Clinique, Sacheu Among Top 10 Lip Products Purchased on Amazon

If there was any doubt as to whether The Estée Lauder Cos.’ gradual Amazon pivot was paying off, consider that within less than a year of becoming the first Lauder brand to sell on Amazon, Clinique has the platform’s single most-purchased lip product.

Data from Market Defense shows that Clinique’s Almost Lipstick in shade Black Honey nets nearly $600,000 in average monthly revenue, logging an estimated $8 million in sales since debuting on the platform in March 2024.

Originally launched in 1971, the plummy-sheer lip product saw a pandemic-era surge among Gen Z and Millennial consumers thanks to TikTok, and even while offerings in the lip category have continued to proliferate since, momentum for Black Honey has maintained.

“It shows the Clinique launch was a success in terms of accessing a new customer that was clearly anxiously awaiting the brand’s arrival on Amazon,” said Vanessa Kuykendall, chief engagement officer at Market Defense. Overall, Amazon nets roughly $330 million in total lip product sales, with lipstick leading the charge, closely followed by lip glosses.

Case in point: the number-two lip product on Amazon is a $35 clear plumping lip gloss from City Lips, a cult-favorite product when it debuted in the early 2000s which also sells at Macy’s. “City Lips was kind of the ‘viral’ product before viral was a thing,” Kuykendall said.

As it happens, virality is a key success driver for other brands on the ranking — namely Sacheu and Wonderskin, both known for their TikTok-loved, peel-off lip stains.

“The Amazon customer is really looking for those long-lasting, waterproof, transfer-proof claims in their searches,” said Kuykendall, adding that “lip stain” has become the number-two lip-related search term on the platform (following only “makeup“).

While searches for lip stains specifically tend not to be brand-specific (“the consumer is still browsing that category; they want to know all the players,” Kuykendall said), 33 of the top 50 lip-related searches on Amazon are branded, indicating “consumers are very focused and actively searching for the brands they already know.”

Summer Fridays, Eos, E.l.f. Cosmetics, Laura Geller and Laneige, all of which sell directly on Amazon, are among the top brand-specific searches on the platform.

Rimmel, a top performer for its lip liners, has benefited from a bundling-focused strategy. “You might go to a drug store to buy a one-off Rimmel liner, but come to Amazon to buy two or three together and that’s great for the brand because they get a higher average order value, and also introduce the customer to new shades.”

The top 10 lip products sold on Amazon during the last month and their estimated monthly revenue, per Market Defense.