Lip Balm conspiracy?

So I've heard musings of how lip balm is addictive and the more you use it the more you need it. There are some(crazy) people who believe it's a big conspiracy and that we don't need lip balm at all to keep our lips moist, it's just a false need created by the makers of lip balm. Um, i don't really believe that. However, after using Rosebud Lip Slave for a couple years i noticed it stopped working, especially once it started getting a little colder and dryer here. While talking to the sales girl at the Benefit counter I learned that lip balm is not addictive but the active ingredient in most of them, Petroleum (often listed as Petrolatum in the ingredients) is addictive. It's addictive in the sense that your lips need it to be moist so you have to keep using it and eventually it doesn't work as well. Sure enough, my rosebud Lipsalve is petroleum based. I went home and looked for new lip balms in my make up arsenal and it turns out ALL of them had petroleum in them. So I went to Sephora and bought 2 new petroleum-free lip balms which i LOVE.

After I stopped using Petroleum lip balms, i swear, my lips felt like they really wanted it. Even though I was wearing other lip balm, they felt unsatisfied. Maybe it was psychological or maybe those lip balm conspiracists are actually right.

Sugar Lip Treatment by Fresh $22.50
This was the first one i bought and it's fantastic. It has SPF 15 in it and although it's not cheap you don't need to use a lot of it and you get a lot in the tube. It also smells nice. Supposedly it also plumps up your lips a little bit.



Skin Care Lip Balm by Dr. Hauschka $14.50
I use this at night since it doesn't have SPF 15 in it. I really like it even though it's not as smooth as the Fresh lip balm.


If you don't want to spend a lot of money on lip balm than you can't go wrong with Burts Bees Beeswax Lip Balm $2.50. It's all natural, petroleum free and comes in a convenient little tube. You can also buy it at any drugstore.


If your lips are really really dry and you need something stronger I would suggest using Lipscription by Benefit $30. I've never bought a Benefit product that I didn't love, and their packaging is always pretty. (What can i say, I'm a sucker for packaging) They come up with the most creative products. The lipscription is a 2 step treatment. The first tube is buffing beads which you use to exfoliate your lips and get rid of the old skin. That way when you use the Silky Lip balm (the second tube), it will be more effective. However, the Silky Lip Balm does have petroleum in it so I would only do this process 2 or 3 times a week so your lips don't become addicted to the petroleum. I would also do it at night so it doesn't rub off while you eat, drink and talk throughout the day. Then you'll wake up with plump, soft lips and you can use the other products I mentioned to maintain.