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

Mill Creek Botanicals: 99% Aloe Vera Gel Review

We had an aloe vera plant at home when I was young. I remember once having tried rubbing a small piece of raw aloe vera on my face but its yucky sliminess just didn't appeal to a girl of twelve. Encouraged by my aunt, I had tried eating it too. It was something between tasteless and bitter. I had it with some honey as well, which made the experience slightly more pleasant but that was the end of it, really. I wasn't impressed. I guess I was just too young to appreciate its simple, natural goodness.

Of course, I've learnt to see things differently now that I'm a lot older. I have used a couple of skincare products which contained a bit of aloe vera but that's not quite the same, is it? For the longest time, I had toyed with the idea of getting an aloe vera plant of my own but hey, who am I kidding? Plants always die on me! So, the next best thing was to get bottled pure aloe vera gel.

I only started a serious search on it early this year. There are many choices out there if you looked and this tube of Mill Creek Botanicals 99% Aloe Vera Gel just happens to be the first one I bought.

True, it's not 100% pure aloe vera gel but 99% is pretty good, methinks.

Ingredients:
Aloe vera gel (organic), deionized water, cucumber extract, comfrey extract, allantoin, carbomer, tetrasodium EDTA, triethanolamine, oleth-20, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, essential oils.
*Certified organic ingredient by BCS OKO - Garantie

Mill Creek Botanicals says:

All the amazing properties of pure Aloe Vera are carefully extracted from the Aloe Vera plant and are completely intact in this convenient tube. We add Cucumber to help keep the skin toned, fresh and soft. Also Comfrey and Allantoin to further assist the skin's healing process. This moisture-rich, quick-absorbing Aloe Vera Gel helps soothe and moisturize dry skin and relieve skin irritations, minor burns, insect bites and sunburn. A cooling aftershave balm for men and women.

It is pH-balanced and it contains no fragrance, no parabens and no glycols.

I gave half the contents to my Mum and frankly, she has got more to contribute to this review than I do. She loves this aloe vera gel and in fact, she finished her half within a couple of months. I got her another brand of aloe vera gel to try (and compare) after that.

Here are some uses:

• Heat rashes
In hot weather, she often has rashes on her limbs and as we all know, the more you scratch, the more it spreads. The aloe vera gel (plus the cucumber extract, I'm sure) cools and soothes the skin/itch. The rashes are gone within fifteen minutes after application of the gel.

I use it for the same purpose too. It works like a charm. Love it!

• Insect bites
She applies it on the ocassional mosquito bite. Again, it soothes the itch and after a while, the bump and the redness are gone.

• Sunburn
My husband uses it on his sunburnt arms sometimes and it really relieves the discomfort.

So, the keywords are 'soothing', 'cooling' and 'relief'. Sometimes, I apply it on my skin simply to cool down on a hot summer day. Aloe vera gels tend to be neutral in many ways - colourless and almost no smell (this one from Mill Creek has a subtle cucumber-y scent). It's just a gel minus the sliminess. The gel doesn't take very long to dry and/or evaporate and you can almost feel an unobtrusive thin film left on the skin.

I've read that some ladies use it as a facial moisturiser. I can imagine it would work great if you have oily, sensitive skin. I have tried it a few times on my face but I didn't find it moisturising enough. It won't work well if you have dry skin. Ditto for say, the hands. It just cools the skin. Period.

Mill Creek Botanicals also has a couple more aloe vera products in its range. One of them is the Aloe Vera & PABA Moisturizing Lotion, which combines the goodness of aloe vera to soothe minor skin irritations and PABA for natural protection with its UV absorption qualities. Perhaps that is something I could look into later.

Anyway, the best thing about this 99% Aloe Vera Gel is how cheap it is. The recommended retail price is US$5.99 but I paid just US$3.58 for this 180ml / 6fl. oz tube. I bought it from the US-based iHerb, which is one of my favourite places to shop on the internet.

A bit of shameless plugging here: If you're new to iHerb, my iHerb coupon code QOJ683 will get you a US$10 discount on orders of US$40 or more, or a US$5 discount on orders less than US$40. Once you're a customer of iHerb, you'll get your own coupon code too, which you can then pass on to your family and friends.

