Skincare Review: Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm // Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask // BITE Beauty Agave Intensive Lip Mask // Fresh Sugar Hydrating Lip Balm
I’ve been battling dry, flaky skin on my lips for a very long time and I’ve been on the hunt for a lip balm / lip mask that truly hydrates my skin and leaves my lips feeling smooth and supple all day long. I decided to experiment with a few different lip balms and masks and share my thoughts in the product reviews below.
Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm
Clean / Vegan
Key ingredients: Shea and murumuru seed butters, vegan waxes, natural vanilla flavour
$22 / 15g
The Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm (Vanilla) is a clear balm, which comes in tube packaging with Summer Fridays’ signature pastel-inspired brand aesthetic. The scent is so perfectly formulated that I feel like I’m wearing a buttery vanilla cupcake on my lips; it’s not overpowering and lingers for a few hours so every now and then I get a little waft of vanilla. The formula is what I truly love about this lip balm: it’s a thicker creamy consistency when applied but then absorbs into the skin in such nice a way that it leaves a very, very comfortable and pleasant non-greasy, hydrating feeling on the lips that lasts all day — even through showers! I will admit the scent is one of the reasons I keep reaching for this lip balm but the main reason I love it so much is because it works. And by work I mean my lips are incredibly supple and have zero cracks and it’s been that way for days now. My lips develop cracks even with the most hydrating lip balms but with the Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm (Vanilla), I see none. The lip balm is versatile and works a few different ways: a regular daily lip balm, glossy topper on lipstick or as an overnight lip mask.
Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask
Key ingredients: proprietary Moisture Wrap™ Technology, berry extracts
$22 / 20g
The Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask (Berry) is a thick balm with a pink tint, which comes in a cute round tub. I was really curious to try it out because it is a cult favourite lip mask for many beauty bloggers. It has a berry scent, which I’m not the biggest fan of, but it’s not too overbearing and fades away quickly. The formula is quite thick — it comes with a spatula to scoop it out of the container — but softens once applied on the lips. The word ‘mask’ describes this lip balm perfectly because I feel like it does mask my lips with a thick, protective layer (very similar to Vaseline), which is nice to use at night as an overnight treatment to wash or wipe away the next day. But for use as a lip balm during the day I found it to be way too heavy; it doesn’t absorb into the skin and feels very viscous even a few hours after application. If I’m being completely honest, I don’t really get the hype around the Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask. I tried it for a few days and I didn’t like the way it felt on my lips due to the overly sticky formula.
BITE Beauty Agave Intensive Lip Mask (Agave)
Lanolin-free / Clean / Vegan
Key ingredients: Agave nectar, mangosteen extract, açai, oat flour
$26 / 15g
The BITE Beauty Agave Intensive Lip Mask (Agave) comes in tube packaging with BITE’s minimal black paper branding. It is a clear lip mask and has a very sweet –almost too sweet — vanilla-like scent and taste initially applied to the lip — I was sure I wasn’t going to like it at all. But I was very pleasantly surprised to see the intensity of the scent fade, leaving behind a very pleasant and light vanilla scent and taste. The formula is thick and creamy (very similar to the Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm) but absorbs into the skin nicely, leaving the lips feeling moisturised and hydrated but not too sticky. It’s extremely comfortable to wear all day and very, very long-lasting. What I really like about this lip mask is how it conditions my lips throughout the day — it has incredible staying power. In fact, it hydrates and conditions my lips so nicely throughout the day that in the evening I still feel the balm on my lips and just add a lipstick on top for a more natural, tinted lip effect. I also had some dry patches on my lips for a few days so I used the BITE Beauty Agave Intensive Lip Mask as an overnight treatment and I woke up the next day with smooth, healed lips — the dry patches were gone. I like that it’s versatile enough to function as a lip balm / gloss and as a healing lip treatment.
Fresh Sugar Hydrating Lip Balm (Lime Mint)
Key ingredients: Sugar, emollient oils (apricot kernel, black currant seed, and grapeseed oils), vitamin E
$18 / 6g
The Fresh Sugar Hydrating Lip Balm comes in a sleek slim tub. It is a clear lip balm with a refreshing lime scent (I’m not so sure where the mint is?) when applied to the lips. The formula is thin and emollient — it slips and slides on the lips. While it feels really nice and creamy when applied to the lips, I find that it doesn’t absorb into the skin and just sits on top like a protective barrier. But the real issue is that the Fresh Sugar Hydrating Lip Balm is not long-lasting at all; the balm will just stay on the lips for about 30 minutes to an hour and fades away very quickly (I can only assume this is due to its extremely emollient formula). And after it fades away my lips still feel pretty dry so the balm doesn’t actually absorb into the skin at all to hydrate. There isn’t a lot of product for the price paid — I’m almost done with mine and I’ve used it pretty sparingly. I really wanted to love this because I am a fan of the Fresh brand but the Fresh Sugar Hydrating Lip Balm really didn’t do anything for me except smell nice.
