Lipstick Queen Hello Sailor & dupes

As I was hard at work on my Peripera Peri's Tint Jelly post, I came across another blue lippie, Lipstick Queen's Hello Sailor. Apparently, this blue lip offering from Poppy King is actually a tinted blackberry coloured lip balm. Out only in stores in May, Lipstick Queen's done the smart thing and released samples for bloggers and press in both USA and UK at the same time.

I first read about it here. Refinery 29's Megan McIntyre described it as "very sheer, very creamy.... It was a naturally bright, flushed appearance to my lips." Swatches can be found here. The swatch looks more greyish than the Peri's Tint Jelly in Sky Stick swatch I did but unfortunately I have not been able to find anyone swatch on their lips to make a fair comparison. 

With its nautical name and packaging, my first thought was that Lipstick Queen is launching this brand to ride on the Fleet Week (last week of May 2013 in NY). Hello Sailor, indeed!

The basic marketing speak behind Hello Sailor seems to be "Shocking/never done before colour (in this case, blue) turns into a beautiful lip colour." Such lip products don't appear new to me. These 3 blue lippies are from various Korean beauty brands. They share the same concept - feature a 'shocking' colour (the brands also do a purple lippie) which promises to turn into a beautiful/ previously unimagined shade upon application.

Peripera (shade launched in 2013)

The Saem

Banila Co

I purchased my Peripera blue lippie at approximately S$7 (about £4 or USD$6) not including shipping vs Hello Queen's price tag of USD$25/£20 (not including shipping). 

However, this is not a fair comparison. Lipstick Queen has got a good reputation mainly due to Poppy King and the packaging and casing of Hello Sailor looks luxe to me. I also do not have the chance to try Lipstick Queen products myself so am unable to comment on their texture/glide/pigment etc. Clearly, the price points are departmental stores vs drugstore pricing. 

If you wanted to add a blue lippie to your luxury beauty bag, I would say go for Hello Sailor. But if you just want to try the trend and possibly toss the blue lippie aside after a while, try searching for Korean beauty brands which stock similar products.

Hello Sailor is available at Barnes New York (USD$25) in USA and  SpaceNK (GBP£20) in UK from 1 May onwards. In Asia Pacific, Lipstick Queen is available at Joyce Beauty in Hong Kong (Hysen Place, New Town Plaza, Harbour City outlets only) and at Kit Cosmetics in Australia (Myer departmental stores).  It is undetermined if Hello Sailor will arrive in Asia Pacific, so if you really want this shade, your best bet are the USA or UK locations.

Update April 2013: Lipstick Queen retails at HK$180 for a typical lipstick and the Lip Noveau set (Butterfly Ball Fly, Saint Berry, Red Sinner) goes for HK$420 at Joyce Beauty.