The Making of Black Label Balm: Creating the Perfect Lip Balm for Men

Creating the perfect lip balm for men sounds simple - until you actually try to do it. Black Label Balm took far more trials than we ever expected. We adjusted the texture, finish, flavor, glide, absorption and staying power again and again because we discovered something important along the way: men have very different expectations when it comes to lip care. They want their lips to feel good. They want something that tastes good. They want it to work. But most men absolutely do not want to look as though they are wearing lip gloss.

And therein lay the challenge. There is a very fine line between a balm that genuinely conditions dry lips and one that leaves them looking shiny, greasy or coated. Black Label Balm needed to disappear. We wanted a smooth, comfortable, sophisticated matte finish that a man could apply before walking into a meeting, appearing on television, heading to dinner or simply going about his day without giving it another thought. No conspicuous shine. No sticky residue. No glossy lips. Of course, for the men who do appreciate a little shine, we have something for them, too - our Eternal Youth Botanical Lip Gloss and Botanical Renewal Masques. Black Label, however, had a very different assignment: it needed to be virtually invisible while doing some very serious work.

I happen to have the perfect product tester/victim living with me. My husband is a State Senator, which means he is constantly being photographed - often with absolutely no warning. He appears on television, gives interviews under unforgiving studio lights, attends meetings and public events, and spends long days in session where cameras can appear at any moment. Naturally, I drove him absolutely crazy developing this balm. I made him try version after version. Was it too shiny? Too waxy? Too soft? Did it last long enough? Was the flavor noticeable enough without being overwhelming? How did his lips feel several hours later? Did he forget he was wearing it? Most importantly, would he actually reach into his pocket and use it again without me reminding him?

Then I decided ordinary product testing wasn't enough. We tested Black Label Balm during Boston snowstorms and through Texas heat waves. I sent it with him while he was in session in the Senate, where long hours, dry indoor air and high-stress days provided another completely different testing environment. We tested it through travel, changing temperatures and real life. I wanted to know what happened to the formula when it was carried in a jacket pocket, exposed to cold weather, subjected to heat and worn for hours at a time. If Black Label Balm was going to carry the Southern Luxe Savon name, it needed to perform wherever the man carrying it happened to be.

Men also have an interesting advantage when it comes to the appearance of the skin around the mouth: most shave regularly. Shaving provides a form of mechanical exfoliation, removing some surface dead skin cells along with facial hair. Yet while men may inadvertently give the skin surrounding their mouths frequent exfoliation, many do surprisingly little for their actual lips. The lips themselves don't receive the same benefit, and they have a different structure from ordinary facial skin, with a more vulnerable barrier and fewer of the natural mechanisms that help keep the rest of our skin lubricated. We didn't want Black Label Balm to simply be another flavored layer of wax. We wanted to create serious lip care disguised as an effortless men's grooming essential.

That philosophy is reflected in what we put inside every little black tin. Black Label Balm is formulated to the highest standards we could set for it, using a luxurious collection of carefully selected oils, butters and conditioning ingredients. It includes organic murumuru butter, jojoba oil, castor oil, argan oil, Abyssinian oil, baobab oil and sea buckthorn oil, to name just a few. We added Manuka honey, antioxidants, a Ceramide Lipid Complex and our Eternal Youth Complex to take the formula well beyond what we think of as an ordinary lip balm. Every ingredient had to earn its place in the formula.

What we put on our lips also matters to us because, unlike most skincare products, some portion of anything applied to the lips is inevitably going to end up in our mouths. That reality influenced the way we approached Black Label from the very beginning. We wanted a formula centered around thoughtfully selected, high-quality lip-care ingredients - something luxurious enough to perform beautifully but made with ingredients we felt good about putting on our own lips. And yes, it also had to taste great. Because we learned something else during all of those trials: if a man's lip balm doesn't feel good, taste good and fit effortlessly into his routine, chances are he isn't going to keep using it.

Even the packaging went through our scrutiny. I didn't want Black Label Balm to look like an ordinary drugstore lip balm. I wanted something handsome, masculine and sophisticated - something that wouldn't look out of place beside a beautiful watch, cuff links or a good pen. So we made the tins small, sleek and black, finished with our signature gold fleur-de-lis seal. They are deliberately compact enough to slip easily into a suit jacket, blazer, briefcase, travel bag or jeans pocket without adding unnecessary bulk. Understated, handsome and practical was exactly what we wanted the packaging - and the product inside it - to be.

Eventually, after more versions than my husband would probably care to remember, we got it right. The texture was right. The flavor was right. The matte finish was right. The wear was right. The packaging was right. It had survived Boston winter weather, Texas heat, Senate session, television lights, travel, long days and all of the ordinary situations that don't happen inside a product-development laboratory. Black Label Balm had finally met what we call the Southern Luxe Standard.

Today, Black Label Balm is one of those products we find ourselves making almost daily because it sells so quickly. And perhaps that is the greatest compliment we could receive after all those prototypes: men actually use it. They put it in their pockets. They finish the tin. And then they want another one.

Black Label Balm began with a deceptively simple question: What would the perfect lip balm for a man actually look, feel and taste like? Our answer is something compact enough to disappear into his jacket pocket, matte enough that no one knows he's wearing it, luxurious enough that he actually wants to use it, and formulated with the caliber of ingredients we expect from Southern Luxe Savon. After all those batches, climates, critiques - and one very patient husband - we created something we're exceptionally proud to put our name on.

And once you try Black Label Balm, don't be surprised if it becomes the little luxury you start giving every man on your list.