Avobenzone and octinoxate can cancel each other out, and this balm is a good example. Avobenzone is the main UVA filter in US products, but it is fragile. Paired with octinoxate, the two react in sunlight and lose a large share of their UVA protection. The usual fix is to add octocrylene or another stabilizer, and this formula has neither.
That does not make it a bad lip balm. With about 40% petrolatum, it is very good at sealing in moisture and healing chapped lips, and it lasts. As a balm, it works well.
The issue is only the sun claim. The number on the box suggests more UVA protection than you likely get after real sun exposure. For a spot as exposed as the lips, that gap is worth knowing about.
| Key active | Avobenzone 3% + octinoxate 7.5% + petrolatum 40.2% |
| Texture | Waxy balm |
| Best for | See below |
| Approximate price | $10 |
Lip sun protection genuinely matters, and it is badly under-appreciated — see below for why.
40% petrolatum makes this a genuinely excellent lip balm. As a moisturizer for chapped lips, it works very well, and it lasts.
It has real UV filters and a real SPF 25, which most lip balms do not.
It is cheap, and people like how it feels.
It contains octinoxate alongside avobenzone — and octinoxate degrades avobenzone.
This is a well-documented chemical incompatibility. The two react in sunlight, and the pair loses roughly 45% of its UVA absorbance. The standard fix is to add octocrylene or a photostabilizer. Neither is in this formula.
So the UVA protection you actually get after real sun exposure is likely well below what the box implies. For a product whose entire job is protecting a high-risk site, that is a serious flaw. (Supergoop's lip balm, by contrast, is properly stabilized.)
It contains lanolin — one of the most common causes of cheilitis, an allergic reaction on the lips. If your lip balm is making your lips worse, lanolin is the first thing to suspect.
It contains flavour, which you then lick off and swallow.
Octinoxate is banned in Hawaii and Key West under reef-protection laws — awkward for a beach product.
Beeswax, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, C18-38 Alkyl Hydroxystearoyl Stearate, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Cyclohexasiloxane, Cyclopentasiloxane, Aroma, Lanolin, Microcrystalline Wax, Ozokerite, Persea Gratissima Oil, Polyglyceryl-3 Beeswax, Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter, Tocopheryl Acetate
1. Unexpected photolysis of the sunscreen octinoxate in the presence of the sunscreen avobenzone (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15560736/) — Documents that octinoxate and avobenzone undergo concomitant photolysis in sunlight, confirming the well-known chemical incompatibility that degrades avobenzone's UV protection when the two are combined. 2. Solar cheilosis: an ominous precursor: part I. Diagnostic insights (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22243721/) — Establishes that UV exposure causes squamous cell carcinoma of the lower lip (a deadly cancer with under 75% 5-year survival) and that use of lip protective agents influences risk, backing the claim that lip sun protection genuinely matters. 3. Use of lip photoprotection in patients suffering from actinic cheilitis (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31475909/) — Reports that more than 90% of actinic cheilitis patients had never used lip photoprotection, supporting the claim that lip sun protection is badly under-appreciated. 4. In vivo investigations on the penetration of various oils and their influence on the skin barrier (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22092829/) — Finds petrolatum to be the most effective occlusive agent for reducing transepidermal water loss, supporting that a high-petrolatum balm is an excellent moisturizer for chapped lips. 5. The dual challenge of FDA-evaluated non-GRASE UV filters: Photostability and systemic absorption - A path toward safer and more effective sunscreens (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40451593/) — Confirms that organic UV filters including avobenzone and octinoxate photodegrade in sunlight and that stabilization strategies are needed to preserve protection, supporting the need for a photostabilizer in such formulas.