Sensuous Beauty products don't tend to come cheap, but even for this company the $17.99 price tag stunned me. I checked the Actual Size feature and couldn't believe it. "Nearly $20 for that tiny thing? Forget it!" Still I kept finding myself back on the product page ogling it, and in time I couldn't resist. After much deliberation I finally got myself some with a gift card. I hit "order" and never looked back!

Is it worth it? That depends entirely on your motivations in buying it. If you're simply looking to moisturize & protect your lips from wind and sun, and for them to smell and taste good while you're at it? Frankly, you can find dozens of products that will do that for under three bucks. If you purchase this Kissing Balm with practical purposes in mind you will likely regret shelling out so much cash on a tiny little pot of gloss. However, as an indulgent gift to sneak into your partner's purse to spoil them a bit? Or a present to yourself with the same intention? This gloss can hold its own with all the MAC lip glasses and Sephora puckers, and in some respects it surpasses them.

Unlike high luster designer cosmetics that are full of dozens of unutterable, multi-syllabic synthesized ingredients, Sensuous Beauty's Kissing Balm uses almost entirely naturally occurring ingredients. It is comprised of the following: sweet almond oil, honey, beeswax, shea butter, organic coconut oil, alkanet-infused organic jojoba oil, vegetable glycerin, vitamin E and organic Bulgarian roso otto. Besides the vegetable glycerin (which is not naturally occurring, although it is natural) these ingredients are largely raw and unprocessed. This really sets the gloss apart from other similar products.

The oils and the shea butter do a fantastic job of moisturizing the lips, although the also make this product very slippery. The vegetable glycerin - which acts as a moisturizer and a thickener - also makes this gloss very unctuous and unfortunately makes it easily rubbed off. While the name of this product implies that its intended to be used to entice your kissing partner, I actually find it's not very good for that use at all. Even a thin layer of this gloss on my lips means I leave an oil slick on my partner's mouth and the skin surrounding it. It also tends to smear by the corners of my mouth when I use it unless I'm extra careful to be sparing with it. My guy thinks this stuff smells and tastes heavenly, but he always requires a napkin (oh, who am I kidding: he uses his sleeve) to wipe off after he smooches me.

My preferred use? I usually slather a very thin layer of this stuff on over deep, sultry red lip stains and no-smudge lipsticks in eye-catching fuchsia shades. It's great for making bold shades stand out even more with a lustrous, reflective sheen. I do not recommend using this over lipsticks or pencils that are not smudge-proof because this gloss does tend to smear and take the pigment of the lipstick with it. Bright red smudges around the corners of your mouth is an acceptable look for kids slurping Kool-aid at summer camp, not for grown ups trying to look seductive! This is also great for moisturizing so on more laid back days I'll apply a little of this with nothing else for a natural and very soft look.

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In spite of its slick consistency, I still absolutely adore this stuff. Because it is so glossy and slippery, I only need a tiny amount to get the job done. I've had this for a couple of months now and I've hardly made a dent in it although I've used it very regularly. So while $17.99 may be a lot to spend on a half an ounce of gloss, you are definitely going to get your full money's worth out of it. It also smells better than any other lip gloss I've owned to date - and I've owned quite a few.

You won't find a fruity, candy store kind of scent here, but rather a very mature, floral one. The honey is almost undetectable, but there are faintly sweet notes that belay some kind of sugary ingredient. Roso otto gives this a musky perfumey aroma that calls to mind rich potpourris dotted with rose petals and rose hips. There is definitely a sweet taste to this balm, but again, it's not candy-like. The taste is not unlike that of Choward's Violet Candies if you're familiar with them. Sweet, floral and heady. An acquired taste perhaps but very pleasant.

Overall, if I ever get to the end of this bottomless pot of gloss I am definitely ordering the orange blossom. It is so very worth the price to me!

I still love this stuff, but as the weather warms up I can see it may be a bit of a pain. I left this in the car the other day in the warm noonday spring sun and it was a little jar of liquid and lumps when I got back. It goes back to its solid state once it spends a few hours in a cooler climate but I'm thinking this won't be traveling in my purse in the summer. Still, awesome, awesome stuff - smells delicious, adds crazy gloss to your lips and actually conditions them too. I haven't gotten my orange blossom yet but it's up there on the list, ready to be knocked off with the next order.