeezed it went everywhere! This is a lovely smelling lip balm and I like to keep it around for its quite high sun protection (protecting your lips from sun burn is VERY important). 

The Chanel Hydramax + Active Nutrition Lip Care was a bit of a splurge for me when I was desperate for a really good lip balm. Personally I don't think it is as good as the Carmex for really dry lips. I however like to use this under lipsticks. It is not as thick or emollient as the other lip balms so lipstick glides over the top really nicely and it does not cause slippage of the lipstick. 

As much as I love my lipsticks, some days my lips are just too dry to wear a lipstick. That is when I turn to tinted lip balms or very moisturising lipstick/gloss hybrids. The Loreal Colour Riche Nutri Shine in Pink Rose is great as it contains Shea Butter, has a strong colour and is glossy. 

For a more traditional tinted lip balm the Carmex Moisture Plus in Pink Sheer Tint is fantastic. It also has SPF 15 which as I mentioned earlier is very important. The final lip balm I regularly reach for is the Maybelline Baby Lips Pink Glow in Baby Pink. This is one of those lip products that react with your lips to create your perfect shade. This gives my lips a very subtle pink tint and makes them look very plump and moisturised. 

The below swatches are in the same order as the products are mentioned. 

So there is my go to products to care for my lips. I cannot tell you how many lip balms I have tried to find these that work for me. There was a lot of trialling and buying any lip balm I could find. Personally I do not leave the house without some type of lip balm and I keep them all over the house. I have learnt my lesson though - to keep them out of reach of my dogs. They love them, the other day I had my hand bag on my bed and my dog - Archie actually took my Carmex out and started to chew it. Naughty boy!

Do you suffer from dry lips? What products do you use to care for your lips?