Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Inside Birchbox: ChapStick Hydration Lock Review

In case you missed my October Birchbox unboxing, I received this ChapStick in the Hydration Lock formula. I was pretty happy about it, as I can never have too many lip moisturizers - I always seem to lose them before I can finish them up. I was especially happy because of the Vanilla Creme scent. 



Let me start off by saying the ingredients are bad. I don't have the time to sit here, Google, and explain each and every harmful ingredient that is in this product but I would like to bring up two of them. This chapstick contains petrolatum which is featured on the "Dirty Dozen" list - a list of twelve ingredients that you should try to avoid. It can be contaminated with PAHs, which is linked to cancer (when the skin is exposed over long periods of time). The product also contains dimethicone, which is another Dirty Dozen ingredient. Dimethicone has the potential to coat whatever it is applied to (trapping bacteria underneath), disrupt the skin from performing its normal functions such as sweating and temperature regulation, and it can cause some serious skin irritation - which is terrible for those of us who have sensitive skin.

After using the ChapStick Hydration Lock for the sake of this review, it provided me with no substantial benefits. The vanilla scent was hardly noticeable, especially after a couple of uses. It was not much different, if not worse, than my usual chapsticks. It did apply smoothly, and because of the harmful ingredients it stayed put for hours. I would rather reapply a healthier organic balm every so often than put myself at risk for a few more hours of wear. I have seen better results, and longer lasting ones, with my other balms. Once it dissolved and faded away, I was left with no long term results.

Overall I would recommend skipping out on this product. Also, if you have any recommendations for healthier or organic lip balm alternatives please leave them in the comments below. Take care of your skin, people!

15 comments:

  1. I'm so glad that these things are important to other bloggers as well. Thank you for reminding all of us to stay away from harmful ingredients! I love the cosmetic database for this reason exactly...you just never know what sneaky things lie in our beauty products until you really make the effect to find out!

    My favourite EVER lip balm is made in my hometown in British Columbia which you can find here:

    http://www.saltspringsoapworks.com/products/category/lipbalm/

    However, if I can't get my hands on this, then I always turn to EOS lip balm in "sweet mint" ;)

    xx -b.

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    1. I've never tried any EOS lip balms but I've been looking into them recently!

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  2. I actually never read the ingredients in products, I probably should start! I've been using regular chapsticks, but nothing works well for me. I've been wanting to try the NIvea lip balm x

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  3. Thanks for the review. It sounds like this product went out in every birchbox so we all have this - too bad it wasn't a better product!

    katespitz.blogspot.com

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    1. Yeah, I wish that they substituted it out however I'm sure a lot of people will love this stuff. Its just not for me as I'm a little too concerned about the ingredients, and plus it just didn't live up to what I thought it would do.

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  4. Eeesh, that's not good at all! I love me some Chapstick, but not if it has all that in it! I'm going to honest here and say that I don't read the ingredients to a lot of things, I really need to start paying more attention to things like this. Thanks for the wake up call and great review, beautiful! <3

    xoxox, Lily | beautywithlily.blogspot.com

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    1. Honestly, this is one of the first times I've ever looked into the ingredients. Someone on the actual Birchbox review section wrote about the Dirty Dozen, and then I did my research. Its a shame that we can be so unaware! I definitely want to try to stay on top of what I'm putting on my skin after hearing about all this harmful stuff!

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  5. OMG o.o That's so bad D:
    I usally get my lipbalms from places like Lush or The Body Shop. How can they place so many bad chemicals in this ? :<

    Thank you very much for your review!
    Please take care, have a nice day!*

    beauty-with-love.blogspot.com

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    1. Yes its bad, but people keep buying them. Companies like to make profit, and I'm sure the formula works for some people - just not me.

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    2. I don't know how...Having dangerous chemicals on our lips (or any part of our body in general) is horrible! People may not see it now, but in the future they might get tones of health problems :s

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  6. Love a good lip balm! This one looks so nice, great review x

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    1. It was actually rather bad, if you had read any of it.

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