October 6, 2011

Maybelline Baby Lips Lip Balm Review, Swatches, Photos

I know many of you already tried the new Maybelline Baby Lips Lip Balm and didn’t really love ’em. After a few reader’s mentioned Kissing Coolers in a prior post I did I had to go Google my past makeup life and look for photos of those lip balms.

So bloody 80’s! Do you remember them?

I guess you can say that Maybelline Baby Lips Lip Balm is one of the cuter, hipper products the brand has released in recent days. Don’t get me wrong they have really succeeded with their Eye Studio Collection but in regards to cute, hipster type of releases they aren’t nearly as inventive as they once were…can we haz petition to re-release Kissing Coolers?

Baby Lips has been making a few waves on the blogsphere as many bloggers got samples of the product during Fashion Week thus unleashing a wave of OMG you must try these moments. But Baby Lips isn’t technically a new product as it was released in certain parts of Europe and Australia early this year (not sure if Asia got these).

Each of these is a mere $2.99 and they promise to be a “clinical strength” lip balm. As far as I am concerned that kinda killed it for me, it’s a too big for your britches kinda moment. Top it off with “better looking lips”, “less dried out ones”, “more supple” ones…and it starts to overkill things…as why is it a mere $2.99 if it does all these AMAZING things?

But…

I had to try for myself and see what the hype was about.

Check it!


An SPF 20 lip balm that moisturizes lips and prevents them from drying out.


So what we have here is….

A lip balm with a high SPF. I’m trying to sit here and rake my head for other drugstore balms that contain an SPF 20 but I honestly can’t think of one at the moment so props to Maybelline for creating a balm that has SPF 20 although I’m not really all that incredibly impressed with a high level of SPF because I don’t personally care about SPF in my lip balm for some reason or another. If you do, brilliant, I simply don’t though….

I find Baby Lips is a very nice lip balm but that’s it.

Alot of folks had mentioned that the balm sits unnaturally on top of lips. And to some extent I do agree with this however, how many balms do you know that don’t have that strange way of settling onto lips and making themselves very well know? Another words the formula is pretty heavy, has a balm-y moisturizing feel, and it’s simply something you know you have on due to the weight of the product. Does this bother me? Perhaps. I like a lighter texture on my lips, something that doesn’t say “Hey, how you doing?” but it’s easy enough to forgive since many lip balm products sport a similar feel.

The formula is a tad difficult to explain…it’s not waxy really but it’s heavy enough to create a mask over lips. It feels moisturizing enough but I prefer something that has a slicker feel…

I purchased three shades which were:

  • Cherry Me (this is a red tint with cherry flavor)
  • Peach Kiss (this is a nude beige with a peach flavor)
  • Grape Vine (this is a berry grape shade with grape flavor)

The balm provides a decent flush of natural color on lips with a flavorful taste but some might nitpick that the flavors aren’t really all that tasty…personally I found I didn’t care either way.


There isn’t anything really bad to say here….it’s kinda of a situation of you either really like a lip balm formula or you simply don’t…!

  • Those who like lip balms.
  • Those wanting a lip balm with a touch of color, flavor, and a high SPF.

  • Those wanting to treat super dry lips (the formula is moisturizing but if I have chapped lips or super dry, flaky ones I doubt this will be enough to ease them).
  • Those sensitive to flavored and scented lip products.


Maybelline Baby Lips didn’t leave a huge impression on my makeup life. They are simply a cutely packaged lip balm that have a decent formula. I liked the natural color they gave my lips but I honestly found them a bit too heavy to enjoy but I personally don’t expect much else from a lip balm as hey, lip balms are indeed heavy feeling aren’t they?

I think part of the problem with these would be the build up and hype on the Internet which an illusion of a “you can’t live without it” product. And when people finally tried them they were kinda “eh?” about the entire thing, “So this is it?” “You mean that’s all?” I find hype can kill a product dead for me sometimes.

