Quick: Where were you when you first fell in love with Clinique Black Honey lipstick? I’ll go first. The year was 1998, and after watching Julia Roberts apply it while driving (relatable), then share it with her stepdaughter (germy) in Stepmom, I dug a tube out of my makeup drawer and wore it solidly for the next year.
Clinique turned the spotlight back on Black Honey Almost Lipstick last year by expanding the varieties of honey to include two additional shades, but the original has been around since 1971. When Carol Phillips, a former beauty editor at Vogue, teamed up with Dr. Norman Orentreich, a dermatologist, to start Clinique for Estée Lauder in 1968, she wanted a lip color suitable for workingwomen, which was a distinction at the time. Her solution was a pot of dark, gooey gel, a little slippery for anyone intent on climbing the corporate ladder, but a success nonetheless.
