Carmex lip balms

A lot of people have been saying good things about Carmex lip products sold at PCX stores. I naturally got curious, being the cheap thrills person that I am. However, I don't normally go to malls in the south where all the PCX branches are, because they're too far (and I am lazy :P). So when my sister asked me to accompany her to Alabang Town Center for a school project, I jumped at the chance to finally feed my curiosity.

Price: P100.00 for the squeeze tube, P99.00 for the click stick
Location Bought: PCX Alabang Town Center
Approximate Date Bought: August 2010

Packaging: The yellow and red that both the squeeze tube and click stick variants use immediately make me think of McDonald's. Being reminded of greasy fast food by a beauty/healthcare product doesn't seem to be a very good packaging idea to me, so boo to Carmex manufacturers for that. Color issues aside, both variants get their jobs done reliably. The squeeze tube, despite not being angled, dispenses the balm cleanly and evenly (if not a little disturbingly, or maybe that's just me). On the other hand, the click stick pushes the balm up and down properly no matter how many times you twist it around unlike other twist-up balms in my experience, such as Chapstick. I think the clicking noise the twisting mechanism makes is a nice touch as well.

Formulation: I totally get why people like these lip balms so much. I can safely say that they're much better than other "everyday" balms in their price range, like Nivea and Chapstick. They smell and feel great, and provide instant relief to my lips, which have become especially prone to painful chapping now that the weather's getting cooler. The squeeze tube has a soft vanilla smell, while the click stick has a "cherry" scent that reminds me more of gummy worms than of actual cherries. (That's a major plus! I LOVE gummy worms!) Both variants have a soothing, cooling effect once applied, and both do not have any potentially nasty ingredients like parabens.

Click the pictures to enlarge 

There's not much difference between the two variants' ingredients, except the squeeze tube has cocoa seed butter, while the click stick has meadowfoam seed oil. I had never heard of the latter before, so I googled a bit and found that meadowfoam seed oil is actually a very effective moisturizer that absorbs quickly into human skin. Meadowfoam flowers are also pretty cute:

image borrowed from flickr user philipbouchard

The balm is available in three flavors (original, cherry, strawberry) for both types of packaging, but the PCX at ATC only had the squeeze tube in original.

Actual Usage: The squeeze tube provides a glossier finish than the click stick. Both variants perform equally well, but I prefer the click stick because it is more convenient to apply.

Squeeze tube. I leave this on my dresser for use at home

or before leaving the house.

Click stick. I bring this with me when I go out.

Other reviews can be found here, here, and here.