I have one vice. it’s my lip balm. if I don’t have it with me, I can feel my lips shriveling up into little prunes. and of course, now that I’ve found one I really like, it’s out of stock 90% of the time at bath & body works. so, a few weeks ago I was like, screw you, bath & body works – I’ll just buy a similar spf minty lip balm from banana republic. it’s all the same, right?

it’s not.

I’ve gotten used to the c.o. bigelow balm’s super-soft texture, strong (and sugary) mint taste and tingliness. the BR balm is…gah. it’s so hard (even if I’ve had it in my pocket all day) that I feel like I’m bruising my mouth when I’m trying to rub some on and it’s spearmint. I do. not. like. spearmint. the only good thing I can say about the BR balm is it stays pushed up to the same position and doesn’t go crazy and get stuck all over the cap like the c.o. bigelow tends to do. ok, like it inevitably does.

so, after three – THREE – failed trips to bath & body works to get the c.o. bigelow balm, today I broke down and paid $7 in shipping to buy a couple tubes of it online.

kara: 0 / c.o. bigelow and their mastery of supply & demand: 1