Orange Thyme

I apologize in advance if this entry is much longer than my usual ones. My love ended up ordering me 7 balms and then I bought 3 and then with each purchase there was 1 freebie so this review will be on 12 flavors of amazing lip balm. As I've been saying for a couple of weeks now, I'm obsessed with Etsy.com and especially now homemade/handmade lip balms. Handmade lip balms are so much better quality (from what I've experienced so far) than anything you can buy in stores, plus they come in a crazy amount of flavors that you wouldn't find anywhere else. Be prepared for tons of words and tons of pictures.

Look how cute they arrived, it was hard to
take pictures when all I wanted to do was
open those cute little bundles of lip balm.

Some of the balms listed in the review are missing because
 one was not sent with the others but I did receive it
 just two days later and with a freebie included.

Company: Orange Thyme

Flavors: Brace yourself. Toasted Coconut, Blueberry Lemon, Pomegranate Lemon, Lemon Creme (told you, I'm obsessed with Lemon right now!), Coconut Mango, Key Lime Pie, Lychee & Red Pear, Rhubarb Strawberry, Passion Fruit, Blood Orange (I'm kinda obsessed with this right now too) and the two freebies: Earl Grey Tea and Frozen Banana.

The Toasted Coconut came with a little tip on
top, still usable and still wonderful <3.

Toasted Coconut-It smells absolutely delicious, very light coconut but a lot toasty. Kind of reminds me of popcorn sometimes. I love this smell. It's absolutely delightful.
Blueberry Lemon-My first ever blueberry lip balm and I love it. It smells just like blueberry lemonade or a blueberry lemonade martini (the reason behind why I wanted to try this is because I had one a few weeks ago and LOVED it, yum!). It's not too much blueberry or too much lemon, a nice harmony between the two. Love.
Pomegranate Lemon-I was expecting a very bitter pomegranate like the few other pomegranate balms I have but I thought the lemon would be a nice complement to it. Boy, was I right! It smells like candy and summer time, very sweet and uplifting. It makes me instantly happy whenever I smell it.

The Lemon Creme came a little disfigured, but
I love it nonetheless =).

Lemon Creme-Very light lemony scent, but can definitely sense a light hint of vanilla or something to give it that creamy aroma. It's light and refreshing. Another fave!
Coconut Mango-I was really excited for a tropical balm, I LOVE mango and am always trying to find a perfect mango balm. I feel that the mango was overpowered in this balm by the coconut. There's a strong scent similar to the one found in the toasted coconut. It is a very decadent balm that's for sure. Occasionally I catch a light whiff of sweet mango which is very pleasant!
Key Lime Pie-I LOVE key lime pie and am always feeling a little daring when I come across one because I always want to buy it, hoping that it will be like my favorite dessert. I always find that the balms are too limey though and not enough creaminess that I find when I dig into a slice of Key Lime Pie. This balm was also very limey =(. Not as limey as the others but still more lime than I was hoping for. Still a delightful balm.
Lychee & Red Pear-I was really excited for this one, I LOVE lychee and never come across it anywhere, especially not in a balm. I didn't know what to expect since Lychee has such a light scent to it. This balm has a sweet, light, perfume-like scent to it. Not quite sure if it really captures lychee essence or not. I think I'm smelling more red pear in it. Either way it is a very light, delicate balm that I'll be wearing on the days I'm feeling a bit more girlish.
Rhubarb Strawberry-I did not know what to expect from this. My boyfriend really wanted me to get it because it was different and he said he liked Rhubarb Strawberry Pie. I didn't even know what Rhubarb was until I googled it, then I REALLY didn't know what to expect. This balm has a sweet, tart smell to it. I can definitely tell there's some strawberry in there and a hint of something extra (which I'm assuming is the rhubarb, but then again I've never had it before). It's wonderful! I was pleasantly surprised.
Passion Fruit-Companies always are a hit or miss with passion fruit I feel like. Sometimes I really love it, sometimes I really wish I hadn't purchased it. This one is somewhere in the middle. It is definitely a delicate, very fruity scent. It's a crisp scent. Very pleasant.

This was the balm that wasn't included with the rest initially,
blood orange, and the frozen banana was the freebie included.
The seller is so amazing with communication and sent it out
right away.

Blood Orange-Compared to the other blood orange I purchased from Firebird Bath & Body (found in my previous review), this one is much more typical orange than the characteristic scent of blood orange. Regardless it is a strong, citrus-y scent and I adore it! If you love citrus, you will love this! Very sweet!
Earl Grey Tea-Although I am a tea fanatic, I've never had Earl Grey Tea. I don't know why but I just never have. My boyfriend says he loves it so he's really happy I got it as a freebie (I'm assuming it may get stolen from my collection, so I'm on guard). But it smells just like a cup of tea, I was surprised that I loved the scent. It's light but definitely there. I'm not curious as to how the tea is because of how good this balm smells.
Frozen Banana-Smells fabulous! Dead on for banana, not too over powering and not too light. It's just right, I love it! In mine it smells like there is a light undertone of nuts, reminds me a little of a banana split sundae. Fabulous.

