Review | Paula's Choice Lip & Body Treatment Balm | Hello Pretty Bird! - A beauty and not-so-glamorous lifestyle blog

03 February, 2015

Review | Paula's Choice Lip & Body Treatment Balm

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Hands up if your lips get really dry and chapped in the winter! I feel like I have to go out of my way to keep from kisser from getting parched around this time of year. Curse you, cold wind and aggressively hot radiators. I recently picked up Paula's Choice Lip & Body Treatment Balm in the hopes that it would perk up my withered pout, and it actually exceeded my expectations! Whoa! It's definitely worth checking out if you're in need of an intensive balm for winter. But for now... more information!

Paula's Choice Lip & Body Treatment Balm jar packaging

Product description:
"Give chapping the chop. Smooth on this emollient balm anywhere you’ve got dry, rough, chapped skin. Long lasting, never greasy. Smooth sailing ahead."

Looks like whoever writes the copy for Paula's Choice has a sense of humor! Or just always attempts alliteration. WHAT.


Price:
US $12 for 0.5oz (no sample options available)

Ingredients:

Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Petrolatum (emollients), EuphorbiaCerifera (Candelilla) Wax (thickener), Lanolin, C10-30 Cholesterol/Lanosterol Esters (emollients), Beeswax, Ozokerite, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, CoperniciaCerifera (Carnauba) Wax (thickeners), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Jojoba Esters, Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Germ Oil (plant emollients/oils), Bisabolol (soothing agent), Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate (stabilized vitamin C/antioxidant), Tocopheryl Acetate (vitamin E/antioxidant), Trihydroxystearin, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene (thickeners).


Ah, my old frenemy lanolin. By all accounts it's a rather disgusting ingredient—it's a waxy substance derived from the sebaceous glands of animals (usually sheep). It doesn't smell that great either. Yum! Here's the thing though—in my opinion, it is one of the most effective ingredients I've ever tried to combat dry/scaly skin. I'm mentioning this because the Paula's Choice Lip & Body Treatment Balm does have a bit of a lanolin smell, which is kind of bitter if you don't know what I'm talking about. It's not exactly bad, but it wouldn't say it's pleasant either. This balm doesn't have any added fragrance or flavor, which is good for your skin, but obviously doesn't help with the natural odor of the ingredients.

Have I horrified you with all this sheep sweat stank talk? I hope not, because this is actually an excellent balm, and I still put it on my mouth despite the not-so-great smell. Here's what it looks like in the tub:

Paula's Choice Lip & Body Treatment Balm

Mmmmm. On a related note, I thought for some reason that this jar would be really small (a la Carmex or something), but in reality it's sort of flat and wide. About the size of a camera lens cap, I'd say.

The texture of Paula's Choice Lip & Body Treatment Balm is sort of hard and waxy—I recommend softening it up between your fingers a bit before applying so it doesn't go on all lumpy-like.

Paula's Choice Lip & Body Treatment Balm  texture consistency swatch

So why do I love this balm so much? Because it hydrates/softens chapped skin well AND locks in the moisture. Some moisturizing balms sink into the skin immediately and then kind of dry up, which means you have to keep reapplying. That's totally fine during the day, but what about the nighttime (or whenever your designated sleep times are)? I want something that will last on my lips for a while and not dry up immediately as soon as the heat kicks on, and this stuff fits the bill perfectly

It also seems to be very good at healing scaly skin... my lips are in reasonably good condition because I make a point to keep them scrubbed and moisturized, but Stan gets these gross chunks of dead skin on his, and once that happens normal Chapstick just won't cut it. He's been using this balm too and I saw a VAST improvement after three or four nights. Lips mostly smooth, no massive nasty chunks of dead skin. Yay!

This product does have one major con... jar packaging. I mean who likes lip balm that comes in a jar, really? I don't think it's a complete dealbreaker because I've mainly been using this at night right before I go to bed, but between the jar packaging and the waxy texture this just wouldn't work well as an "on-the-go" type product. I would actually love it if Paula's Choice started selling this in a twist-up tube... I think the formula is hard enough. Please, Paula? :)


So, in summary, I think Paula's Choice Lip & Body Treatment Balm is an excellent product if you suffer from extremely dry/chapped lips and want a nighttime treatment that will help soften them up. Twelve bucks is slightly expensive as far as lip treatments go, but I don't think it's ridiculous, so I will certainly be purchasing it again in the future. Especially since Paula's Choice usually has coupon codes and whatnot.




What do you think of Paula's Choice Lip & Body Treatment Balm? Do you have a favorite product for treating extremely dry lips?



Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. For more information, check out my full disclosure policy.

12 comments:

  1. If only I lived in the US I'd be all over this! I'm using PC's 2% BHA liquid and it is the bomb! I just hope I don't run out before my next visit! Thanks for the review! I think I'll be picking this up in my next PC's order ^_^!

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  2. Oh, yes, lanolin is amazing. I have two lip balms made almost entirely of lanolin that are just beautiful, and my deep treatment is a nappy rash cream with plenty of lanolin. I'd love to give this one a try one day.

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  3. Yeah, I really don't love lip balms in jars, but this one sounds so good that I'd be willing to get it anyway. I've used another product that's just pure lanolin and it worked really well.

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  4. I've been meaning to review this too. I dislike the smell so much that I always layer a better smelling but less effective balm over it.

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  5. The jar format is tolerable if you're using it at night. I keep it on my bedside table and apply it with clean hands after I've washed up and everything, so it's not SO bad. A twist-up or squeeze tube would be absolutely amazing though!

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  6. Haha! Well, that's one way to deal with the scent. When I first opened it I was like "ugh" but I got used to it after a couple tries. There are stinkier products, I guess?

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  7. Yeah I tried a lanolin cream meant for nursing mothers and it worked really well. I find the smell of some pure lanolin products to be bothersome though.... much more tolerable in a blend like this.

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  8. I honestly have not had the pleasure or trying any of Paula"s Choice products. I would love to! Right now my favorite Lip balm is the First Aid Beauty one in a tube. I am also enjoying the First Aid Beauty moisturizing cream. Wow! it really works. I use to never have trouble with dry skin. Just another one of natures little gifts for the aging woman.......LOL!

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  9. I'm not sure we have Paula's Choice here. For some reason, though, I keep seeing whole Aussie-themed stores dedicated to lanolin in China Town . :/ Not the most appealing ingredient, for sure.

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  10. There's definitely an Australian version of the Paula's Choice, though I'd be surprised if the prices were as low as the US site. You guys get kind of a crappy deal when it comes to beauty prices! Anyway, yeah, lanolin. It's so nasty but truly effective...

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  11. One of the nice things about Paula's Choice is that they sell sample sizes of a lot of their products. I especially love their BHA and AHA treatments. The AHA might be good if your skin is really dry!

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