Beauty Without Fuss

Monday 1 August 2011

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.


This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.
Share:

8 comments

  1. You look fabulous in those pics, glowing and healthy.

    Clinique was one of the first ranges I spent the earnings from my very first part-time job on. I bought a brown toned lipstick that I hoped would make me look like Jennifer Aniston in Friends. Ahhhh... the 90s! How I miss them.

    I love the look of the liner. I've been using their black one and it's by far my fave gel liner. This colour def looks worthy of further inspection!

    Loveaudrey xxx

    P.S I have a feeling Modesty Brown will disagree about the lack of taupe in that palette!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am LOVING this.
    I've never heard of this and THIS is why I follow beauty blogs and especially you.
    I am now adding this to my list of things I will die to own.

    What can I say, it's a big list.

    Thanks again for this. Loving everything in that collection

    ReplyDelete
  3. I do like the look of these, especially the eyeliner (which I'll never use) and the double ended lip thingy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love Black Honey. The first posh make up item I bought, about 10 years ago. Liking the look of the blusher, too.

    And I like long posts. Do them more please.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for this, If you are able to do the blusher swatches I would really be grateful x

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think it's very pretty!!! I don't own any Clinique products but I've been hearing about Black Honey for...well, for forever! Just might give this a go, swayed by your pictures.

    xo
    Sara

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love the look of the gel liner, it's right up my street - black liners look a bit too much on me!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love the photos. It's really nice to see how a whole set of make up works together as it's meant to i.e. all together on a whole face. You look totally fab.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks, I love hearing from you!

© Get Lippie | All rights reserved.
Blogger Template by pipdig