Clinique Black Honey began as a lip gloss shade in 1971 and became the Almost Lipstick in 1989, a sheer berry that reads differently on every mouth. Here it is with the rest of the Clinique counter and four sheer tints that share its easygoing idea.
Clinique Black Honey, the Sheer Berry That Started as a 1971 Lip Gloss
In August 1967, Vogue ran a story asking whether great skin could be created, in which the editor Carol Phillips interviewed the dermatologist Norman Orentreich. A year later, in September 1968, Clinique opened at Saks Fifth Avenue, built by Leonard Lauder and named by Evelyn Lauder, and it was billed as the first allergy-tested, fragrance-free, dermatologist-developed beauty brand. Black Honey came out of that same world. It began as a shade of Phillips's honey-pot lip gloss in 1971, and the Almost Lipstick format arrived in 1989. Clinique Black Honey looks alarming in the tube, almost black, and then goes on as a sheer berry stain that reads differently on every mouth. That is the whole trick, and the reason people keep rediscovering it. The first row is the Black Honey family. The Almost Lipstick is the original, the Pop Plush gloss adds a cushion of shine, and the Pop Cheek + Lip Oil puts the shade on cheeks too. The Repairwear lip treatment is there because a sheer stain looks best on smooth lips.
If you like the stain, try these
The appeal here is color that looks like your lips, only better, and a handful of newer brands have built whole lines on that idea. MAC, founded in Toronto in 1984 by a makeup artist and a salon owner, makes the Lustreglass, a sheer tint with a glassy shine. Kosas started at Sheena Yaitanes's kitchen table in Los Angeles in 2015, and its Wet Stick is a moisturizing sheer lipstick with ceramides. Westman Atelier comes from the makeup artist Gucci Westman, and the HydroBalm has the comfort of a balm. Ilia's first product was a tinted lip balm, the one now sold as Balmy Tint, which makes it a fitting companion here.
Mascara, liner and the cleanup
Clinique launched with a three-step skincare system, and the counter still feels designed by people who think about skin first. The High Impact mascara builds volume and length, and the Quickliner twists up with no sharpening, which is exactly what I want on a weekday. Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel is the oil-free moisturizer for oilier skin. Take The Day Off removes long-wearing eye and lip makeup without tugging. What I would skip is layering a berry lip over a heavy, full-coverage face. The appeal of Black Honey is how relaxed it looks, so keep the rest light.
How to wear it
Dab it on with a finger for a stain, or swipe it straight from the bullet for more color. Layer the Pop Plush gloss on top when you want shine. It is one of the few lipsticks I would hand to anyone without asking about their coloring first. More than fifty years after the gloss that started it, it still does one thing very well.
I went deeper on the lipsticks themselves in Clinique lipstick, from Black Honey to Pop.