As I said, there are many brands of bottled aloe vera gel on the market these days. iHerb carries several brands of it but you can also easily get one in your local drugstore. It's such a useful multi-purpose skincare product to have.

Suvana: Paw Paw & Honey Balm Review

Remember the cult favourite, Lucas Papaw Ointment? Well, this one from Suvana, also an Australian brand, is one alternative for those who've sworn off petroleum jelly (which the Lucas Papaw Ointment contains).

As I bought my tube almost a year ago, the name and the artwork that you see here on the tube is the previous version. I've done some checking and I see that the Suvana Paw Paw & Honey Certified Organic Balm (my tube) has had a little flip in the name. It's now: Suvana Certified Organic Paw Paw & Honey Balm. Same thing.

The Suvana Certified Organic Paw Paw & Honey Balm (henceforth Suvana Paw Paw & Honey Balm) has a cult following of its own too, I believe. Just like the Lucas Papaw Ointment, it's a multi-purpose balm and it contains paw paw (papaya) extract.

However, unlike the Lucas Papaw Ointment, the Suvana Paw Paw & Honey Balm does not contain petroleum jelly. Instead, it contains beeswax, which you may or may not like. That aside, its list of ingredients is a pretty straightforward one, all good stuff:

Castor Seed Oil*, Beeswax*, Coconut Oil*, Cocoa Butter*, Paw Paw Extract, Honey*, Jojoba Oil*, Vanilla Bean Oil*, Candelilla Wax, Carrot Oil, Stevia Extract, Natural Vitamin E
* certified organic

It's all-natural, contains no nasties and is ECOCERT-certified too. And no, Suvana does not test on animals.

This is what Suvana says of its Paw Paw & Honey Balm (excerpts):

.....this luscious balm soothes, softens and moisturises chapped lips, dry skin and dry and cracked elbows. Cocoa butter, paw paw and honey moisturise lips and give them long lasting protection......

Texture
It's a soft balm that melts easily on contact with skin. It doesn't feel gritty and it hardens slightly in low temperatures.

Scent
It has a mild, unobtrusive honey scent with a hint of vanilla. It has cocoa butter but that's not quite coming through in the overall scent.

Uses
As mentioned earlier, it's a multi-purpose balm:

• Lips - it works great to keep lips moisturised and the waxes leave a protective layer to prevent lips from drying out (well, that's really what most lipbalms do anyway, correct?).

• Problem patches - A while back, I had a frustratingly dry, red, itchy patch on my leg that wouldn't go away. For several weeks, I tried different remedies, including (diluted) tea tree oil, manuka honey, Aquaphor and this Suvana Paw Paw & Honey Balm, but none of them worked. In the end, I had to resort to using a teeny tiny bit of steroid cream (which I really really, wanted to avoid) and after two days, I started using the Suvana Paw Paw & Honey Balm on that patch. The Suvana balm didn't solve the problem (the steroid cream did) but it did help with the healing process.

• Nails and cuticles - I'm not fond of using balms on my body (they feel too heavy on the skin due to the waxes) but on small areas of skin, like hands, fingers, nails and cuticles, that's fine. I do use Suvana as a cuticle balm once in a while, especially when I'm travelling (my main one is the Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream).

• Eyes - I had read that some ladies use it as an undereye balm on a regular basis. As for me, I had used it on the outer corners of my eyes when I was away from home for a few weeks. I didn't bring my regular eye cream with me, so the Suvana balm worked well as a temporary substitute. Just a very thin layer would do.

• Minor scalds - along with some other multi-purpose balms, I also use the Suvana Paw Paw & Honey Balm on scalds - very helpful for little mishaps in the kitchen.

New tube with foil seal

Packaging
Suvana uses recyclable packaging. Its tube design is reminiscent of that of Lucas Papaw's, no? About the same size, same weight (25g), just different colour. The tube is very handy to carry around in the makeup bag/handbag/luggage or toss around in the kitchen drawer. It's light and you don't have to worry about it breaking/spilling.

