[REVIEW] Aritaum Ginger Sugar Lip Scrub

I never really thought I needed lip scrubs (admit it, you probably never really gave much thought to them too) until I started using matte lipsticks. While some matte lipsticks (like my favourite Shu Uemura) are perfectly comfortable and don’t dry my lips out, others have really sucked the moisture out of my lips and left them looking really flakey (& ugly). I tried to read up online about ways to resolve this – of course I’ve tried using lip balm, but even so I couldn’t completely eliminate all those bits of flakey skin.

I wasn’t ready yet to give up my matte lipsticks, so I had no choice but to try another remedy – lip scrubs.

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Product Description

1. With sugar beads, say bye to dead skin cells on lips~

– Natural sugar beads and walnut peel powder thoroughly remove dead skin cells from the lips.

2. Shear Butter will provide hydrating barrier on lip surface

– Rich in shear butter to form a hydrating barrier on the lips to hydrate lips after exfoliation.

3. FREE from artificial fragrance and synthetic colorants

– This formula is free of artificial fragrance and synthetic colorants.

Official Retail Price in Singapore: SGD 7.30 (Althea)

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Ingredient List

Di-isostearyl malate, sucrose, microcrystalline wax, mineral oil, dipentaerythrityl Hexahydroxystearate/Hexastearate/Hexarosinate, Dipentaerythrityl Tri-Polyhydroxystearate, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, jojoba esters, paraffin, silica, polyethylene, butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter,Hydrogenated Castor Oil Isostearate, Juglans Regia (Walnut) Shell Powder, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Glyceryl Caprylate, tocopheryl acetate, citus auantium bergania (bergamot) fruit oil, Cymbopogon Nardus (Citronella) Oil, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) peel oil, citrus limon (lemon) peel oil, Litsea Cubeba Fruit Oil, Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Oil, Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Oil

This product contains a lot of interesting ingredients that I haven’t commonly seen in other products, such as walnut shell powder, bergamot fruit oil, and of course, ginger root oil. There are also other types of oils (jojoba seed, orange peel, lemon peel, etc.) in this ingredient list, which gives me the impression that this lip scrub contains a cocktail of natural ingredients. It’s great, because these ingredients are likely to be added for their benefits to the lips, or else as a natural fragrance.

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Packaging: This is about the same size (or rather, slightly smaller) than the travel size version of LANEIGE’s lip sleeping mask so you know that this product has definitely been optimized for travel purposes. It’s not too messy when you scoop out the product, so I would say it’s pretty hygienic packaging.

Texture: This feels a lot like Vaseline and normal lip balm, although a bit more gooey. It’s not a gross kind of goo, and I like how easily I can spread it across my lips without needing too much product. The tiny bits in the product are also not too rough when you rub them across your lips, so you don’t have to worry about hurting your lips in the process of exfoliation.

I also like how this doesn’t smell and taste strongly of ginger. In fact, I can’t really smell it during application, which is great, because I’m no fan of ginger haha.

Effectiveness: This lip scrub promises to 1) remove dead skin cells, 2) smoothen lips, and 3) keep your lips moisturized. I personally do agree that it delivers on all 3 points, though maybe not so much on the moisturizing part.

I often have this problem of ugly lip flakes when I use matte lipsticks because my lips are always dry, but I noticed that this is no longer a concern after I use Aritaum’s lip scrub. It really works in exfoliating your lips so that you have a smooth canvas to apply lipstick on, and it really looks a lot better these days when I use matte lip products. This definitely encouraged me to use more matte lippies after I resorted to using lip tints and creamier formulas to avoid the flakey lip look.

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Final Verdict

If you are a fan of matte lip products, you really can’t skip the step of exfoliation (trust me, it makes a hugeee difference).

This product has been truly a game changer in my makeup routine, and I can now see why it is a popular K-beauty product that has been constantly recommended by websites and magazines. I also highly recommend this for the affordable price tag (as expected from Aritaum), so you can have smooth lips without breaking the bank.

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Rating

Ease of use: ✮✮✮✮✮
Effectiveness: ✮✮✮✮✮
Value for money: ✮✮✮✮✮