The Glossier Balm Dotcom has got to be one of the most aesthetically pleasing lip balms I’ve ever set eyes on, I mean just look at the colour combinations of each tube and the art design of each box – so fun, cute and vibrant. Imagine having one of these in every location such as your handbag, car glove compartment, office desk and nightstand – just one look and you’ll be reminded to moisturise your lips.
However, with Glossier changing the Balm Dotcom formula to be vegan-friendly, there are now split thoughts on the balm itself and whether it still imparts moisture to the lips or if it’s now just a cute-looking product and nothing more. So in this post, I will share my views on the original lanolin and beeswax-based formula vs the new vegan oil and synthetic wax-based formula; now that I’ve used both formulas for quite a while. I’ll also be sharing my thoughts on how I perceive each scent and colour I’ve purchased and which ones I like the most. As always, I’ll start with some general information about the product before continuing with my review. Please note that the official product description is what Glossier have written on their website for the new formula, however, my review will be about the old formula too.
Description
Cult-favorite, do-everything lip balm. universally-loved lip balm has been a fan favorite since 2014. Formulated with antioxidants and natural emollients, the vegan, does-it-all formula immediately nourishes dry, chapped lips and keeps them quenched for hours. The specially-designed applicator makes sure your balm applies exactly where you want it. With this one, you can do it all and bring it everywhere.
Vegan (yet mighty!) moisturizers, Castor Jelly and Synthetic Beeswax, lock in hydration while vitamin-rich Shea Butter replenishes dry lips. Castor Jelly serves as a humectant that draws moisture in and keeps it there. Synthetic Beeswax is a vegan emollient that acts as a moisture barrier. Vitamin E Acetate is an antioxidant that helps to combat free-radicals. Shea Butter is rich in fatty acids, antioxidants and vitamins to help replenish and nourish dry skin. Safflower Oil is rich in vitamins and fatty acids, it helps support the moisture barrier.Conditioning, Moisturizing, Soothing, Cruelty Free, Vegan, Dermatologist-tested, Long-lansting Moisture.
How to use:
*As per description on Glossier website.
Apply to lips wherever and whenever you need an extra dose of moisture. Keep one of every flavor in every bag. Squeeze a small amount directly to dry, chapped lips or your fingertip. Reapply throughout the day if you need extra hydration. While you’re at it, apply Original to cuticles, elbows, or wherever else could use some moisture. Lips shouldn’t get to have all the fun!
Quantity & Packaging
15ml of lip balm in a squeeze tube. The old version had a small screw-on cap and no applicator, just has a tiny hole to squeeze and scrape off the product. The new packaging has a slightly longer screw-on cap so its easier to grip onto and twist open and the tube now has an applicator tip with a larger hole. The packaging change was much needed because you now don’t need to use your finger to apply the balm and can apply it directly to your lips from the tube using the applicator tip.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, one of the most eye-catching things about the Glossier Balm Dotcom is the cute colour combinations used for each tube and cap. Very aesthetically pleasing!
Scents & Shades
New Formula (vegan-friendly) is currently available in 9 flavours:
Original – fragrance-free, untinted
Mint – untinted, cooling feel
Birthday – vanilla buttercream cake with sprinkles of subtle shimmer.
Rose – barely-there pink tint.
Lavender – bright, floral and herbaceous with a sheer, soft purple tint.
Coconut – beachy and untinted
Mango – fresh and juicy with a peachy-rose tint.
Wild Fig – jammy and fresh with a slight coral tint.
Berry – freshly picked with a just-bitten magenta tint.
Old Formula (not vegan-friendly) is currently available in 1 flavour:
Strawberry – sweet and juicy with a jammy red tint.
Currently discontinued/ limited edition flavours: Cherry, Cookie Butter, Swiss Miss, Hot Cocoa – Although these 4 are discontinued, Glossier sometimes bring products back after high demand so I think they’re still worth discussing.
I love that the Glossier Balm Dotcom is available in many colours and scents so I can change things up depending on my mood. I first picked up 4 that I liked the smell of the most: Mint, Mango, Cherry & Cookie Butter. These were in the old formula and packaging. When Glossier recently reformulated and repackaged the Balm Dotcom, I picked up 2 more: Wild Fig & Birthday.
