The Sunscreen Project, Part 25: Spearmint Lip Balm, SPF 15

Have you ever gone to a job fair, where there are tons of people promoting their companies, giving you brochures, asking you to apply to jobs, asking for resumes, etc?

Well, at one of the most recent ones I went to before I graduated from college, I got a nifty gift from one of the companies.

(sorry for the blurriness; I didn't have my camera on me at the time and thus used the webcam instead!)

(FTC: I received this product for free at a job fair at my college. I am not paid or sponsored for any anything)

   

Yes, TripAdvisor. It's a cool company to work for - you travel to so many different places around the world and get to see so many things!

I had actually gone to the job fair to scout for potential summer internships. TripAdvisor wasn't looking for summer interns at the time, but the people manning the booth still gave me this.

Spearmint SPF 15 Lip Balm (Net weight: 0.15 oz)

Ingredients (directly from the label):

Active ingredients: Octinoxate (7.5%), Oxybenzone (3%)
Other ingredients: Organic palm oil, beeswax, organic extra virgin olive oil, essential oil of spearmint, organic hemp seed oil, rosemary extract, vitamin E

From the initial looks of it, pretty cool to have so many organic ingredients, right?

Well, here's my review.
Pros:

• Has SPF 15 - a pretty good SPF for a lip sunscreen
• Has lots of organic ingredients
• Octinoxate is a relatively stable ingredient
• Nice spearmint smell
• No lip acne as a result
• Lasts a long time
• Doesn't feel sticky - just feels very refreshing
• Can be unisex - for use by men and women (I have male friends who have used this product as well)
• Price: Free! Lolz. although on this site (which sells a very similar lip balm to companies) it costs $0.36 for each. Which is still extremely cheap.

Cons:

• Initially, the spearmint essential oil made my lips smart and feel slightly painful (stinging sensation), after I desquamated/(exfoliated, in layman terms) my lips with a scrub, it was a lot better. I think it was because of the dead skin cells on my lips that triggered the reaction - the contact of the actual surface lip skin that wouldn't have been desquamated otherwise was having a similar conflict with the dead skin cells that would've been desquamated. Hmm.
• Oxybenzone is an ingredient - warning for people who are afraid of its effects on babies.
• Lack of UVA ray protection

Word of advice: if you use lip balms or lip glosses or lipsticks, etc, be sure to get off the excess dead skin cells off of your lips first! Else there will be an uneven application of the product on your lips and your lips will appear flaky (not so good). Also, it's really good to use a lip balm with SPF - your lips need sun protection too! (don't want lip cancer)

Overall, what do I think of it? I think it's a great product that will help me get through the winter. This was the product that I've been using since I used up my Carmex Moisturizing Lip Balm in Cherry (SPF15). I have other lip glosses and balms I'm going to try after this one as well. And I'll review them too!