Naturalla Beauty

First off, I have news!  After a couple people had asked about it, I finally made a facebook page for Naturalla Beauty.  So, if you're someone who likes to follow blogs on facebook, now you can follow me there.  Head on over and like the page!  I've also added a like button to the sidebar.   

Now, onto the review -

Zosimos Botanicals is a natural company with a pretty broad product line.  They make everything from makeup to skincare, haircare, and even candles.  The company seems very concerned with the environment and using high quality,  natural ingredients and everything is made fresh to order in their 100% wind powered studio.  After eying their products for a few months, I decided to place a small order for a few trial sized items.  I ordered fuchsia minigloss, raspberry ministick lipstick, and daylily cream shadow minipot.

Raspberry Ministick Lipstick

The ministick lipsticks come in a mini slide up tube.   I like this a lot, as unlike a sample in a pot, it allows you to get the same feel for applying the lipstick as from a full size tube.  Raspberry is described as a "luscious berry red," but it's a little less berry and a little more coppery than I was expecting from the descriptions and photos.  It's still a pretty colour, just not quite as described.  It's a little sheer, but you can build it up to full opacity with a few passes over your lips.  The finish and colour payoff actually reminds me a lot of Burts Bees lip shimmers, just in lipstick form.  The full size retails for $20.

Fuchsia Minigloss

The minigloss is packaged in a tiny lip gloss tube with a mini doe foot applicator.  Fuschia is described as a "vivid iridescent pink with a purple undertone."  I'd say it's more of a medium/light pink with a slight blue iridescence.  It's a gorgeous colour!  I really like the formula too.  It feels nourishing and moisturizing and I've actually noticed my lips are in better shape after wearing this gloss.  The colour is pretty sheer.  Fuchsia gives a pretty, glowy iridescence, without a lot of colour.  It also has a light raspberry scent, which is noticeable, but not overpowering.  Full size glosses sell for $16.

Daylily Cream Shadow Minipot

Daylily is a metallic orangey copper colour.  It gives a pretty, subtle shimmer to your lids and is great for those days when you just need to swipe something on and be out the door.  It doesn't crease, but I do notice it gradually fading away throughout the day.  It works as a base under eye shadows too, although it won't do anything to stop them from creasing.  I wish it lasted a little better, but as long as you're not using it and expecting 18 hours of perfect wear, you should be fine.  The full size sells for $20, but since you really only use a small amount, I think it's unlikely I'd ever need more than a minipot size.

The Bottom Line

I had a good experience ordering from Zosimos Botanicals.  To me, their full size prices seem a little steep, but not any more so than a lot of other companies.  The lipstick was not a big enough hit that I would repurchase it, but I liked both the cream shadow and the lip gloss.  Another neat thing about Zosimos is that they offer the same colour across many of their makeup products.  For instance, fuchsia was a big hit for me, but in some ways I wished it was a bit more pigmented.  Next time, I could try it as either a lip pencil or lip and cheek color, since those are probably less sheer than the gloss.

Zosimos can also be found on Facebook and I recommend checking out their page, since they regularly offer sales and discounts there.

 

If my lips get dry, I have an awful habit of gnawing on them, so I try to prevent that from ever happening by obsessively carrying lipbalm with me everywhere I go.  I've tried a number of new lip balms over the last few months, some of which I've loved, some I've liked, and some I haven't been too crazy about.  I didn't think any of these really needed their own posts, but I wanted to do mini reviews and some kind of compilation post to tell you guys what I thought of these.  I hope you'll find this helpful if or when you're in the market for a new lip balm!

Basic Lip Balms

Crazy Rumors Cola Lip Balm

 

 I've wanted to try Crazy Rumors every since I first heard of their lip balms.  Their packaging and flavour selection reminds me of Bonne Belle Lip Smackers, and as someone who collected Lip Smackers as a preteen, this got me pretty excited.  After much deliberation, I eventually opted for Cola, from their Soda Pop collection.  I'm going to be honest and say that the smell did not turn out to be a favourite.  I don't completely get cola from it - it's more like something else with an undertone of cola, which is a bit disappointing.  I do like the actual lip balm formula though.  It's vegan and beeswax-free, and contains shea butter, which I've been loving recently in lip products and moisturizers in general.  It has a nice texture and goes on smoothly, but doesn't make your lips feel waxy or overly coated.  I'm interested in trying more flavours, but next time I think I'll go for a more traditional one like limeade or peppermint.

