Review: CO Bigelow Winter Cordials Mentha Lip Shines (yum yum!)

I've been on quite the lip balm kick these days, and it doesn't look like my lip balm reviews are going to stop any time soon! Lip balms are pretty much the easiest, and most inexpensive way to treat yourself with something fun, and beauty-related, and most lip balms actually do something good for your lips, which can also make them a smart investment.

If you're a lip balm junkie like I am, chances are you like to mix it up a bit and go between "serious" lip balms that have major healing properties, and "fun" lip balms that taste great, look cute and smell amazing but might not deliver the moisture that chapped lips crave.

But what do you do when you want a lip balm that straddles both worlds (serious and fun)? Until I received these CO Bigelow Winter Cordial Mentha Lip Shines for review recently, I pretty much resigned myself to wearing yummy-tasting, cute lip products on days when my lips aren't chapped. But now, that's all changed.

Allow me to introduce you to, quite possibly, the yummiest lip product on the planet, which is what I like to call "a lip balm in gloss form". CO Bigelow Winter Cordial Mentha Lip Shines are clear in color, they've got the properties of a moisturizing lip balm, but they're in the formula of a lipgloss. They're also made with 100% natural flavors (no odd chemical taste), and they're super shiny with a hint of iridescent shimmer. Talk about the best of all worlds!

CO Bigelow Winter Cordial Mentha Lip Shine in Triple Hot Chocolate (retail: $7.50, 0.5 oz) is pure decadence. To me, it is exactly like a Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookie in lip balm form. On the initial application, you get a burst of luscious chocolate, but then the peppermint oil makes its way through and I swear it tastes and smells exactly like a Thin Mint on your lips! So yummy, and I can't believe how glossy and great this feels on my lips. It's incredibly moisturizing while still fun to wear. Love it!

Warm Spiced Cider (retail: $7.50, 0.5 oz) is exactly as you'd hope it to be. At first taste and sniff, you get sweet red apples and a lovely hint of spice. But then, magically, the peppermint oil makes its way through and the whole mixture turns into yummy apple cider with a hint of mint. I don't understand how they get the peppermint to slowly unfold this way, but I love it. It really tastes like apple cider while you feel the zippy mint on your lips.

Vanilla Cream Eggnog (retail: $7.50, 0.5 oz), oh how I love thee! If the word "eggnog" scares you off a bit, I need to assure you that this in no way tastes like the eggy drink served at holiday get-togethers. To me, it does have a fragrance that is remniscent of eggnog, but the flavor itself tastes like how I would want Bath & Body Works fragrance Vanilla Bean Noel to taste, if that makes any sense. I get the vanilla, I get a hit of mint, and I get a soothing bakery note in this one as well. Sort of like vanilla mint butter cookies. Yum yum! I think this one might be my very favorite of the bunch. :)

Hot Buttered Rum (retail: $7.50, 0.5 oz) is delicious butterscotch goodness! If you're a butterscotch fan, you have to to try this one. It's like wearing butterscotch frosting on your lips! I don't really get the rum note in this one, but after I put it on, it took a minute or two and then the peppermint kicked in. It's got a zip to it, but the flavor is all butterscotch.

It's a mystery to me how CO Bigelow manages to make these all smell and taste just like their names, but yet the "mentha" part of the Mentha Lip Shines manages to wait in the wings so that you can enjoy the candy-like sweetness of these for a minute or so before the peppermint tingle makes its way to your lips. It's genius, I tell you!

And the best part is that these truly work wonders on my dry, chapped lips. Unlike many "novelty" lip balms that don't provide any moisture to parched lips, these Winter Cordials Mentha Lip Shines taste good, smell good, and truly do good things to my dry winter lips. You just can't ask for more than that!

BBW is currently running a buy-2-get-1-free offer on select lip products, including this collection. I think that any lip balm lover would be happy to get one or two of these lovelies in their stocking this year.

Oh, I almost forgot! These have a slant-tip applicator, in case you were wondering:

And here's a pic of a VERY thick layer of this gloss on my hand--this is thicker than you could ever wear on your actual lips, but I wanted you to see the iridescent shimmer in this gloss (all four flavors are clear with high shine and iridescent shimmer). Also, that strange white mark at the top of this pic is from the light of my desk lamp reflecting off this gloss. It's that shiny!

Do you already own any CO Bigelow Mentha Lip Shines? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

A sample of this product was given to Nouveau Cheap for editorial purposes, either directly from the manufacturer or from the agency that works on behalf of the manufacturer. All reviews on NouveauCheap.blogspot.com are the honest opinion of its author and gratis samples do not, in any way, affect the outcome of product reviews.