Lord of the Rings made a 50 year old Clinique lipstick relevant again

The wee hours of the morning were filled with plenty of questionable makeup options for preteens and teenagers, from bold blue eyelids to spicy lip smackers to glittery lip glosses. But 20 years ago there was another very specific lipstick that captured anyone thrown into an obsession with Middle-earth.

In 2001, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring broke all over the cinema screens and a cultural reset began. Arwen from Liv Tyler wore the perfect lipstick in Community. It was eye-catching but low-key and shocking from a brand that represents Macy’s department stores and the bottom of our mothers’ handbags. The mark? Clinic. The shading? Black honey.

Now, 20 years after the release of The Companions of the Ring, Arwen is experiencing a kind of renaissance. A trend emerged on TikTok in late June that resulted in users searching for Clinique’s Black Honey lipstick online and in stores and trying again to recreate Arwen’s iconic look for themselves.

Arwen Undómiel appears for the first time in JRR Tolkien Lord of the rings Trilogy when Frodo Baggins arrives in Rivendell, but the bulk of her story is in the appendices of. told The return of the King, which extends the rich carpet of tradition in Tolkien’s Legendarium. While Arwen didn’t play a huge role in the source material, Peter Jackson wisely chose to make her a more active participant in his film adaptation. As a result, Jackson brought the love story of Aragorn and Arwen to the fore in the films, and that alone sparked a different kind of love story among fans.

Arwen became an icon for many young women searching for their place in Middle-earth, and she had a lasting impact on audiences on many levels. It’s not just cosplayers tracking down Black Honey lipstick to complete their costumes – TikTok is full of normal, everyday people looking to incorporate it into their makeup routines. Éowyn, with its “I am no man” line, is undoubtedly the first name that comes to mind when thinking of strong female characters from Lord of the Rings. But it’s Arwen who seems so tied to cultural memory that people yearn to recreate their aesthetic.

On TikTok, the hashtag #CliniqueBlackHoney received nearly 25 million views in just a few months, with a number of users going viral with their makeup routines. Lauren, a cosplayer walking by Lauren.Does.CosplayShe received over half a million views for her video testing the product.

“Arwen has always been an icon to me since I saw her Lord of the rings when I was eight, ”she told Polygon. “Not only is she stunning and the embodiment of a woman who can also be a warrior, but her love for Aragorn and her willingness to give up her immortal life for him is such a wonderful love story.” She continued, “I admire Arwen’s courage to follow her heart even in the face of the greatest evils in the world.”

Clinique introduced Black Honey lipstick in 1971, just five years after an official release of Lord of the Rings landed on the US bestseller list. The raisin-colored lipstick was in stark contrast to the bright colors that proliferated in the age of disco and psychedelics. While it might look dark before application, according to Clinique, the lipstick is a mix of blue, red, and yellow pigments that works for any skin tone – even Liv Tyler’s pale complexion. It was sold in a glossy pot on its debut, but Clinique reissued Black Honey in 1989 in the same slim tube it is sold in today. Lauren agreed, noting that she had already incorporated lipstick into her daily routine because “it’s the perfect lip for running errands”.

Peter Swords King, hair and makeup designer on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Polygon said he chose Black Honey because it “had dark undertones, but at the same time it was just that”. [it] would look more like the color of her lips than lipstick. ”When asked that his makeup designs are so popular with so many fans, King said,“ I think it’s absolutely amazing that people are so influenced by something that I did so long ago. It’s also very flattering that I’m now working on my 50th film in a design capacity. May it go on like this for a long time. “

Lots of information about the Lord of the Rings Movies have been passed down like folklore for the past 20 years. During this time, the internet has changed dramatically – in some cases it has carried away critical information that has been carefully curated and cataloged by dedicated fans who spent their free time running fan pages and maintaining a community. Other fans have gone to work to preserve this information.

2001, Lord of the Rings Makeup artist Noreen Wilkie was introduced to her work by InStyle. interviewed The Companions of the Ring. The interview included the first mention of the Clinique Black Honey lipstick, which was used to “soften” Liv Tyler’s lips. At some point the article was uploaded to TheOneRing.net (TORn), a website for everything a fan might need – scanned articles from magazines, information about community meetings, and key links to other websites like AlleyCatScratch.

This is a great example of how information has been transmitted within the Lord of the Rings Fan base over the years. The interview was first published in the print version of InStyle before it was temporarily published online for AOL and InStyle subscribers. For a period of time, both TolkienOnline.com (now TolkienEstate.com) and links to the InStyle item hosted by TORn. Sometime between 2001 and 2008 the article was deleted, but the information was kept on a fan’s personal website, Very-Faery.com. The person behind Very-Faery saved the article in Microsoft Word and then published it on their own website. This site has since been deleted as well, but fortunately it has been captured and preserved by the Wayback Machine.

It takes dedication to ensure that critical fandom information remains accessible to future generations of fans. And it is a task that is becoming increasingly difficult for digital archivists try to get major fandom sites like GeoCities of mass data deletion.

Aside from this information being pulled from the depths of the Wayback Machine, the only remaining evidence that Black Honey lipstick was used on Arwen exists in a post originally uploaded before April 2008. The dedicated fans of AlleyCatScratch have created a practical guide to Arwen’s makeupwho listed both the screen-accurate palettes and less expensive alternatives to replicate the look.

These days fans don’t necessarily look for cheaper alternatives – they look for alternatives that can even be found on the shelves. The Clinique website claims they sell a tube of Black Honey lipstick every three minutes and that may not be a shouting. The renewed interest in TikTok seems to have made the lipstick hard to find. Licensed beauticians like Jenn Aédo offer viewers alternatives, including cruelty-free or vegan dupes like Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balm in Red Dahlia, ELF Sheer Slick Lipstick in Black Cherry or Tartes Quench Lip Rescue in Berry.

Aédo went viral in August almost 3 million views of a video where she discussed the Black Honey trend. In an interview, she stated that the Sephora store she works in is completely sold out. While Aédo said no customer specifically mentioned Arwen when she asked about the lipstick, she expected that upcoming comic conventions would only result in more people looking for the shade. At the time of writing, Black Honey lipstick was still available from Sephora Sephora favorites collection, At Amazon, and at Dillard.

No matter how far fans may be from the release of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the initial fanfare that came with it, the franchise gave them characters that they still carry with them to this day. That could be wearing the ruler’s ring around their necks, or it could be putting on a little Black Honey lipstick before they walk out the door to face the battles that are waiting for them. Arwen’s look remains a classic for fans. As Peter King Swords said, “Long may it be.”