Flashback Friday: Bonne Bell Dr. Pepper Lip Smacker

OK, so the eye makeup demo submissions are rolling in, but due to various last-minute technical difficulties that are almost entirely my fault, I won’t have one ready for primetime until Monday. The entries are (so far) entirely fantastic, and you are going to LOVE them. Tons of great looks and advice, plus the voyeuristic fun of seeing dozens of make-up products in action.
But since I’ve spent almost all morning futzing around with them with nothing to show for it, I’m going to scrap the advice today and launch a new occasional feature that I’ve been kicking around for awhile: Going back to the nostalgia-heavy and price-tag-lite products of my youth and seeing if any of them are as good (or as awful) as I remember.
I’m talking , , Wet n’ Wild…the kind of products that still exist (many with the same packaging and price!) but I haven’t actually considered using in years and years. Because, you know. I was 12. What the hell did I know?
But do I really know any better now? DUN DUN DUUUUN.
Today I’m starting with the product that sparked the idea — a , Dr. Pepper flavor, purchased as an impulse buy at Target for a whopping buck-fifty.
Oh my God, is there anyone out there who DIDN’T own a Bonne Bell Lip Smacker or five? I got my very first one (bubblegum-flavored) in my Christmas stocking in the fifth grade, when some girls started bringing makeup to school and would spend our washing-up-after-recess time in front of the bathroom mirror, applying 14 coats of lipgloss, while the rest of us tried to do the same thing with our Chapstick.
Lip Smackers were my mom’s only concession in the makeup department, but for me, they were enough. A tiny hint of color, a burst of delicious, and dozens and dozens of flavors to collect. They weren’t REALLY makeup, but they were darned close enough.
The Dr. Pepper flavor was always my favorite.
There’s no need for a detailed review here, obviously. Lip Smackers are exactly like you remember them. Candy-flavored glosses with the consistency of lip balm, a hint of color that lasts about as long as a bag of chips, a soothing creaminess that brings out the compulsive lip balm over-applier in all of us.
Earlier this week, I pulled my Lip Smacker out of my pocket during a playdate and smeared some on (mmmmmyummy) and my friend perked up.
“Is that a Dr. Pepper Lip Smacker? Tell me that is NOT a Dr. Pepper Lip Smacker.”
“Yep, it is.”
“Oh my God,” she said, “I haven’t seen one of those in years.”
I held it out to her, offering her a hit. Just like the cool girls in elementary used to do, once you got on their good sides, and if they took pity on you and your non-tinted Chapstick.
She accepted and applied some. She looked down at the little tube and smiled.
“Who doesn’t love a Dr. Pepper Lip Smacker?” she asked.
“Freaks,” I answered. “And probably communists.”
Tell me. Is there a product like that for you? What’s your Dr. Pepper Lip Smacker?