If you’re like me, you’ve probably got three tubes of chapstick lolling around your handbag, another two in your desk drawer, a few in the car, and maybe even one in your pocket. It’s a year-round essential … you can’t live without it … but you don’t like to use the same exact stuff every single day, either.
I recently started shopping at Drugstore.com (discovered through Ebates.com, more on that later!), and needed a new chapstick. I originally planned to stock up on Burt’s Beeswax, my usual, but I spotted Javabalm and decided to try something new.
Javabalm from BodyCoffee (www.bodycoffee.com) is touted as all nautral … it’s formulated with olive oil, beeswax, hemp seed oil, vitamin E, peppermint oil, coffee extract, comfrey leaf extract, calendula flower extract, and St. John’s Wort. It’s also enhanced with SPF 15. So, you get a product in which you can actually pronounce and identify all the ingredients, plus sun protection.
Needless to say, the intention of all the oils and extracts above are to moisturize and soften the lips. Let me tell you, it works. It’s not a miracle cure, but it is a long-lasting, basic balm that does exactly what it claims.
About that “vanilla mint” scent though … there’s room for improvement. See, I love vanilla, but this balm just doesn’t have enough. The mint is definitely the prevailing factor, with coffee coming in at a mediocre second and vanilla at a distant third. The ranking is even more apparent in the flavor, and it makes me a little sad.
Then again, the subtle shimmer just about makes up for it. It’s lighter than a traditional gloss, nor sticky, waxy or greasy like other balms I’ve tried, but it still gives a soft sheen that’s perfect for casual girls on the go.
Final thoughts: I’m adding Javabalm Vanilla Mint to my lip-protection collection, and I’ll be very sad if it becomes one of the unlucky tubes to take a trip through the laundry, unforgotten in my jeans pocket. But unless the makers up the vanilla extract, I just can’t give it a perfect score!
Read my other reviews on Javabalm Vanilla Mint:
Finally … the day has come! My company has been in the process of renovating part of our warehouse space to be an office for the few of us that work directly with the shoes, and today was move-in day. It felt so weird carrying a box with all my personal stuff out to my car, like I was leaving the company rather than moving to another office just a few miles down the road.
