Scarlett Cheng
Age: 7
Home country: Hong Kong SAR, China
Special skill: Lip balm collecting
LIPBALMS! Hi, I'm Scarlett Ashley Cheng. Me and my sister, Kaylyn, hold the record for the largest collection of lip balms with 3,388. Our obsession doesn’t end there though…
The fascination begins
I started using lip balm for my dry lips when I was around 3 years old.
At first, they were mostly ordinary ones for its moisturizing purpose. Then, it all started while I was travelling to Japan with my family during a winter break.
The weather was so dry and my lips were cracking yet I couldn't find my lip balm in all my pockets! So we went into one of those Japanese pharmacies to get one and that’s when I fell in love with lip balms!
I remember there were so many cute lip balms and flavours to choose from. It was a hard decision to pick just one so we ended up buying all the special ones, taking them back to the hotel and trying them all!
Since then, I started collecting lip balms not only for my dry lips but also for their cute looks and tastes.
Did you know? 🤔
Lip balms have been around for hundreds of years, since 1800’s, isn’t that incredible. They’ve changed a lot over time, of course. They probably didn’t have candy-flavoured lip balms back then! 🍭🍫🍬
How I organize my lip balm collection
I display some of my favourite and special ones in my room and living room. For the rest of my collection, I store them in boxes with labels. Luckily, lip balms are relatively small items and don't take up too much space given the large number of lip balms I've collected so far.
My sister and I use some of them but most of them are just for keeps!
One of our most prized items are the Sour Patch Kids lip balms, which were really hard to find in Hong Kong. I managed to track them down in the USA.
The most special lip balm in my collection was the first one I ever got. A gift from my grandma, it was a DHC lip balm with the cat Marie from the Alice And Wonderland. This is the beginning of my dream!
Scarlett Cheng
How I felt after breaking the record
"You are officially Amazing!" Mum brought me the news. Oh my god, am I? I am a Guinness World Record holder? Really? I was thrilled and overjoyed! I could not wait to thank all my family and friends for their support.
Many of them were amazed as they didn’t know, even I myself, that I could collect such large numbers of lip balm. They are also very supportive and excited for me. My dad, who encouraged me to achieve something at the beginning, is very proud of me.
What the future holds for me
I could not believe I had already collected over a thousand lip balms until I was encouraged to break the record. I do not have a number in mind that I would like to reach but I will keep collecting more special lip balms!
My sister and I also like to create organic lip balms at home and we often make them as gifts for people. I wish I could have my own lip balm brand, with my name and portrait on in the future.
I also collect products of a set of Japanese characters, Sumikko Gurashi, but the number is not enough for me to achieve a world record… yet!
I'd say, I'm a very lucky girl indeed. It is a blessing to have found my passion of lip balm. When you find your passion and go for it, everything becomes possible.
Scarlett Cheng