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In Search of the Perfect Lip Balm

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Kiss those dry, chapped lips goodbye with these sustainable, clean, and petroleum-free vegan lip balms that will help you ditch your Chapstick once and for all.

Dry, chapped lips can be brutal. Dry indoor air, cold, blustery winter weather, and hot sunny summers all can lead to dry lips. Add in allergies or a head cold and it can be downright painful. But don’t reach for the petroleum-laden drug store lip balms ala Chapstick.

We’ve got options that are better for your body and better for the planet, too. These sustainable and vegan lip balms are made with clean, responsibly sourced ingredients, low-impact manufacturing, and eco packaging. Give your pout the ultimate upgrade as you wipe out dry lips and unsustainable beauty products with a single kiss!

The petroleum problem

Drugstore lip balms are saviors in a chapped emergency, but there’s every reason to ditch them because of one common ingredient: petroleum. A byproduct of crude oil—the same stuff you put in your car!—petroleum is a leading cause of climate change.

When burned, fossil fuels are a leading contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, namely carbon dioxide. While petroleum jelly isn’t burned as fuel, it’s produced only when oil is refined into fuel. So if you care about reducing your carbon footprint, leaving petroleum out of your beauty care routine is critical.

Petroleum is also not the best ingredient for your skin. Rather than penetrate to heal and moisturize, petroleum sits on the skin acting as a barrier to trap moisture. But if your lips are dry and chapped and already void of moisture, you’re not locking in the good stuff at all.

The best petroleum-free lip balms

When opting for a petroleum-free lip balm, look for ingredients you can pronounce as rule number one. Also look for plant butter ingredients such as shea or mango butter, which are highly moisturizing. Some brands are using sustainable materials such as paperboard tubes or recyclable tins or glass. Another key to lip health is exfoliating the chapped, dry skin. Look for a gentle sugar scrub to help exfoliate your lips before applying the balm.

1. Truly Pineapple Haze CBD Glossy Lip Butter

Organic oils and botanicals form the base of this super-rich and creamy luxe lip butter that’s whipped to pucker perfection. CBD gives an extra boost to lips in need of repair—say goodbye to cracks and flaky skin. And the oils are full of healing goodness: shea, mango butter, coconut, hemp, and jojoba oils bring deep moisturizing and hydrating benefits to stressed lips, reducing chapping and irritations.

2. Meow Meow Tweet

With Fair Trade ingredients as the base, Meow Meow Tweet’s lip balms are minimalist beauty care at its finest: coconut oil, cacao butter, and candelilla wax plus all-natural fragrances and flavors.

The boutique skincare brand packs in recyclable paper stock tubes that you can ditch in your blue bins when done. The lip balm glides on smoothly offering full coverage protection (try glossing up before bed for extra soft lips when you wake).

3. Blue Heron Botanicals

All of the ingredients in Blue Heron Botanicals’ lip balm are sustainably sourced and organic whenever possible. The women-owned brand is focused on quality formulations and an environmental commitment. The smaller tube size actually delivers 20 percent more lip balm than plastic tubes and is more portable, too.

The tubes are 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper; everything is made with solar power, and a portion of profits goes to wildlife conservation. Plus, your lips will feel soft and smooth and ready for anything.

4. Yulip Ultimate

Why just swipe a lip balm on your pout when you can give it the who shebang—a lip mask, oil, and balm in one? Yulip’s Ultimate is a vegan lip treatment aimed at deeply moisturizing and nourishing even the driest of lips.

All ingredients are certified organic, non-toxic, and sustainably sourced. The company, which launched in 2017, is committed to sustainability, with a refill system that reduces waste and uses fewer resources. The balm case made of biodegradable PLA (Polylactic Acid). While it feels and functions like plastic, it’s made from renewable sources like corn or sugar cane, and it will naturally break down, leaving no trace other than your super soft lips.

5. Well Earth Good Long Lasting Lip Butter

Sick of lip balm that wears off in an hour or two? Then this lip butta from Well Earth Good is for you. The nourishing cocoa butter formula is crafted from avocado oil and wildcrafted plant wax for lasting, ultra moisture. The lavender earl grey flavor is made from essential oils and all of the products are manufactured in the U.S.A. Oh, and this lip butter is 100 percent plastic-free.

6. Facetheory Lipabalm Bioactive Lip Balm LP1

This hydrating lip balm is crafted without beeswax or petroleum. Instead, Facetheory uses raspberry seed extract, which is rich in vitamin E and helps to stimulate the skin’s renewable process and protects against moisture loss. The shea butter extract has a high concentration of antioxidants and the gromwell root extract has been shown to suppress inflammation. The formula is free of parabens and silicones and handcrafted in the UK. 

7. Desert Essence Lip Rescue 

B-Corp Certified Desert Essence crafts its ultra-hydrating lip balm with the best sustainably sourced ingredients including organic shea butter, rosemary oil, and ginkgo biloba. It works to hydrate and soothe dry, cracked lips and provides all-day moisture. The formulate is certified non-GMO, gluten-free, and is free from synthetic dyes or fragrances. 

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