Fast forward 20 years to the modern incarnation of that same spirit: Lipstick Queen. If you're not familiar with the brand, you should know that you won't find an eyeshadow or a concealer anywhere in the line. Poppy's passion is lips and you will find all nature of lip glosses, lipsticks, and lip balms to suit your every fancy. Her most well-known creation is the two-pronged selection of lipsticks, each shade available as a Saint (with 10% pigment for a sheer application) or Sinner (with 90% pigment for all the opaque drama you could want).
But the item that drew me initially was Medieval Lip Treatment. I have a minor in History with a focus on the Middles Ages, and will happily geek out over anything related. So a lipstick billed as the perfect universal shade that comes packaged as gorgeously as this? I'M THERE.
(If you go to the LQ website, you can learn a little bit about the image used by scrolling over it. )
I can't vouch for this being the perfect shade for everyone, but it IS very sheer and despite the colour of the bullet, not particularly red. It is truly a lip balm rather than a lipstick.
It is extremely wearable. I found that applying it straight on and trying to build intensity resulted in a glossier look than I liked, with the pigment sliding into the lines of my lips. My preferred way of wearing this is to apply it like a balm, let it sink in a bit for the treatment it provides, and then tapping most of it off until all that's left is a faintly shiny, pinkish stain.
It is quite hydrating - loaded with shea butter, mango butter, sunflower and meadow foam seed oil - so the effect is of plumped, naturally flushed lips. It has a comparable feel to something between a Revlon Lip Butter and the Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment, though it is not as moisturizing as the latter.
Medieval veers slightly to the cooler range, but because it's so sheer I do think that it will suit a wider variety of skin tones that something more intense might. It is a "your lips but better" shade.
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| Natural light. |
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| Applied straight from the tube. |
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| Blotted for stain effect. |
Availability: Nordstrom, Beauty.com, Space NK in the US. Price is 20$ USD. It is available in Canada from Saltridges, for 22$ CAD.
Pros: Beautiful, evocative packaging. Nicely hydrating. Super sheer, quite possibly universally flattering colour.
Cons: Balmy texture can turn slippy and bleed or collect in lines on or around the lips.
(I purchased this item from Beauty.com)
