Gone are the days of simple childhood pleasures. Back when our generation was living it large on the playground, we passed the time playing marbles or jumping rope or just reading an old-fashioned paper book. You may remember the days of gliding down the hallway in Heelys tennis shoes or taking care of your Furby doll or pretending to be a world famous chef making three-inch cakes in your Easy Bake Oven.
Now flash forward to today, when every elementary aged child has an iPhone in their hand and reading a book means picking up a tablet and swiping through the electronic pages. There are certain things the children of today will never be able to understand like we did when we were their age, and today that now includes Lip Smackers.
Bonne Bell, the cosmetic company that made Lip Smackers, is closing its United States manufacturing and distribution facility.
The Ohio factory will no longer be turning out the brightly colored tubes. Bonne Bell sent a letter to the mayor of Cleveland announcing the closing, including to expect layoffs of all the employees of the factory, totaling about 90 people. The company announced that it plans to focus on its other skin care and beauty lines.
Lip Smackers was a ‘90s girl’s classic. The popular chapstick line came in a wide variety of delicious flavors, including all fruits under the sun and multiple soda flavors.
Consumers are very upset about the dismissal of the brand. Twitter is ablaze with sad and nostalgic buyers that feel a part of their child hood is closing along with the factory. Twitter user
@alyceyoungblood remembered, “In 6th grade, I got a tin of Lip Smackers at 3 separate Christmas gift exchanges – and I returned none of them. RIP, Bonne Bell.”
Before you go and ransack every Claire’s store within a 100-mile radius to get the remaining tubes of the nostalgic lip balm, there is good news. Markwins International has agreed to buy the fruity lip brand.
The bad news is, however, that Lip Smackers will only be distributed in Europe, Australia and Asia. So pack an extra bag when you go abroad, you will be needing it to grab them while you can.