Mint
Mint is my number one favourite Balm Dotcom because I generally like my lip balms to be minty but also because it’s a sweet yet refreshing type of mint that feels quite tingly, cooling and soothing on the lips. It comes out of the tube as a slightly opaque creamy white balm that sheers out completely clear. I have it in the original lanolin-based formula which I adore because of how smooth and hydrating it feels on my lips. In my opinion, it’s the smoothest in texture and also the one with the most longevity in terms of moisture even once it’s rubbed off as the day goes by. I’m not sure if I’d like it as much in the new oil and synthetic wax-based vegan formula, because the two flavours I got in the new formula don’t have the best texture for me and aren’t long-lasting on my lips, but once I finish all my balm dotcoms, if I want to give the new formula another try I would only consider purchasing it in the Mint flavour.
Mango
Mango is definitely a favourite of mine especially in the warmer weather when the sun is out because of its sweet fruitiness. I was expecting Mango to have more of a light juicy refreshing mango scent but it’s sweeter and heavier similar to Indian or Mexican mango candies, and I’m here for it. The colour is a very sheer peach that gives my lips a very slight hint of peachiness, kind of like a subtle MLBB (my lips but better) look. I bought it in the original lanolin-based formula which feels thick, smooth and comfortable on my lips, however, it’s now only available in the new vegan oil and synthetic wax-based formula so the texture will be different. Aside from the balm itself, I have to mention that I really love the colour choice of the Mango packaging, the yellow-orange on the bottom section of the tube with the baby blue cap is such a cheerful sunny combination.
Cherry
Cherry is one of my favourites because it has a nostalgic Bassetts Cherry Drop sweet (candy) scent and gives my lips a sheer pinkish-red tint. Some people think it smells artificial or medicinal like cough syrup but I’m used to this type of cherry scent so I really enjoy it. I have it in the original lanolin-based formula and love the way it feels thick, smooth and moisturising on my lips but not at all heavy. Unfortunately, when launching the new Balm Dotcom vegan formula Glossier decided not to bring back the Cherry flavour and it’s still currently unavailable. Luckily, Cherry flavoured/scented lip products are common so if Cherry is your thing you can easily find a substitute by a different brand. I personally won’t be waiting for Glossier to re-release the Cherry version because I don’t like the new formula as much as the old one, but for those of you who don’t mind it just know that Glossier does sometimes bring back fan favourites (example: Wild Fig) so you never know what the future holds.
Cookie Butter
You’ll notice in the group balm dotcom picture at the beginning of this post that Cookie Butter is missing but that’s just because I gave it to my sister and I did take swatch photos of it before passing it on so I can include it here for reference. I bought the limited edition Cookie Butter Balm Dotcom expecting it to be a sweet toasty vanilla-esque scent, but instead, I found it to smell more like sweet popcorn and Biscoff biscuits which is a bit heavy for my liking. The colour is a nice light brown nude which I thought might suit me well but it actually washes my complexion out a little. I ended up giving it to my sister who loves the scent, colour and texture, however, it was the previous lanolin-based formula so even if Glossier re-release Cookie Butter the new formula will likely feel very different.
Birthday
Birthday has a warm sweet vanilla buttercream frosting scent (maybe a bit sickly sweet) and under the right conditions, it comes out as a whitish cream-coloured balm with fine glitters, that sheers out to a clear look on the lips with a nice plump shine. The glitter isn’t very obvious on the lips which I appreciate, but I did notice that if I apply a thick layer it doesn’t sheer out enough leaving a bit of the cream colour on my lips. I’m not sure what the previous formula was like, but the new/current formula isn’t the easiest to work with. The new formula is oilier and melts easily so the Birthday Balm Dotcom often squeezes out as a liquid oil instead of the solid balm it’s supposed to be. The separated liquid oil sits quite greasy and slippery on the lips and doesn’t offer enough deep moisture. The greasiness feels so uncomfortable that I end up wanting to wipe it off and put something better on. To turn it back into an actual balm, I have to shake and massage the tube to mix the separated formula and then keep it in the fridge for it to solidify, and only then does it squeeze out as it should. I find that whole process to be tedious and considering the balm doesn’t last long on my lips so I have to reapply frequently, it’s not worth the effort. I like the vanilla scent but overall, this ranks low in my balm dotcom collection and I wouldn’t repurchase it.
