Ode to Carmex

Carmex. It's one of the best beauty products around and it wasn't dreamed up in some expensive lab after years of research, it'd got no exotic hard to find ingredients, and there's nothing French about it. Carmex was created in Wauwatosa, WI and since 1937, Carmex has been soothing the chapped lips of everyone who has to experience the indignity and unpleasantness of winter. If you've every endured the 20-below-zero windchill of a Minnesota winter, you know what I'm talking about. It's hell on the skin and especially the lips. Traditional Carnex comes in a little white pot with a yellow lid emblazoned with its red banner logo and the very unsexy words "FOR COLD SORES" Someone in the marketing department recently got wise and toned that down a bit, though. It used to be in big black block letters, but now it's in red on a smaller font. Subtlety is not in Camex's DNA. In addition to the stark packaging which announces that you might have cold sores, it also stinks to high heaven. I associate the scent with only good and comforting things, but a newbie (or potential mate) may not. When you open the pot, you're assaulted by a minty medicinal small, and by a goopy product that is, tragically, an ear wax yellow color. But if you're brave enough to dip your finger in and apply it to your mouth, you're in for a treat. A lot of relief and prevention comes in that little 0.25oz pot.