Having A Ball

My new favorite drugstore impulse buy isn’t really an impulse buy at all. I had been checking out the eos lip balm for months, maybe even a year. The first few times, I knew nothing about it, but the shape grabbed me. It’s a ball! Why is it a ball? But I resisted. I didn’t need any new lip balm. Eventually, I started seeing ads and learning more about it. It has all the important “frees”: gluten-free, paraben-free, petrolatum-free, phthalate-free. And it’s 95% organic, 100% natural. It’s made with shea butter, vitamin E and jojoba oil. It really sounded like my kind of lip balm. Still, I resisted. I already have plenty of lip balm.

But then, one day I just didn’t resist anymore. They say you only have a certain reserve of self-control, and I guess mine ran out last week. Goodbye $3.49, hello new toy!

I was torn between Honeydew Honeysuckle and Summer Fruit, but I went with Summer Fruit. The container is red, so I had imagined it to be kind of strawberry/watermelon, but it’s actually more of a peachy/apricot. And it's fantastic.

Since they only had a few options at the store, I visited their website to check out all the flavors: summer fruit, lemon drop spf 15 , strawberry sorbet, honeysuckle honeydew, sweet mint, passion fruit and… medicated tangerine. I think they should probably rethink the name on that last one.

Anyway, this thing is pretty awesome. The flavor is natural, and it’s totally fun to apply lip balm from a ball. You can even do both lips at once if you want! Go crazy! Since it doesn’t have any petroleum in it, it won’t dry your lips out and just make you need more later. (I hate stuff with petroleum in it for so many reasons!) You get nice, long-lasting smoothness. It’s not waxy either, which is great. My husband likes it too. I know this because every time he finishes using it, he says “I like that thing.” Every. Single. Time.

The container, of course, is adorable. It’s shaped like the most basic toy there is, so you can’t help associating it with fun. It looks cute on your desk, and even though it’s generally ball-shaped, it has a wide, flat bottom, so there is actually less of a chance it will knock over and roll away, like your average tube of lip balm would. I love that it doesn't have a label either. Just "eos" pressed into the top.

I’m guessing, at some point, you wear down the ball part and then have to use your finger to apply the second half. That’s assuming it’s a solid sphere of lip balm, but I really don’t know for sure. Part of me wants to dissect it, but I like it too much.