Last Words
This balm was my trusty companion when I was travelling recently. As I alluded to earlier, I used it as my night-time lipbalm, my eye balm, my nail/cuticle balm and as a relief for my eczema flare-up. At home, I tend to use it as just a lipbalm and for minor scalding incidents in the kitchen.

A handy one, this, and made with good, organic ingredients too. Don't we all just love a product that can multi-task?


More information:
I bought my tube last year from the UK-based Pawpaw Shop, an online shop I discovered while doing some research on the Lucas Papaw Ointment, ironically. The Suvana Certified Organic Paw Paw & Honey Balm is going for £6.99 (25g / 0.88oz).

Suvana Organic Beauty Facebook page

Lucas' Papaw Ointment

Papaw, pawpaw, papaya.

I grew up with the word 'papaya' in my vocabulary and it was only last year when I found out that papaya is also known as papaw and pawpaw in some parts of the world. Cute names, all of them.

My lovely Australian friend, The Diva's Polish, had included this tube of Lucas' Papaw Ointment in her swap package a while back (Thank you!). She's a fan of this ointment and from what I've read, it's been a staple in many Australian homes for several generations. Many have been using the Lucas' Papaw Ointment all their lives.

The Story
This ointment got its name from the medical doctor who formulated it, Dr. Thomas Lucas. He practised medicine in London but he moved to Australia in the 1870s. He was a leading medical practitioner who was also very knowledgeable in botany. He was especially interested in the papaw tree and it was in Queensland that he developed the formulation for the Papaw Ointment. He was convinced that he had discovered "the world's greatest healing agent" and decided to further his research on its applications. So, in Brisbane, he opened a special hospital called VERA where he treated patients solely with his Papaw remedies, with many positive results.

It was overwhelming for the family to continue running the hospital after Dr Lucas' death. His widow, who had inherited all his formulations, decided that it was better to make the ointment available to the wider public instead.

Today, the Lucas' Papaw Ointment is available in several sizes: jars of 75g and 200g, and a tube of 25g which is the one I have here (the tube is just 5" long).

Packaging
I'm very drawn to the packaging of the tube: intense red, plastic and old-fashioned looking (the logo depicts the VERA Papaw Hospital, by the way). A brand-new tube has a seal which needs to be twisted off with the cap. The tube version is very handy for in the handbag. It can be thrown around without getting dented or broken.

Information On Packaging
A local topical application for boils, burns, chafing, cuts, cracked skin, gravel rash, splinters, open wounds, insect bites and nappy rash.

The ointment helps to relieve and cleanse.

Ingredients
It contains Carica Papaya 39mg/g of fresh fermented fruit, and 0.1mg/g Potassium Sorbate as preservative.

The brand is quite secretive as that is all the information that can be found on the packaging about its ingredients. Of course, there has to be more. I checked its website and while it's not immediately obvious, I found out that it contains petroleum jelly. That may be all right for some of you and for others, that could be a no-no.

If the ointment contains anything else, I wouldn't know.

Ointment
Scent
To me, it smells like fruit gone bad. Rightly so. It has fermented papaw. Not to worry though. The scent dissipates quickly.

Texture
It's quite like Vaseline, only beige/yellow. It's thick and greasy. It sits heavily on the skin after application, so it's wise to apply only a thin layer.

Uses
This ointment can be used for anything, it seems. Dry skin, cuts, bruises and all those skin issues earlier mentioned. It acts as a layer protecting the skin from extreme weather conditions and, for wounds, it prevents infection.

I hardly use petroleum jelly on my lips anymore, but ocassionally, if I'm stuck somewhere without a lipbalm, I would use the Lucas' Papaw Ointment. It keeps my lips from drying out for a few hours.

True story: I scalded my left hand some weeks back. I applied a thick-ish layer of the ointment on the affected area (it was quite a big patch) and it worked great! No wound, nothing.

Interesting Facts
I read that, to this day, the papaws are hand-peeled and the ointment is still made in Brisbane.

Last Words
Put simply, it is petroleum jelly with fermented papaw. This is a multi-purpose ointment in a handy tube that you can throw into your handbag. It's great for skin emergencies, so I keep my precious tube in my bag always.

More information:
Lucas' Papaw Remedies website