Lip Balms: One Hit One Miss

I have mentioned before that I have an obsession with lip balms. I don't have as big of a collection as some of you may, but I do love to find good lip balms that will cure me of the dry, chapped lips that I often get. So far I have found one that I really like, the Blistex medicated lip ointment, but after using it for a while it doesn't seem to be working as well as it did when I first came across it. When a deal on Hautelook came around that gave me a $40 gift certificate for the price of $20 at beautybar.com, I decided to splurge on some new lip balms. The first one that I got is the Peter Thomas Roth Pink Bombshell Lipbalm. 

I should have known from the name that this was going to be a waste of my money. But, I wanted to see what an expensive lip balm would be like, and the pink balm inside a little glass pot appealed to me because it reminded me of the much raved about By Terry lip balm. I was choosing between this one and the Philosophy Kiss Me Tonight, and now I wonder whether I had chosen wrongly. This lip balm is interesting, but nothing special and certainly not worth the money. It has a very hard waxy texture, which makes it hard to get the product onto your lips. If you look closely it has little shimmer particles that are hardly noticeable on the lips but do create a nice sheen-y effect. It smells sickly sweet and gives a slight minty feeling. It is nice as a primer for lipstick, but I find that I cannot take it seriously as a lip moisturizer/treatment. 

The next one I bought, which I was much mored excited for was the Ole Henriksen African Red Tea Exfoliating Lip Salvation. 

There were a lot of great reviews for this one, and it kind of balanced out my disappointment with the other one. This has a much more workable texture and feels like it has little grains in it that contribute to its exfoliating effect. It has a lot of natural ingredients and I like it because it is exfoliating, but you don't need to tissue it off or anything - you can leave it on and eventually it will wear off and sink into your lips. It does leave a raspberry tint on your lips, which I usually hate, but for some reason I actually like this one. Plus, I use it mostly when I am at home so I don't mind the initial gritty feeling or the stain on my lips. My lips have been a lot smoother and I've been going for a few days without chapped, flaky lips! I really like this product and I would definitely repurchase even though it is on the expensive side for a lip treatment. 

What are your favorite lip balms that you think I should try? 

~Vida