Product Love: The Lip Balm

These days there are so many new beauty products on the market that brands are finding ways to jump off the shelf at you. Cute, bright packaging and kitschy names like “Good Genes” are rampant. So, when a brand doesn’t do that, I take notice. There is a certain amount of arrogance, or in some cases confidence, that the product alone is good enough that it will literally sell itself.One of those brands is Augustinus Bader. His recent launch of The Lip Balm is one such item. No quirky name. No flashy packaging. Just a plain bronze-colored tube. I would have written this post earlier, except we sold out of our first shipment before I could get my hands on one for myself. I’m a big fan of the Zelens lip balm, but it’s in a pot and so I tend to only use that at home. When I’m out and about, I like a stick.  When our second shipment came in, I asked Jennifer to hold one for me behind the counter. She texted me to let me know it had come in, and a few days later I went to retrieve it. I looked in our hold drawer and it wasn’t there. So, I asked her, “where is it?’ Her response was that she had returned it to the jar because I hadn’t picked it up within 48 hours. I’m not kidding… and neither was she. We have a 48 hour hold policy on most products, but we will usually err on the side of 96 for most items. On hot ticket items, it can be 24 – 48 hours or you better pay for it over the phone. I was shocked. I mean… I do own this store still, right? She looked at me straight in the face and said, this is Augustinus Bader; I could sell that lip balm twenty times before you come in to get it and when I have a woman in the store who wants it, what am I going to do? She was right… I guess.You can imagine that on this shipment, I have my lip balm and it was worth the wait. I am accustomed to two types of lip balms: thin ones you have to apply more frequently or thick ones where one application is enough, but they are better worn at night due to the heavy feeling. The Augustinus Bader doesn’t fit into either of those categories. It is a mid-weight lip balm that feels amazing on the lips. So amazing that you want to apply it again when it matts down so you can have that creamy texture again. However, what I realized is that I don’t actually need to apply it again.One application lasts hours, even under my mask. My lips are soft, not dry. My lips are hydrated and aren’t peeling like they normally do this time of year. My hairstylist told me she uses it at night and wakes up to plumper, fuller lips. She says she really only has to use it twice daily now, once at night and once in the morning. This lip balm is so good, it really doesn’t need anything flashy to stay a staple in my routine. It is “the lip balm” in my life now.