Hidden Valley Ranch and Burt’s Bees’ Lip Balm Collab Is Deliciously Unhinged

By Samantha Maxwell  |  January 18, 2024 | 3:33pm
Photo courtesy of Hidden Valley Ranch
Food News lip balm
Hidden Valley Ranch and Burt’s Bees’ Lip Balm Collab Is Deliciously Unhinged

There’s apparently nothing that creates a PR buzz quite like a food brand creating a collab with another company it probably shouldn’t. Perhaps that’s why Hidden Valley Ranch and Burt’s Bees have joined forces to create an absolutely cursed hot wing-inspired limited-edition lip balm set. Get your hands on these balms, and you’ll be able to slather your lips with hydrating flavors like Fresh Carrot, Crunchy Celery and Buffalo Sauce. Of course, the pièce de résistance is the signature Hidden Valley Ranch flavor.

This questionable beauty product seems to have hit the shelves right on time for lips chapped by cold weather and the impending Super Bowl. But now, you don’t have to eat (yet another) serving of wings to get a taste of the seasonal flavors you love… you can simply swipe your lips with some hydrating moisture.

According to a press release, an April Fools post on social media spurred the idea. Although the collab was originally just a joke, the positive response from the public was enough to bring the idea to fruition. “Fans responded so enthusiastically,” says Mariah Eckhardt, General Manager at Burt’s Bees. “So, for an exciting, limited release, we’re bringing together two fan favorites—Burt’s Bees lip balm and Hidden Valley Ranch. This delightfully unexpected union comes just in time for dry lip season and game day.”

The news of the collab was just released Wednesday, but the limited-edition lip balms have already sold out, according to Burt’s Bees’ website. You can, however, join the mailing list for more information about this and future releases from the brand.

This isn’t the first food-flavored lip balm to hit the market, but it has to be said that these lip balms aren’t for consumption, although as someone who ate her fair share of Lip Smackers as a child, I can attest that scraping the balm off with your teeth probably won’t kill you. (But for real, don’t eat your lip balm because I’ve somehow managed to stay alive despite my poor decisions.)

Is this collab gimmicky? Of course, but that’s kind of the point. Although I haven’t managed to get my hands on some of this lip balm myself, I feel like it’s not the worst idea a company has ever had. Why not veer away from the fruity flavors to create more savory balms? The carrot and celery flavors, for example, seem like they would be nice on a spring day when you want a lip balm flavor that’s less cloying than many of the sweet flavors out there. The buffalo sauce flavor sounds a bit more questionable to me, as does the ranch, but maybe they deserve the hype.

Now that savory lip balms have dropped, I’ll be waiting for the next unhinged collab from Burt’s Bees. Maybe chili crisp?

Samantha Maxwell is a food writer and editor based in Boston. Follow her on Twitter at @samseating.

 
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