I always feel like throwing a little party when I finish a lip balm. I tend to either lose interest in them or lose them before I can finish them. In my medicine cabinet, for instance, I have a smooshed and broken tube of Caudalie Lip Conditioner I've been working on trying to finish for years, and various purses and closets are full of the half-empty remnants of lip balms I've loved and lost.
One of the balms I managed to finish somewhat recently was a tube of Marshmallow Peeps-scented lip balm from Etsy bath and body shop Orange Thyme. (Other recent empties: a tube of Jack Black lip balm, which is my new absolute favorite, another tube of Orange Thyme in Lemon Creme, shown below, and a mini Fresh lip balm from the Sephora birthday present a couple of years ago. The latter actually fell into the toilet before it was 100% finished, RIP... = Rest In Pee.)
Orange Thyme has been a victim of my short lip balm attention span because none of the permanent varieties I tried struck me as quite as wonderful as the seasonal Peeps balm, so it's fallen by the wayside of late, but for almost a year, I kept that Peeps balm in my medicine cabinet and applied it every night before bed, without fail, and it kept my lips soft and moisturized, as a good lip balm should, and smelled nice, as a good lip balm should. (The Lemon Creme was good, but not as delightful to me as the Peeps balm.)
Packaging:
I haven't ordered from Orange Thyme recently enough or often enough to remember how my order was packaged, but the lip balms themselves come in pretty standard packaging--the normal twist-up Chapstick-style tube, made of translucent plastic, and labeled with a colored label with the name of the balm and the ingredients on it.
Selection:
- Lip balm
- Lip tint, a sheer tinted balm
- Lip shimmer, a shimmery tinted balm
They also offer a one-year lip balm subscription for $40, which comes out to $3.33 per balm, with the balms sent in quarterly packs of three. I think it's a really fun gift idea even if there's no way I could ever use up one lip balm per month. (Dear God--it's like the CSA of lip balms!)
Three types of soap:
- Shea butter bar soap
- Olive oil bar soap
- Whipped soap sugar scrub
Two types of lotion:
And perfume oil roll-ons. I think they also offer a lip scrub, but none was available for purchase while I was writing this review.
There is a dizzying array of lip balm scents available from the shop--there are 30 different choices listed in the "pick three" sampler choices. The soap and lotion scent choices are more limited.
Samples:
0.75 oz samples of the shea butter soaps are available in packs--2 for $3, 4 for $6, or 8 for $12. You can get a random assortment of the olive oil soaps, 5-6 oz total, for $6.25.
Quality:
I have found the lip balms to vary somewhat in texture--some of the ones I've tried seem a little softer than others, while others are a bit too hard for my taste. However, they all seem equally moisturizing and similar in scent intensity, and the packaging is professional and consistent: no crooked or smeared labels or underfilled balms. They don't taste like anything to me, and the scent is noticeable but isn't overwhelmingly strong or long-lasting.
I like the ingredients for their balms: avocado oil, cocoa butter, candelilla wax, shea butter, natural and essential oils. Lots of nice, emollient butters and oils.
I realized while researching my purchase history from them that I had actually tried their olive oil soap and completely forgot about it until I looked at my Etsy purchase history. The lip balms clearly made a lot more of an impression. On the other hand, I gave it a good feedback score, so I don't think there was anything wrong with it. I think it was just forgettable.
Cost:
The lip balms are $3.50 apiece--size is not listed. Burt's Bees lip balms seem to be about the same size and cost around $2.25; Chapstick costs around $1.60 for a tube the same size. (For comparison's sake, Temptalia has a great breakdown of price per ounce for higher-end lip products.)
It's within the acceptable range of lip balm prices for me, but what the hell do I know, I own a $19 jar of Nuxe Reve de Miel. (I haven't completely lost my sanity and started buying By Terry Baume de Rose or La Mer lip balms yet, though. Also, I like Natalie Dee's rationale for buying shmancy lip balms.)
Perfume oils are $9.50 for 9 mL. While this is pretty cheap, I believe it's repackaged fragrance oil, and you can buy around 4 oz of that for the same price (118 mL).
Bar soaps are around $6 for a 5-6-oz bar. Again, that falls solidly in my extremely scientific and precise "acceptable price" range.
Customer Service:
I haven't had to contact Orange Thyme customer service before, but as of this review, she has 11,966 feedback ratings on Etsy with an average score of 5 stars. Pretty damn good.
TAT:
Turnaround time for processing an order is quoted as 7-14 days in the store policies. It looks like it took them 7 days to ship my order when I ordered before.
Shipping:
Shipping starts at the following rates (this is for one lip balm, and prices go up as items get heavier):
| United States | $2.70 USD | $0.15 USD |
| Canada | $6.50 USD | $0.23 USD |
| Everywhere Else | $7.00 USD | $0.25 USD |
One of these days, I'll get around to ordering some more Orange Thyme balms and trying their shea butter soaps--I love using fancy scented bar soaps and I actually do use them up, but I have a large stash to get through first thanks to a Pacifica credit I had to use up, so it will probably be a year before I buy more soap.
On my wishlist:
- Tea-scented lip balm set! Jasmine Tea, Earl Grey Tea, and Green Tea and Honey
- Vanilla Plum lip balm
- Cuticle and Nail Balm in Blood Orange
- Vanilla Bean sugar scrub--oh, who am I kidding, I just want to eat this
- Coconut Milk shea butter soap
...well, OK, maybe the Festivus one.
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| Ain't no party like a finished lip balm party! |
I may be in the minority with this, but I definitely use up more than one lip balm per month. Adding the lip balm subscription to my wishlist!
ReplyDeleteI hope you love it! Let us know what you think when you get it!
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