Review: Glossier Balm Dotcoms

Hello, beauties! Today, I’m sharing a review of the Glossier Balm Dotcoms. I bought my first one in 2018, but for some reason, I had it in my head that I wanted to collect all of the ones I was interested in before doing a review. I’ve finally collected the last one I’ve had my eye on, so I’m finally ready to review these now!

I find lip balm to be a particularly personal beauty product. Some people may find one to be their holy grail for moisturizing their lips, while the same balm may not work at all for other people. I have very dry lips, and I’m always looking for my next favourite lip balm to help soothe them!

 

THE BASICS

Glossier actually classifies the Balm Dotcom as a lip balm and skin salve, but I believe most people wear it exclusively as a lip balm. They retail at $15 CAD each for 15mL, or you also have the option of buying them in a customized trio for $40 CAD, which saves you $5. At the time of this post, there are 8 Balm Dotcoms that have been released. They are made in the USA and are cruelty-free. Unfortunately, Glossier only ships to a select handful of countries, including the USA, Canada, the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, and France.

Each of the balms have a slightly differing ingredients list, but the main ingredients are petrolatum, castor seed oil, beeswax, and cupuacu fruit extract. These emollients all have hydrating properties that help to keep the lips feeling soft and supple. People compare the Balm Dotcoms to Vaseline because the first ingredient is petrolatum, but I find that it has a different texture from Vaseline, which I will talk about later on.

THE PACKAGING

Glossier is one of the most Instagram-worthy products on the market right now. Each tube is a different colour based on the scent, with various-coloured lids. Together, it makes for a very aesthetically-pleasing look when you have all of them together. The Birthday scent has my favourite packaging. I love the holographic-ness of it! Unlike most lip balm which have a slanted plastic applicator, this has a flat applicator, much like what you would see in a tube of lipstick or hand cream. I’ve owned other lip balms with this type of applicator, and I put up with it, but it’s not my favourite. The slanted applicators are just more comfortable to use.

One thing I don’t like about the packaging is that for some reason, it’s really difficult to get any product out of a new tube. With every single tube of Balm Dotcom I have owned, nothing comes out even when I squeeze the life out of it. Then at some point, I squeeze for so long that a big glob comes shooting out. Once you manage to use it for the first time, you won’t get this issue again – but it’s still kind of annoying to deal with.

THE FORMULA

As a reference, I use these in the daytime only, and I use the Laneige Lip Sleeping Balms at night. Before trying this, I had been a bit hesitant to try these because I heard they were just overpriced Vaseline in cute packaging, but I find the consistency to be very different to Vaseline. It’s thick and feels waxier than Vaseline, nor is it greasy and slippery like Vaseline. They have a matte finish with no shininess to them, which is a plus when I have dry, cracked lips – I find that shine tends to highlight the cracked areas. These actually sit well under lipsticks and don’t change the integrity of the lipstick, but I still probably would not recommend using them under matte lipsticks. I find that they last two to three hours on my lips when I don’t eat or drink, which is comparable to other lip balms I’ve used.

Ha, this swatch photo is pretty much useless because everything is clear, but I just wanted to demonstrate that the Birthday balm (bottom swatch) has a hint of shimmer, whereas the others are mostly clear, except for the Berry scent which is lightly tinted!

My hands have been super dry lately because I wash them so often, to the point where my skin was cracking in the webbed area between my fingers. I have been using the Rose, Coconut, and Mango balms as a skin salve in these areas, and it has relieved the dryness significantly. However, I wouldn’t use this all over the hands as it would be much too greasy.

I know Glossier says that these balms will give your lips a bit of a tint (except the clear shades), but honestly, all of these look clear on my pigmented lips. I just collect them for the scent!

 

I’m going to talk about each scent in more detail below, in the order I bought them.

Coconut Balm Dotcom:

This was the very first Balm Dotcom I purchased. Like the original Balm Dotcom, it is clear, but it is scented like coconuts instead of being unscented. The smell is unlike any coconut product I’ve ever owned; it doesn’t smell like the synthetic, sweet coconut scent we’re used to seeing in beauty products (not that I mind that scent…I love anything coconut). This one smells like…real coconuts, almost?

 

Rose Balm Dotcom:

The Rose Balm Dotcom was my next purchase, and I bought it at a time when I was super into rose scents. It’s definitely a recognizable rose scent, which you think would be a weird choice for a lip balm. Luckily, this doesn’t smell overly floral – it’s almost like a sweet rose scent that isn’t cloying. With that being said, this is probably my least favourite scent of the bunch, but scent is a very personal thing anyways. The Rose balm looks light pink in the tube, but I think it more or less translates as clear on the lips, even if you have a pale natural lip colour.

Mango Balm Dotcom:

I LOVE everything mango, so when they announced the release of this, I knew I had to have it in my life! Strangely, the consistency of this isn’t quite the same as the others. The oily ingredients in this tend to separate from the rest of the lip balm, so sometimes I will just get oil coming out of the tube. Other times, it has the same consistency as the other Balm Dotcoms. I’ve noticed that it hardens when it’s cold, and tends not to separate in the winter, but I don’t think there’s really anything I can do about this other than keeping it in the fridge in the summer (which will be a bit annoying). This has a peachy tint to it, but like the light pink of the Rose balm, I don’t think it would show up on most lips.

Birthday Balm Dotcom:

The Birthday balm has been on my wishlist since I first started hearing about the Balm Dotcoms – I was curious about it because I love birthday cake scents, but dislike glitter in my lip balms. This is a clear gloss with multi-coloured microglitters suspended in it. The scent is so nostalgic to me.  It reminds me so much of the Bonne Bell Vanilla Frosting lip gloss I had as a kid, complete with the shimmer. The good thing about the shimmers is that they are not super chunky like I thought they would be, and they don’t feel gritty on the lips as the balm wears off, like a lot of glittery balms do. The bad thing is that sometimes I still find that they are left over on my lips after the balm fades, and tend to grativate toward my lip line.

Berry Balm Dotcom:

The Berry scent is the newest addition to the Balm Dotcom family, and I purchased this scent at the same time as the birthday balm, during Glossier’s Black Friday sale. I am obsessed with the scent of this, which smells like grape juice. The balm is purple, and is probably the most pigmented out of all the scents I own. I can’t see it on my pigmented lips, but I imagine that this will show a light tint on lips that have little natural colour.

THE SUMMARY

Pros:

• Aesthetically-pleasing packaging
• Moisturizing, occlusive texture that is not too thick or waxy
• Many different scents to choose from
• Great for multi-purpose use
• Matte finish

Cons:

• Wear time is short

As you can see, I don’t see many downsides to balm! I’ve used so many different lip balms over the years, and this has become one of my favourites. I know some people think these balms are too similar to Vaseline, but I definitely find them much better. What’s your favourite Balm Dotcom?