Things I'll Miss From Germany: Labello

(April 13, 2006)


I don't know if I believe in all that marriage stuff where they say, "When you find the right person you just KNOW." But I do believe it applies to lip balm.

Much like every other adolescent, I noticed a "change" in my body...my lips became chapped and it was time to get yet another product in stick form for yet another part of my body. And what do you know then? I thought chapstick was chapstick so I didn't pay much attention to my choices. What was a generic Kroger brand cherry stick one weekend and a Carmex jar, the next? Take care of your needs, right? Well, it wasn't until a random flirtation with a friend's medicated Blistex that I realized that maybe all lip balms weren't the same. In retrospect I realized that Kroger chapstick wasn't a stretch from using a taper candlestick. It was that waxy. Plus it seemed to have a weird curdling reaction in really cold weather. And the Carmex jar? Despite its being "For-Cold-Sores" I was lucky I came out of that experience without the herp considering how many people's fingers dipped into that jar. I liked the way Blistex made my lips feel. They tingled for minutes after I parted ways with it.

Anyhow, time passed. And even though I settled on an old ChapStick SPF 4 for a while, I still experimented with others here and there in search of my Blistex. Burt's Beeswax came close to fulfilling that void. But oh! the fantasies I'd have about bringing the medicated Blistex to my lips instead of the flavor of the week...Why didn't I just go out and get the Blistex? You know how it is: balms come and go. One turns up in an old coat, another when you're cleaning out the car, and another in your laundry. Or your Avon-selling aunt won't stop gifting Avon chapsticks with mini calendars on them for every damn holiday there ever was. So now, you see, this surplus of lip care doesn't justify going out and getting a new one. These half-used ones need to be finished. They need closure. And I became afraid that I over-idealized my first experience with Blistex.

Several moves later I suppose I dumped all my old chapsticks, though I suspect that I may have stored them away in a squirrelly fashion, to be refound at a later date. All I know is I ended up co-habitating with the owner of a Blistex. And I was happy. Content. A peacefulness in my lip care washed over me. We brought Blistex to Germany and lost it from time to time, but with holidays came more Avon mini calendar sticks to create the surplus problem again. Right about the time when our American friend's recent Labello purchase caught my eye...ipod-ish with its sleek design and curves, and Italian-sounding name, I was curious. But I didn't dare buy it. Again, not a fan of wasting.

But with our impending move to San Diego, I broke down and got one. I cheated, I guess you could say, but the Blistex was always at Ryan's work and I couldn't handling the blandness of the Avon mini calendar stick. If nothing else it just reminded me how long I had gone without lip love. And I'm glad I broke down because aside from the stick design and name, the lip care formula, itself, turns out to be amazing. This is what lip care should feel like. Too many other formulas feel like they're simply smothering your lips with wax and you develop a dependency on them, but this feels like natural moisture and I like that I don't need the tingle thing to feel that. It helps my lips be what they naturally are without the dependency. And while the Avon mini calendar attempts to be a neutral flavor/aroma unisex lip balm product, theirs is just gross and smells like plastic in wax form going on your lips. Labello isn't scent-free, but is a vanilla or aloe-vera scent at best. Nothing dramatic, which I like as well.

Turns out, others agree. And while I'm happy to see it's available on Amazon, the slightly different label makes me wonder if it's a slightly different formula in the States much like Coca-Cola isn't quite the same in Europe as it is in the States. It's certainly cheaper in Europe...

Happily every after,
Lakello

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