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Suzanne Harrison

What is it?
Lipstick Queen is a lipstick and gloss brand new to Hong Kong and created by Poppy King, an Australian living in New York.  
What's the story?
In Hong Kong recently to launch the brand, King says she loved lipstick from a young age and at 18 was driven to create her own brand in Australia - Poppy -  after failing to find  her preferred colours and textures. The company closed  in 2002, she says, after Estee Lauder invited her to New York to run  its Presciptives  lipstick business in the US. She struck out on her own again in 2007 to create Lipstick Queen. 
What is the concept? 
King's brand doesn't make other cosmetics - only lip products.  'Lipstick is about bringing out your personality. I found it related more to fashion than other cosmetics.' 
The brand features glosses, lipsticks  and lip liners that come in the exact  shade as the lipstick for which they are designed (and the same colour names to avoid confusion), and there's an invisble lip liner for those who don't want bleeding but are fearful of the 'liner look'. The classic range, with  its hint of quirkiness,  includes a range of classic shades.  
'I have two formulas [in the Saint and Sinner range],' says King.  'They are a sheer one and an opaque one. They are the same shades but different strengths. I did that because I know that when women love a colour, they sometimes want a lighter shade ... they don't always want full colour.' 
Within the range, those packaged in gold are the sheer options and those in the deep purple containers are opaque. Yet they are all lipsticks in 'great classic shades' - red, pink and wine, for  instance. 'I've always had a retro glamour take on lipstick,' she says. 'When I do a lipstick that's matt, I do  it wet versus shiny. I save the shine for the lip glosses.' King (below) has also brought back her Shine lip glosses, which contain the 'old-fashioned' moisturising ingredient lanoline and so  have a more sticky, thick texture  with staying power. 
'I also have a new [lipstick] line called Medieval. It's a balm that makes your lips look bitten.' 
Are there any other lip glosses? 
Yes, King has introduced a new gloss called Big Bang, which gives lips fullness without the sting associated with some lip plumpers. 'It has fine particles of shimmer, so it gives the illusion of a fuller lip,' she says. 'It's a totally different texture from the Shine gloss, as it's very light.'
Where can I get them and how  much do they cost? 
The Shine gloss comes in six shades and retails for HK$220, Saint and Sinner lipsticks in sheer and opaque come in 10 shades for HK$190,  the lip liners in 10 shades are  HK$150 and the Medieval lipstick  is HK$190. They're available only from Joyce Beauty. 




Brand story: Lipstick Queen