Kiehl’s Butterstick

It’s going to sound strange to say, but there was a time where lip balms were not a beauty staple – they weren’t on every shelf in every beauty store in a million flavours. It was easier to find gloss than to find balm because most people just used Vaseline or a near equivalent if indeed they thought about moisturising their lips at all. Of all beauty products, lip balms belong to a category of beauty that has evolved dramatically. You can buy a 99p balm or you can buy a £200 balm (By Terry special edition). Most lip balms are rubbish – full of artificial flavourings and fragrances and don’t really provide lip care as such, and instead fall into a fun stuff category.

I’m a fan of Fresh Sugar Balms and the new Kiehl’s Buttersticks remind me hugely of those – from packaging right through to composition and colour. They’re exactly the same price, too at £19.50. Fresh uses meadowfoam seed, black currant seed, avocado, and jojoba as their main hydrators, while Buttersticks are coconut oil and lemon butter infused. But they do feel more or less the same on the lip.

As you can see in the swatch, the balms offer a light colour tint with a very slight sheen for a dewy lip rather than a glossy lip. Personally, I find the Fresh version shinier.

These feel soft, comfortable and give a reassuring ‘layer’ on the lip skin – they’re SPF25 and in order for that to be effective, they need to not be transient. In the same way that Fresh refer to their balms as a ‘treatment’, so does Kiehl’s. I like them but think that a brand like Kiehl’s should invest in their own ideas rather than mimicking other brands. It’s too obvious. You can find the Kiehl’s Buttersticks HERE.

Non Affiliate link is HERE.