Product Review: Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Balm

I'm kind of obsessed with lip products. Lip gloss, lip balm, lip shimmer, lip tint, lipstick... I love all of it! Which is silly, since I'm not the kind of person that spends a lot of time putting on makeup. I think that's why out of all of the lip products I stuff in my purse, my current favorite is this Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Balm.

 

I picked up the shade "Hibiscus," which is a lovely pink/magenta sort of color. Whatever, it looks great.

There are countless things that I love about this balm. Number one is that it's a balm. Even with natural, clean products, lipsticks and other lip color tend to leave my lips feeling a little dry. Glosses by themselves make me feel like I'm in high school again. This balm is creamy, moist, and contains just the right amount of color for everyday wear. I'm pretty lazy when it comes to make up, so I hate standing in front of a mirror and attempting to expertly apply lip color. I can slap this baby on in the car or at my desk and it always looks great. Nice and natural, but with enough shine and color to pop. All in all, it's fantastic and I highly recommend it. I may even try some of their other colors.

A word about Burt's Bees and other mainstream brands:

Head, shoulders, knees, and toes

When I began my green journey, one of the first things I did was switch my shampoo. I'm sure that everyone's heard of the "no poo" movement by now, so I don't feel the need to go into it in detail. Suffice to say, due in part to the modern convenience of a hot shower, most average shampoos are detergents. That's right, the same stuff that goes into your dishwasher and washing machine. It's pretty rough stuff, and not good at all to your hair.

Completely ignoring the dangerous chemicals and petroleum derivatives in most products, there is a fundamental problem with the way people wash their hair. We basically get trapped in this cycle where hard detergents strip our hair of nutrients and healthy oils, then we have to use heavy conditioners that coat our hair in silicones and other nasty stuff to calm it down, then it gets greasy from the conditioner, then we have to shampoo again... Not good at all.

I'm not cool enough to go completely no poo, so instead I switched to a safe (or "clean," as the No More Dirty Looks girls say) shampoo bar from A Wild Soap Bar. Let me just say that this stuff is awesome. Here are my reasons:

#1 - The company is local. I've even met the lovely woman who started everything at the Pecan Street Festival.
#2 - All of the ingredients are safe, effective, and natural.
#3 - It works! My hair has never felt softer, it's growing out more quickly, and when I use the recommended apple cider vinegar rinse, it's very shiny and not tangled at all.

I like to use the Yucca Root Shampoo & Body Bar. I've also used the Carrot Complexion Soap, which is very nice. I like the Yucca bar because I can use it on my hair and body and it smells very fresh and invigorating. It's also helpful if you're traveling... No worries about tiny travel bottles or liquids to declare to the TSA.

I shampoo my hair every day because I'm a crazy person. I like to condition with an apple cider rinse or Aubrey Organic's Green Tea Rinse. My hair is fairly oily, so I don't like to use heavy conditioners on a regular basis.

So that's that!