I grew up in a very small hick town and the nearest makeup that wasn't Maybelline and Hazel Bishop lipstick was nearly a half-hour drive away, a mall with a Penney's and a very fine makeup counter, including Bonne Bell (before it was marketed to the same demographic as Nickelodeon.) They made Lipsmackers back then that were just colossal, like an inch wide by almost four inches long, suspended from braided neck cords. Where I grew up, they were considered status symbols. I went to the tiny parochial school in town, and we wore a uniform; the Lipsmackers were the only bit of color allowed (the nuns reluctantly let the girls have them, because of the risks of chapped lips during a Buffalo winter where we were still herded outside for recess even in bitter weather.) Even more than that, however: they were proof that we were able to get out of town on occasion. When I was able to buy my first Bonne Bell palette, I guarded that thing like the crown jewels!