This is a cute little something to tuck into your makeup bag or desk drawer when you want to liven your lips up with a hint of color but don’t expect the cure all for your dry lips!

Tried?

Loved?

Left?

Share!

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‘.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

  • Sarah

    I have two of these and I think they are okay, I really like the packaging. But they don’t compare to the CO Bigelow lip balm from bath and body works, the lemon ones are especially good.

  • Eve

    I’m glad to hear they’re not great! I’m over coming a lip balm addiction (it’s actually a serious thing, look it up lol) so I don’t need anything to fuel me to start using again!
    But those Kissing Koolers looked so cute! I’d get one if they remade those!

    • the Muse

      LOL eve I know that addiction well ;-D I’d totes haul of they remade I miss those things!

    • stacy n.

      I bought the grape one and I find it to be amazing. When the lip balm does soak in, it really leaves your lips super smooth and soft. I love mine! Don’t give up your addiction quite yet.

  • Lolly

    I bought a week ago the peach kiss, and I absolutely love it… I use it everyday, this is my new lipgloss ^-^

  • kim

    I own the cherry and I am pleased with the results – perfect wash of color and leaves my lips supple

    • dhjdhjkfjk.jkg

      i think the baylips are awesome i have a lot of them i am using them every single day till i feel they are dry

  • Sarah S.

    Seriously, Muse, I would buy those Kissing Coolers! It’s time for Maybelline to strike that nostalgia nerve, and somehow that packaging looks more retro-modern/cool than the babylips balm’s. I don’t have any desire to try the baby lips balms. I’d rather fork over the cash for over-priced but HG Fresh Sugar lip treatments. These seem too hyped like Eos balms, but at least Eos balms have unique packaging!

    • the Muse

      amen sis ;-D I def wish they would re-release ;-D maybe they’ll read it and do it ;-D! agreed completely ;-D!

  • Beth O

    Bought Peach Kiss & Grape Vine. They are fine, as far as lip balm goes. Will keep one in the car and one in my purse for moments when my lips feel naked. Nothing I would reach for to start my day off but they are good for touch ups.

  • Comrade Garlic

    Kissing Koolers! Maybelline was terrible for fueling my makeup addicted adult life. Kissing Koolers and that Shine Free loose powder in the purple hourglass shaped container were my gateway drugs.

      • Comrade Garlic

        I can’t find any pictures of the powder. Blasted internet! It had this little brush in the top that had a Great Lash green ball as a handle. Not purse friendly. It must have been mid 1980s. I think the entire Shine Free line was purple and green.

  • B

    omg you took me back with those kissing coolers!! I have the grey pink packaged one! wow thanks for the flashback that was amazing, I forgot about those!

      • HapaGirl84

        Oooh Musey, just had an idea. You should do a new category of posts like “Retro Beauty” or “Remember This?” and bust out all of the vintage stuff! It will bring back some great memories. 🙂 Just a suggestion!

        • the Muse

          actually have an archive, Blast from the Beauty Past but I haven’t updated in a while ;-D I’d love to have reader’s get involved with it ;D!

  • Jeweled Thumb

    Wow! $2.99?! I paid $4.50! I thought everything was more expensive in NY! =p

  • HapaGirl84

    Haven’t tried these, but I feel like the Nivea fruity shine lip balms (love the strawberry and pink guava) are cheaper and have sparkle as well as color & flavor. I wonder if these will do well in Asia.

  • Megan

    I don’t know about this whole Baby Lips thing, but I practically gasped when I saw the Kissing Koolers photo at the top of this post. I’m pretty sure I had the pink and green one on the left, a hand-me-down from my mom, so who knows how old it was by the time she gave it to me. I must’ve been 5 or 6 years old. NOSTALGIA!

  • Nik

    I am a sucker for glitter, super shimmer and multiple colored swirls! (makes me a major sucker for mac mineralized shadows!) Kissing coolers were unique, I missed them when they were discontinued! I would sneak them under groceries, because my dad only allowed us to wear chapstick! They should bring them back and make limited edition ones!

