Need a Lip Primer BUT Bite, Fresh, and Farmacy (and more) dry up / allergic reaction :( Ideas Please and Thank you!

[MirandaM30]

Hello All! 

Like the title says, I'm looking for a primer or a balm i can wear under my lipsticks- I've been searching and tried a hand full of lip balms and so on for dry lips; especially with the winter weather. Aside from Bite, Fresh, and Farmacy, I re-tried Bert's bees, chapstick, EOS, and carmax, and a bunch of other ones but my lips end up becoming MORE dry or irritated~ 

I've be looking around and a lot of primers either have a tint of color or they are from the above brands - my skin has really changed over the years; I USED to use chapstick, burt's bees, Bite and Fresh but then had allergic reaction/worse dry lips as of 2 years ago and got more sensitive - so I then tried Farmacy most recently a couple months ago (the Honeybee's one) and within minutes my lips started to itch-tingle and then ended with super dried up/cracked lips.

I'm not sure what the allergic reaction is to (I'm guessing it's the wax to be honest...).

I have been using the innisfree green tea night mask throughout the day and evening now and has been safe - I first started with lineige (sp?) night lip masks for hydration and it was working for a bit but not good for day-time, too dense to apply my lipstick over....

Any and all suggestions would be really really appreciated !!! thank you~ 

[sprocketta]

@MirandaM30 another vote for the Mac prep and prime.

[SportyGirly125]

@MirandaM30 MAC prep and prime lip

[MirandaM30]

Thank you! that appears to be one several are suggesting I try~ so I'll definitely give it a go 🙂  the more options I have available that work, the better ~ 

[WinglessOne]

Hi @MirandaM30 ! Which specific lip product(s) have you tried from Bite and Fresh that your lips hated? 

If you're not sensitive to lanolin, try Aquaphor Ointment as a lip balm. That's what I always use as a balm under my lipsticks (and these days, on my bare lips under masks). 

Spoiler

Aquaphor is a petrolatum-based healing balm. Petrolatum is a fantastic occlusive moisturizer. Vaseline and other petroleum jelly products are also very moisturizing on my lips but that texture doesn't work well under lipstick. Unlike those products, Aquaphor contains other helpful ingredients and plays much nicer with lipstick. 

I tap a little water over my lips, then apply a thin layer of Aquaphor while my lips are damp (but not soaking wet). I wait a couple minutes, then lightly blot off any excess with a cloth or tissue. 

If you can't do lanolin, try CeraVe Healing Ointment instead. This product doesn't work well for my lips, but some folks swear by it. (I do occasionally use this product on other parts of my face, along with Aquaphor.) 

My favorite lip primer is MAC Prep + Prime Lip. I apply this over Aquaphor, give it a couple minutes to set, and then apply lipstick over it. I use it under all liquid mattes, plus any other type of lipstick that typically misbehaves (bleeds/feathers a lot, has patchy coverage, wears off quickly, etc.). I'm not sure if the ingredients in this primer would irritate your lips, though... that's partly why I asked which specific products you've tried, so I can check the ingredients. 🙂 

[MirandaM30]

• Thank you!!! 

For Bite, I tried Agave day balm, lip scrub, night tine vegan therapy.

For Fresh, I tried a slew of the Sugar line: sugar mint balm, sugar sunscreen lip balm, and sugar advanced therapy treatment. 

I'll definitely give those suggestions a try, see how it goes, and post again ~ and keep an eye out for that lanolin (will see if that is a common variable in what doesn't work). 

Any additional suggestions that come to mind would be really appreciated 🙋‍♀️ 

Hopefully I get to find one that works for me soon~ 😊

Thank you for the detailed response! 

[WinglessOne]

No problem, @MirandaM30 , I'm happy to help! 

Your lips might be sensitive to perfuming essential oils (lemon peel oil, for instance) and fragrance components like limonene, linalool, citral, and geraniol. Those ingredients are in several Fresh lip products, as well as the Bite Agave+ Daytime Lip Balm. There could be another common denominator irritating your lips, but I wouldn't be surprised if fragrance components and essential oils are part of the problem. 

