As it often happens, while working on my blackberry Single Note Exploration post, I had blackberries on my mind. I went through my database to find all the perfumes featuring that note; tested perfumes I had; sniffed, purchased and ate berries at the Farmers Market, abandoned my current phone for the BlackBerry Q10… Ok, this last one I was kidding. But you’ve got the picture.
So when in the ad that came from Ulta I saw that lipstick I just knew I had to have it!
Not only it was of a wonderfully weird color but also it had a funny fitting shade name – Hello Sailor. I do not usually shop at Ulta but I wanted that lipstick. After the completely blank stare from the first SA, I found another one who heard about the Lipstick Queen brand but told me that only selected stores carried it.
So now I had not only to buy a lipstick untested but also paid for shipping it to me. I don’t make impulsive purchases, I didn’t know the brand and I don’t like Ulta. But I liked the color. And the name. So I decided to bite the bullet… only to find out that it was out of stock both at Ulta and brand’s sites and sold on eBay almost twice the price.
I would have probably paid that ridiculous price eventually but my procrastination helped: it came back to several online stores and I got it from Barney’s (with a free shipping!)
I don’t want you to think that I’m getting ready for this year’s Halloween: since it’s a lip stain the only place you see that dramatic color is in a tube. I have a fair skin so on my lips Hello Sailor looks like a slightly shimmering berry tint. It’s a nice lighter alternative to my favorite Black Orchid stick gloss from Laura Mercier.
For those who uses lipsticks (sorry to the rest): What was the strangest color or the most interesting lipstick name you came across or used?
Images: my own
Undina's Looking Glass 
Lipstick Queen Black Tie – it’s black, but very sheer and is great to subtly darken any other lipstick or gloss.
Lipstick Queen does fun stuff! :)
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That lipstick is sold out but there is a lipgloss with the same name and “black” color. I’m thinking about it :)
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Wow, that is not what I expected the color to look like (it is much better than having Avitar blue lips though!). Glad you finally got it without having to pay an arm and a leg. I am not a big lipstick fan – I usually only wear Khiel’s basic lip gloss (basically Vaseline in a tube) but, I like to see what is out there!
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Yes, it looks much more drastic in a tube. I’m glad it looses its “avatarness” on lips though. And I enjoy the way it glides on my lips.
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That’s a funny color name!
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It was just playful enough for me to decide to buy it. Usually I do not care for names but this one in combination with the color was a winner.
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U, I hope you will wear lipstick often!! :) I love that color… it’s so unique!!
I was impulsive buyer before, now I think twice but I couldnt resist twice to buy orange and pink blazer! I think that Chuck Bass is guilty for that!
J.
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(Which I don’t wear)
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Impulse purchase on its own isn’t that bad. Not using whatever you’ve bought – that’s a crime! ;) It won’t be the case with this lipstick: I like it so much that I’m considering a back-up purchase.
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So I am a criminal !! :))) I have lots of things I don’t wear, just looking at them as in some art gallery :)
Yes, the color if magnificient!! ;)
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I used to work for MAC, and perhaps it goes without saying that they have some very unusual colors and names! I remember a sheer blue lipstick from a beach-inspired collection, circa 2001, but I can’t remember the name. It was brighter and more turquoise than yours, and the payoff was move lavender-ish.
As far as fun names, I always enjoyed the names of their first glos collection: Greed, Spite, and Lust. My favorite gloss was discontinued, it wad called Trance Plant, and it was a sheer dirty brown that looked more plum on my lips. It was a ‘your own lips but better’ color – it enhanced what I already have.
Chanel sometimes has good names, too. My current favorite red is Cormorandel, like the perfume. It’s a bright orange-red, like a vintage early 60s red. I did have a great nailpolish by Chanel in 2000 called Ange/Demon. Amazing color befitting the name. One angle was pinkish, another showed a metallic yellow-green.
The best lipsticks ever are by Vapour Organic Beauty, by the way. Best feel, great colors, safe clean ingredients, last forever.
I could go on and on about lipstick, I used to have a shoebox full! Now that I’m not working as a makeup artist, I have given most of my stuff away.
Ok, I’ll shut up now!
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Once I find a lipstick I like I keep buying it until it’s discontinued. So at any given moment I’d have in the rotation 4-5 favorites and 1-2 experimental lipsticks.
I’ve never noticed Vapour Organic Beauty brand, I don’t even know which stores carry the line but if I ever come across their lipsticks I’ll give them a try.
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Hey there Undina,
There are only 2 lipsticks on my vanity SAX – Plum Spice and KRYOLAN – L9
Mostly i use lip liners and shimmer eye shadow on my lips because it stays better. Currently Le Crayon CR214 and Ben Nye LP140 with Shu Uemura gold shimmer dust over the top on the bottom lip.
There, you know my secrets.
Portia xx
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I’ve never tried any of these (and haven’t even heard about the first two before) but then I do not use cosmetics that much. But now I know your secrets ;)
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Undina, have you tried the Perfumer’s Apprentice? They have a Blackberry fragrance oil, and also something else which to my mind is more on point, Cassis (Black Currant) which is more dimensional. You could then add it to anything, lotion, hair products, room spray, etc. if you are longing for the scent. They get their scent molecules from the big boys.
