For a large part of its history Bonne Bell had a lot of cool outdoorsy products, including this vintage Lip Proofer (which I estimate to be early 80’s). Specifically, you can find several old ads in skiing magazines!
I found this relevant excerpt from an article written in 1985:
Over the years Bonne Bell has also cultivated a national fitness image. In the 1960’s it became a sponsor of the U.S. Ski Team and the National Ski Patrol. This association helped the firm design a series of skin-care products for skiers, such as Suretan, Sun Block, High Altitude Cream, and Lip Proofer. – The Rotarian
Love vintage Bonne Bell, the packaging, the fonts, the language/message of their ads. So American. So much nostalgia behind the brand and also great products, nothing like it.
On another note, anyone else feel like we are getting the short-end of the stick with new Lip Smackers for 2015?! Very lull for it being the new year. What I have seen are just re-packaged Disney flavors, besides the Layer-It and Roll-It’s. I’m ready for some new regular Smackers! Not trying to sound spoiled but I hope there’s more than just the vintage 1970s trio and single Smacker (although I am looking forward to them, obviously!) Any new biggies or party packs?! They keep doing the same stuff on FB and not telling us a thing. Feeling very underwhelmed. Also, Target has set their Valentines Day section and there looks to be no Valentines day flavors this year.
I’m NEVER able to find their Valentine’s Day Lip Smackers at Target or ANYWHERE. It’s weird. You know what I miss? The swirly Lip Smackers with the keychain thingy. I had blueberries n cream I and loved that flavor.
The Swirl Glosses were the best! Raspberry Peach was EVERYTHING!!! I wish Berry Peach was a replacement but it’s definitely different. I still have mine and smell is at times, that’s how much I miss it! Bring RASPBERRY PEACH back!!! And, no, please don’t suggest Berry Peach because it’s definitely a different kind of berry used 😉 I don’t care if the packaging is different, etc. but I NEED that exact flavor formula back. That Strawberrie’s ‘n Cream flavor was on point too! Smelled just just a Creme Savers candy! They surely don’t make ’em like they use to.
Imagine a new Swirl Gloss collection today… Peanut Butter ‘n Jelly, Cinnamon ‘n Sugar, Vanilla Cotton Candy, etc. plus some of our old favorites mixed in. I can say I do truly miss those.
Btw, just today, I DID find the Valentines trio at Walgreens along with the Cinnamon Swirl, Vanilla Bean, and Berry Pie trio.
I think the last party pack was from over a year ago….the best flavor forever vintage…so yea. It sucks they didn’t bring us the candy cane shaped glosses for 2014 that Beautydea posted either. Buttt… the people of lip smacker keep saying they are “working” on improving flavours…Dr.Pepper being a huge one so maybe its better they aren’t giving us more crap products as they should be improving what they have. I’m tired of the Disney stuff also.
I am, no joke, heartbroken about those candy cane glosses.
I do agree, IIIF they’re actually improving them. I’m not cosmetics chemist, but I don’t understand what’s taking them so long, especially to correct their biggest seller. I can’t imagine a flavor formula they’ve made for +35 years not meeting FDA requirements today, where they have to change the actual smell. Unless they were under a contract with the formula (sounds weird, I know) but it was extremely accurate as far as it smelling like DP. Or, most cosmetics companies are planned quite a bit out (years) for launches, and maybe this wasn’t something they thought about happening (bad formulas) so now they’re scrambling trying to meet deadlines for current launches while also backtracking and improving core product formulas. You can definitely tell a lot of change from within the company has happened in the last couple years. At least the Bell’s still own it and are still active within it.
Anyways, yes I very sick of Disney launches and the same repetitive flavors they always do, it definitely feels its aimed more at Disney collectors than Lip Smacker ones. As I’m sure they’re more interested on who’s on the packaging than the actual flavor it offers. I don’t care as long as it’s not shadowing launches and new flavors for the rest of the line. Meaning it’s not taking the shelf space where we could have other, new Lip Smackers collections. I’m sure BB looks at it as a sure sell no matter what the flavors are, so that’s not their main concern with Disney, it’s the packaging.
