When we think extra lip care, we usually think winter. Or fall. We imagine all the cold and wind that gets our lips all chapped. And now it’s summer, so why do we even need all this lip care?

 

Well, we do. Dry heat or heat paired up with humidity is no less hard on the lips as frost. Breeze sometimes is as damaging to them as cool wind.

 

So summer is no reason to give up on lip care.

 

Now my lips are quite sensitive. And I’ve been using different lip care products on and off until I found out that professional make up artists use lip balm as a base for any lip colour to make the application nice and easy. So, I followed their lead. Now I always use lip balm under lipstick and sometimes under lip gloss even.

 

Once I started doing it, I’ve used all kind of lip care products by luxury brands and found the ones I consider the best. Let’s see them, as they are quite different.

 

Absolutely the best one out there. Chanel Hydra Beauty Nutrition lip balm.

 

It’s great. All I want from a lip balm. It’s nourishing, soothing, hydrating, feels great on the lips, not coloured so it can be used under any lipstick or lip gloss or any lip colour. It doesn’t have any scent, the pot is small, so you can carry it around in your purse.

Perfect. It really is. My favourite one.

 

Second best, believe it or not, is another lip balm by Chanel 🙂 Rouge Coco Baume.

 

 

 

Actually, I used to think it’s the best before I tried Hydra Beauty Nutrition one. If you don’t like to apply lip balm with your fingers or carry a lip brush around all the time, this is your thing, because it comes in a stick.

 

Let’s see how it’s different from Hydra Beauty Nutrition balm. Rouge Coco Baume is scented, it has the same light rosy scent as Rouge Coco Shine lipstick range does. I’m pretty scent sensitive, but I can bear this scent easily, I like it even. Rouge Coco Baume is small. It’s sheer, there’s no colour to it.

 

 

It feels good on the lips, it’s soothing and hydrating, but a little bit less so than Chanel Hydra Beauty Nutrition balm. I guess, it’s the extra nourishment element that’s present in Hydra Beauty Nutrition one that makes it even more comfortable and nourishing on the lips. So, I, personally, prefer Hydra Beauty Nutrition, but both are good 🙂

 

Dior Crème de Rose smoothing plumping lip balm.

 

It’s good, it is, but just not quite as good as Chanel. Crème de Rose is nice and soothing on the lips, it’s very thick, so I wouldn’t use it under lip colour. Maybe, it could be used from time to time, say, before going to bed for extra lip care. It has a Dior like rosy scent, not too strong. It’s yellowish pink in the pot, but is sheer and has no colour on the lips.

 

The pot is small. Crème de Rose is quite good, but both Chanel balms are better in lip care territory, they give your lips more hydration and nutrition. It’s as simple as that 🙂

 

Givenchy Hydra Sparkling Lip and Cheek Balm.

 

Here’s the difference that makes it both good and bad – it’s pink.

 

And it’s not light pink. It’s really quite pink. So, you get colour on your lips and cheeks when using it, that is, you can’t use blush or any lip colour on top of it, or else, you can, but the shade of your blush or lipstick will be altered, and you’re risking staining it with pink shade of Givenchy Hydra Sparkling balm.

 

 

It smells like fruit and candy 🙂 Once again, as sensitive as I am to scent, I like it and can use it. And it does feel good on the lips, soothes and hydrates. I don’t really use it for my cheeks, as I don’t think this pink shade will look great with my complexion. Actually, it puzzles me a little. In my world, there are few complexions that this shade will compliment, so why release such a shade as universal? I have no answer. Maybe, Givenchy does 🙂 Oh, and it’s tiny. The smallest one of all the balms here.

 

Michael Kors After Sun Lip Balm.

 

Finally, a truly summer lip care product 🙂 Feels great on the lips, very comfortable.

 

I’ve tried it after sun, under sun and without sun, and I’m happy with the way it works under all these conditions 🙂 It’s nice and nourishing. Scented like Michael Kors lipstick range is – that is, it smells like hard candy, which I love. It can’t be used under lip colour though, as it’s shiny beige with golden sparkle.

 

The shade is actually pretty. Natural look fans and nude make up fans might want it as part of their make up routine for this shade. Seriously, the shade is lovely, so some people will just want to use it as lip colour.

 

It’s the size of Michael Kors lipstick, so it’s not as small as the other lip care products we’ve talked about here, but you can still probably get it in your purse, unless it’s the tiniest possible clutch 🙂

 

This is it – the best lip care out there, in my opinion. All these products are great, and I think anyone can find something right for them in here. I use all of these. And yes, I do agree with make up artists now – it is better to use lip balm before applying lip colour.

P.S. By the way, while using lip balm first, and then lip colour on top of it, I found that if you find the right proportion you can turn any lipstick you have into a shiny and sheer kind of lipstick by applying it on a layer of transparent lip balm. Shiny and sheer lipsticks are my favourite lip colour products ever, so I was very happy when I spotted this side effect 🙂