SOS Lip Secret

Chapped lips are one of the biggest nuisances on my face, I haven't had acne since I was a child (weird, I know but infantile acne is a thing) and dark circles are a foreign concept in my world but my lips are particularly difficult to keep moisturised. The Australian climate has a bit to do with this with often harsh winds and disgustingly hot temperatures damaging my lips, not to mention the sun.

I've made a point to put more effort into looking after my lips as personally I feel like they are one of my best features and there is not much worse that flaky dry lips. The four products I tested vary from cult status to standard products with the Nuxe Reve de Miel lip balm, Burt's Bees refreshing lip balm with pink grapefruit (the best smelling of the lot), good ol' Vaseline and the internationally lesser known Lucas's Papaw Ointment.

Starting off the with the Nuxe Reve de Miel lip balm; it was an impulse purchase and one I only don't regret purely because I know I won't buy it again. People lust after this product but I don't understand the hype, it's good but not great and not worth the money you have to fork over for a small pot. Also the smell is a bit off putting, especially for an expensive product which is applied right under your nose.

Next up is from Burt's Bees, a budget lip balm that smells heavenly. The application is the easiest of the four.. no fingers needed which is definitely a bonus from the hygiene freak within me. For maintaining moisture this is just fine and if you don't get really bad chapped lips I'd say it would cut it but I don't find it is moisturising enough to bring my lips back to life.

Vaseline is an oldy but a goody and something most would have lying around the house. This wasn't so much for it's moisturising qualities as to why it's included but for it's exfoliating potential. A beauty hack was recommended to me by using vaseline and a soft toothbrush and brushing it over your lips to get rid of the dead skin. Maybe my toothbrush was too soft but it really didn't do much for me and I couldn't get over the yuck factor of it, I'll be sticking with the brown sugar and coconut oil lip scrub Essie Button posted about here. Still something to keep around though and I'll definitely have this out in flu season as the 'vaseline nose' becomes all the rage when I'm going through a box of tissues per day.

The aforementioned SOS Lip Secret for which this post is titled after is the Lucas' Papaw Ointment, an Australian product which advertises itself as a "local topical application for boils, burns, chafing, cuts, cracked skin, gravel rash, splinters, open wounds, insect bites and nappy rash". I've grown up with my mum using this liberally on her terrible eczema and so the smell has this unfortunate association for whenever her skin was playing up but moving past the smell, the product is unbelievably nourishing. It saddens me to say that it took it's feature on Man Repeller's website for me to give it a go and I now use it constantly, already purchasing a new tube so I am never without. It's available from supermarkets around Australia quite cheaply and it can be found online on ebay for others who are curious.

What is your holy grail lip saviour? Have you tried any of the ones I've mentioned above and how have they worked for you?