Poppy King is the Lipstick Queen…
..as she says herself on her website. I’ve been a fan of Poppy King ever since her cult line Poppy. Like me, Poppy King is a connoisseur (some might say fanatic) of lip colors and lip products and also like me she is a fan, advocate and wearer of RED lipstick. We both believe that everyone can and should wear red, and it was her red in her Poppy line that first made her famous. If you aren’t familiar with her history, you can read it at her Lipstick Queen website under “The Story” but long story short at 18 years old when she couldn’t find any highly pigmented, richly colored lipsticks she started her own brand to make them. As with the original Poppy line, Lipstick Queen focuses solely on products for the lips. It started out with just the Saints and Sinners lipsticks, but has since developed all manner of new wonderfulness. In fact, she has quite a lot of items in her line now, so while we don’t have time to go through all of them, let’s review some of the highlights..
Saints Sinners – These are mirror collections in terms of colors but Saints is 10% pigment and Sinner is 90% pigment. Both are moist and creamy and wear well alone or together. My fave out of this collection (besides the Red) is Nude. Most Nudes are too pink so that they’re basically just.. pink OR they are too brown and look flat and/or muddy. This Nude strikes the perfect balance.
Oxymoron “Matte” Gloss – This is a lip/cheek product similar to Stila’s Convertible Colors. I like these very much although the pastel-y-ness makes them not great for certain skintones. They also aren’t entirely matte. That said, the ‘Oxymorons’ are still a great product. I particularly like Free Ride (peach) and Minor Crisis (rose).
Shine Hardcore Gloss – When she says “hardcore” she means it. This is the thickest gloss I’ve ever seen. I’ve never tried wearing it so I can’t say what it would feel like on. I’d say it’s the consistency of refrigerated, thickened petroleum jelly. In fact, I was curious if it was petroleum jelly based. It’s not, it’s made of a mixture of lanolin, mineral oil and castor oil. The colors were very cool and I’d imagine it’s super shiny but I’ll be real – when I was sampling it the smell was both distinctive – like something I recognized – and … well… not great. Now that I’ve read that Lanolin is one of the main ingredients, I realize that’s what I was smelling. SO if you are sensitive to the smell of Lanolin as I am, be warned on this one. Otherwise, it comes in great colors. Of particular interest is Black Tie Optional which is a sheer Black designed to be worn over other lip colors for added depth. I’ll be Road Testing this product after a couple of uses because I’m quite intrigued as to how it will perform.
Fifteen Minutes of Fame Pop Art Gloss – This is my favorite product in the line besides the Saints/Sinners. I love the texture of these glosses, and I love Love LOVE fabulous bright, bold color which I think is King’s greatest strength (being a color designer). They’re all great, but if I have to pick one I’ll pick 10 – Feisty Fuchsia and 8 – Super Strawberry. Oops, that’s two colors. 😉 (the “15 Minutes” red – Luscious Scarlet – is great, too)
She has other products in her line that I’ve not seen in person to play with – I hear Medieval Lip Treatment in particular is great. Fortunately, she is available in an increasing number stores in addition to the website so when you have the chance I suggest going out and finding this great line of lip products.
This article was originally written in 2010. In 2020, Lipstick Queen was purchased by Forma Brands (Morphe) and basically dissolved. Unfortunate but hopefully Ms. King got paid out in the deal.
2024 Update: POPPY KING IS BACK! A new Instagram of her newest line popped up in summer 2024. It’s a re-release of her original originals! Needless to say I’ll be watching this development closely…
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