Traffic, Traffic, Lookin' for my Chapstick

Friday, March 12, 2010

I have no idea why I used a cheesy line from Malibu's Most Wanted as a title. Anyways, I was going to do more LORAC swatches, only it's raining out and that's not really conducive to photographing good swatches (at least not for fantastic swatches, a la Karla Sugar). So I thought I'd talk about something that has been annoying me for quite some time.
I keep losing lip balm. Not a big deal, you say, just go buy another one. I do. I'll lose that one too.
At any given time, I will own about six lip balms. The whereabouts of five of them being completely unknown. In fact, I have never ever finished an entire stick, because I've always lost it first. This wouldn't be such a big issue, but I have severely dried lips (I think it's a genetic thing, my brother and sister have it worse- the derm says it's sensitivity to acidic foods and drinks). It looks disgusting, my fiance has interrupted me numerous times during conversations to inform me that part of my lip is flaking off. Actually, most of the time I'll search my pockets and beg him to loan his out to me (he uses gross old Chapstick Original).
Here's the break down: I buy about 8 to 10 lip balms a year. They average about $4-5 each. So after a decade, it ends up being a pretty good chunk of change. I could buy cheaper ones, like Chapstick, Carmex or those 3 packs of Blistex Fruit Smoothies but I'm sensitive to smell and they make me nauseous. I've been brainstorming ideas for keeping my balm close by and this is what I've come up with:
- Get a belt holder type deal, kinda like for a cell phone. Of course, anytime I bust out my lip balm in public, I will feel ridiculously foolish for essentially having a lip balm fanny pack.
- Attach a string to the stick of balm, and tie the other end to belt, coat pocket zipper, etc. It's like having a pocket watch and chain only not nearly as classy. This reminds me of when I was little and my mom tied my mittens on a string and so I wouldn't lose them.
- Have a small pouch surgically sewn into my arm so that my lip balm always has a home. I like this option the best.
This does raise a question, where do all these lost sticks of lip nourishment go? Most of them end up under my seat in the car, where the inside somehow gets covered in grime. Other forgotten ones end up in the laundry, and melt all over my clothes in the dryer (who doesn't love grease stained bras?).
Ok- spin off. Since I'm obviously obsessed with lip products, let's humor me and talk about my top five favorite ones. (Notice how I'm not using my own photos, but using public domain images? It's awfully hard to photograph stuff you've already lost. Bah.)

Number 5: Dr. Pepper flavored Bonne Bell. It's delicious. That's all there is to it. Unfortunately that means I end up eating it off my lips, so that does negate any moisturizing properties it might have. I don't care. It's got a nice natural tint to it, and someone mentioned once to me that in a pinch you can use it as a cheek tint. Cheap too.

Number 4: Aquaphor Healing Ointment. Great stuff, it's what the dermatologist recommended to me for my dry lip area. However, I find that after putting this on, it always migrates off of my lips and onto my chin. Still, it's really useful to have a tube of this around because it has so many uses- cracked heels, dry rough cuticles, etc.

Number 3: Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm. It's all pepperminty and soothing, which I like in the summer. Sometimes I like to uncap it just to sniff it. I also have a tendency to lick this off my lips. I wonder how much of this stuff I've eaten.

Number 2: Kiehl's Lip Balm #1 (Flavored). I just started using Kiehl's products a few years ago, and this is a really nice consistency. I like the flavor, it's mild enough though that I don't ingest it. I'm greatly saddened by the tube of Cranberry Kiehl's that I lost last week, because I think that flavor was discontinued. Vanilla, Mango and Coconut are currently carried by Nordstrom.

Number 1: Nivea A Kiss of Moisture Essential Lip Care. There's actually a bit of story behind this one. Years ago, my French exchange student in high school gave me a tube of Labello lip balm. I really liked it, but had never seen it in the US. It was perfect- long lasting, tasteless but with a light, pleasant lotiony smell to it so I wouldn't gobble it off my own face. And for some strange reason, the packaging really appealed to me too. I liked the long cap and smooth exterior (dirt always gets stuck in the ridged twisting end of other lip balms). It was perfect and unobtainable, until last weekend, when someone told me that Nivea = Labello. I had no idea, and immediately stopped by CVS to grab some (side note- it was buy one, get $3 CVS bucks. Good deal). Thanks to some quick Wikipedia searching, I learned that in Germany, the term 'Labello' is a proprietary eponym (new term for the day, a trademarked name that people use as a generic colloquialism, like our 'Chapstick', 'Kleenex' or 'Coke') and it's only in the US that this product is sold under brand Nivea. A few Google searches also revealed that Labello has over two dozen flavors, tints and glosses, only a handful are sold here. This is the one I'm wanting the most, Dragonfruit. And I'm not even sure what Dragonfruit actually tastes like.

Ebay it is for me! Unless I make some friends overseas. Anyhoo, thanks for bearing with my crazy long entry about my obsession with balms.
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