My mini-haul at the Crossroads
This past week, I took a trip down to the crossroads to pick up a tube of my favorite lip balm, or “lip embellishment” as it’s printed on the tube. While I was there, I decided to step into Raygun to try another lip balm I had been eyeing that was made by another local company; Messner Family Farm.
The Messner niche is their five beehives, most of which are completely funded by their kickstart backers. Now, I have to admit, upon buying their tinted lip balm, I was little skeptical about using a balm that consisted of primarily beeswax. I don’t have anything against bees or honey, but the last time I used a beeswax based balm, it was Burt’s Bees and it made my lips so raw, they were bleeding most of the time. Hence my apprehension.
However, boasting ten all-natural ingredients—including love—I wanted to give this product a try and give my lips a bit of a natural pop for the summer weather. The tint I chose is called “Money Maker”. It’s a bright youthful pink that I thought would pair nicely with my skin tone. Being a black woman, I think finding the right shade of pink can be hard; if it’s too pale, your lips look white but if it’s too bright of a pink, it can look cheap. Balance is everything.
I was also interested in the conditioning factor of this balm. Would my lips start peeling like a banana or would I experience baby smooth lips as I do with my normal lip balm? I ended up trying this lip balm from Thursday to Saturday to see what kind of results I get and document them here.
I wanted to start by showing off the color. As you can see, the color is very sheer so I also demonstrated it on my hand so you can really see how pink and shimmery the color is.
Day 1: Thursday
Money Maker color swatch
The first thing I notice about this balm is that it is very smooth and coats lightly on the lips. I know we have all used a lip balm or chap-stick at one time or another that made us feel like a pound of Vasoline as been dumped on our face. The lightweight balm is a very different change from the other lip balm I use but it’s a good transition for the upcoming summer heat. I also noticed throughout the day that my lips were not peeling as much as they do with other lips balms like E.O.S. or Burt’s Bees and they were actually starting to heal a little. I want to first say, before we delve too deeply into this, that I am a perpetual lip picker and I truly hope to one day kick the habit. This was my main challenge in doing this review in order to give you, the reader, the best exhibit of the results as possible.
Day 2: Friday; Beginning of the Day
Day 2: Friday; End of the Day
I decided to take the rest of these pictures without the lip balm on to show the color difference when the lip balm is on versus when it’s off. The beginning of the day and end of the day shots also exhibit the healing process I mentioned earlier. My lips looked a lot smoother and felt less sore by the end of the day.
Day 3: Saturday; Beginning of the Day
Day 3: Saturday; End of the Day
At the end of my trial run with this lip balm, I noticed that it had some great healing qualities. In my end of the day photo for Saturday, the part of my lip that was red in previous pictures is starting to grow some skin. And, like yesterday, my lips looked and felt very soft and kissable by the end of the day. In all, I would say this is was a great buy; the color is very subtle and would work well with most skin types and the texture is very smooth and isn’t heavy on the lips, perfect for the summer weather. My only critique of this balm is that there is no flavor to it, but I’m just used to a flavored balm and at least it doesn’t taste bad.
So now it’s your turn. Have you tried Messner’s lip tints or other products? What did you think of them? Do you have another product or business you want me to check out? Let me know in the comments below and as always remember to follow me so I can blow up your email!