Wild Fig
Wild Fig is the one I was looking forward to so I jumped at the chance to get it as soon as it was re-released as part of the permanent line in the new formulation and new packaging. Wild Fig comes out of the tube as an opaque bright orange/red-coral but blends to a beautiful sheer hint of colour on the lips that gives my complexion a natural youthful vibrancy. The shade is my favourite but the scent and texture are odd to me. It has a fruity scent but with a bit of a chemical soapy plastic taste that isn’t very appealing and quite off-putting. I also have a feeling I would have preferred the texture of Wild Fig in the slightly thicker original lanolin-based balm dotcom, because the new oil and synthetic wax-based formula feels too thin and greasy on my lips and also makes the balm come out soft and messy, smearing it out of my lipline if I’m not careful.
Overall Thoughts
The Balm Dotcom was the first product of Glossier’s I had heard about several years ago. I initially didn’t think to buy it as some other reviewers said it’s just glorified Vaseline, however, after using it myself I truly believed it to be way more elevated than Vaseline and not comparable at all in terms of how it feels and looks on the lips. I always found Vaseline to be just an uncomfortable occlusive layer sitting on top of my lips and not moisturising them but the original lanolin-based Balm Dotcom formula sits very smooth and feels like it’s actually adding moisture to my lips. Saying that though, I still wouldn’t consider it to be the most deeply nourishing lip balm if you have quite dry chapped lips, however, if you’re like me and don’t really suffer from dry flakey chapped lips, and just want a nice smooth balm on your lips then the original formula was great for that, but sadly Glossier decided to reformulate the Balm Dot Com to be vegan friendly so the texture of the new balms is very different.
The new vegan oil and synthetic wax-based formula of the Glossier Balm Dotcom is quite different and doesn’t provide long-lasting moisture to my lips. It feels greasy and disappears quickly needing me to reapply often. It also melts and separates easily making it soft and oozy – not very easy to apply neatly. You’d think the new packaging with the applicator tip would make it easier but as it has quite a large hole, it’s easy to squeeze out too much, resulting in either a soft messy blob or a greasy pool of oil that is difficult to keep within the boundaries of your lips.
Even after keeping the new version in the fridge to solidify, although the formula comes together, it’s still much softer than the original so even a gentle squeeze can bring out too much. The old Balm Dotcom formula was stiffer and slightly thicker and because the packaging had a much smaller hole you had to squeeze hard to get the balm out; some might have found that annoying but I preferred it because the stiffness allowed me to control the amount of product that comes out and I could use a small amount at a time. Of course, as there wasn’t an applicator tip you’d have to scrape the balm off with your finger and then apply it to your lips so the new packaging with the applicator tip is better in the sense that it allows finger-free usage but I just wish the hole was a lot smaller so that the new balm formula wouldn’t gush out and cause a mess. I also wish it wasn’t so uncomfortably oily and didn’t leave a strange plastic waxy after-taste. Despite its oiliness, as I mentioned before, the new Balm Dotcom formula isn’t moisturising enough and makes my lips feel dry after it wears off in about 20 minutes, whereas the old formula stayed on much longer and kept my lips comfortable, hydrated, soft and supple even after fading away.
I definitely prefer the old formula and once I finish the ones I have, I know I will miss them and likely won’t repurchase the new vegan formula again. There’s some good news for those of us who adore the original formula, as I was about to publish this review, I found out Glossier just launched a new Strawberry Balm Dotcom in the original lanolin and beeswax-based formula, so I had to mention it. Could this hint at a potential comeback? or possibly the option to choose between vegan and non-vegan formulas in future? We’ll have to wait and see but I sure do hope so!
Have you used the Glossier Balm Dotcom before? What are your thoughts on the formula change? and what is your favourite balm dotcom scent? Let me know in the comments 😀
Simply Saima 
I haven’t tried these lip balms yet. I’m always wary when a brand changes the formula of a beauty product I really like. I’ve been dissapointed many times.
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