Now Foods Vanilla Completely Kissable Lip Balm

 

Now Foods is a brand I usually turn to more for raw ingredients than actual beauty products, but when I saw this available as a freebie on iHerb, I decided to give it a try.  It's a decent lip balm, but it doesn't really stand out to me either.  The vanilla smell is nice and it does a fine job of keeping my lips hydrated, but I really don't have a lot else to say about it.  I guess for whatever reason, I'm just not crazy in love with it.

Young Living Lavender Lip Balm

Not to be too overly dramatic, but this is my favourite lip balm ever...or at least to date.  I'm sure I've literally gone through a dozen or more tubes of this in the last few years.  It's very smooth and creamy on your lips and it really lasts on my lips, which is great.  This is the lip balm I reach for most at work, since I won't be able to reapply very often and I know it will stay on through my shift.  I also really like to be able to feel lip balm on my lips throughout the day, as opposed to having lips that are more dry to the touch.  This doesn't soak into my lips super fast, so I can still feel it a few hours after application.  With a heavier application, it also gives a slightly glossy look to my lips, which I really like.  Young Living also makes grapefruit and cinnamint lip balms and I like those too, but I find the lavender is just a little bit more moisturizing than the other two flavours.

Tinted Lip Balms

Just Pure Minerals Coral Tinted Lip Balm

These were a new product Just Pure Minerals was starting to make, but I can't find this specific one on their website, so I'm not sure if the collection ever got officially released.  As you'll be able to see in the swatch picture towards the bottom of this post, this is a very tinted balm.  This does a good job keeping my lips hydrated, but I don't reach for it a lot, as I'm not a big fan of the smell of JPM lip products.  I have no issues with peppermint in general, but to me, theirs always smells like a wonky peppermint or peppermint and something else, and I just don't love it.  This must have a substantial amount of peppermint in it also, as it makes my lips tingle quite a lot for a good half hour after application.  The colour is a bright coral-red and very pretty, but I don't find myself reaching for it very often.

Hurraw!  Tinted Cinnamon Lip Balm

Hurraw! is another brand I've heard good things about for a long time, so I was excited to try this lip balm.  They make a whole bunch of flavours and two tinted ones - cinnamon and black cherry.  The cinnamon smells just like Red Hots or Valentine's cinnamon hearts.  It's a pretty light feeling lip balm that goes on fairly thinly and feels like it's melting into your lips as you apply it.  Usually my preference leans towards waxier/firmer balms that you can build up a little better, but I do really like the Hurraw! balm.  It seems like it sinks into your lips fairly quickly, but it does an good job moisturizing while it's there.  The colour comes from alkanet root, as opposed to minerals like most natural tinted balms I've seen, and it's very subtle.  It gives the look of a slight popsicle mouth but is really soft, which means I can smear it on without having to worry about having a mirror around!

Shiro Cosmetics Longcat Intertube

 A lot of you might already know that Shiro Cosmetics is one of my favourite indie makeup brands.  Basically, intertubes are Shiro's answer to tinted lip balms.  I have Longcat, which is described as a colourless base with silver sparkles.  It's gorgous and really densely packed with sparkles.  If you're someone who likes to really pack on your lip balm, it might have a slight lightening or whitening effect, but I actually kind of like it for this time of year.  To me, it gives your lips a kind of sparkly, snow fairy look.  It also works well over lipsticks if you want to add some sparkle.  The formula is fabulous too, full of shea butter and super moisturizing.  Because of how dense the sparkles are, it can feel a tiny bit gritty when you first apply it, but that feeling goes away within a minute or two of application.  My only real complaint is that all but two of Shiro's intertubes contain FD&C colours, so there aren't a lot of colours to choose from if you're someone, like me, who steers clear of such things.

 

The Bottom Line

There are tons of natural lip balms out there.  My favourites of this batch, and the ones I've been reaching for most, are the Young Living lip balm and the Hurraw! and Shiro tinted balms, but with so many lip balms out there, I'm sure there'll be a part two of this one day.  I've also been experimenting with making my own tinted lip balms lately, so if that's something you're interested in hearing about, let me know!

And since I'm always curious to hear your thoughts...what do you look for in a lip balm?  What are some of your favourites?