Clinique Almost Lipstick: Black Honey, Pink Honey or Nude Honey?

First: What Is Clinique Almost Lipstick?

The name is unusually accurate.

It isn’t quite a conventional lipstick and it isn’t really a gloss. The colour is sheer enough for your natural lip to show through, and you can build it with a few more passes for depth. Clinique describes the finish as soft shine and the coverage as sheer; the formula is also fragrance-free and allergy tested.

That translucency matters, because none of these shades behaves like opaque paint. Your own lip colour becomes part of the result.

It also explains why two people can wear the same Almost Lipstick and appear to be wearing slightly different shades. Clinique describes all three as flexible colours that look different on different lips.

A full-size Almost Lipstick is 1.9g and usually £25.

Black Honey

The Icon

The bullet looks far more intimidating than the colour that actually reaches your lips.

Black Honey is a deep berry-wine in the tube, but the sheer formula lets your own lip colour come through underneath. Clinique says the shade uses a blend of blue, red and yellow pigments designed to work with the natural lip rather than mask it.

That’s why Black Honey can look plum on one person, berry on another and a muted wine on someone else.

It’s also the shade with the most obvious personality of the three. One swipe gives you a wash. Build it and the berry gets noticeably richer without suddenly turning into an opaque dark lipstick.

I think that’s why Black Honey has outlasted the hype around it. It does something recognisable.

Who Black Honey Is Best For

Choose Black Honey if you want the lip to register.

It works especially well with softly defined eyes, bronzed skin, black tailoring, charcoal, navy and the kind of autumn palette that makes a berry lip suddenly feel inevitable.

If your makeup bag already holds five versions of a pale nude, this is the one that actually adds something different.

The Koda View: best for depth and the most distinctive finish.

Black Honey is still the most interesting of the three. Not because it’s famous, but because it gives you enough colour to change the face while staying sheer enough to apply without turning the whole thing into lipstick management.

Shop Black Honey — Amazon →

Pink Honey

The Rosy One

Pink Honey is the softer proposition.

Clinique describes it as a sheer soft pink that adds a rosy wash and shine. It doesn’t have Black Honey’s dark berry drama, and that’s rather the point.

Pink Honey makes more sense if your everyday makeup already lives around rose blush, soft taupe eyes, brushed-up brows and lips that look polished rather than obviously done.

On some lips it reads clearly rosy. On others, because the formula is so transparent, the result is much quieter. That variability is worth remembering before you buy any of the three.

Who Pink Honey Is Best For

Choose Pink Honey if Black Honey feels heavier than the rest of your makeup.

It’s fresher, prettier and less autumnal. I can see it working well with Soft Rose makeup, grey knitwear, a white shirt or any face where blush is doing more of the work than bronzer.

It’s probably the easiest shade here if you naturally prefer a pink lip.

The Koda View: best for a fresh, rosy wash.

Pink Honey is the prettiest of the three, and I mean that quite specifically. It makes the smallest statement and asks the least of everything else on your face. For some people that will make it the best one. For others, it may be the one that feels least special.

Shop Pink Honey — Amazon →

Nude Honey

The Everyday One

Nude Honey is where this comparison gets less predictable.

A nude version of Black Honey sounds as though it ought to be the dullest shade in the range. In practice, it fills a useful gap between a barely-there balm and the deeper berry of Black Honey.

Clinique describes Nude Honey as a flexible nude made from warm and cool pigments that blend with your own lip colour.

Real-lip reviews show why it’s hard to pin down to one colour. At Refinery29, one editor found it went on as a dewy apricot-pink, while another described a warm neutral with a hint of muted red. It shifts with your natural pigmentation and with how many layers you apply.

That makes Nude Honey less dramatic than Black Honey, but potentially more useful.

Who Nude Honey Is Best For

Choose Nude Honey if you want the one you’ll throw in a handbag and use without thinking about it.

It makes sense with bronzed makeup, almost no makeup, a smoky eye or a stronger cheek, because it isn’t fighting to be the focal point.

This is the shade I suspect could quietly become the most worn.

The Koda View: best for everyday wear.

Nude Honey doesn’t have Black Honey’s instant identity, but it may well have the better cost-per-wear. There’s something very useful about a lip colour that finishes the face without announcing it.

Shop Nude Honey — Amazon →

Black Honey vs Pink Honey vs Nude Honey

The important caveat: this is a translucent formula. The table shows the direction of each shade, not an identical result on every mouth. Your natural lip pigmentation matters.

That isn’t a flaw in Almost Lipstick. It’s more or less the point.

Which Clinique Almost Lipstick Is Best?

If I were choosing one, I’d still buy Black Honey.

It has the strongest reason to exist. There are endless tinted nude balms and endless sheer pinks; Black Honey has a recognisable berry depth that stays unusually easy to wear.

But it wouldn’t be my automatic recommendation for everyone.

If you want something fresher and more obviously rosy, Pink Honey makes more sense. If you want something you can wear with almost anything and reapply without a second thought, Nude Honey is probably the smartest buy.

So my edit is simple:

Black Honey is the one I’d buy first.
Nude Honey is the one I suspect I’d finish first.
Pink Honey is the one I’d choose if pink already suits the rest of my face better than berry.

That distinction matters more than which one happens to be viral.

The Better Buy Might Be All Three

There is one complication.

Sephora UK has an Almost Lipstick Honey Shades gift set for £29, with travel sizes of Black Honey, Pink Honey and Nude Honey at 1.2g each. Sephora lists the set as worth £47.

A single full-size Almost Lipstick is usually £25 for 1.9g. So if you genuinely can’t decide between the shades, I wouldn’t try.

For £4 more than one full size, the trio lets you find out which Honey actually earns its place in your bag. Then, if you finish one, replace that shade with the full size.

Right now, that’s the most sensible buy in the range.

Shop the Black Honey, Pink Honey & Nude Honey trio at Sephora UK →

Is Clinique Almost Lipstick Worth It?

Yes, with the right expectations.

Don’t buy it for the staying power or colour payoff of a conventional lipstick. That isn’t what it is.

The appeal is almost the opposite: sheer colour, soft shine, easy application and enough translucency that your lips still look like yours.

It’s lipstick for people who sometimes can’t be bothered with lipstick.

I understand the appeal.

The Koda Edit

Best overall — Black Honey
The most distinctive shade, and the one that justifies the Almost Lipstick reputation.
Shop Black Honey — Amazon →

Best everyday — Nude Honey
Quieter, warmer and probably the easiest to wear again and again.
Shop Nude Honey — Amazon →

Best rosy option — Pink Honey
The fresher choice if berry shades aren’t naturally your thing.
Shop Pink Honey — Amazon →

Best value — The three-shade trio
At £29 for three 1.2g travel sizes, this is the sensible answer if you’re still deciding.
Shop the trio at Sephora UK →

Further reading
Makeup Look Ideas →
Smoky Eye Makeup Ideas →
Is Rhode Worth It? →