Pucker Up, Buttercup!

Your lips. Are they plump? Thin? Kissable? Cracked? Lips get a lot of press in the beauty industry (likely because they also have a great deal of sex appeal) but what does it really take to get a gorgeous pout?

To cut out a great deal of anatomy, lips are not just the skin covering your mouth. The skin surrounding your lips and then the actual lip itself is different, and more sensitive, than other areas on your face. While your facial skin can have up to sixteen cellular layers, your lips only have around four. Your lips do not have sweat glands or hair, and therefore do not get the protection of naturally made body oils and moisture that hair follicles and sweat provide. Yes, those two things are serving a higher purpose than just stray brows and pimples, I promise!

Because of it's natural thinness and unprotected nature, lips are more likely to dry out than other areas of your skin, which is why the skin care and cosmetics industry has come up with thousands, if not millions, of products for you to perfect your pout.

But what actually works?

As you might imagine, I've tried a lot of products out there in the hopes of achieving soft, kissable lips.I've tried lip exfoliation, plumper, moisturizer, glosser, stain, stick.... ah, the list goes on. Because I have dry skin, and because I like to spend a lot of time outside, my lips are prone to being  chapped and dry. But it wasn't until a recent couples fly-fishing trip out west, that I found a true gem of a product, and for the bargain price of around $2.50 a tube.

Because fisherman are exposed to the sun, and also the reflection of sun from the water, they are forced to find good, strong, sunscreen packed lip protection. Enter Simms by Dermatone Angler Lip Protection, SPF 30. This little tube helped keep my lips soft the entire time we were out west, and is now my beach/golf/running bag staple for outdoor lip protection all summer long. You can find it online at almost any fly-fishing outfitter website. I haven't stumbled upon it in stores here on the east coast, but my introduction to this little beauty wonder came at a little spot called Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone, Montana.

So do yourself a favor, and order up an entire case. Share it with your dad, brother, mom, sister, best friend, tennis partner. This might just be the one beauty product that your husband/dad/fiance/son/brother tries to steal from your purse!