January 22, 2009

Labello Lipbalm Review

Last week could possibly fall into the “end of the world as we know it” category considering that the Muse ran out of Labello Lipbalm.

Seriously.


The Muse takes these things uber serious and when she realized she was down to the last tiny drop of her Labello Lipbalm in Cherry she took herself off to her storage closet and proceeded to look for a new one.

GASP!

None left.

Oh.
My.
God.

Talk about panic attack.

But Muse couldn’t you go to the store and get some Chapstick?


Hells no! Chapstick is so NOT a Labello!

Jump ahead to read why the Muse adores Labello.

You may or may not be privy to the brand Labello here in the US, it’s basically a glorified Chapstick. That’s the key word, glorified…as it in glorious…as in it’s a glorious lip treatment that make your lips feel happy!

I discovered Labello years ago in Amsterdam and ever since that faithful day I am never without at least 4-5 tubes that I stash in my bathroom, my desk draw, my beside table, and even one in my kitchen. The moral of the story is YOU need Labello Lipbalm and shouldn’t be without it.

But why Muse?

If you’re a Chapstick lover (do Chapstick lovers exist?) or just a general lover of tasty lip balms, I’ll kindly remind you that Labello makes the best around. Not only does Labello make a wide variety of flavors and formulas, it also happens to be an extremely moisturizing, shiny, glossy, tasty treat for the lips! The formula is highly emollient and leaves lips with a wet, shiny, glossy look while offering moisture, a tiny hint of color, and in some formulas, SPF.





Who doesn’t need a great lip treatment for the cold harsh weather? This is ideal for preventing or curing chapped, dried lips while offering a beautiful glossy finish and a kiss of a fruity taste! Yums! Labello manages to keep a girl happy with over 25 different formulas and flavors of balm and is every introducing new flavors, new formulas, and new products (selections vary from country to country). Who doesn’t love variety?






Labello is available within Europe but you can find a few online shops that sell the line and also Evil-bay has a few sellers. I normally have a friend in Amsterdam who airmails about ten or so when I need them and it lasts me for quite a while and I find it cheaper ordering it in bulk however if you’re just wanting to try it out I do suggest nabbing one online if you have no other option.

Labello is 100 years old and quite fond of telling the world that Nobody Kisses Better…this Muse couldn’t agree more which is why she Muse Approves Labello Lipcare with a big hearty YAY!


The Muse thinks you needs some, the sooner, the better.

Love Labello?

Which are your fav flavors?

Fav formulas?

Tell the Muse!

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44 Comments

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • RioRosie

    OK, maybe some people buy the yummy flavors and like the subtle tints. Me? Labello alpine lip balm is an absolute necessity to avoid cold sores. I have been plagued by cold sores for more than 30 years. They seem to erupt when I’m exposed to a lot of sun. As a result, I kept Chapstick with me at all times–and did get some relief.
    Due to carelessness or poor planning, I found myself in Europe when my Chapstick ran out. Terrified that my vacation would be ruined by a cold sore outbreak, I found a department store in Luzern Switzerland to buy something–ANYTHING–that could help me. I bought a tube of Labello Alpin and within a couple days, I realized that this was the best stuff I’ve ever smeared on my lips. Within days, I began to hoard Labello Alpin–buying multiple tubes in Munich and Nurenburg. A year later, with my supply running low, a friend in Germany sent me more. Now, I search for online sources and periodically replenish my supply.
    I have had NO cold sores since I started using this. I live in a very sunny climate and I have not had one single outbreak since I found Labello Alpin. It is a miracle in a tube.

    • the Muse

      hey rosie! Sounds like Labello is a fav of yours 😀 I get really dry cracked lips in the winter so these are fab 😀 that’s an amazing story!!!! 🙂 so happy another Labello fan is in our presence :_D

    • Chris Johnson

      I too found this product in Switzerland when I felt a cold sore coming on, and it turned out to be the very best product EVER for healing the problems very quickly. NOT available in the United States!!!

  • KT

    I discovered Labello in Italy. Wow!! — I am a chapstick lover/connoisseur. So of course I bought multiple so I wouldn’t run out back in the US. Next trip, Spain, I ran out of my Labello and didn’t have a back up, yikes! Fortunately I found some in a lovely pharmacy. I buy in bulk when I see it, and recently discovered Nivea has put their label on the Labello and you can find it in America now. Only one variety though. I’ll continue to shop online or in bulk overseas. However, it is comforting to know I can run to Walgreens if I ever run out.

