Kyou, Eki de Mita Kawaii Onnanoko - Vol. 4 Ch. 41 - Wrinkles, Regrets And The $20 Lip Balm...

[MangaDex]

 

[Playerbase]

You can be a fully bloomed flower too.

 

[Elfteiroh]

I looked it up. That balm is REALLLY CUTE IRL too! They even have some that CHANGE THE COLOR OF YOUR LIPS based on your body temperature and PH! xD
But sadly, I also looked at the ingredients, and there's some bad ones in them... like parabens.
Oh well.

For those curious for when buying some, even as men, there's a couple ingredients easy to spot that are good to stay away from:

• Any Alcohols, Menthol, and Phenol. They are ALL dehydrating. Like when you're drunk, you lose a lot of water and need to drink right? well same thing here.
• Parabens. Like methylparaben and butylparaben. (basically anything named like: [blabla]paraben ) Not only they are linked to hormone dysfunctions in extreme cases, they make the top layer of your skin brittle and cracked long term... AKA, "feel dry".
• Petroleum jelly and other petrol-based ingredients. They are simply non-breathable. They are often proposed as sealants that "lock" moisture in... but if there's no moisture to lock, it just prevent it from getting there! That one is 50/50. On healthy lips that already are well hydrated, they are fine, and can be good. To your discretion.

These ingredients often tend to create a worst feeling of dry lips than usual after you stop using them constantly, causing a kind of "addiction".

There ARE good lip balms out there though.

 

[Ceiye]

Hey man, if you were gonna say it was a gift anyways, you should have gone back and gotten the flower lip balm too

 

[nikipa]

It's kinda cute that he's so embarrassed for buying just a simple lip balm.

 

[tokichiroaoi]

Well who's gonna steal his lipstick anyway?

 

[Sya_Elexeor]

I really am curious, of course he could be just a guy who's really into cosmetics, fashion etc. but I really wonder if he was a crossdresser in his youth, and I wonder if they'd show that past self.

 

[ARealCoolGuy]

Some chapters really have no real point to them, they're chapters about nothing (other than the product they're shilling).
What exactly happened here? He got a cracked lip, thought he needed some lip balm, noticed the "girl" had lip balm, thought about how bad his skin is, noticed the brand of the "girl's" lip balm, and then went and bought some...
So was the point of it? What's the through line of this chapter's story?

Not that I mind, because it's interesting reading about these fashion trends and such, but the framing of these things seem so ill thought out sometimes - despite the author knowing how to do it well, because most chapters manage it.

For comparison, "Do It This Way If You Wear the Clothes" is similar in premise, in terms of being about fashion and shilling products and brands, but they always manage to properly frame what they're shilling within the context of the story of that chapter, and usually within a whole story arc encapsulating multiple chapters.
Though funnily enough, I like this series more despite my negative comparison, so this series is obviously doing something right, haha.

 

[ReikoLupus]

I really am curious, of course he could be just a guy who's really into cosmetics, fashion etc. but I really wonder if he was a crossdresser in his youth, and I wonder if they'd show that past self.

Honestly, at this point I'm reading him as a full Egg that never got to crack because of how society works over there.
He knows waaaaaaay too much about everything feminine, in a way that a lot of the time feels like admiration and even jealousy.
Like he always wanted to be able to indulge in it all, but never could because he's unfortunately a man.
Meanwhile, he doesn't seem particularly happy or interested about things related to being a man.
It really feels way past the point of just wanting to crossdress or be a femboy with this one.

 

[lyncesca]

ojii-san you can be an onee-san too there is still time

 

[nikipa]

Reminder that men and boys are allowed to like cute and feminine things too while still being fully a male. That is the whole point of this manga and Hikaru.