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“Why are you giving this to me,” my sister asked in bewilderment. “Didn’t Kiehl’s lip balm get rave reviews from all the magazines we own?”

See, my sister is always the recipient of my hand-me-downs. Whenever I buy something and end up not liking it, she reaps the benefits. Sometimes it irks me to see that a mascara that didn’t fit me would look so well on her or that she’d glow even if she’s using an ultra-cheap product that had just given me the hives.

Kiehl’s is not in any way cheap, though. It costs about twice as much as the last lip balm I used, which was TheFaceShop’s Plus+1 Lip Care Cream Vitamin. Unfortunately, unlike the many people who had given Kiehl’s Lip Balm #1 stellar reviews, I couldn’t see what the hype was all about. Then again, I probably am their one and only disappointed customer.

I saw the newly built Greenbelt 5 right across one of my banks and I was delighted to see that Kiehl’s is the only open store. I dropped by, of course, and found out that they had just opened the night before. I had, after all, waited for more than a month for them to hit the Philippines, seeing that every other beauty editor praised it to high heavens. I immediately bought Lip Balm #1 and Extra-Strength Conditioning Rinse for Dry or Damaged Hair (with added Coconut Oil).

I’ve been using the lip balm for more than a week now, but I noticed that it didn’t make my puckers supple as my previous balm did. Not only that, I was back to peeling my lips — a long-time habit that I had stopped about three months ago. My lips, though moisturized, were once again feeling sore. I couldn’t even exfoliate them properly (lip exfoliation is something that I had only learned to do when I first bought TheFaceShop balm), the surface becoming uneven.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that Kiehl’s is good. I’ve seen it make my lips rosier even without lipstick. It also feels very light and not very greasy. It cannot, however, provide me the kind of hydration that I actually need. Meaning, it’s not potent enough. Considering this costs twice as much as TheFaceShop’s, I was expecting spectacular results.

What happened next? I dropped by TheFaceShop yesterday, bought my favorite balm and then gave the Kiehl’s Lip Balm #1 to my sister. I’m sure she’s going to enjoy it far more than I ever did. She always does.

Rating: 6/10