Lipsalves/ Balm. What works?

[PollyPerky]

My lips get terribly dry and are often flaky. I use Burts Bees honey stick, used to use Carmex (pot) and a moisturising lippie- Bobbi Brown Nourishing. I apply a good layer of Burts when I go to bed. Nothing seems to be working. I'm thinking of having subtle lip fillers anyway because my lips have lost a lot of volume and I know they can also add in a moisturising treatment.

Meanwhile- what would you recommend?

I don't rate nuxe all that much.
I like PawPaw Australian Gold in a big red tube from Boots.

Carmex. And drink lots of water. I find my lips and skin generally get very dry, particularly in the winter and water helps.

Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream. Expensive but a tube lasts ages and I would never be without it now that I have tried it.

Thanks! I've popped out and bought Lanolips- will see how it goes!

Just posted this on the best beauty buys thread, but get some Kiko exfoliating wipes and give them a good scrub prior to lip balm. Lisa Eldridge has just done a red lips video and that's what she used. I got some yesterday and it works.

Cowshed lipbalm.

Whilst dehyrdration doesn't help, neither does really hot drinks as they are even more drying.

Vaseline doesn't penetrate into the skin as far as I know, it forms more of a barrier against the environment.

Kokoso baby coconut oil? I use it on the kids but have found it really good for dry lips and other bits of dry skin too

I agree that regularly exfoliating your lips makes a huge difference. I haven't been bothering this winter and that is proving to be a huge mistake! I used to use one from Lush that was excellent.

In terms of lip balms, I'm like you and struggle to find things that work. So far vaseline (all types) seem fine, and so does the plain nivea cream, and plain nivea lip balm or the one with SPF. I'm desperate to find coloured lipbalms though so that I can wear colours on my lips but all the ones I try don't work as an actual lipbalm though, they always dry my lips out and don't moisturise it like they claim to . Apart from the pink vaselilne one but that's not very exciting.

The smell of Vaseline though .... i can't bear it.

I find a 70% lipid cream (generic from pharmacy) a few times a day then Nuxe reve de miel works. A bit. My lips are always dry regardless of what I put on them :/

I was on roaccutane last year which a notorious for the awful dry lips you get whilst taking it. I found (and still find) layering works best.

I started with putting on a bit of cheap eye cream, something like simple, just to get some moisture in there, then a layer of Eucerin Intensive lip balm. I like this one as it's a lot more hydrating than most lip balms and actually absorbs and softens rather than just sit on the lips in a greasy layer. Once that's been mostly absorbed I'd then top it off with the twist up carmex which seems very different from the squeezy tube or the pot. This layer is great at loosening the layer of dry skin allowing it to be rubbed off gently with a flannel.

These days my lips aren't quite so bad and I actually find plumping lip glosses do the best job of hydrating and smoothing. They don't have a plumping effect as far as making your lips bigger, but they do plump out the lines and make my lips amazingly soft. I'm using a clear one from soap and glory at the moment. I still put a bit of cheap eye cream on first for a boost of moisture though.

I'm afraid I have the really bad habit of pulling off the dry dead skin. I wondered if this was making it all worse because the new skin underneath then becomes hard and dry. Sorry for TMI.

I don't find Vaseline does any good at all. It makes them slippy but doesn't really make them moist.

I've tried the Carmex lipstick style before and agree it's different to the pot- it's on my list for another time.

I use Elizabeth Arden 8 hour lip balm and Lanolips. I think they are both great. I find vasoline clogs up the skin around my lips and gives me spots.

Lansinoh nipple cream!!

Another vote for the blistex relief cream - I use it at night and then burts bees honey stick through the day if not wearing lipstick.

Creme de la mer. Pricey but amazing!

OP I'm glad to see you've bought Lanolips as I would recommend it 100%! It's the only thing that's managed to sort out my chapped lips. I find other balms just sit on my lips and don't actually sort out the dryness. Bonus is it's natural and not tested on animals.

Pulling the dry skin off definitely doesn't help (a fellow "picker" here). That's one of the reasons I like to put a cheap hydrating eye cream on first, it almost instantly softens that harder flaky layer of skin so there's no longer a tempting edge to pick at. That effect is very short lived though which is why the Eucerin works so well as a next layer, it keeps that softening effect going for a lot longer (it just needs that boost of something hydrating to help it absorb a bit quicker initially). If I do that in the morning then I can just top up with something like lanolips throughout the day.

At night start from scratch but put the twist up carmex on top instead and that layer of dry skin can be rubbed (or very gently peeled) off in the morning. Keep up with that routine for a week or so and that flaky layer with tempting pickable edges disappears altogether.

My lips are always terrible, year-round.

I've tried Nivea, Norwegian formula, Carmex, blistex, lanolips, lansinoh, burts bees, chapstick, nuxe and many more. They all feel nice on application and keep my lips supple while it's on but nothing has had any lasting effect.

I bought the Elizabeth Arden 8 hour lip balm in the pot and have been applying it at night this week. I cannot believe how good my lips feel now without having to any other products throughout the day. It's definitely a winner for me.