Le Couvent des Minimes: Smile Lip Balm Honey Review

I wrote about the Le Couvent des Minimes Nutritive Lip Balm almost two years ago. I didn't hate it then but I wasn't very impressed either. The lip balm was gritty and it didn't last long on the lips. I was stumped as I didn't find its list of ingredients offensive at all.

Well, Le Couvent des Minimes revamped its lipbalm collection early this year. The collection is now an odd composition of three lipbalms in tubes and one lipbalm in a glass jar. The three in tubes come in three different aromas - Mint, Pear and Orange Blossom - and are more like non-sticky clear lipglosses (you can read my review here).

The one in the glass jar, which is what we'll be looking at in this post, is with honey aroma and is actually a slightly reformulated version of its predecessor, the abovementioned Nutritive Lip Balm.

Le Couvent des Minimes Smile Lip Balm, L-R: Honey, Pear, Orange Blossom

The proper full name of this product is Le Couvent des Minimes Smile Lip Balm Honey Aroma, Very Rich Formula.

Le Couvent des Minimes says:

SOS care for dried out and damaged lips.

Thanks to its original recipe with a delicious aroma, the Smile Lip Balm Very Rich Formula :

• softens the lips
• nourishes deeply the lips
• repairs the lips durably

The Smile Very Rich Formula is enriched in repairing ingredients.

Paraben free. Colorant free. Mineral oil free.

Ingredients:
Castor seed oil, coconut oil, caprylic/capric triglyceride, shea butter, castor isostearate succinate, octyldodecanol, glyceryl dibehenate, beeswax, tribehenin, glyceryl behenate, honey extract, royal jelly, honey, propolis extract, aroma, hydrogenated vegetable oil, butylene glycol, sodium saccharin, water, tocopherol, glycerin, coco-glucoside, linalool

The brand highlights the following on the box packaging:

• Honey extract: softens
• Shea butter and beeswax: nourish
• Royal Jelly: repairs
• Honey : aroma

A quick comparison with the ingredients list of the previous version shows that there are minor changes in the formula but the goody ingredients remain the same.

Even though the formula hasn't changed all that much, I like this new version for some reason. The lipbalm does look smoother than the previous version. There was no grittiness when I first bought it - the contents were buttery smooth. A few months on though, the lipbalm is starting to look a bit gritty but just a tiny bit. So, I'm not complaining yet.

The lipbalm smells just like the old version i.e. gorgeously of honey and it tastes sweet too (it contains sodium saccharin). This version does seem to last longer on the lips and, with a thick layer, it's good enough for overnight use. Overall, it's a thumbs up.

One more thing. I had a reason for buying this new version, despite my meh experience with the old one. I may have had some complaints about the old one but ironically, this turned out to be a cure for the occasional red, itchy patch on my eye lid. Yeah, eye!

The last time I had this issue, it started on one lid near the brow and then, it spread to the outer corner of the eye. Some days later, the outer corner of the other eye had it too! I tried almost all the natural remedies in my cupboard, including Suvana Paw Paw & Honey Balm and the SheerinO'kho Eye Cream but nothing helped. I got panicky. Out of desperation, I applied the Le Couvent des Minimes Nutritive Lip Balm around my eyes and whatdyaknow, the awkward, red, itchy patches were gone within a couple of days! It could be the propolis and/or the royal jelly that did the trick, I suspect.

So you see, it was only right that I gave this new lipbalm a second chance. If it didn't work as a lipbalm, I could always use it as an SOS eyebalm.

Recommended retail price: €9.10 / USD12.50 for 15ml / 0.5oz

Le Couvent des Minimes website


Here are a couple of places where Le Couvent des Minimes products are sold:
Benelux - ICI Paris XL parfumeries stores in Nederland and Belgium
USA - Beauty.com

Le Couvent des Minimes: Smile Lip Balm Review

Le Couvent des Minimes (a much smaller and lesser-known sister brand of L'Occitane's) revamped its lipbalm range some months back. Oh, wait. That lipbalm range was really just one product - the Le Couvent des Minimes Nutritive Lip Balm.

With the 'revamp', the new range called Smile Lip Balm now consists of four products: three Smile Lip Balms in tubes and one Le Couvent des Minimes Smile Lip Balm Very Rich Formula with Honey Aroma in a glass jar.

I had some issues with the old lipbalm but I was nevertheless curious about this new range. I bought two of the tube Smile Lip Balms and also the one in the glass jar. I will write a separate post on the latter. This post is on the tube lip balms:

• Le Couvent des Minimes Smile Lip Balm Pear Aroma
• Le Couvent des Minimes Smile Lip Balm Orange Blossom Aroma

What Le Couvent des Minimes says (excerpts)
Thanks to its original recipe with a delicious aroma, the Smile Lip Balm:

• softens the lips
• nourishes the lips
• protects the lips

Dermatologist tested. Paraben free. Colorant free. Mineral oil free.

