Product: Clinique’s famous Black Honey, now in Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss

Cost: $14

What they say it does: “Lip balm with a colourful twist. Luscious, high-gloss shades treat your most undermoisturized skin to soothing shine. Instantly relieve dryness, protect with antioxidants and more.”

Our review: This is one of those big products that came out while we were wandering the desert (read: India, Nepal, and Laos) last year, so we were shocked to see it, in that way we were shocked when someone told us that Adam Lambert lost American Idol. Anyway: love! We never entirely understood why Black Honey was such an icon—it’s no Benetint, if you will—but we get it’s one of those colors that more or less works on everyone. (Though this is amazing in the macro sense, we’re not sure why this makes it a must-have in the micro—like, why would we like a product more because our friend Katie can also wear it? No?) Anyway: the fact is that we are part of “everybody,” so it more or less works on us, too, and Clinique knows how to formulate a lip gloss—unlike stupid Aveda, but we’ll get there next week.

In short: A strong recommendation. We churlishly took off a grade because we don’t like the hype.

Our grade: A-