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Nostalgia for the ’90s is creeping into every crevice of beauty and fashion today. There’s denim maxi skirts, low-rise women’s jeans, slinky slip dresses, and a certain sheer raisin lip color — Clinique’s Black Honey Almost Lipstick. After selling out at Ulta, Sephora, and Amazon last fall, the Emilia Clarke- and Drew Barrymore-approved Clinique Black Honey lipstick is in stock and on sale at Nordstrom right now for under $20.
Our current craving for all things aughts has earned #CliniqueBlackHoney over 277 million views on TikTok, with girls and guys raving about the lipstick’s ability to flatter any skin tone, leaving your lips looking wine-stained and subtly shiny. Celebrities are on the bandwagon, too, with Clarke calling it “yummy,” and explaining that “every coat adds a lil more drama” in an Instagram post. Zooey Deschanel reportedly wore Black Honey while filming “New Girl.”
But before Clinique Black Honey gained popularity on TikTok, it was the Y2K ‘It’ lip color seen on stars like Barrymore and Courteney Cox during the ’90s. The shade had many an on-screen moment, notably when Molly Ringwald slipped it into her cleavage for a party-trick approach to applying the lipstick in “The Breakfast Club.” Liv Tyler wore it in “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” and Julia Roberts can be seen passing the tube to her step daughter in the film “Step Mom.”
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Clinique launched the Black Honey shade in 1971, originally formulated as a gooey gloss sold in little glass pots. The pigment looked like a nearly-black mulberry shade in the pot — the antithesis of the flashy makeup colors popular at the time. But the beauty of Black Honey is that it sheers out as soon as you apply it, enriching the color of your natural lips and imparting shine.
By the ’90s, Clinique reformulated the shade into the Almost Lipstick format, designed for easier application. As the name suggests, the Almost Lipstick formula puts the jammy shade in a lip product that’s a cross between a lip balm and a lipstick. The updated packaging made the beloved lip color easier to apply on the go — it’s so sheer that you don’t need makeup mirrors to swipe it on. The updated packaging reinforced Clinique’s Black Honey as a veritable sensation. According to Clinique, a tube is sold every three minutes in the U.S.
Today, you can shop the iconic Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey for under $20 at Nordstrom. Grab a tube while you can — beauty products this popular always go fast.
Related:
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The Best Nude Lipsticks for Every Skin Tone
Meet the Author
Claire Sullivan is the Senior Beauty and Lifestyle Commerce Editor for WWD and Footwear News. She’s spent over five years researching, reporting on, and writing about the beauty industry for publications like Martha Stewart Living, Martha Stewart Weddings, InStyle, and Byrdie. She’s tested hundreds of products during her time as a beauty editor, so she’s well-versed in selecting the products that make a meaningful difference in your skin and hair. She’s been wearing Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey for years.