8 things a multipurpose balm does that you probably haven't tried.

Most people think balm means chapstick. A real multipurpose balm is doing something different. Anhydrous, lipid-based, and built to integrate into skin instead of sitting on top of it, it quietly replaces about half a bathroom shelf without anyone noticing.

Here are eight ways to use it that most people haven't worked out yet, ordered roughly from most useful to most niche. Some of these are obvious in retrospect. Some of them aren't.

1. Post-shave or post-wax

Razor burn and waxing redness are signals from skin that's just had its surface lipids and superficial cells stripped off. Most aftershaves and post-wax products are alcohol or witch hazel-based, which is the wrong move for skin that's just been mechanically irritated. A thin layer of an anhydrous balm replaces what was lost and supports the inflammatory response. Bisabolol does the calming work at a cellular level. Calendula and plantain leaf support the surface recovery.

Works on legs, armpits, faces, and bikini line equally. The same logic applies wherever skin has just been shaved or waxed.

2. Under-eye and lip treatment, overnight

Skip the dedicated eye cream and lip mask. The skin around your eyes and on your lips is some of the thinnest on your body, and the lipid load it can tolerate is exactly what an anhydrous balm delivers. A small amount, patted in (not rubbed) before bed, works as both. The bakuchiol delivers retinol-adjacent activity without the photosensitivity or irritation profile of retinol that close to the eye. The lipids do the structural support overnight while you're sleeping.

This is one of the simplest skincare swaps you can make. Two products replaced by half a teaspoon of balm.

3. Brow and flyaway tamer

A tiny amount on your fingertip, brushed through brows or smoothed over hair flyaways, doubles as a soft styling wax. Light hold, subtle gloss, no flaking, no stiffness. Doesn't leave the slick that pomades do. Reapplies cleanly and washes out without product buildup.

Particularly useful for laminated brows that need conditioning between treatments, or for the type of frizz that water-based products won't hold.

4. Intimate skin comfort

Vulvar skin is some of the most sensitive on the body. It has a thinner stratum corneum than facial skin, fewer sebaceous glands, and a different pH profile. Most products marketed for intimate use are still water-based formulas with preservatives, fragrances, or essential oils that vulvar skin reacts to faster than the rest of you would.

NOOKS was developed across three formulation iterations specifically to be safe for intimate skin. Anhydrous, no preservatives, no fragrance, no essential oils above 0.6%. Every ingredient is food-grade or independently verified as mucosal-safe. The benchmark during testing was zero tingling on vulvar tissue, and it was met.

Most people use it for daily comfort on areas that are dry, post-shave, or feeling chafed from clothing or activity. It's a comfort product, not a medical one. (For specific medical concerns, see your GP.)

One usage note: NOOKS is oil-based, which means it isn't compatible with latex condoms. Worth knowing if that matters for your routine.

5. Cuticle and hand recovery

Hands are usually the part of the body that's worst-treated and most-used. Cuticles in particular take a beating from gel removal, sanitiser, dry winter air, and the dishwashing your hands haven't agreed to. A small amount worked into cuticles and across knuckles throughout the day does the slow rebuild that hand cream alone can't, because hand cream is mostly water and washes off the next time you use the sink.

Keep a tin at the desk, in the bag, by the bed. The cuticle audience is a habit-formation audience. The product works because the use is consistent, not because the dose is large.

6. Heels and elbows

Thicker skin areas that don't have the same oil gland density as the rest of the body, and absorb the most friction from clothes, floors, and movement. Apply generously before bed and pull on socks (for heels) or just leave it (for elbows). The overnight occlusion plus the lipid load is one of the most effective at-home setups for the cracked-and-chalky look these areas develop in winter.

Most people see surface improvement within a few applications and structural change within a couple of weeks of consistent use.

7. Perfume primer

This one is the unexpected favourite. Smooth a thin layer onto pulse points (wrists, behind ears, base of neck) before spraying perfume. The lipid layer slows the evaporation of the alcohol carrier in the perfume, which means the fragrance opens more slowly, sits closer to the skin, and lingers longer. It also softens the top notes of perfumes that can read sharp, particularly anything heavy in citrus or aldehyde.

Same logic as why perfumes last longer on moisturised skin than dry skin. The balm just gives the fragrance more to hold onto.

8. Friction zones from masks, glasses, or long-haul flights

The bridge of your nose under glasses. The cheekbones under N95 straps. The chin and behind-ears under any mask worn for hours. The cheeks and lips during a 14-hour flight when the cabin humidity drops below 20%. All of these are friction or low-humidity stress points where skin loses moisture faster than it can replace it.

A thin layer of balm reduces friction on the surface, slows transepidermal water loss in low-humidity environments, and keeps skin from going through the dryness-and-bounce-back cycle that long days under masks or in dry air create.

The bigger picture

Once you've worked out what an anhydrous balm actually does, you stop reaching for the half-empty products underneath your sink. It isn't that the balm replaces every one of them. It's that the work most of those products were trying to do was structural, and the structural answer is the same answer in eight different places.

NOOKS Everywhere Balm™ is anhydrous, 15 ingredients, no water, no preservatives. Built for skin under pressure, in eight places at once. Full ingredients and product details here.

Balm without the petrol. Actives without the sting. No off limits.

$29.95. One tin. Shop NOOKS Everywhere Balm™.