Erin Flynn was in third grade the first time she visited the Bonne Bell store in Lakewood, in the late 1970s. By then, it was a mainstay in the community. Founded a half-century earlier by cosmetics salesman Jesse Bell and named for his daughter, the company had initially distinguished itself with its Ten-O-Six line of skin care products (named for its chemical formula) and then with its Lip Smacker line of flavored lip balms. “I just fell in love,” says Flynn, 54. “I was hooked.” Flynn’s family (her father was a vice president with American Greetings) moved around a lot during her childhood, and she was only in Northeast Ohio for third grade before the family moved to California. But her love for Lip Smacker and the company’s roots being in Northeast Ohio continued.
Three years later, the Flynn family moved back to the Cleveland area, and Erin’s love for Lip Smacker got even stronger when her class went on a field trip to the Westlake factory where the products were made.
A decade ago, when Flynn moved into her home in Avon Lake, she resumed collecting Lip Smacker. Her collection has expanded to more than 3,000 pieces, from the company’s earliest products to prototypes and marketing materials.
“I started buying back my childhood,” she says. “I moved around a ton as a child, and I think that’s why I started collecting this stuff.”
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In the late 1960s, the company expanded into fashion, making outerwear and skiwear with its Liberty Bell line. They added flavors to the lip balm the company manufactured for outdoor activities, and in 1973, Lip Smacker debuted in three flavors: strawberry, green apple and lemon.
Two years after Lip Smacker debuted, they signed a partnership deal with Dr Pepper. “It had a little tint of red, so it was like you were wearing lipstick and getting away with it,” Flynn says. That opened the floodgates. Soon there were partnerships with other pop and candy companies, like Hires Root Beer, Orange Crush, Good ‘n’ Plenty and Tootsie Roll. The company introduced an estimated 20 flavors a year and, by 2012, had more than 400. But three years later, the company was sold to an international company, and its Northeast Ohio operations closed.
For decades, pre-teen and teen girls were devoted to the product, first in its 0.6-ounce Biggy size and then in its more standard 0.14-ounce Smackeroos.
Flynn has a whole room devoted to her wide-ranging Bonne Bell collection at home. There are ashtrays and matchbooks from the employee commissary. There are prototypes for a Lydia Lip Smacker line of dolls that was considered but never produced.
And there are rows and rows of Lip Smackers. Some are variations — like a pair of 7UP Lip Smacker, one with the “bikini girl” that decorated the bottle for years, and one without. (She can tell what year a particular product was released from the font on the packaging.) And some are for causes and characters. There are “Herself the Elf” Lip Smacker, with particular sentimental value because Flynn’s father worked for American Greetings.
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When Flynn started buying them again in 2014, the company had massive warehouse sales — and then once they halted operations in Northeast Ohio, liquidation sales.
“I started collecting before a lot of other people did,” she says. “It’s almost impossible now. If you look on eBay, you can see some items go for upwards of $1,000. For most of my items, I spent like 10 dollars, or bought them at a warehouse sale for 10 cents apiece. I had boxes and boxes, and I finally decided to display them.”
Flynn shares her collection on Instagram and has the pink room at home.
“It’s a weird collection to have, but I don’t know anyone who’s seen it who hasn’t been blown away,” she says. “They want to see it and smell them all.”
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