I get how you could confuse a tampon with a lip balm especially due to the similar shape, size and feeling of hard packed cotton covered in a thin plastic covering of Australian tampons compared to small tubes of lip balm. However there is noticeable difference between hard plastic tubing and plastic covering that are different enough that you should have been able to tell the difference by just feeling. That being said, fyl OP. That would have been a super embarrassing moment but I'm sure you won't be making that mistake again.

How didn't you notice?

You should've looked them in the eye, told them sternly that staring is rude, and continued to pretend to apply lip balm with your tampon.

Waiting for a nose bleed, I guess

You should have smiled creepily at them and winked.

How did you not notice your "lip balm" was covered in loose plastic? Also even if it was lip balm that's still a weird thing to do, they'd probably be staring anyways

I'm sorry, but I call "shenannigans" on this. I'd believe it if she said she'd taken it out and started to uncap it, or some other short interaction, but there's no way that she wouldn't have felt a difference if she was touching it with her hands and lips for an extended period of time, as she describes here.

wow...

There's nothing wrong with tapping something against your face. I don't see why everyone keeps saying you deserved it just because you have an odd habit.

This FML has taught me that a lot of guys are pretty clueless when it comes to tampons. They don't seem to realize that tampons come in plastic inserts and wrapped in loose plastic wrappers. When we pull a tampon out of our purse, it's not just a cotton ball with string attached lol