  • Nicole R.

    My store only had Peach Kiss so I went ahead and bought it. Surprisingly I really like it and I’m pretty finicky when it comes to lip balms, especially when they have any sort of tint to them.

  • Missy

    Oh.My.Gosh. I remember those Kissing Koolers! I had the green and pink one on the left LOL!

    I have the Quenched Baby Lips – no color, just balm. It smells really good, like lemon cupcakes mmmm…. I do like it, but then I like a heavier balm. Now that I’ve seen these, I think I’ll pick up the peachy one and the grape one. Thanks for this review!

  • kiwikiwidragon

    I really only spf lip products when i am going to be outdoors. I got a promotional all natural spf 15 balm a few years ago that i love. Would love a replacement for it. I tried an spf 45 balm from Spa Blue at BBW about a year ago. Never, ever again! the taste it left in my mouth was horrible and metallic. The balm was waxy but in a globby strange way that is hard to describe. Smell under the nose was your typical sunscreen smell but so strong and you couldn’t escape it. Total fail in my book. I am like you Muse, i prefer not to have spf in my balms since I don’t think it really adds anything worth while.

  • KristyQ

    OMG, your pic of the Kissing Coolers totally made my day! Gah – I remember those so clearly…….*sigh* THANKS for taking me back, lol 🙂 xoxo

  • Harshleen

    I just reviewed the baby lips on my blog today and feel the same way as you do……it’s an average lip balm with a cute pacakaging. Btw those kissing coolers look even cuter 🙂

    • the Muse

      nice to know I am not alone in this Harshleen! It was ok, but not all that great to have me rolling around in fits of joy ;-D ha I agree, BRING those back please!

  • Eve

    I just looked on ebay and they have several Kissing Koolers on there. I don’t know what to think about that…wouldn’t they be old?

  • 18thCenturyFox

    Squee! LOVED myself some Kissing Koolera! The packaging reminds me of HyperColors shirts- anyone remember these?

      • 18thCenturyFox

        They were so embarrassing for me because I didn’t need my underarm area and ~ahem~ under cleavage
        area to turn a different color on me after Gym.

  • xmas

    I actually really love these, idk why. The cherry red one looks pretty nice as long as I don’t add too much and I find they are moisturizing enough so far (I’m on accutane right now lol so a spf in a lip balm is great).
    I have the pink one but that one can look fake quickly if I add too much color.
    I want to try the purple one now.
    I wanted to try these in Asia but I kept forgetting. When I go abroad I always look at the local brands instead of US brands, I forget that sometimes they have different things to offer!

  • 18thCenturyFox

    So I know it’s OT but since we are talking about old MU there is something I need to get off my chest- I have been holding on to the Titanic lipsticks and nail polishes that came out from Max Factor in 98′ ? I walked to the CVS in OC, NJ and just grabbed them up and now I’m ashamedly still holding on 😉

  • erin

    yes! bring back the original kissing koolers!!!!!! we should totally start a petition.
    and the old wet n’ wild nail polish in the round bottles with white handles. those colours were amazing 🙂

  • MandyB

    EEEE!!! I had the purple Kissing Kooler. It was tutti-fruitti flavoured and my little brother ate it! The whole thing, gone!

  • Nicole

    OMH I so remember the kissing coolers I had them all they were soo amazing and tasted good too lol, thanks you soo much for the flash of my child hood xoxo

  • Hoang

    I want to pick ALL of the flavors up. I <3 tinted lip balms. Thank you for the swatches 😀

  • dark nyx

    Japan has had these for a while and I was dieing to try them (I’m what you called in the past, a “makeup snob” but Japanese drugstore products are always appealing for some reason, LoL) Anyhoo, I was stoked when I heard these were coming to North America but bah, they won’t be in Canada until December! What blasphemy!

    • the Muse

      i am too don’t feel bad but I’ve kinda rounded out my tastes for Musings ;-D I used to be a big time makeup snob ;-D! That stinks so far off!

