There is but one place on my body that is naturally prone to severely dry skin: my lips. As a result of this, I'm always digging for lip balm (or super hydrating lipstick! ). The latest balm adventure came to me from Santa Claus in my stocking. This is a Softlips stick with SPF 20, in the strawberry sorbet variety.

First of all, two thumbs up from me for having sunscreen, and a decent amount of it. Some of the things out there with, say, SPF6 make me shake my head. It's easy to forget that lips get sunburnt too!

Follow up:

The scent is distinctly present in the tube, but not overwhelming. I find any flavour faint and passing. I love the slender tube, as it makes it easy to put the balm precisely where I want it; when I get lip products outside of my lipline too often, I frequently find myself breaking out in obnoxious lipline acne. So, for me? This is a plus! It's super easy to twist the product up in the tube, too, unlike some that have just a wee little dial. There is a significant piece of the tube to turn so more product comes jumpin' out at you.

I like that this isn't super waxy feeling (chapstick, anyone?) so I'm not stuck feeling like I just ate a candle (mmm, savour that!). My qualm with this balm is that the moisture does a very poor job of penetrating. It really only gets the top layer or so, and in me that means that the affected layer doesn't really hang out with the rest of my lips for long. Ahem. Read: the top layer of my lips gets gooey and weird, and then I need to exfoliate my lips to get those cells off.

This, to me, means a product must be repurposed, as I don't like walking around feeling the desperate itch to claw off the top layer of my lips! So, I figure, if this stuff is so good at loosening all the older cells on my lips, why not mix some sugar with it and make it a cheap-but-effective exfoliator?

Dudes, it's frigging great! I have a small supply of sugar that I dip the stick into, and apply it to my lower lip. I then go for a second dip and do the top lip. Then, after a quick rubbing together of my lips and a wipe with a tissue or napkin to remove the sugar? I have smooth, faintly strawberry-flavoured lips! In theory, this and a sugar packet could make a travelling lip exfoliator. Oooh! I'd imagine this would work with any lip balm that you have on hand that just isn't satisfying your lips' moisture needs. No need to waste, right?