Nuxe Rêve de Miel Lip Balm
I have a big mouth. Not in the "I can't keep a secret" sense, but in the literal sense. My mouth is physically large. My lips are... prominent. When I was a kid I would get teased about it. Not in a scarring, anti-bullying PSA kind of way. More like kids would say, "UH! Your lips are HUGE!" and I'd feel really self conscious. Now that I'm a grown ass woman, I don't feel self conscious about having full lips. I mean, women are getting their ass fat injected into their faces to look more like ME. Haters to the left, etc. (This extreme lip confidence is fairly new. I wrote about how I try to downplay my lips awhile ago in my Perfect Pout Product Roundup. What I said there is no longer the case. LIPSTICK 4EVA!) I'm no longer self conscious about having full lips, but I do get self conscious about how well maintained my fat mouth is. I cannot abide by the tiniest flake or bittiest bit of dryness. When your lips are so prominent, I feel like it's much easier to notice if they're chapped or flaky. One thing that's non-negotiable for me is slathering on a super moisturizing lip balm before I go to sleep. I've been on trips and forgotten my night lip balm and, let me tell you, I just about fell apart (lips first). For a long time my before-bed lip balm was Aquaphor. Sometimes I'd layer Yu-Be Moisturizer underneath Aquaphor for a super dose of moisture. As long as I did this, my lips stayed happy. But lately my Aquaphor (I use the large tube) has been separating, so I'd go to squeeze some out and I'd just get oil poured all over my hand. It was even grosser than it sounds. This happened so many times, despite my kneading the tube like crazy before I opened it, that I decided it was time for a change.
Before we get to the review, let's talk a little about how fun this product name is to say. Maybe it's just me, and maybe it's because I pronounce all French words like I'm Jean Louis fromCharade. (For those of you keeping track, this is the second time I have referenced Jean Louis from Charade on this blog. This is an important part of my life, obviously.) Anywhoo, Nuxe is pronounced "Nukes," but have a little fun with is. What would Jean Louis do? He'd be all, "Neuuuuuks." And make sure you get all gutteral with "Rêve," and draw out "miel" so it's like "meeeeee-elllllll." I go through this process every night while I apply my Nuxe lip balm. It takes about 20 minutes.
As the name suggests, this lip balm is the stuff of dreams. Get it? Because rêve means "dream" in French. (I don't speak French, I've just spent a lot of time in Vegas.) This is more than a simple lip balm. It's in a gorgeous glass pot and it feels so luxurious to whip it out and apply. As Lucky magazine says about literally everything, "So French!"
Now to the actual lip balm. The consistency is super thick. When I first used this balm I had to press into the pot a little to get enough product on my fingertip. It was that dense. As time goes on it does get a little bit easier to apply, but don't worry - the lip balm itself is still thick as all get out. It's hard to describe the texture of the balm. It's a bit grainy, but not in a lip scrub kind of way. It's just not a gloss, it's a matte balm. I think it's easy to get used to slick glosses on your mouth, so when you put on something that's more like a treatment, it can feel weird. But that's just a theory.
After about a week of using this lip balm each night, I was feeling such intense déjà vu it was driving me insane. (Déjà vu is SO French.) When I finally realized what I was reminded of, I yelled (yelled!), "BURT'S BEES CUTICLE CREME!" Now, to answer a question you may or may not be asking your computer screen right now: Yes, I have used cuticle cream as lip balm. In scenarios where nighttime lip balm is nowhere to be found, a big lipped lady such as myself has to MAKE DO. The consistency and smell are so similar between these two products that I actually checked the ingredients against each other, and you know what, they're pretty similar. Not in the sense that I'd recommend substituting Burt's Bees for Nuxe. After all, Burt's Bees is decidedly NOT French. But it was nice to know I wasn't imagining things.
I've been using my Rêve de Miel Lip Balm for about two weeks now, and I've barely made a dent in my little pot. And remember, I have big lips. And I use this stuff with wild abandon. What I'm trying to say is, while this may seem like a pricy lip balm, the cost per use is going to be pretty small. I'm of the opinion that even if this stuff lasted a month or two, it would be worth the pricetag, but I've become immune to spending $20 on fantastic lip products. This lip balm will run you around $12 in Europe, so I'd recommend stocking up if you ever find yourself in Nuxe's home continent. Send me a pot too, because I am addicted to this stuff.