Note that all oils aren't essential oils. There are plenty of beneficial oils: rose hip and evening primrose (not to be confused with damask rose oil, which is an essential oil), jojoba, marula, sunflower, grape seed, etc. 

Something beneficial for many folks that I can't use on my lips is honey. This is a good humectant that attracts water and draws it into skin. Problem is, for some people (like me) it can also let the surrounding environment leach water out of skin. 😞 Lip balms that contain honey always—always—dry out my lips within 10 minutes of application. Beeswax is fine for me, but honey itself is not. I don't know if that's why the Farmacy product didn't work for you, but it's something else to watch for as you search for common denominators. 

Hope you find something that works well! 

[Emy10]

@WinglessOne you speak truth, lemon peel oil and other citrus ingredients are so harsh on my skin too.

I avoid products that smells citrusy, when i smell citrus im like Nope lol.

About bees wax, for me it doesnt work, which i thought would be a good thing for lips, but i think i heard its not that good because the lips cant "breath" or something like that. Burt's Bees lip balm dryed my lips over time, i didnt understand why, but then i searched about it and read about bees wax.

Thing is it seems fine for other people. Or maybe theyre like me and think that the drying is normal when its not too much, because we tend to think that bees wax should be good.

What do you think?

[WinglessOne]

@Emy10  Hmm, I hear people say various ingredients "suffocate skin" or doesn't let skin "breathe," but I'm not sure what they really mean by that. Sometimes I think they mean an ingredient is comedogenic (clog pores). Some people still say that about petrolatum, mineral oil, and dimethicone, and they're wrong about that. 

Beeswax, though... If I recall correctly, beeswax is also non-comedogenic on skin. It won't clog pores. It's occlusive, so it should be a good moisturizer when applied to damp skin. It's not as occlusive as petrolatum, but even petrolatum doesn't 100% block water or air, so it doesn't suffocate skin. Neither does beeswax. 

So, it might be that beeswax just isn't moisturizing enough for your particular skin. The Burt's Bees lip balms (all 10,000 "flavors" of them 🤣—I remember seeing a cucumber mint one, don't know if that one's still around) all contain beeswax, but the rest of the ingredients vary by flavor. Example: they might all contain castor oil, but I think only some of them contain sunflower oil. So, some of them might not be as moisturizing/occlusive as others. 

[Emy10]

@WinglessOne Yes, bees wax seems to not be that hydrating, i guess it also needs to be formulated well and work well with other hydrating ingredients. 

I didn't know that depending on the flavors that the formulation was different, i dont like that.

The only ones i tried were the Vanilla Bean one(liked it but wasn't good enough because over time my lips were dry), and mint-cucumber (didn't like).

One ingredient that i stay away that clogs my pores is Coconut. I bought the Drunk Elephant balm, and i really liked it at first, but then i kinda kept breaking out weirdly around the corners of my lips.

Its not the first time i had bad experiences with products that have coconut derived stuff in them. 

My guess is that it depends on the formulation, the amount of wtv ingredients, and also everyone can reacts differently.

What you think? 🙂

[Emy10]

Hello @MirandaM30 , i kinda feel the same about the brand Fresh, the products i tried from that brand didnt work for me, theyre lip balms are drying (its sad because i like the effect that the coconut balm had on my lips, it gave a nice small "blurring" effect on the color of my lips, because of its white consistency, i just liked it), but like we said, they are drying.

As for theyre face creams, i tried 3 different ones (medium samples), and oooh my skin did not like them at all. I was itchy, greasy and it just wasnt good for me.

What works for me are Bite and LaNeige(this one is a bit weird, sometimes it feels like its drying, so i use it as a gloss during the day and i dont think ill be rebuying it), but if those dont work for you, you could check out Aquaphore, though you might want to look at the ingredients too.