Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer and Tinted Lip Balm

I have been very productive in the last couple of weeks. For one thing, I just found out that you can follow your own blog (I'm easily amused, can you tell?)! Second, I just tried out a few Burt's Bees lip balm products and decided to my thought of them! I had never tried any of the Burt's Bees product until now, partly because I had no idea what they were for ( I would see the displays in the stores but I never actually looked at the products, so I always assumed it was some kind of vitamin supplement), and partly because the look of that burly, Grizzly Adams looking guy on the front of everything (I'm assuming this is "Burt") is a little unappealing to me for selling beauty products. My mom recently started buying the sample kits online to try out the lotions, body washes, and creams, and she gave me three of the lip balms that came with the kits, so I decided to at least try them to see how they worked. I have the Lip Shimmer in Nutmeg and Fig, and the Tinted Lip Balm in Red Dahlia. She also gave me this super cute make up bag that came with one of the kits (sorry, don't remember which one though).

The first thing I noticed about the Lip Shimmers when I opened them was that they have a "spicy" smell. The smell isn't offensive, or anything, and isn't actually noticeable when you're wearing it, but I thought it was interesting for a natural product to smell so "spicy." When I first put them on, I felt a tingling sensation. I'm always wary of any tingle that is caused by lip products ever since I accidentally bought some lip-plumping lip gloss that tingled and made my lips swell a little (like I needed that!). Anyway, after I while the tingling stopped, and no swelling occurred, so I guess it's just one of those weird things that happen for no reason! As for the color, it is very, very subtle. When I put on either color of the Lip Shimmer, I noticed the slight shimmery, glossy look, but not the color. In my opinion, either you have to put on a LOT of the Lip Shimmer to make the color show up, or just wear it for the slight, tinted sparkle.

Next is the Red Dahlia Lip Balm. When I read the color, I couldn't help think about the movie "Black Dahlia," but back to the review! The smell of this product is very fruity-candy-ish, strangely enough. The color on this one is actually even more subtle than the Lip Shimmer, and has a more matte look. At first I thought it was just because of my lip color, but when I put the Lip Shimmer on white tissue, the color was still hardly visible.

As far as functionality goes, all of these products are decent, but their moisturizing effects don't last as long as the Chap Stick lip balm that I usually use. Here are my conclusions:

Pros

•  The Lip Shimmer has a slight, tinted shimmer
• The Lip Balm has a nice candy-like smell
• Not heavy feeling on your lips

Cons

•  The Lip Shimmer has a very, very slight  tint, but the Lip Balm has almost not tint at all
• Lip Shimmer does have a slight tingle when you first put it on
• Decent moisturizing, but not as long lasting as Chap Stick

I think these products are decent, and are great for if you want very slight lip color that also has a moisturizing effect.