Ingredients
Triisostearin, Trihydroxystearin, Shea butter extract, Silica Dimethyl Silylate, Apricot kernel oil, Jojoba seed oil, Aroma, Marshmallow root extract, Saccharin, Propylene Glycol, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Water, Linalool, Geraniol, Limonene, Eugenol.

To help you sift through the ingredients list with some complicated-sounding items, Le Couvent des Minimes highlights on the packaging the natural ingredients and their intended function:

• Marshmallow extract : softens
• Shea butter : nourishes
• Apricot seed oil: protects

My Thoughts

Application
The plastic tube has a slant-tip opening which is handy if you wish to apply directly on the lips with the tube. I like to keep the tip and the screw-on cap clean, so I prefer to squeeze the contents on my finger and then apply.

Scent
The scent is very present in the first couple of minutes of application and yeah, the aromas are dead-on. I especially like the pear variant as it's really like taking a bite of a very juicy, ripe green pear. Despite the saccharin, the Smile Lip Balm is tasteless.

Texture
This Smile Lip Balm isn't a balm in the true sense of the word. It doesn't contain any waxes - no beeswax, no candelilla wax, no carnauba wax. In fact, the 'balm' looks like a gel, like a colourless lipgloss - viscous and murky translucent - but unlike lipgloss, it has a non-sticky formula, which is great! The lips are left with a mildly glossy finish, which is why I tend not to use it at bedtime.

The gel spreads smoothly and effortlessly on the lips and it's lasting too. The lips stay smooth, cushy-soft and moisturised for several hours until it's time to eat. A thin layer applied would also work well as a lipstick base.


Final Words
I'm impressed. I wasn't expecting much when I bought these but I really like these tube Smile Lip Balms now, inaccurate the 'lip balm' name may be. If anything, I think the creators should have called it a lip gel, a lip conditioner or even a lip treatment.

Even though it doesn't look like all the ingredients are natural and I don't know if the aroma is natural or synthetic (let me know if you happen to have more information), it's great that it doesn't contain parabens and petrolatum. I like the fact that the shea butter figures quite highly on the list of ingredients and the presence of apricot kernel oil, jojoba seed oil and marshmallow extract can only mean more nourishing goodness for the lips.

Its recommended retail price in Europe is €7.50 for 15ml / 0.5oz. At the ICI Paris XL parfumerie stores here in the Netherlands, they go for €6.75 each.


More information:
For the background story on Le Couvent des Minimes the brand, please read this post here.
Le Couvent des Minimes website

I did a quick check and here are some of the places where one can buy Le Couvent des Minimes products:

Benelux - ICI Paris XL parfumeries stores in Nederland and Belgium
UK - Tesco's Beauty Halls in Bolton, Dudley and Newport
USA - Beauty.com
It says on the Beauty.com website that with a USD35 purchase of Le Couvent des Minimes products, you'll get a free full-size tube of the soap-free Rinse-Off Cleansing Cream (worth USD16) from its Beneficial Rose Skincare range. Ends 31 Dec 2012.

Le Couvent des Minimes: Gardener's Hand Healer Review

20% Shea Butter & Seven Magical Plants.

Seriously, that's what it says on the packaging. I'm tempted to think that this is a wizard's concoction. For his gardener.

Well, if you've read an earlier post of mine, you might know that the wizard in this case is actually, umm, L'Occitane. Familiar packaging, no?

Le Couvent des Minimes the brand was created by L'Occitane in honour of the long tradition of care and healing using products and plants harvested from the land surrounding the convent/hospice. Today (for better marketing purposes, I suppose), the product range of Le Couvent des Minimes is divided into eleven categories, which they call 'recipes'. This particular hand cream shares the same name as the recipe - Gardener's Hand Healer.

According to Le Couvent des Minimes
This rich, emollient cream blends 20% of the finest grade shea butter with seven carefully selected beneficial botanicals. This intensive formula restores moisture to the skin and protects active, chapped and cracked hands like an invisible glove to leave them soft and smooth.

The Cream
Well, I think this is a good hand cream, if you're okay with the scent. The thick, white cream smells lemony verbena. The scent is less fresh and more aromatic than plain lemon and in fact, it's quite like lemongrass. I'm not a fan of its scent but that's a matter of personal taste. The scent is strong at first but it tones down after a while.

The cream sinks in in less than a minute, leaving the skin very slightly tacky but not greasy.

This rich, thick hand cream would work great for the outdoors (keep in mind the name of this product), especially now in winter. I have however been using this as my bedtime hand cream for the past few months (I don't do gardening - plants die on me, every time). My other hand cream, the Weleda Pomegranate Regenerating Hand Cream, which used to be my night hand cream is now used in the daytime, along with others. Sometimes, if I remember, I would wear cotton gloves after application and in the morning, I would wake up with extra soft hands, still subtly scented with lemon verbena.

