Review: Celestial Seasonings Lip Balms in Sleepytime and Sleepytime Vanilla

Purchased by Me

I credit this entire post, and the fact that I even know these lip balms exist, to reader @akle0lia, who told me about them exactly one week ago on Twitter. Right after she told me that she spotted them for FREE in special boxes of Celestial Seasonings teas at Walmart, I went on the hunt and found two boxes at a local Walmart here in San Diego. Since time is of the essence when it comes to freebies like this, I'm skipping my usual 2+ week testing period for products that I review here on the blog and I'm sharing my thoughts with you after about a week of testing.

WHERE TO FIND: If you want these lip balms after you read my review, start at Walmart and look for specially-marked boxes like you see in my pics above and below. I have not seen these boxes at any other retailers in my area (although I'm not certain they're exclusive to Walmart). I was only able to find the free lip balms in boxes of Sleepytime and Sleepytime Vanilla, although @akle0lia told me she spotted them in other flavors, such as Lemon Zinger (oh how I searched for a Lemon Zinger lip balm but no dice!). Also, these free lip balms appear to only be inside boxes with the original style packaging that you see in my pics (Celestial Seasonings is in the process of updating their packaging to this style). And if all else fails, you can purchase these lip balms individually or in sampler packs on the Celestial Seasonings website here (see shipping rates here). PS: I could not find these special packages on the Walmart website or on Amazon, but if you search and find them, please do let us know?

Now on to the review!

Celestial Seasonings Lip Balms in Sleepytime and Sleepytime Vanilla

(retail: $2.99 each or free in specially-marked packages of Celestial Seasonings Teas, 0.15 oz. each)

As you can see, the ingredients in these lip balms are all certified organic. These lip balms are vegetarian but not vegan, since they do contain beeswax.

You can see in my pic above that these did come safety-sealed, which is always appreciated.

You can see that the stick on the right is a little concave, which probably means it was manufactured at the end of a fill cycle. No biggie. 

So what do I think of these lip balms after a week of use? I LOVE them. They have a light, yet moisturizing formula and they glide on the lips very smoothly and easily. The texture is buttery, to the point of being almost oily, but not in a bad way. These aren't dry, waxy lip balms, but they also aren't greasy. They feel slick on the lips, but they deliver a quite suitable level of moisturization for an "everyday lip balm" type of product. These aren't heavy-duty, but they're quite nice and more than I was expecting for a "novelty" type of product. 

So the big question: What about the flavor and scent? To me, Sleepytime and Sleepytime Vanilla both smell and taste just like their accompanying teas. With Sleepytime, I get that same hit of chamomile and spearmint that I get with Sleepytime tea, and it's lovely in both flavor and fragrance. With Sleepytime Vanilla, the French vanilla smooths out the spearmint (just like it does with the actual tea) and makes it such a warm, comforting flavor and fragrance. What I LOVE about both of these lip balms is that they're not sweet. No sickly sweet fake sugariness here--just lovely, herbal tea notes. 

FINAL VERDICT: If you love Celestial Seasonings teas and you love unconventional lip balm flavors, I think you're going to be quite happy with these lip balms. They're not going to deliver enough moisture if your lips are severely chapped, but if your lips are normal or a bit dry, I think this formula will delivery a level of moisture that you'll be happy with. Plus, the all-organic ingredients are always nice, in addition to the yummy, tea-based flavors and scents. I love that these lip balms don't contain any sugar or sugar substitutes--just essential oils and skin-friendly base ingredients like olive, sunflower and hemp seed oil. If you can get these for free, I say jump on them if you spot them at Walmart. Heck, I'm even thinking about purchasing the variety pack now (see link at the top of this post). 

Thanks again to reader @akle0lia for putting these on my radar. What a find, and I'm so grateful that she took the time to let me know about them!

The products featured in this post were purchased with personal funds. For more information, click here.