This Kiehl’s lip mask has honestly saved me from the depths of cracked, chapped hell

Is there any worse feeling than chronically chapped lips?

With all of the extra, important hand-washing that been going on since the Coronavirus crisis, there has been tonnes of articles written about the best lotions and potions to use on your hands. I am most definitely a case of badly chapped, dry skin – but not on my hands. Instead it's my lips that have been suffering over the past few weeks. I've always been prone to dry lips, and have an addiction to/obsession with lip balms as a result. In every handbag, pocket, cabinet and drawer I own, you'll find several different types of lipbalms, lipsticks and glosses. The chapping tends to be pretty bad in winter, and my go-tos for treatment are a Lush sugar scrub to remove the dead skin, followed by soothing applications of Elizabeth Arden 8-hour Cream or Lucas' Paw Paw Ointment. Usually, once the weather heats up, the condition of my lips improves, but that hasn't happened this spring for some reason. Normally, I'd be blaming the air-con in the office, but since I'm working from home I know that's not the case. For the past few weeks, my lips have been cracked and peeling, which is not only awful to look at but pretty painful too – I've had a low-level burning feeling in my lips as well as some cracks that have begun to bleed. Ugh. My usually reliable treatments have been enough to take away the burn for short periods, but have failed to make an improvement to my lips' condition. I've steadily worked my way through every other type of balm, lotion and salve that was around the house but nothing made a significant distance. Then, buried deep in my bestie locker I discovered a jar of Kiehl's Buttermask For Lips that was a gift from a friend I'd somehow forgotten about. A miracle when one was needed! The hydrating product is made with fair-trade coconut oil and wild mango butter, and it's intended to be used as an overnight mask to nourish and refresh the lips. I popped it on before I went to sleep and was delighted to find that, by the next morning, my lips actually felt a lot softer. For the past week, I've been using the mask in small amounts several times throughout the day. While the burn hasn't totally gone away as yet, there has been a big improvement in their condition and the peeling is much reduced. I'm most definitely – finally – on the road to recovery. The mask costs €25 from from department stores, including Brown Thomas and Arnotts, and Kiehl's website. For anyone using it, I'd recommend swirling your finger on the top of the balm for a few seconds so that the heat melts it to give you easy application.