Winter Special: How to take care of your lips in the winter time?

 Together with dropping temperature and falling snow our bodies begin to protest. Skin becomes sensitive and red, hair frizzy and brittle and our lips chapped and dry. This is the time of the year when I stock up on moisturizing body butters, hair oils and lip balms. Especially when it comes to the lip balms, I have quite an obsession. I love bright and dark lipsticks but that means my lips have to be in perfect condition. Therefore, I do have quite a collection of lip balms - both from from drugstore and high-end brands - so let me give you a quick run-through of my top lip saviours.

Nivea Lip Butter

Nivea Lip Butter in Caramel Cream. When Nivea released their collection of lip butters, with the packing inspired by their original metal tin, everybody went crazy for it. Well, the fame is well deserved. They are cheap, widely available and you can get them in four different scents. I chose Caramel Cream because I simply love the pudding-like smell. It has quite a smooth, almost slippery, feel to it and applies easily and evenly. The balm leaves my lips soft but only for a short moment and, thus, I don't find it to be nourishing enough to help with extremely sore and chapped lips. 
Grade: 6/10 

Tisane Honely Lip Balm

Tisane Honey Lip Balm. Now this is one of my favourites. First of all the smell which is sweet, honey-like but with a bit of fresh herbal scent to it. It is also extremely easy to apply; not too greasy so it works well under a lipstick and it really does miracles when my lips are in a bad condition. I  even use it under my nose if I have infection or on my cuticles if they are dry. It is very economical too but the packaging is cheap-looking and it gets scruffy pretty quickly. Available only in Poland.
Grade: 8/10 

Nuxe Reve de Miel Lip Balm

Nuxe Reve de Miel Lip Balm. I run out of this stuff a few weeks ago so I can only show you a press-release photo. This balm is a HG product for many beauty bloggers, mainly due to its amazing nourishing properties. It is relatively easy to buy although the price tag is a bit on the higher end. It has honey and lemon in it and the smell is more citrusy than sweet. The balm is very moisturizing and extremely powerful when combating dry lips but with its slightly gritty texture and stickiness I found it better to use at night rather than during the day. 
Grade 7/10

Organique Shea Butter Balm

Organique Shea Butter Balm in Gingerbread. This balm is a new addition to my collection. It is solid Shea butter with an added sweet scent of ginger cookie. It is one of the most nourishing products I have ever tried. I recommend warming it between your fingers to get this nice, slightly oily consistency and rubbing it on your cuticles, dry spots, lips and even under your nose - wherever you feel like you need moisture.
Grade: 9/10

Korres Lip Butter

Korres Lip Butter in Pomegranate and Mango. I've already reviewed these Greek lip balms here - I am fond of their smooth texture, natural ingredients and lovely fruity scents. I find them so easy to use, especially on those days when my lips are not in the best condition but I still want to add a pop of colour (those balms leave slight sheen of colour on the lips) without using a drying lipstick. Unfortunately, because of the colour in them, I would only recommend using them on your lips.
Grade: 7/10

Oriflame Tender Care Balm

Oriflame Tender Care Balm in Cherry. My mum recommended this balm to me when I suffered from a cold sore. It helped me almost immediately. Tender Care Balm is one of those products that can be used as a lip balm and as a type of ointment applied on sore or irritated skin. I love its delicate cherry scent and moisturizing formula. Packaging looks very cute but I found to be  very impractical as the weird, slightly narrow shape makes it hard to get out the product from the very bottom.
Grade 7/10

Dior Creme de Rose Lip Balm

Dior Creme de Rose Lip Balm. Amazing and luxurious product and an absolute favourite among many beauty bloggers. Softening and nourishing but without being greasy, this scented balm (subtle and elegant smell of roses) is probably one of the best lip products I have ever tried. Perfect underneath a lipstick or, when applied before going to bed, as an overnight lip treatment. Worth the hefty price tag.
Grade: 9/10

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Lip Protectant

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Lip Protectant. This is my mother-in-law's favourite as she sees it as her everyday fix-it-all handbag staple. I'm really not fond of its strong, herbal scent (although you can get it in a scent-free version now) but I cannot live without it in the winter time. It is particularly useful for chapped lips and dry hands - something I often suffer from when the temperature drops here in Sweden.
Grade 8/10

Lucas' Papaw Ointment

Lucas' Papaw Ointment. A real multi-tasker. The smell of this product may not blow you away but the way it heals dry, damaged and irritated skin - definitely will. I use it for everything. Dry lips in the winter - check. Red and spotty skin after shaving - check. Irritated skin around nose when having a cold - check. Burns, scratches and cuts - check. I cannot praise this ointment enough. Available in Australia or on eBay
Grade: 10/10
 
Finally, when taking care of your lips in the winter time, don't forget about an occassional scrub (you can make a scrub yourself by mixing sugar and honey or buy a ready-made one, for example at Lush). You can even massage your lips with a clean towel or a toothbrush.