Wear: I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW AWESOME IT GOES ON! It is THE smoothest balm by far I've ever put on. A great amount of product goes on with just ONE swipe, it may even be too much! I love, love, love the way this feels when I put it on. It feels so smooth and moisturizing. I feel like my lips are really nourished when I put it on. My lips look great after I put on the balm. The balms last about 2 hours each, longer if I could just stop drinking water in between! But I love putting it on so much that I secretly hope it wears off, just so I can put it on again. Yes, it is THAT good.

Packaging Very cute labels! The labels on the tubes are color coded to the flavors, each label is different in color. The flavor is ascribed on the label in a font that looks like it was hand written. It's very unique and delightful to look at. It is your average size tube of lip balm. Wonderful.

Price: $3.25 plus shipping. It is totally worth it for this natural, handmade balm. It is such a high quality product; I'm so happy I purchased!

Overall:
Pros:FLAVORS, SCENTS, PACKAGING, PRICE, WEAR!
Cons:Absolutely nothing

Rating: 5 out of 5, you should definitely think about investing in at least a couple of these just to try out the plethora of flavors she carries.

Reviews to look forward to this week

I thought I'd give you all a sneak peak to what's coming up within the next week:

orangethyme

Maybelline Baby Lips

Possibly a few others if they arrive in the mail this week and if I have time to write up some reviews on other balms I've got hangin' out in my collection.

Let me know if there are any brands you would like me to review!

--The Chapstick Wrangler

Firebird Bath & Body: Blood Orange, Asian Pear, Lemon Sugar

As I've been telling you all, I've been addicted to going on Etsy.com and looking at all different kinds of handmade balms. It was very hard to limit my purchasing to just a few brands because I can tell you right now, I've got about 30 items in my cart that I'm dying to purchase. My boyfriend even went beyond his promised 11 balms to 13! Apparently there was a glitch in our text messages and he was really going to buy me only 5 so I was happy with 11 but he surprised me by letting me get two more, I'm such a lucky girl =). Anyhow, this particular brand I've been wanting to try for months now and finally got around to purchasing a few balms during a pre-order sale. My only regret was not ordering more!

Company: Firebird Bath & Body, formerly Flourish Bath & Body

Flavors: Blood Orange, Asian Pear, Lemon Sugar. I've been very addicted to lemon lip balms lately, just can't get enough of them! This Lemon Sugar balm however was a very subtle lemon scent. I was expecting my usual smack-in-the-face lemon scent. But it was still very pleasant. I was also looking forward to the Asian Pear flavor since I've previously mentioned my bad luck with the only other Asian pear flavor I own. This scent was also very light, at first I couldn't smell it at all. But once I used it two or three times I was able to detect a light, pleasant scent of a crisp Asian pear. Now the Blood Orange was a HUGE surprise for me. Even when purchasing it, I thought that the scent would be very light but boy was I wrong! The scent is definitely there and very characteristic of a blood orange. It is stronger than the other two and so sweet. I absolutely LOVE This flavor. I cannot stop putting it on! I always hope it will wear off so I can put more on but as you'll soon see, I have to wait a while!

Wear: These balms are in no way the smoothest balms I own. They are a little stiff when first being applied and don't appear to warm up a crazy amount. But in this case, I don't really see that as a problem. It goes on with great application without needing to be crazy slick and provides excellent coverage, just a few swipes and you're done. It goes on thicker than other balms and seems just slightly sticky at first but goes away. I actually love the way this balm applies which is what I was also really surprised about because I usually love really soft balms. This balm feels great going on, the thicker consistency feels moisturizing and it lasts FOREVER, at least 2.5 hours! I love these balms!

Packaging: I really love these labels, they are so cute and colorful and match their indicated flavor. They're gorgeous in color, very bright and make me just smile when I see it. The fonts are gorgeous as well, not your usual fonts that you see on a label. These balms look very classy and sophisticated while still maintaining a handmade touch to them. You can really by the look of these balms that someone cared to put enough effort into the product as well as the presentation of the product.

Price: $3.50 plus shipping. Great price for a natural, handmade balm.

Overall:
Pros:Flavors, application, crazy long lasting, natural, packaging, price
Cons: The only con I see is that I don't have more of these balms, does that count?

Rating: 5 out of 5 twists, this is also a MUST have in any lip balm collection.