Happy 2016 people! I wish all of you an absolutely amazing year full of beautiful surprises, priceless memories, and yes, a lot of learning! I know I am a bad keeper of promises, as I keep disappearing for weeks on end without posting, but life has been keeping me busy lately. I earned the love of so many readers in 2015, and I am so glad I decided to write this blog back in December 2014. I wish I am able to gather more love in 2016. I have bigger plans for Fashion Food Soul this year, so keep watching this space for updates.
I have managed to hoard a lot of new products on my recent trip to the US and I am overjoyed to be inundated with so much! I had a hard time choosing what to start the review parade with. So I picked one of my favourite purchases this time, EOS lip balm sphere! I already had one EOS lip balm with me (Pomegranate Raspberry, read full review here) and I was pretty fond of it, but then it went rancid and I had to stop using it. This range is different from the regular EOS lip balms, as this belongs to the Visibly Soft line. More on this below.
Product Description and Claims: Get noticed with visibly softer lips. Nourish your lips with the delicious flavor of coconut milk.
eos Visibly Soft Lip Balm, enriched with natural conditioning oils, moisturizing shea butter and antioxidant vitamins C & E, nourishes for immediately softer, more beautiful lips.
- 99% natural
- Long-lasting moisture for immediately softer, more beautiful lips
- Shea butter & vitamins C & E
- Smoothes on clear
- Precisely glides on lips
- Twist-off top
- Petrolatum-free
- Paraben-free
- Gluten-free
- Phthalate-free
- 25 oz
Ingredients and Chemistry: I had to get rid of the packaging, so here are the ingredients from EOS website
Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil*, Beeswax/Cera Alba (Cire d’abeille)*, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil*, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil*, Natural Flavor, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter)*, Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate, Sodium Isostearoyl Lactylate, Water, Sodium Hyaluronate, Stevia Rebaudiana Leaf/Stem Extract, Tocopherol, Ascorbyl Palmitate
So what differentiates the Visibly Soft line from the regular line of EOS lip balms? Let’s check out the ingredients of the regular line lip balms:
Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil*, Beeswax/Cera Alba (Cire D’abeille)*, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil*, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil*, Natural Flavor (Aroma), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter)*, Stevia Rebaudiana Leaf/Stem Extract*, Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Seed Oil*, Tocopherol, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil*, Rubus Idaeus (Raspberry) Leaf Extract*, Linalool**. *Organic. **Component of Natural Flavor. Certified Organic by Oregon Tilth.
The highlighted ingredients are the ones where the difference lies.
The Visibly Soft range promises an immediate softness, whereas the regular range just promises moisture and smoothness.
While most ingredients remain consistent on both the product types, we can see some additional ingredients in the Visibly Soft lip balm, which are
Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate: an emollient, that helps soften the skin
Sodium Isostearoyl Lactylate: another moisturizing ingredient
Water: to dissolve the water soluble ingredients in the formula
Sodium Hyaluronate: a strong moisturizing agent that enhances suppleness and reduces fine lines
Ascorbyl Palmitate: a moisturizing form of vitamin C
The additional ingredients in this line are technically related to higher immediate moisturization. Let’s see how it fared on the live guinea pig (read: me! 🙂 )
Packaging: EOS is popular for its unconventional packaging. A colleague of mine once asked me what this was, while this lip balm was resting on my workstation. I said, “Yeah, that a lip balm.” He said, “What? It’s a bomb!” Hehehe. You get it. It does get you some attention! The lip balm comes in an egg shape, secured in a screw-top lid. If I could, I would award it as one of the cutest packaged products ever!
Color and Scent: This lip balm is slightly yellower in appearance compared to the regular eos lip balm I had. However, on lips it goes on completely clear. Like other eos lip balms, this is also sweet in taste (I always give extra points for this!) The fragrance is quite true to its name, and I find it quite nice. It doesn’t last for more than a couple of minutes though . I feel it is much better than the fragrance of pomegranate one, as I found that one a bit odd. This one does remind me of coconut milk, and has an extra hint of bubblegummy sweetness to it.
Texture and Effectiveness: The texture is quite light-weight. It does not feel waxy or odd on the lips. In fact, it sits very comfortable on them. It does not feel cloying or heavy at all. I quite like the feeling it gives, so it gets all the points for the texture. As far as the efficacy goes, it does provide instant hydration to the lips. It has been some time since I last used the regular pomegranate one, so I cannot compare the two formulations with a 100% certainty, however, this new line does feel more moisturizing to me than the older EOS variant that I have used. To an extent, it does fulfil the claim of giving us visibly soft lips, but I can’t say that it is the most amazing lip balm that I have ever used (I still love Baby Lips, Lotus, and my new love, Lush Honey Trap – wait for its review!). However, EOS Coconut Milk is one of the better lip balms I have used till date, plus I am always partial to brands that have innovative packaging and good ingredients, so I’ll say I am happy with this product!
Also, it did moisturize my lips to an extent when they were badly chapped, and it did prevent them from drying out further, so I’m overall quite satisfied with it. I find it fine even for overnight use, but I always prefer something highly waxy at night, so it is not my first choice for keeping on my bedside table.
FFS Rating: 4.5/5
Price: I got it for $3 in the US. In India, it sells for anywhere between Rs 450 – 600 on online portals
Where to Buy: It is easily available in the US across supermarkets and ULTA. In India, you can buy it online on Flipkart.
PROs and CONs:
PROs:
- Effectively moisturizes lips
- Prevents further drying of lips when they are chapped
- Does live up to the claim of visibly soft, but to a certain extent only
- Is not waxy or uncomfortable
- Sweet taste, and pleasant to the nose!
- Cute packaging
- EOS is a celebrity favourite, so me likey!!
- Is all natural, free of chemicals, preservatives, gluten. A carefully formulated product.
CONs:
- Availability issues in India. You can only buy it online. Come on EOS! You need to launch yourself in India!
- It is much more expensive in India. While it retails for a mere $3-4 in the US, here we have to shell out almost twice or thrice to lay our hands on EOS products
- Being all natural, the product can have a tendency to get rancid, as they don’t use preservatives
Final Word: You need to have at least one EOS in your lifetime. It is a good product, and the fun factor is high. I recommend it.
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