Lip care products

Key Points

Frost may be postcard-pretty on pumpkins, but when the winter elements dry out our lips, it isn't pretty at all. Not to mention the fact that cracked, peeling lips can hurt. Added to this, the stress that arises during the November/December holiday season causes a spike in cold sore flareups.

To help provide consumers with some protection against these painful and unsightly problems, manufacturers have introduced a number of new treatments and preventives.

Our lips are sealed

A representative told Drug Topics that Burt's Bees is consistently working to minimize its environmental footprint by reducing packaging and choosing materials made from post-consumer recycled content wherever possible. "By rethinking and replacing packaging we have saved 1,400 miles of shrink wrap per year on balms and shimmers, and reduced energy per balm and shimmer unit by 40%."

The Mentholatum Company has expanded its natural lip-care line with the new Softlips PURE 100% Natural. The premium products have all-natural ingredients and are available in several varieties - coconut-scented lip polish as well as lip glosses, lip butter, and tinted balms with a light vanilla-berry scent. All products are free of preservatives, phthalates, sulfates, parabens, mineral oil, and gluten.

Softlips PURE 100% Natural Lip Butter (tube applicator) provides SPF 15 protection and hydrates very dry lips with zinc oxide, shea butter, jojoba seed oil, and beeswax. Softlips PURE 100% Natural Lip Polish (jar) provides natural exfoliation for lips with organic coconut flakes and sugar, and moisturizes with beeswax and natural seed oils such as safflower, mango, and castor seed. Softlips PURE 100% Natural Lip Gloss (tube applicator) comes in 3 shades - Shell Pink, Natural Honesty, and Coral Charm - and uses natural seed oils, beeswax, and zinc oxide, with hydrating SPF 15 protection for dry lips. Softlips PURE 100% Natural Lip Tint (balm/stick applicator) protects and hydrates while providing sheer, tinted color in the same 3 shades.

The new Five Star Lip Protection lip balm from Blistex is formulated to protect against chapping, soreness, and sunburn. The idea is to prevent lip problems before they arise with an all-weather, all-season formula that includes glycerin to help retain moisture in dry air, candelilla to form a barrier against moisture-robbing wind, wheat germ oil to rehydrate lips, calendula oil to soothe chapped lips, and 4 sunscreens.

Vaseline Petroleum Jelly recently introduced a new version of its famous product: Vaseline Rich Conditioning Cocoa Butter soothes sunburned skin and lips and helps rebuild skin moisture. New packaging features a convenient flip cap.