Maybelline Baby Lips Smells Like It Is Meant For a Baby

My lips are victim to Vancouver's dreary winter weather and have been chapped, cracked and peeling for weeks. Having run out of my beloved Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream, I needed a quick cheap fix ASAP. I snatched one of the Maybelline Baby Lips Lip Balms at the drugstore checkout after remembering some positive buzz surrounding the release. 

The packaging feels quite cheap and flimsy but appropriate for the price point. I think that the lettering should have been written directly on the applicator instead of the cap just for marketing aesthetic purposes. 

The colour payoff is very sheer (the swatch below is after multiple layers) which is to be expected with a lip balm. The colour adds just a light flush to the lips with a slight berry hue which is flattering but I doubt that it would be visible on pigmented lips. The product wears for approximately 2 hours and does leave lips feeling moisturized and soft for an hour afterwards. I love that it has SPF 20 protections since we often overlook sun protection for the fragile skin on our lips. 

Now for the part that I just can't get past: the smell. All of the reviews I have seen about this product have called it "subtly scented" but I beg to differ. It has a nauseating, artificial, sickly sweet grape scent that permeates the air. The smell is so strong that it lingers in the room for more than 5 minutes after application. Others could smell it on me up to 15 minutes after application and likened it to cough syrup. Not attractive. I rarely encounter a product that I can not use because of the scent, but this is one of them. 

There are so many great tinted lip balms on the market right now, such as Burts Bees, that really outshine this product. 

Grade: C-