Although the Clinique Almost Lipstick Black Honey has been around for years, this glowy balmy lipstick went viral on TikTok and Instagram recently. It’s one of my fave lip products because it’s so versatile. The soft berry-brown shade works with just about any makeup look and enhances your natural lip shade. It’s definitely worth the hype.
But at £24 for a sheer product, it’s not exactly budget-friendly.
The peripera Ink Mood Glowy Blam in #04 Mauve Promenade is supposed to be a dupe for the Clinique Black Honey lipstick. At £9.13, it’s less than half the price and claims to deliver the same glossy finish.
This honest review looks at how peripera’s formula compares to Clinique, side-by-side swatches, and whether it’s an exact shade match.
Use my code CONFIDENCE10 for up to 5% off YesStyle. For new customers, use the code YESSTYLE for 10% off with a minimum £28.70 ($35 USD) purchase. Get your £9 Clinique Black Honey dupe here.
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About the Clinique Almost Lipstick Black Honey
Clinique Almost Lipstick Black Honey has become a holy grail for many people. It’s a sheer lipstick that works with the natural tone of your lips to create a custom colour. With a balmy texture, the berry-brown shade is buildable from sheer to medium coverage. It’s comfortable, hydrating, and looks sleek. The texture sits somewhere in between a balm, gloss, and lipstick.
About peripera Ink Mood Glowy Balm in #04 Mauve Promenade
peripera Ink Mood Glowy Balm in #04 Mauve Promenade is a vegan glossy lip balm in a purplish-mauve shade. It’s non-sticky, smooth, hydrating, and comfortable on the lips. The balm delivers a dewy glassy finish with sheer, buildable colour payoff.
The comparison
Price
peripera wins on price at a very affordable £9.13. Clinique costs almost 3 times as much at £24. The dupe presents better value for money.
Packaging
The packaging for these 2 lipsticks is alike. Both come in traditional bullet formulas with a twisting mechanic to push up the product. They even have similar silver packaging. They feel lightweight.
Clinique is slimmer and taller. The thinness of the lipstick itself means you can get precise application on the lips. This thin lipstick packaging is pretty iconic too – it’s instantly identifiable in my lipstick drawer.
peripera is shorter and wider. The thicker lipstick means you get all-over colour quicker on the lips, as it covers a larger surface area. Although I personally feel precision wins when it comes to lipstick packaging, so Clinique takes the win here.
Ingredients
Besides colouring agents and ingredients that don’t deliver particular benefits but are rather necessary in formulas, like texture enhancers and stabilisers, these lipsticks actually don’t share any common ingredients.
Clinique features nourishing castor seed oil, the emollients glyceryl triacetyl ricinoleate and cetyl ricinoleate, hydrating candelilla wax, and glossy carnauba wax.
peripera is enriched with skin-replenishing caprylic/capric triglyceride, the emollients bis-diglyceryl polyacyladipate-2, octyldodecanol and hydrogenated polyisobutene, and moisturising pentaerythrityl tetraisostearate.
Texture
These lipsticks have fairly similar textures, but there are some noticeable differences.
Clinique Almost Lipstick Black Honey is glossier, balmier, and more slippery. It’s softer and silkier. The formula literally melts over the lips. This feels very similar to your fave lip balm! It’s also a bit shinier and more hydrating than peripera.
peripera Ink Mood Glowy Blam in #04 Mauve Promenade, while still soft and smooth, feels more like a traditional lipstick. It’s balmier than a standard lipstick but is firmer than Clinique’s offering. However, it still glides over the lips easily and feels comfortable.
Shade range
peripera has the better shade range with 4 colours available. You can choose from romantic pink, warm coral, natural rose, or purplish mauve. Clinique Almost Lipstick comes in just the 1 shade: Black Honey. It makes sense that there isn’t a tonne of colours available in either lipstick, as they’re designed to be sheer and natural.
Swatches
To show you how these lipsticks compare to one another, I swatched them. These were done on my bare arm, without primer. Without peeking at the captions, can you tell which one is which?
On the bottom: Clinique Almost Lipstick Black Honey
The shades are very close! On top, peripera only took 1 swipe to get this colour payoff, while Clinique, on the bottom, took 3 layers to get the same pigmentation.
On close inspection, peripera is cooler than Clinique. The dupe also has a more distinct purple undertone while Clinique has more of a pinky-red undertone. But the dupe is definitely a very good shade match in the swatches.
On the lips
And now for the real test: how do these lipsticks look side by side on the lips? In the picture below, on the right-hand side of my lips is Clinique Black Honey and on the left-hand side of my lips is peripera #04 Mauve Promenade.
On the right-hand side of my lips: Clinique Almost Lipstick Black Honey
Interestingly, these balmy lipsticks look more different on the lips compared to the swatches. Clinique is visibly warmer and redder, while peripera is cooler with more purple undertones. Although these 2 lipsticks are from the same colour family, you can tell that I’m wearing different shades on my lips.
Because Clinique reacts to the natural tone of your lips to create a custom shade, there will naturally be variations in how this lipstick looks on different skin tones. I’ve seen this lipstick pull cooler on complexions that are light like me. So there’s a chance that peripera will be a closer match to Clinique on your lips.
Longevity
After about 5 hours of eating, drinking, and talking, I could fairly assess how well these lipsticks last.
peripera faded more than Clinique, particularly in terms of glossiness. The colour had worn off significantly but was still visible. It just looked like a very soft mauve tint. It still felt hydrating and comfortable, despite almost all of the glossiness fading.
Clinique had some more visible colour and shine left. However, due to the balmier texture, when this colour faded, it became quite patchy. Some areas of my lips looked more pigmented and glossier than other. It still felt hydrating and comfortable, though.
So even though Clinique has better lasting power than peripera, the dupe wears in a more flattering and natural way. You’d probably want to top up Clinique to avoid the patchiness.
Honest thoughts on the Clinique Almost Lipstick Black Honey dupe
peripera Ink Mood Glowy Blam in #04 Mauve Promenade is like Clinique Almost Lipstick Black Honey’s more affordable little sister.
They’re both balmy, hydrating, and comfortable while offering sheer buildable coverage. Clinique is glossier and warmer, while peripera is cooler and wears better. The shades are closely related but still different. I think Clinique suits me more, but both are beautiful and very wearable colours.
I’d highly recommend peripera’s Ink Mood Glowy Balm if you want a similar effect to Black Honey, prefer cooler lip colours, or simply don’t want to spend £24 on what is essentially a tinted lip balm (can’t say I blame you!). £9.13 is an excellent price for a glossy lip balm that’s sure to impress. It’s also more pigmented than Clinique, so it’ll last you longer – result!
Use my code CONFIDENCE10 for up to 5% off YesStyle. For new customers, use the code YESSTYLE for 10% off with a minimum £28.70 ($35 USD) purchase. Get your £9 Clinique Black Honey dupe here.
Sarah Sarsby is the owner of A Woman's Confidence. With over 6 years' experience of writing in the fields of beauty and lifestyle, Sarah is passionate about all things content, makeup, skincare, wellness, and lifestyle. She has oily skin, is obsessed with lip gloss, and loves cookie dough.
These really are so close to one another! They’re both stunning and get the job done. Good job finding this dupe.