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I might place an orderwith them one day – I remember thinking that it would be interesting to try some of the notes stand-alone but in general I prefer finished products: I’ve never had an urge to mix anything myself.
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Hi Undina,
We may have hers and hers Burberry lippies in a shade of pinky nude ;-), but I don’t think I can imitate you in the berry tones, given my sallow skin.
Weirdest lipstick I ever received was an extra in a swap and was called Vice. It was a vampiric red that was wildly unsuitable for my colouring, even if I could have reconciled myself to the name. ;-)
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Red is a very special color, it requires a lot of testing. I have one red lipstick which isn’t my favorite but I haven’t found a better one and I don’t need it more often than once or twice a year, so I’m fine for now and once I through away the current one I’ll try to find something better.
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A few years back I bought a random lot of cosmetics at a closeout sale. In the stash I ended up with were several Lipstick Queen lipsticks, lip stains and glosses and I have to say, they are the best lip products I’ve ever tried. Congratulations on the Hello Sailor :)
My weirdest lipstick name, that has to be a tan one named “Jail Bait” from Urban Decay that also came with the above mentioned lot of cosmetics. Apart from the name, it has an even weirder smell of liquorice.
And maybe that could be a follow up post, what the perfume community think of scented lip products? And everybody gets to name a their scented lipstick loves and horrors?
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Before I discovered that Hello Sailor (all on my own! I haven’t read a thing about it before – I’m very proud of myself :) ) I didn’t know about the brand either. Of course, now I want to get more of their lipsticks. Unfortunately, unlike perfumes, I cannot get on a split ;)
And yes, it’s an interesting idea about scented lipstick/glosses/etc. I’ll try to remember my encounters with those.
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I think you made a great choice, Undina – I think that shade would go great with your coloring and your dark hair.
My favorite Lipstick Queen lipstick is called Saint Natural. I’ve been trying to make myself go darker, but still I prefer nudish pink shades since I don’t have a very full pout. :)
In answer to your question, the most memorable lipstick name for me has always been Revlon’s Cherries in the Snow. Which I can’t wear, but damn, I love the name.
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I started looking at Lipstick Queen’s site and found at least several lipsticks I’d like to try. But they are on a more conventional side, so I wouldn’t be buying them “blind” as a novelty.Now I’ll have to check local department stores to see if Macy’s or Nordstrom carries any (they do on their sites).
I used to like Revlon’s lipstick though I don’t remember a single name now.
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Bloomingdales in SF has the full line of Lipstick Queen in store. :)
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Really? I’ll check it out the next time I’m there. Thank you! :)
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I remember lemming Lipstick Queen’s lipsticks after reading about them on either Perfume Posse or through a post by Jessica from NST- and even read a couple of interviews with Poppy King too..:)[the owner]. I never got around to trying them though. The ‘boldest’ color I’ve bought was a purplish thing called ‘black dahlia’ from a small company called silknaturals (the look of the lipstick is nothing fancy but the ingredients are nice) which ends up more bronze on my lips than the darkish blackberry tint I was hoping for so I use it for layering. The Hello Sailor tint looks really nice.
Ilia lipsticks are my current lipstick lemmings but they are tiny lemmings compared to my ginormous perfume lemmings so they will be ignored..:)
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My problem with lipsticks is that it’s really hard for me to choose even when I’m in front of the tray full of them. I keep testing, comparing – and then end up buying almost the same color as I used to have from a different brand – and in 4 out of 5 cases I like the quality of my previous choice more. So with online colors it’s almost impossible: I checked how those that I know well look online: it’s not even close to the color I see in RL – so I would be able to buy “unsniffed” only some extreme colors, those that I have nothing to compare to.
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Dearest Undina, I subscribe to this e-newsletter “GWP Addict”. Ulta shows up every so often but I had never been tempted to check it out. With this post, you’ve created a lemming for Hello Sailor and I’ve never lemminged lipstick …ummm hmmm now that I think about it, I lemminged Tom Ford in Crimson Noir but call me a criminal because it is still shrinkwrapped!
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Now I also subscribe to this newsletter. Thank you, I think? ;)
Ulta is a wrong place to buy Lipstick Queen – unless Ulta at your location carries the line: most Ulta coupons do not work for this brand. The bst result would be Barney’s through some cashback program.
I had a HUGE lemming for Tom Ford’s Black Orchid but I tried it at a store and it didn’t sit well on my lips. But you should start using your lipstick: you remember that, unlike perfumes, lipsticks do not live for decades – even the best ones, right?
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The most memorable color lipstick I have worn recently was La Metier de Beaute Uma Paro – a deep purple. The most memorable lipstick name for me is the same as Suzanne’s – Cherries in the Snow.
I love the color of your Lipstick Queen lipstick. Reminds me of a Calvin Klein lipstick I have, which has a bit of shimmer, and which I think I would like better without the shimmer. Hello Sailor might be a non-perfume lemming. :)
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It’s a good lemming, I’m proud to share it with you! :)
I do think about getting a back-up
bottlelipstick in this color because it works good for my lips.LikeLike
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