    • the Muse

      hey KT big fan of labello too 🙂 I normally buy bulk overseas as well. I always felt the Nivea weren’t nearly as nice in formula as these 😀

  • Niky

    Ahhh LABELLO! I’ve been using this brand since I was 5 (when I asked my mum for a lipstick, so that I could wear it jsut like her, and she bought me a labello chapstick). It’s nice to see a post about Labello though. So technically, it’s my first item of “make-up”! 🙂
    Currently, I use the tinted Cherry flavoured one! I LOOOVE it. Been hooked on it for almost 3-4 years now. It’s such a subtle (but brightish) red, and somewhere in between matte and slightly glossy. I always carry a tube of it in my handbag. I like the passionfruit one you’ve posted pics of. Must try to get a tube of that and try it out!

  • leah

    this is the funniest thing ever. i am OBSESSED with labello. i lived overseas for a year and clearly became addicted. i’ve been back a few times and have stocked up big time. however, i just realized i am on my last tube. how could i have ever let that happen??? i’ve always been a huge fan of keeping my lips moist and hydrated, but i would never consider myself to be a chapstick connoisseur. i’m a personal fan of the classic – no color or extra tint for me! 🙂

    so i was googling to see where – if anywhere – it is sold in america these days, and came across this. thanks for letting me share the love of something so trivial – yet also so important. 🙂

  • Christina

    Hi there!
    I love your blog, and now I discovered you are fond of Labello 🙂 Did you know that in Austria everyone calls lip balms Labellos, even if they are from another brand? They are THE dominant brand, and known for their quality.
    May be because Austrian/German winters are REALLY harsh sometimes, so people had to come up with something good I suspect 🙂

    As a kid I loved the flavoured and shimmer ones. I thought they dried my lips though, somehow, and switched to the generic one (dark blue), or to the alpine or sun one depending on the season.

    There is even this urban legend mothers should not give Labello to the kids for they will get hooked on the chemicals in there 🙂

  • Angela Smith

    I think this is an uber hoot! LOL I finally found someone that thinks like I do. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

    First introduced to Labello from my best friends mom. She is an Exchange Student Coordinator. She’s traveled everywhere. I was “ruined” for life. She got me started…but where would my supply come from after those two were gone?

    I got myself a German Exchange Student. Who I might say, has become my daughter in another country. We are still very close. She has kept me supplied for many years.

    I sadly went to my stash and GASP! I’m down to the plastic on two. Thankfully, my lovely German Daughter just talked to me this week. She’s coming in February to visit! YIPPEE! Thus my internet search for flavors. I usually use Chamille…it’s simply lovely. Also, the tints from Nivea are ok, but I don’t think they are the same formula. I can’t wait to get a Labello tint!!

    I thank you for your voice!

    Sincerely,
    Extremely Excited Labello Diva

    • the Muse

      hey angela sorry for the delayed reply great to meet a fellow labello lover!

      Aw that’s fabulous! My xboyfriend is dutch, his little sister, Leeza and I are best friends and she’s actually my labello crack dealer lol!

      thank god someone agrees that nivea and labello are very much different!

      thank you so much for your lovely comment and again sorry for the delayed reply!

  • labellogurl

    Heyy Muse! I am absolutely ADDICTED to Labello lip balms! The two I dislike the most are “Pearl and Shine” and “Velvet Rose” because they give a really pale colour and make my lips look white! 😐
    I absolutely LOVE the Star Fruits collection, and my favourites are Cherry, Strawberry and Pink Grapefruit! 😀
    But overall I must say, out of all the Labellos, I found two of them to be absolutely PERFECT, and they are Milk and Honey, and Classic. I am totally in LOVE with Labello Classic and that’s the only lip balm I’ll use from now on! It is extremely moisturizing, has a really great fragrance and has no colour, which makes it PERFECT! 🙂
    Also, I might try out the glosses that you reviewed on another review, though I find my lips react to glosses. I have “secret desires” to try out the HydroCare and Sensitive if I ever happen to find one where I live (I’m South Asian)!
    Hope you’ll do individual reviews of each of the Labellos you have tried, because we Labello fans and Muse fans would love you for it! And thanks for the great review and pictures! 😀 <3
    -labellogurl

    • the Muse

      hey labellogurl!

      I really love it too 😀 The Star Fruits are the yummiest 😀 They are great on my winter chapped lips too! Awww you’re most welcome! I’m so thrilled to hear your joy of Labello 😀 I’ll def consider doing some individual reviews for you hun! That sounds like a good plan hehe 😀 I don’t show Labello enough love around here!

      PS thanks for being a muse fan, I’m flattered!

  • Julia

    Funny how Americans fawn over Labello and I as a German order Lip Smackers from the US. xD
    I don’t know why, but the formular just doesn’t seem to stick on my lips or absorb into them. Especially the coloured ones. I loved the camomille version, but it got discontinued. ;___;

    • the Muse

      LOL weird Julie isn’t it? oh the irony! I really love these! 😀 I’m a chronic lip balm touch upp’er so it never wears off as I’m always applying and reapplying haha!

