UPDATE: So I did end up trying the Jack Black SPF 25 lip balm in Black Tea & Blackberry and it is the holy grail SPF lip balm you guys. Great sun protection, good but subtle flavor, doesn't taste like sunscreen, lasts forever, moisturizing, low sheen that is good for anybody at any age. I'll go back to Sun Bum is they discontinue the Jack Black stuff. Just for some background, I'm a connoisseur of sunscreen. I make cotton balls look swarthy. I was born pasty and then developed a phototoxicity disorder from a medication I'll probably have to be on for the rest of my life. It basically means I have to gargle with SPF and bundle up like I'm trekking the arctic just to get through the day. I put UV film on the windows of my car and still get a mild sunburn just driving 15-20 minutes to work if I don't wear sunblock. Everything I touch leaves a white cast. But I always smell like coconuts, so I got that going for me. Which is nice. Pale... pale coconuts. Anywho, I know my sunscreens. I've tried them all and I have a huge collection for just about every occasion. I've found a lot of holy grail type products, but I've never LOVED any of the SPF lip balm products I have tried. They either just plain didn't work, had an SPF of like 5 which is useless to me, and all of the ones that did work tasted like you drank Coppertone out of a dirty Gold Bond bottle. Not good. I've been eager to try these for a while, but they cost a bit more than I am accustomed to and I've had mixed experiences with other Sun Bum products. But I love tropical flavors and an SPF higher than 15 is hard to find in lip products, so I figured I'd give it a shot. REVIEW: TEXTURE- They feel pretty oily, which I don't hate but it feels more like an oil or thin (not sticky) gloss than a balm. I tend to prefer the waxier balms because I feel like they stay on longer and coat the lips better. Every oil I have tried seems to just sit on top of my lips and doesn't soak into the skin, meaning my lips don't feel moisturized and the product wears off quickly. This wasn't as bad as that, but it was similar. I did feel the need to reapply often. Since it is in a handy Chap-Stick style tube it wasn't hard to carry in my pocket and reapply as needed but the less reapplication the better. It did get a pretty soft soft from the heat of my pocket and the outdoors. I definitely wouldn't leave this in the sunlight or a hot car, it is soft enough to melt for sure. But the benefit of that was the Watermelon flavor came with the balm cracked and sliced horizontally (see picture). I thought I would have to lop that part off and throw it away because it would crumble off when I went to apply it anyway, but it is soft and oily enough that just applying it melted/molded it back into shape in the tube and I didn't loose any product. Texture isn't bad, but could use some improvement. SUN PROTECTION- You do have to reapply often, but my lips and the surrounding skin did not get burned at all during a 3 hour hike on a sunny cloudless day. It says that it can stand 80 minutes of swimming and sweating but I have my doubts. Just because you can't "feel" it on your lips anymore doesn't mean that SPF hasn't been deposited onto your lips and is still there working. But when it comes to my lip products, I like to be able to feel them to know it is still there and working. We were in the water for a bit and I didn't burn, but I didn't test it for a full 80 minutes and since it feels like it is wearing off I wouldn't push it if you burn easily. Perhaps this is where the oily texture helps, the oil may repel water. So as far as protection from the sun goes, I'd say it did it's job. LOOK- Because it is a bit oily, it does have some shine to it but it is subtle. Like a just-licked-my-lips look. It doesn't look like a gloss even though it feels a bit like one. Because of that it's actually great for a no makeup look and is appropriate for women, men, and children. Lips look healthy and moisturized without being super shiny or fake looking. MOISTURIZING- Unfortunately, this is the real Achilles heel of the product and why I'm hesitant to buy it again. Lips look moisturized, but definitely don't feel moisturized. A lot of SPF products tend to be very drying and lip products are no exception. Mineral based sunscreens really leach any moisture out of your skin. Couple that with being in the sun which is also drying, and your lips can feel like the desert. You just have to weigh that dryness against how badly you don't want to be sunburned and get skin cancer. My lips tend to be on the dry side anyway and this definitely didn't help. It didn't make them worse, but it didn't help much, it was almost as bad as not wearing anything. I'm the type of person who won't turn around if I forget my phone, but if I forget my lip balm I have to go back for it. The day just sucks if I forget it. I think the dry feeling is also why I felt the need to reapply so often. I found putting a TINY bit of a more moisturizing product on first, like Aquaphor's SPF lip balm, and then topping it off with the Sun Bum gave a more moisturizing feeling and the strong flavor of the Sun Bum took the sharp medicated harshness out of the Aquaphor. FYI, Aquaphor makes one of the only truly hydrating SPF lip balms out there, but it does have a bit of that offensive sunscreen taste. So overall, this area of the product needs some serious improvement. TASTE/SCENT- This is the divisive area. Like other reviews have stated, the taste and smell are VERY strong. Some people will love that, others will hate it. But if you hate that medicated sunscreen taste, you're only options are to double down on the scent and flavor to overwhelm the sunscreen taste or get a much lighter SPF rating which isn't an option for everyone. As someone who was married to my Lip Smackers as a tween and teen, I actually like the strong flavor and scent and it is much stronger than Lip Smackers! Because of that, I think kids would really enjoy this product. You can still taste a hint of the sunscreen, more like an after taste, but if you're like me and you find the medicated sunscreen taste to be really offensive, this is a great alternative. They are very sweet and candy like. So as far as high SPF lip products go, these are my personal favorite by a huge margin. BANANA- I was looking forward to this the most and it did not disappoint! I hate real bananas, but love banana flavored candy and baked goods. It smells and tastes exactly like banana flavored Laffy Taffy! When I had just applied this and was sitting next to my mom in the car, she asked if I had Laffy Taffy. It's dead on. It also has the strongest taste of the three. However, it probably has the strongest sunscreen aftertaste too which I didn't love. Still better than the alternatives though! COCONUT- This is a very sweet type of coconut. Think of the bags of sweetened coconut shavings you buy in the baking aisle at the grocery store. As a kid, I would eat those plain. My favorite cake is coconut cake, so this was a pleasant surprise. Most coconut stuff tastes and smells like a Pina Coloda air freshener, it's artificial and gross like someone sprayed perfume in your mouth. But this tasted like a delicious scoop of coconut ice cream on top of coconut cake. Loved it and the smell is very summer at the beach. It had a mild sunscreen aftertaste, present but easy to forget and didn't linger in the mouth too long. Chew some gum or pop and mint and you won't even notice it. WATERMELON- I like watermelon ok but I don't love it. I like the smell more than the taste. So I surprised that this turned out to be my favorite of the three! It has the mildest taste for sure, just like actual watermelons, but the sunscreen taste was barely noticeable if at all. If you hate strong smells and tastes but need a high SPF, the watermelon is the one to get. The taste does seep into your mouth like the other two, you kinda have to lick your lips to get it. I
