Soldiering on into the new year…

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Biggy Christmas Lip Smackers, 1981

Hi BC readers, it’s been a minute! Things have settled down here so I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things on the blog.

How is everyone doing in this dreary post-Lip Smackers world– are you slowly chipping away at your Lip Smacker stash dreaming of better days, hoarding them like a dragon hoards treasure? Or maybe you’ve succumbed to the new normal, an endless parade of Disney characters dancing before your eyes (well, honestly I haven’t checked on LS 2.0 in a couple of years but… it’s a safe assumption)?

Vintage Soldier Lip Smackers Christmas 81

Strawberry, Bubble Gum

I’m in the hoarding-and-still-mourning-but-reluctantly-trying-other-products phase just so I don’t go through my extras too quick. While I’m going to be bitter ’til the end of time about the brand being gone, I’m thankful there is such a massive back-catalog to continue discovering and collecting.

I hope everyone has a good holiday and I look forward to posting more regularly!

Vintage Soldier, Lip Smacker Christmas 1981

Vintage Spotlight: Fruit Punch

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As August hits what is better than a sugary sweet summer drink like Fruit Punch? (Well maybe that title goes to lemonade, but I’m saving that for another day!)

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Like most flavors from its heyday, Fruit Punch is great because of its simplicity. It still smells heavily of strawberry, raspberry, and–maybe my nose is playing tricks on me–but a tiny bit of banana. It’s pretty much amazing, but I think I say that for every vintage post…

I’m happy that this one has the original rope in-tact for you guys to see. Maybe some of you will remember it?

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A Taste of Vintage

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If you’ve been craving the glamorous biggy Lip Smackers from back in the day, you’re in luck! A new biggy trio was just released, with two brand new flavors never seen in modern jumbo form.

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The beautiful box set features Dr Pepper, Vanilla Cream Soda, and Black Cherry.

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The colors and old school fonts that Bonne Bell used on the labels are just perfect! Black Cherry in particular is probably one of the best things they’ve done in awhile; great scent and formula, and there’s even some lip color when you use it.

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You can find these at Target right now, but they’re also available online if your local stores come up empty.

Vintage Spotlight: Banana Marshmallow

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Banana Marshmallow

The blog is overdue for a vintage spotlight post!

This time around I have chosen Banana Marshmallow, a vintage biggy Lip Smacker that perfectly captures the amazing delicious-to-unique ratio the old flavors perfected so long ago.

I know I say this probably 99% of the time but this really is one of the all-time best! Look at that brown font and unrelenting yellow tube! Oh and the necklace hook on the bottom that so many smackers of that era had 😀 It really highlights the design aesthetic of the time.

Banana MarshmallowAlso props to Bonne Bell on the scent, because even though marshmallow tends to be one of their weaker flavors (in that it loses hold of its scent pretty quick) this decades old smacker smells like it rolled off the factory line yesterday– in fact scent-wise it actually leans more in marshmallow’s favor.

I know it’s only August but you can bet Bonne Bell already have something up their sleeve for the upcoming holiday collections…this is definitely a worthy bring-back contender 😀

Vintage Spotlight: Sasparilla Lip Proofer

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Sasparilla Lip Smacker

Sasparilla Lip Smacker

The Sasparilla Lip Proofer was a biggy smacker made by Jess Bell in 1976 that was based on sarsaparilla, a soft drink staple in old western movies and today a popular drink in many other countries.

If you’ve never had it, sarsaparilla is in the root-beer family but it has its own unique set of flavors such as licorice, vanilla, and mint.

This smacker (or rather, lip proofer) was actually made to appeal to the boy demographic. It has a solid brown but uniquely textured (faux wood grain?) tube that you can see in the pictures – it’s also shorter than the standard biggies at 0.56 oz instead of 0.60 oz. It uses a twist-on cap like many of the early Lip Smackers.

Sasparilla Lip Smacker

sasparilla-backThis biggy still retains a strong smell and I think it is reminiscent of a spicy root beer with a hint of mint 🙂 It’s a really cool piece of Bonne Bell history. I wonder how it did with boys? It’s also curious that they went with the phonetic spelling of sarsaparilla when they named the balm.