  • Josey

    I’ve been using Cherry labello for ages… now its discontinued. The new star fruits cherry labello is not as absorbent as the old cherry one & does not moisturise that well. It just leaves a shiny gloss that comes off easily. Friends & I have tried finding the old cherry flavour, no luck…. all sold out! If something works well… y discontinue it?

    Jose’

    • Thao Nguyen

      I agree with you 110% Josey, after using Labello’s Cherry flavoured lipbalm for a third of my life I am much dismayed to realize that the new Nivea star fruits cherry is, in my humble opinion, a far inferior lip balm.

      I adored the old cherry flavour mostly for its matte-ness.
      The star fruits is as you point out ridiculously shiny/glossy (read, yucky) and needs constant reapplication.

      Why develop YET ANOTHER glossy lipbalm for the market, Nivea? the world is rife with them;(
      Please, are lovers of things matte and un-bling an endangered species?

      I wrote to Nivea and pointed out that I believed the new formula varied so very drastically from the original Cherry and they gave me some palaver saying that this was not the case, citing the weather where I am using the product (I live in Canada) as the cause for poor performance of this balm.

      Am now down to my LAST TUBE of the old cherry Labello and
      without exaggeration not a day goes by when I don’t lament that it is no longer available.

      Very very sad.

    • Sophia

      I’m interested to hear your comments about the cherry Labello. My thoughts exactly. I liked the old one very much and presumed the new one would be the same, but with glittery effect. Instead, it’s feeble in comparison – a great disappointment.

  • CantLuvCantHurt

    I think that the reason for so many oooh and ahhhhs is the novelty factor nothing else. =) LoL Or maybe it’s just me? O_o? Naaaaah =).

  • jenna

    muse once again you bring a smile to my face!!

    i got down to the plastic on my “Labello”(Nivea – it’s all we have here in Canada lately!) and i thought “i wonder what Muse would think of these” i’m so glad youre a lover of them!!
    i am a user of the pearl & shine (or Pearly Shine as Nivea calls it) and i am happy to say that the formula on this particular one was much improved when nivea took over!
    sorry to hear that Nivea wrecked the fruity kinds! i used the real Labello in strawberry and cherry before they disappeared here and loved them! yum yum and the tint is super!! at least you can still get the real labello fruity ones there (i want grapefruit so bad!!!) but maybe I’ll give the Nivea ones a go since i like what they’ve done with “pearly shine”. Thanks again Muse!

    • the Muse

      aw shucks jenna glad I made you smile! absolutely adore labello 😀 great stuff! my pleasure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀

  • Christina

    hi dear Muse 🙂

    thanks to you I got interested in the fruity labellos for the 1st time since my teen years and the only “lipstick” I was allowed to wear :))

    I saw cherry, dragonfruit and pomegranate – I had to get pomegranate, love the reddish tint that actually gives some colour to my lips (they’re very pigmented and most Maybelline to even Mac glosses show up as clear gloss only 😉 ), love the scent.

    Want me to send you one ? 😉 I would!

    • the Muse

      hey christina 😀 Awww thanks hun! I actually have ALOT to get through lol Labello are my obsession but thank you anyway *hugs* so glad to have a fellow labello lover 🙂

  • Sarah~

    Ah, Labello? How funny! I like using chapstick (I’m a military kid in Germany, what.) So when I was visiting my grandparents- they don’t speak english- I kept asking them ‘When can we go shopping? I NEED LABELLO.” But Labello is so expensive compared to the chapsticks OTL It makes it easier to buy $0.99 chapstick compared to 1.50 euro Labello.
    I’d send you some, though, no doubt. (I can find them in the stores in another matter.) I just go with the classic, Don’t care much for wearing makeup- Ironic, seeing as I love reading makeup reviews. (I don’t consider Labello makeup. I consider it a form of awesome chapstick XDDD)

  • Sophia

    I love Labellos but they don’t have many varieties to chose from in Israel. Here is my impression of the ones I’ve been able to find…

    the tubes:

    the pink and red CareGloss & Shine – Tastes like jam, very nice! A bit sticky but lasts well and has a pretty colour and it does moisturize well. Definitely faves.

    the sticks:

    Pink Grapefruit Star Fruits – lovely smell and taste, but it slips off quite easily

    the Cherry one – I’m upset they changed the formula of the Cherry Kiss which was red on the lips, matte formula, great smell and taste. It was replaced by Cherry Fruity Shine and now I find it’s greasy and just not as good.

    velvet rose – my favourite! the smell, the colour, ahhh!

    pink pearl – looks nice but hated the taste and threw it out halfway

    the yellow stick – sun formula – liked it, nice smell/taste

    the white stick – medicated – as above

    the blue stick – think I used that as a kid, must try it again

    Thanks for reading 🙂

  • Thao Nguyen

    Again, hearing mention of the old cherry formula (in Sophia’s post) makes me so sad and upset!