  • Cali

    That watermelon flavored Kissing Kooler was the first makeup I ever bought with my *own* money and I cherished it. My childhood makeup collection consisted of Kissing Coolers and Caboodles.

      • butterdaisy

        Love rocking my baby blue swirl caboodle with the butterfly clasp. I want another exactly like it, but hard to find. Don’t really care for the newer styles.

  • Fiona

    Wow, these are pretty different to the Baby Lips balm release in New Zealand (so I guess Australia too) earlier. Ours don’t claim to be clinical strength don’t have a tint, and have pretty different packaging and scent flavour names. It’s interesting to see the differences!

  • Katie

    Loved Kissing Koolers! I also had the green and pink one which if I remember correctly was watermelon…..this totally fueled the makeup junkie in me at an early age. Seeing this baby lip product, does anyone remember the baby lash mascara? That was my very first mascara and I loved it, they made my lashes so lush – wish they would release that again wit the Koolers.

  • sara

    OMG! I remember kissing coolers!!!! Talk about a blast from the past! They should re launch those:)

  • Kim

    I have one Baby Lip in Pink Punch. I like it and I like that it has a high SPF without that “SPF” smell or taste. I also like the subtle color. Also, I’m pretty sure I had a Kissing Kooler as a kid. I loved balms and glosses as a kid, I had tons of Bonne Bell and LipSmaker.

    • the Muse

      not really allin…otherwise every tinted lip balm we come across would be “copying fresh’s” lol 🙂

  • Telle

    Wow! KISSIN KOOLERS!!!! LOVED these!!! I wish Maybelline would do an anniversary edition of these…my siblings bit chunks out of these 🙁
    Thanks for sharing these Muse! Hearts to you!!

    • the Muse

      ha telle ;-D I used to do that with Bonnie Bells when I was really a tiny tyke ;-D <3!

  • JennySue

    Cannot believe you brought the kissing coolers out of the archive-ha!! That is so hilarious bc I totally had those! But nothing beats the shade of Bonnie Bell Dr. Pepper lip balm, best taste, color, and moisturizing properties! Love this in depth blog review bc I’ve been wanting to try these out. Glad I found your blog!

  • Nik

    Damn look at what we’ve created musey! I’m glad I asked you if you remembered kissing koolers. I knew you would have had these, neat so many loved them too huh? Let’s bombard maybelline with requests to bring them back!

  • Quinctia

    I went and grabbed the pouch from my purse that has a couple of lip balms, because I was pretty sure SoftLips have SPF…

    Based on my survey of two SoftLips tubes, it appears the”natural” ones don’t have SPF, but the traditional formula ones do, if my Sugar and Spice one is any indication. The natural one is certified organic, which probably precludes any ingredient that would act as an SPF agent. Oh, and the ones with SPF are SPF 20.

    I’ve always been a pretty big fan of SoftLips. The nonorganic ones all seem to have menthol, which can be a love/hate thing, though.

  • Logan

    I bought one of these in Cherry Me today at walgreens. I really like it, it’s a light formula and gives me a VERY slight tint of color. I’m not sure how Muse got the swatch that pigmented because I rubbed it on my hand a few times and it still was only slightly visible. I like that it has SPF and for the 2 dollars I spent (I had a coupon) I feel like it’s worth it and I want the other colors lol. Also, I think these would be great for teens and even younger girls because the sheerness of the color and the “oh cute packaging” effect. Great alternative to them sneaking Mom’s lipstick.

  • Kayla

    I bought the peppermint one, mainly because i don’t want a colored one, because those tend to be more dry. the peppermint one is really smooth, cooling, overall nice. i’d compare the moisture to the lemon drop eos balm. the packaging got me, but i’m the biggest lip balm fanatic, so whatever new comes out, i like to try it. i think this was a good buy. $3.89 or so at kmart.

