Clinique Black Honey Collection

I don’t buy Clinique makeup often, but it’s safe to say that Clinique are responsible, at least in part, for my lip product obsession.  Not to mention that when I take people shopping for coloured lipsticks, I often introduce them to Clinique’s “Almost Lipstick” range, which is a great way to introduce brighter lipstick colours into someone’s makeup wardrobe, as they are very sheer, and non-scary.

One of Clinique’s iconic products is actually their Almost Lipstick in Black Honey, which I have bought far too many times to mention over the years, and when I discovered they were bringing out an entire range around it for this autumn, I may have got a little over excited.  Some people have dismissed the collection as boring, but I disagree. 

The collection includes:

Clockwise from top: Graduated (“ombre) Blush, eyeshadow palette, eyeliner and lip duo, all in the shade “Black Honey”.

Let’s take a closer look at each product, starting with the blusher, which is the standout product for me:

I love this shade.  A non-shimmery, extremely fine-milled powder that grades from a brown with hints of purple on the left, to a slightly pinked brown on the right.  It’s not entirely matte, but there’s a slight hint of sheen when the powder is on your face.  It’s really gorgeous.  Here’s a pic that shows off the “ombre” effect better:

It’s immensely flattering on my currently very slightly tanned skin, but I can see the hint of purple in this will make it wearable on even very pale skins.  It would, I suspect, pull a little chalky on very dark toned skin.

The eyeshadow palette:

This is a very neutral eye palette, with hints of pink in most of the shades, so nice to see neutrals without a taupe! Shades 1 and 3 are matte, and shades 2 and 4 are shimmery, and extremely pigmented.

This is one pass (with a finger) over unprimed skin. Shade three is a rather unusual pinkish shade, but it can work quite well in the crease as here:

I did quite a nice, lightly smoked eye look with this on Saturday, I applied shade 1 on the brow bone, shade three all over the mobile lid, with shade four blended into the crease, and shade two patted into the corner.  As a liner, I used this:

Black Honey gel liner – which is an item from the permanent line – it’s a shimmering brown, again with a purplish undertone.  Less scary than that makes it sound …

It’s a great alternative to black, and the formula is very long-lasting, and transfer proof.  The brush you get with the liner is rather useless thoughbut.  I found that applying it with any other flat brush was a lot easier.

The Lip Duo is handy too.  At one end you have a mini Almost Lipstick, and at the other, you have a small pot of Long Last Lipgloss:

Black Honey is one of the archetypical “my lips but better” shades, back in the 90’s – when it was relaunched and promoted quite extensively – there was a lot of talk about it being one of Madonna’s favourite lipsticks.  It looks scary, being dark brown, but once on the skin, it’s a lot more subtle:

As you can see, on the hand, the shades are barely there, but on the lips, this will impart a rosy glow.

When I swatched these, I remember thinking that the formula used to be darker, so I dug out my original pot of Black Honey glosswear:

Looks a lot more like Marmite, eh?  Bear in mind, this pot of gloss is a minimum of about 15 years old … however, this is how it swatches alongside the new lip duo:

So there you have it, swatches of almost the entire collection (swatches of the blusher didn’t come out, but I’ll attempt to retake them, if people would like it), here’s a face of the day, where my makeup is practically invisible:

Artificial light

Natural light

I’m wearing the lot though, I assure you!

The Clinique Black Honey collection is available now, but the blush and eyeshadow palettes are both limited edition.

The Fine Print: A mixture of PR items and purchases, as PRs hadn’t heard of me 15 years ago.  Bless ’em.

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