Cocoa Nostra confectionery lip balm - lip balm discontinued by Not Soap Radio - review by Jul!a

Lip balms are something that most people reach for when their lips start getting dry and chapped. Some people need a lot of intense hydration, but others just need something to act as a barrier between their lips and the outside world. This particular balm is going to be better for the second group of people.

The tube it comes in is really nice. At a total of .15 ounces, it's no bigger or smaller than most other tubes of lip balm out there. Keeping it in the same category of "most lip balms" is the cap that easily comes off (twist it when you first get it to break the seal), and the way that it comes up as you twist the dial at the bottom. It's totally discreet and would be appropriate to give as a gift to just about anybody. The label will have the flavor and the ingredients: ricinus communis (castor) seed oil, cetearyl alcohol, lauryl laurate, olea euopaea (olive) fruit oil, hydrogenated castor oil, beeswax, copernicia cerifera (carnauba) wax, hydrogenated soybean oil, euphorbia cerifera (candelilla) wax, theobroma cacao (cocoa) extract, flavor, mica. The castor seed oil and beeswax help to hold moisture in and creates a barrier against external elements. The cetearyl alcohol, lauryl laurate, olive oil softens the skin. The castor oil helps soften the skin and helps create the consistency. The carnuaba wax helps keep everything solidified and provides the creamy consistency. The mica is used to help create a subtle shimmery effect, although I didn't really notice anything drastic.

This comes in a wide variety of scents, and mine is the milk, dark, and white chocolate one. It definitely smells chocolate like and reminds both myself and my mother of the Hershey's Syrup balm. As far as comparing it to candy, I'd say it smells most like a Tootsie Roll. It has a very light chocolate flavor, but not noticeable enough to make me continually lick my lips.

It glides on very smoothly, and once on it almost feels like it's melted on your lips. Sort of like a combination of the cheap Koolaid balms and the awesome homemade ones, although in the long run it feels a lot more like a homemade balm to me. It doesn't provide super long lasting moisture, although it does a good enough job and smells nice enough that I don't mind reapplying it every hour and a half or so. If you're not licking your lips, eating, or wiping them on anything, it can last longer. But that's about how long mine manages to make it.

In the image below, you can see my lips before on the left, and after on the right. There's a nice sheen of moisture, but nothing extra like any glitter.

I have no idea where all of my chapsticks keep going. I have a few glosses stuffed here and there that I've been using, but I wanted something more like a chapstick to keep around too. Since I never remember to pick any up when I'm at the store, I picked some up here and I just love it! I had my mom try this one too and she and I both like it a lot. This stuff sits on my desk and I've been using it more than the lip gloss I had sitting there to begin with. It's not perfect, but I love it anyway.