Ask anybody who’s known me for more than a year, and he/she will tell you one thing: I am so not a make-up person. Seeing me all made up is a once in a blue moon occurrence. If you got a pic of me in make-up, keep it — it’s so rare it could be a collector’s item. Hehe. But I’m still a girl. And I do get vain every once in a while 😀

Mind you, it’s not because I’m just a slob. I dress like one sometimes, but I do fix up when I feel like it. I don’t like putting on make-up for one simple reason: it makes me highly uncomfortable. You see, my skin is a bit sensitive. I get allergies when I put on commercial make-up — puffy eyes and swollen cheeks aren’t really very fashionable. I need to use organic ones (which are pricier) if I really needed to fix up. Good thing my lips aren’t that sensitive, I can have the semblance of a non-slob even if I’m not perfectly made up.

I rarely attend events these days due to my busy work schedule, but I think you’d now understand why I made sure I attended the small blogger get-together to introduce LipIce and its product lines. They gave us samples of all their variants to try: Fruity, Sheer Color, Color Lipbalm, and Color Gloss Fruity, as well as that for men (Men’s Cool Aqua) and lip therapy (Mentholatum). I felt like I was in lip balm heaven! 😀

So what’s the big deal with lip balm, you ask. Well, for one, I’m the type who easily gets dry lips. It can get so bad if the weather is too hot or cold, that the skin on my chapped lips break and bleed. It’s not fun having the taste of blood in your mouth if you’re not Edward Cullen or some highly emotional adolescent vampire with issues.

But the thing about lip balms, they’re not exactly the most exciting lip beauty product. It moisturizes your lips and all that, but that’s all it is: a lip balm. One of the things I like about LipIce is the variety. There’s the therapeutic one, but there are also products that can spice up your look for a simple dinner date or afternoon picnic. I’ve tried them all, and here’s the verdict! (Well, except for the Men’s Cool Aqua… I’m still trying to get my husband use it, but he keeps forgetting :P)

LipIce Color Gloss
As the name implies, LipIce Color Gloss adds shine to your lips. Great for a casual night out — not too dressy, but not too plain either. Color Gloss contains Macadamia Seed Oil, Aloe Extract, and Lanolin oil to keep lips moisturized. It also contains Vitamin E. LipIce Color Gloss comes in Summer Pink, Candy Apple and Pearl Pink variants.

LipIce Sheer Color
Here’s another interesting one. It has similar organic ingredients as Color Gloss, but it doesn’t have sparkly particles that make lips shine. It comes in two variants, Strawberry and Fragrance Free. The strawberry one reminds me of strawberry candy, while the Fragrance Free version doesn’t have scent but has the tingly feel of menthol. That’s not what makes this lip conditioner special though. LipIce Sheer Color is color-changeable, it adds a natural sheer pink to your lips according to the moisture level of your skin. It also has beeswax that makes it suitable for sensitive skin.

I use Sheer Color most of the time whenever I go out in casual lunch or dinner dates with my husband. I’m not really comfortable wearing a lipstick. I’m beauty-illiterate, I have no idea what shade best fits my coloring. And frankly, I don’t want to experiment in fear that I could end up looking like a clown 😛 Sheer Color adds just the right amount of color to my lips. Besides, it’s fun to use too — kind of like the color-changeable markers I used to have when I was a kid 😀

LipIce Color LipBalm
LipIce Color LipBalm also come in three varieties: Pretty Pink, Candy Apple, and Sweet Rose. This product also adds color to your lips. But unlike the usual lipstick, the colors aren’t too loud — just the way I like it. The color is subtle, and adds just the right amount of tinge you’ll need. It’s also made with natural ingredients, but also has water micro-spheres for water retention and SPF15 to protect your lips from the sun. I haven’t been able to use it much though, as most of the time I could only go out at night because of work.

Mentholatum LipIce Fruity
This is one of my favorites. I got to sample the Orange Mandarin variety and I love it! 😀 It also comes in Lemon, Apple, Grape Blackcurrant, and Strawberry. The variants LipIce Fruity has is quite different from the usual lip balm, don’t you think? I haven’t tried the Grape Blackcurrant, but it sounds interesting. Anyway, aside from the candy-like orange flavor, it also has SPF 15 sun protection and mentholated, giving the lips a cooling feel. For somebody who gets chapped lips often, this really provides relief. I guess that’s why I use LipIce Fruity on a daily basis.

Mentholatum
Next to LipIce Fruity, this is another favorite. I’ve used a lot of lip balms in the past, and this brand is the best ever for me so far. It doesn’t give me that uncomfortable feeling that I’ve got something on my lips, I hardly notice it’s there. But even with little application, Mentholatum can already provide relief.

There are two versions of this actually. One is the usual lip balm on the stick, which I carry with me during my training runs to keep my lips from getting dry. The other is the gel type, which is best for “emergency” lip relief. I keep this on my bedside table, as I usually wake up in the morning with lips so chapped that little movement could break the skin. There are also times when my lips get so dry that even the skin on the sides of my mouth break when I speak. I really hate it when that happens, the wound takes time to heal as it’s always exposed to moisture and microorganism from saliva. The worse and most recent skin break I probably experienced was last summer, when I ended up with a “Joker smile” for weeks till the wound healed 🙁

If you want your own LipIce just like mine, you can get them at Watson’s and Beauty by SM. LipIce products range from Php89 to Php125, while LipIce Sheer Color is priced at Php145.