  • Laura

    Damn! From that first picture I got all excited that they were bringing the 80s ones back and was about to make a midnite run to CVS to pick one up! lol I totally had the pink one when I was little and thought I was the shit! =P

  • Ash

    Honestly, I really love Baby Lips (grape & cherry, please) considering that they’re less than $3.

    With other brands I feel like I have to spend $8+ to get a comparable moisturizing tinted balm..

  • Brittany

    I have three of these and I really like them. Their quite tasty IMO and they are nice when I don’t want to wear full lipstick (tho…in the winter I tend to do that more often). I think these will be great for spring in summer when you want some color but don’t want to go all out :).

  • Crystal

    I just stumbled upon this and I have to say I remember those kissing coolers, my sister had like 2 of them and I’m pretty sure that the colors on the outside were the same on the inside, all swirled. I only remember them having like a peppermint kind of flavor. Total blast from the past!

  • Rachael

    I know I’m totally late to this party but OH MY GOD! I don’t even know how I got to this post but I was like dude, those look familiar! It’s a crazy memory I can’t recall exactly but it seems like something I really enjoied but if I used them now would be like…wow these really suck…that’s what usually happens when I experience an old fav that haven’t tried in years! lol

  • Sassenach

    I got the Peppermint one and just after a few days of using it, it has dried my lips out to the point that they were actually peeling and flaking. Won’t be wasting anymore money on these.

  • Michelle

    I’m used to being late to all the makeup parties but I hadn’t even noticed these on shelves before last summer. I never even got around to checking blogs & swatches. Today I got the Yummy Plummy one ($4.19 at CVS here) cause I had a $3-off-$15 coupon and was trying to add something to the brush kit I was getting, and I’ve been really curious about this… and it’s nothing special? I mean, it’s a barely tinted lip balm with cutesy packaging, and more gloss and less staying power than chapstick. Big woop? The stick color looks like it’d be a lovely MLBB shade for me, but it doesn’t show up at all. Nice texture and pleasant scent, but not worth the full price when chapstick goes for like 99 cents at Walmart. I feel like after 5 minutes it’s already gone from my lips. I’m glad I finally found satisfied my curiosity about this while I had a coupon. I already own Fresh plum and Bigelow blackberry lemonade, they’re so superior to this product. I won’t be buying more of these.

  • carol beasley

    baby lips are the best lip stuff to help ur lips the only ones that i have are [peppermint and grape vine] the new ones i have are [twinkle and coral crush] i totally recomend them.

  • mrs.missy

    I love them:)they are so smoothing that I bought 5 in one day one day!
    [melon mania, quenched, coral crush , pink punch, pink wink]
    pink wink my fave
    fell in love at first site LOL!!!

  • Courtney

    Hey Girls , I Have A Solution To Your ‘Baby Lips Lip Balm Not Working Very Well’ And ‘Chaps Your Lips’. Before You Waste Your 3-4 Dollars On Your Wonderful Lip Balm , That You Haven’t Used Correctly. Well Have You Ever Noticed That You Might Be Applying Wrong. Well You Are! 🙂 On The Maybelline Website , If You Look Up Baby Lips ( And I Think Scroll To The Bottom ) It Will Say ‘For Best Results, Apply The Balm To The Middle Of Your Top Lip. Then Go Slide To The Outer Corners Of The Top Lips. Lastly , Follow Through To The Bottom Of Lips.’ I Tried This And It’s Very Helpful! 🙂 Hope This Is The Solution To Your Problem.

  • Amelia

    I actually really enjoy the Baby Lips, having Cherry Me. The light wash is perfect for work and it helps moisturize my lips especially since I’m in air conditioned conditions all day long! 🙂 Was thinking of buying the other colours hehe

  • pari

    i like baby lips very much. i gives me soft lips. i was having rose addict.later on i purchased anti-oxident berry. its really very very very goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Jordan Judis

    Yes baby lips are my go to for cheaper lips or just any time. It keeps my lips soft and not chaped. I really like that it’s also a greatly liked product so it’s great for b-day presents.