    My partner and i have only recently returned from our 2-yr long 37 country motorbike trip where I looked incessantly for the older Labello cherry balm — alas, without success.

    I recall that in Nov 2008 I purchased a few tubes in Israel–does anyone know if Superpharm still carries the old tubes?!?

    In late 2009 I went so far as to risk purchasing from an online pharmacy, out of the czech republic, who had claimed they had old stock….I paid a small fortune for the shipping–on the road as I was—only to find it was the blasted NIvea formula.

    To my knowledge, the Labello Cherry (former) lip balm is no longer available in store/online neither in N. America or abroad.

    If ANYONE knows otherwise, please come forward!

    😉
    thx

    • Sophia

      Thao, I get my Labellos at Superpharm and they only have the new cherry which I dislike. I can’t remember when I last saw the old Cherry Kiss one – probably a year or two ago – so I’m sure that if I were to find one by some miracle, it would be dusty and have expired and no longer be nice and therefore not even worth buying.

  • bell

    i am a Labello addict! only problem is they changed the formula! the FRUITY SHINE is NOT the same…. the old cherry labello produced alot of color and was not sticky, while the new formula doesnt give the same effect…. :(((((

  • Lexi

    Dammit Muse! Now you’ve made me add yet another lipbalm to my never ending wishlist, even though I already have 5 brand new ones in my drawer! I have to ask though, is Labello sticky/greasy? i’m very picky when it comes to lipbalm! Thank you x

  • Yasmi

    I love this product! I first discovered it in Mexico and I fell in love, I tried every way to find it since I don’t travel to Mexico often. I even convinced a coworker to bring me one back from her trip to Mexico. I was so happy when Nivea introduced their lip balm with almost the exact same packaging but was disappointed to find that it does NOT compare to Labello. Nivea does not provide any shine and dries out my lips. My family is traveling to Mexico for the holidays, I’m going to ask them to bring me one back (I would ask for more but I don’t want them to discover my obsession). Thanks!

  • malek bougacha

    j’aimme labello 😉 i love labello je l’adore labello et le maillure <3 labello <3 <3 <3<3

  • chandana

    Hi,
    i need labello Lip care flavor strawberry). Do not know where do i get this in India/Karnataka/Bangalore.

  • BeeBee

    I love Labello. I found the product while visiting in Mexico; and I am down to my last one. I refuse to go back to the boring Chapsticks. As I search online for them I see that they are pricey. A normal boring chapstick runs about 1 dollar and a lebello is running 7 dollars plus shipping. If you ask me…It’s worth it. Can’t wait to get my new tubes! Have a Labelloious Day!

  • eli

    Funny! Labellos are available in almost ANY drugstore here in Mexico City and I adore them! I’ve tried MANY lipbalms (I’m a lipbalm junkie), from drugstore brands to expensive makeup brands and Labello still remains between my favorites! I also love Vanilla Lipsmacker (not bubblegum, not dr pepper, just the vanilla one)and Kiehl’s Lip Balm #1. These are my very favorites. I would reccomend Labello Lip Balm Fruity Shine in Pink Guava!! It moistures your lips and leaves a perfect pinkish color plus a loovely smell!!! MUST TRY!

  • Janet

    So glad I’m not the only person obsessed with LaBello. Discovered it about 20 years ago from a friend of mine studying in Germany. She brought some back for me and every time I come to Europe I stock up for the next year or two in case my stash gets low. I am addicted to this stuff.

  • Shawn

    I also discovered Labello in Amsterdam about 10 years ago. I read htey were bought out by Nivea? Well now every tube of Labello I get says Nivea somewhere very small on it and is very oily like Vaseline. Any suggestions? I also read amazon.de was a good souce but they all appear to be the newer Nivea created tubes….

  • Shawn

    I saw a previous comment about having them in Mexico, I believe those are the newer Nivea sticks and are nothing like the Labellos from Ams. If it says Nivea or Mexico steer clear.

  • Ashley

    Labello’s packaging looks very similar to Nivea so I looked it up and they are owned by Nivea. Is there any different at all between Labello and Nivea?

  • Claire M.

    i seem to never find these anymore. i tryed to but i can simply not find them anywhere. could anyone tell me a website i could order them from? specifically the pink grapefruit one