I think the formula change has nothing to do with FDA requirements, ect…I think the plan was to cut corners, thus taking out ingredients and/or changing them to cheaper quality. THe only thing I see them taking out are preservatives, which does not affect the scent. I have a year 2002 lip smacker that still smells the same, yet the ones I bought a few years ago are very weak smelling and will probably go bad soon. The newer ones dry up a lot sooner as well. It isn’t just dr.pepper… they have scent issues with a lot, like cinnamon flavors. So I don’t know what the deal is or why it’s taking soooo long to correct a flavor they’ve been doing for decades.
The shelves at walmart in my area only have Disney packages. It’s rare to find party packs and original lip smackers (as you said). Around Christmas I kept seeing Minnie Mouse tins and not the other.
The LS website got boring as well. Remember the wishlist, or design your own lip smacker and little games? lol. A bunch of bores took over the company.
Wow I agree so much with everything both of you said. I too can only find Disney branded smackers. I’m upset about the repeating flavors.
As a collector, my wallet cannot handle buying 5 versions of Vanilla Cupcake a year, as well as countless other repeats!
I have hope though for one reason. A couple of years ago I remember thinking the packaging was terrible (and it was). People complained and I would say it was the following year that there was a marked improvement.
Now the product itself has tons of problem which you both have gone into…from formula to flavor choices, they’re all over the place… and sooo many people complain to them about it. They must plan out their products several seasons in advance right? That’s why seeing changes takes so long. So surely at some point they’ll revisit their formula, put new orders in, and voila… 8 months later we have improved smackers. That’s just a guess though.
I half agree about cutting corners. I’m sure they look for places to cut corners as any company does, HOWEVER, I just do not see them ruining the scent/flavor of their number one selling sku. The way the formula goes on, to me, is still the same with DP. Color, too. Only thing different is the scent. Now it smells like a stale cola. That’s why I think there’s more to it. I remember back in 2007/8 there was a bad batch of DP that smelled exactly how it does now, and they were very quick on changing it back. I started noticing changes in flavors in 2010, starting with Mango. Next, Red Raspberry, then more recently Wild Raspberry and I noticed with this years Bubble Gum’s (Cinderella, Valentines) a slight change, it’s sweeter but with the same undertone, not sure if they did it different for these two new ones or if this is the new BG we should start expecting (this is for the original BG, not the Easter, Juicy Fruit type flavor). They also go back and forth with original Strawberry. Some batches are the original some are the strawberry type they use in the Liquid Strawberry.
I was thinking Cinnamon Swirl was going to be an apology to us but based on marketing, I assume the flavor was planned a long time back when we were all asking for Cinnamon Sugar, before they even released that. I think we will see in the year to come, based on all the flavor mess-ups in 2014. I agree, the flavors do not last as long anymore which I do believe is from no certain preservatives. I started noticing this with holiday 2013 flavors, especially Sprinkle Cookie. The flavor weakened rather quickly and I’m noticing that happening with more and more lately.
I would love some new biggies. Simple flavors too, please.
I remember in the summer of 2005 when they brought biggies back out at Walmart for a limited edition collection. There were 12 of them and it was so exciting! I don’t need them to be permanent, I will buy backups anyway. I think they’re set on biggie trios now, so even doing that is fine. Imagine how beautiful it’d be to walk up to a limited edition display of 5 limited edition biggie trios. I still want a carnival themed biggy trio with Elephant Ear, Caramel Corn and snow cone of sorts, because you know they’d add a fruit flavor to the mix. 😉
Beautiful & the patriotic tube is great. So happy to have another vintage post 🙂
Hmm I thought Dr Pepper smelled a bit diff? Its still ok tho, What I really like currently is the “Barq’s”. Really root beer tasting and smelling. Ive used almost half the tube this month! Red Raspberry isnt as potent as I remember but Im jus happy to have it. A definite trip down memory lane,.Passion Fruit no longer gives your lips that “tingle” like the original Peppermint did,..Does anyone know of a Peppermint thats close to the original? Ive recently aquired the Peanut Butter and Trefoils in the Girl Scouts Collection what is everyones take on those? The novelty smackers are what got me collecting again. I used up a quarter of the ‘orange Juice” in a months time. Love it!!! And I got the Valentine Bubble Gum and it seems to smell and taste exactly the way I remember. The only Disney ones I am interested in are the Banana Split, Cherry Cobbler, Peppermint, Gingerbread, Cheesecake and maybe Marshmallow. I have the frozen ones because i wanted Vanilla mint, Chilled cranberry grape and ice pop. Omg WHERE IS GRAPE???? Does the Valentine Grape smell like the original??