Nourishing Nuxe

I've been loyal to my Maybelline Baby Lips in Relieving Menthol for the past couple of years, but if there's one lip balm that's tempted me to stray, it's NUXE Rêve de Miel. (The other two, BY TERRY Baume de Rose and Christian Dior Crème de Rose are simply out of the question price-wise.) Despite losing count of the number of rave reviews I'd read, I managed to resist satiating my curiosity about it ... until I saw it at a French pharmacy while in Paris. I was set to only stock up on Bioderma and get my hands on some über-hyped La Roche-Posay Serozinc, but I suddenly recalled my repressed interest in it, and grabbed one to take home.

Ingredients: Cera Alba/Beeswax, Olus Oil/Vegetable Oil, Lecithin, Behenoxy Dimethicone, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) Extract, Mel/Honey, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Dimethicone, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Peel Oil, Caprylic/ Capric Triglyceride, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Rosa Moschata Seed Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate, Tocopherol, Citrus Medica Limonum (Lemon) Peel Oil, Candelilla Cera/Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Allantoin, Alendula Officinalis Flower Extract, BHT, Citric Acid, Citral, Limonene, Linalool [N0802/C].

NUXE Rêve de Miel Ultra-Nourishing Lip Balm wasn't what I was expecting at all. I'd read that it was 'matte' finish, so I'd prepared myself for that, but what I didn't prepare myself for was pretty much everything else. For one, it's thick but it's not sticky. It's more like a paste consistency. It smells like food, kind of a cross between honey and apricot jam. You need only the most minuscule amount, spread thinly across the lips, otherwise you've put on too much. The jar is 15g and would last an eternity.

Once applied, it feels a bit heavy and slightly mask-like on the lips, at least in the sense that I can detect some kind of balm sitting on top of my lips like a protective coating. It doesn't give that immediate, gratifying sensation of cooling, soothing hydration that my Maybelline Baby Lips in Relieving Menthol does — but maybe I'm just partial to menthol/mintiness in my lip balms. It's closer in texture to something like Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream (but without the greasiness) than a plush, ultra smooth, cushiony lip balm like the Korres Lip Butters. When I press my lips together to try to blend or work in the product, there's a lot of friction. It's not a balm that glides on and feels slippery or glossy in any way.

That's not to say it's a bad lip balm. It's just not what I'm used to. I think it would make an excellent lip primer (especially for slightly drying matte lipsticks) because the finish is non-shiny and it leaves the lips soft and well-prepped. Otherwise, I'd be inclined to use it as an overnight lip treatment, or an effective salve for particularly harsh weather conditions. On a more superficial note, I find the packaging really appealing, especially the weighty glass jar. Though NUXE Rêve de Miel hasn't become my new favourite lip balm, it's well worth checking out for those still holding out.