I get a lot of questions about whether spending £35 on a lip balm is a worthwhile beauty investment. I was obsessed with Sisley’s Nutritive Balm, which at £44 a pot makes By Terry Baume de Roses look like a bargain, but I did spend it and did love using it because it did miraculous things for my lips in terms of softening.
However, even with 48 active ingredients in By Terry Baume de Roses, I’d consider this a very luxury purchase that’s worthwhile for the pleasure of it rather than any effects that go over and above what a mid-price balm can do.The top layer of your lips can’t really be ‘moisturised’ as such, but it can be softened and prevented from losing natural moisture. When you use a Chapstick or similar thing, you’re only ever comforting the feel and preventing moisture loss – to get any hydration into the next layer of skin underneath the top layer, ingredients need to be specific, (such as Vitamin E which By Terry does contain). The more of those there are in a balm, the better it’s doing a hydrating rather than a barrier only job. So, if you’re big on balm, you might consider this as the same treat as a luxury lipstick, although even the NHS advises avoiding pot balms because of the constant dipping finger thing – do wash your hands before applying pot balms or use a brush and make sure you wash that regularly.
I do like By Terry Baume de Roses, not least because it has a gentle rose fragrance and no flavour (urgh, mint in everything!) and feel highly softening. But, I’m really not sure it’s doing the over and above thing, not least because it contains fragrances and with such a long ingredient list, it’s hard to tell what does what, exactly. It’s a treat, not an essential.
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