By the end of winter, my lips are sooooo dry in spite of using Blistex and other lip treatments like the wonderful Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment SPF 15. They work for a while, but then my lips are dry again. Maybe it’s because I spend a fair amount of time outdoors, and maybe because I often wear long-lasting lipsticks. Then, I discovered Stila Color Balm Lipstick.
A few weeks ago, I was browsing around Ulta, and the rep from Stila was in the house. I picked her brain on a number of topics and got her recommendation on a few products. I love Stila’s full coverage concealer that’s a perfect color match for me. So I was wondering what else they have that I should know about. While I was looking at the Stila display, a row of lipsticks captured my attention. Not only did Stila Color Balm Lipstick have great range of colors from pale to dark, but the attractive and modern packaging was really eye-catching. On the sleek silver tube, the Stila name was written in letters that are the color of the lipstick in the tube. Love it.
Stila Color Balm Lipstick is really a cross-over product: a lip balm and fully-pigmented lipstick in one. It feels rich and creamy going on. Stila describes one of the key ingredients and its benefits as follows: “an exclusive certified organic sunflower-based polyglyceride soothes, smoothes, and adds volume and definition to lips”. I agree: that’s what it does, except it has peppermint oil. For some women, peppermint oil is a hydrating ingredient. I am one of the unlucky ones who is sensitive to peppermint oil. I wore my Stila color Balm Lipstick a lot, until I learned that the peppermint oil was irritating my lips. Now I don’t wear it quite as often as I did when I first purchased it. But most women don’t have a problem with peppermint oil and love this lip balm.
There are 18 shades in women’s names, and the colors go from nudes and neutrals to bright and vivid shades. I purchased “elle”, a pink coral shade that is one of my go-to colors. I got it home and put it on, and the color on me was a fail, much too pale. Back to Ulta I went. They exchanged the color without batting an eye. This time, I bought “amelia”, a shade the brand calls “pink taupe”. Frankly, I’d describe it as “watermelon”. Here’s a swatch of “pink taupe”:
It’s vivid, and I love it because it looks like summer. Because it’s a lipstick-balm hybrid, the color is somewhat sheer and a bit shiny but still highly pigmented. The color is buildable, it gets brighter and less sheer the more you apply. I like both looks with this lipstick: the sheer and the more opaque.
Unless you eat something greasy, the color stays on for hours, meaning as it fades, it leaves color on my lips. In fact, I usually need to remove the remaining color with makeup remover at night. The creaminess/shininess is not particularly long-lasting, but that’s true of most lip balms.
The price for Stila Color Balm Lipstick is $22 for 0.12 oz., and it’s available at Ulta, some department stores, Sephora, Stila.com, Amazon, beauty.com, and anywhere else that Stila is sold. The shades include: raisin, pink taupe, soft peachy coral, fuschia, pink coral, dusty rose, nude pink, pink violet, adobe pink, peachy pink, terracotta, spicy red, nude, deep red, coco berry, dusty merlot, orange poppy, and terracotta rose.
I love this lip balm, but I wish it didn’t have the peppermint oil so I could wear it more often. So if you are sensitive to peppermint oil, pass on this. If peppermint oil doesn’t bother you or if it helps your lips as it’s supposed to do, go for it!
Ingredients:
Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Oleic/Linoleic/Linolenic Polyglycerides, Polyethylene, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Glycerides, Silica, Diisostearyl Malate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Hydrogenated Polycyclopentadiene, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax (Candelilla Cera ), Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Oil, Hydrogenated Palm Glycerides, Menthoxypropanediol, Vanillin, Ammonium Glycyrrhizate, Phenoxyethanol, Limonene, Linalool. May Contain: Mica, Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Iron Oxides (Ci 77491, Ci 77492, Ci 77499), Red 7 Lake (Ci 15850), Red 30 Lake (Ci 73360), Red 33 Lake (Ci 17200), Red 6 (Ci 15850), Red 28 Lake (Ci 45410), Yellow 5 Lake (Ci 19140), Blue 1 Lake (42090).
Formulated with NO parabens, sulfates or phthalates
You have chosen wisely! I mean the color is perfect no matter how you look at it!
Thank you Kelly! This lip balm is quite wonderful.