Update
I've written a post on the cotton gloves that I wear: Essence Nail And Hand Care Gloves

Ingredients
The convoluted list (please click to enlarge):

The quick list (from the box packaging):

• Shea butter - healing and protective
• Mimosa - restores moisture to the skin
• Verbena - revitalising
• Chamomile - soothing
• Marshmallow - calming
• Calendula - softening
• Lemon balm - softening
• Rosemary - protective

Final Words
Would I buy this cream again? I may, if it's on special offer. The thing is, just like with lipbalms, there are just so many more out there that I'd like to try! There is another hand product from this Gardener's Hand Healer range called Nail & Cuticle Fortifying Salve. Perhaps it's a product to keep in mind for the future.

In the Netherlands, Le Couvent des Minimes products are available at ICI Paris XL parfumerie stores. The Gardener's Hand Healer retails for €12.50 (75ml) but I bought mine at 30% off at ICI Paris. So, if you're interested, look out for the ocassional discounts on the Le Couvent des Minimes range there.


Further reading:
My first post on Le Couvent des Minimes, including the history/heritage of this convent in the Alpes de Haute-Provence and a review of the Le Couvent des Minimes Nutritive Lip Balm

Le Couvent des Minimes website

Lip Treatment: Le Couvent des Minimes Nutritive Lip Balm

It’s probably easier to get straight to the point and talk about the lipbalm, but I find it interesting to explore the brand first.

Le Couvent des Minimes is a landmark in Mane, France. It started life in 1613 as a monastery for friars from the order of Minims. Horticulture was a major activity there. It was left unoccupied after the French Revolution but it underwent restoration and was transformed into a hospice in 1862. A community of Franciscan sisters from the Missionaries of Mary moved in some years later, taking care of the hospice and its residents. The Sisters cultivated the grounds near the convent and the harvest was used to feed not only the residents but also to refortify the health of the Sisters who returned from tropical countries.

The idea of the products being made by the Sisters at Le Couvent des Minimes is very romantic, but sadly, that isn’t the case. The remaining Sisters were too old and too few to keep the hospice and the gardens running. They vacated the convent sometime in the past decade or so.

That was Le Couvent des Minimes, the history.

If you think the packaging looks rather like that of a well-known brand, you’re not that far wrong. Think L’Occitane. It was actually L’Occitane that created Le Couvent des Minimes, the brand, in 2004 in honour of the convent’s long tradition of care and welfare using plants and natural ingredients. Le Couvent des Minimes is like a baby brand of L’Occitane. In the scheme of things, if L’Occitane were the ocean, Le Couvent des Minimes would be a little pond.

Le Couvent des Minimes has a relatively small range of body, hair care and home products, totalling around fifty. Each has a numbered formula and the products fall into one of nine “recipes” with names like Beneficial Rose Skincare, Gardener’s Hand Healer and Skin Softening Recipe.

The Nutritive Lip Balm I’m featuring here falls under the Nourishing Recipe category – Formula 106. It’s housed in a little glass jar and is priced at €9.10 for 15ml. I bought this at ICI Paris XL.

Product Info (excerpts, translated)

Residents of the Couvent des Minimes owned more than 70 hives from which they obtained the honey, royal jelly and beeswax for food and to make candles.

So thanks to their fortifying and nourishing properties, Honey and Shea contributed daily to the proper restoration of the Convent residents who came for comfort, care and hospitality.

Recommended for dry, sensitive skin or for those who like sweet scents, and gourmets.

With its combination of the Original Recipe Honey tonic, softening Beeswax and nourishing shea butter in a small portable and convenient jar, Nutritive Lip Balm:

• protects lips against external aggressions (cold, wind, pollution...)
• nourishes and repairs chapped lips.
• softens lips.

Chapped lips are repaired and softened. The lips are protected.

Ingredients

My Thoughts
Scent
It smells very strongly of honey. Very sweet honey. I’m fine with that, but perhaps there are some of you who don’t favour this scent.

Texture
It looks a bit grainy in the jar, which kind of reminds me of crystallised honey. On application, it feels mildly grainy too but that melts away with some gentle rubbing. I didn’t think it was sticky on the lips.

Moisturising Effect
Hmmm, this aspect disappointed me. I can’t say it’s an extremely bad product. It’s just decent. I’ve given this lip balm more than a few weeks to prove its worth and as much as I would like to love it, I don’t. I apply it before going to sleep and I wake up in the morning with dry, almost chapping lips. During the day, it works fine for the first couple of hours, but it always requires re-application way too soon! I’ve had better experiences with other natural lip balms, so I don’t think I’m being overly critical here.

Final Words
I’ve read that some people absolutely love this lip balm. I’m not one of them, but still, I’m very taken by this L’Occitane-created brand. In fact, I’m not giving up on Le Couvent des Minimes yet. I’d like to try something from its Gardener’s Hand Healer Recipe next.

So, whatever happened to Le Couvent des Minimes, the convent?

It was turned into a luxury hotel and spa in 2008. Charming!

In the Netherlands, Le Couvent des Minimes products are available at ICI Paris XL parfumerie stores.

More information:
Le Couvent des Minimes website
Le Couvent des Minimes Hotel & Spa website