While some of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s beauty products have remained shrouded in mystery, we do know some of her favorite lip products. One of the most well-known products was FACE Stockholm’s Veil Lipstick in Cranberry, which currently retails for $30. I did some digging to find dupes for this product, which can be hard to get stateside.
What’s in this post
Is Cranberry Veil Any Good?
I’ve read mostly good reviews about the specific product that Carolyn used. The only somewhat negative thing I’ve ever read was that it’s not super pigmented. As the name implies, “veil,” it’s not really supposed to be pigmented in the way most MAC lipstick is, for example. For the rest of this post, I will be referring to this product as “Cranberry Veil,” which it’s commonly referred to as.
I have read that using a lipliner helps the product to appear more pigmented and last longer. One fan reported using Make Up For Ever’s Artist Color Pencil Extreme Waterproof Lip Liner in Walnut as a base. We know Carolyn also used the 90s staple MAC Lip Pencil in Spice, which is a similar color to the MUFE one. I don’t think it would be that farfetched to guess that Carolyn may have also used them together. FACE Stockholm suggests using their Lip Pencil Amelia with Cranberry Veil.
One thing to keep in mind is that products have changed since the 90s. Formulas have changed as well as packaging. So, unless it’s a specific Veil Lipstick in Cranberry from the 90s, it’s not exactly the same product that she herself used.
Cranberry Veil Dupe Methodology
I’ll explain my methodology for this post. I, myself, have not used FACE Stockholm’s Veil Lipstick; however, it is widely compared to Clinique’s Almost Lipstick Black Honey. Ever the child of the 90s and Y2K, I have used this product, dear reader, and can confirm it’s veil-esque in its pigmentation. Whether that’s good or bad really depends on one’s preference. The FACE Stockholm lipstick is also not widely talked about online except in relation to Carolyn. While that’s neither here nor there, there are just not that many directly documented dupes.
I did some digging on dupes for Black Honey. I then compared swatches of those dupe products to the swatch of the Veil Lipstick in Cranberry. I am a failed former beauty blogger, so I am borrowing swatch images from beauty bloggers, whom I will credit.
I’m not sure I had to explain all this, but here we are! I’m aware this isn’t a perfect methodology, but short of getting my hands on the hard-to-find Cranberry Veil, it’s the best I’ve got.
Cranberry Veil Swatches
For a comparison, here’s Cranberry Veil next to Black Honey. I found the swatch of Cranberry Veil on the blog Of Toys and Co. The Black Honey swatch is from Temptalia. It’s not an exact match but pretty close.
Here’s a side-by-side of marketing from FACE Stockholm (left) and Clinique (right).
Onto the dupes!
Now that I’ve shown these two are similar enough, let’s move to dupes. For my purposes, I am going to focus on products that are under $10. Higher-end dupes are possible to find, so I want to focus on this budget price point since, in my opinion, both Cranberry Veil and Black Honey are a bit expensive for a single lipstick. Fun story, I did once purchase Black Honey while traveling. I usually don’t spend that much on any beauty product. Guess what? I lost it within a month. It was sad.
If there’s a strong demand for higher-end dupes, I will come back and update this post, but for now, here’s a list of easy-to-find drugstore dupes. For more expensive dupes, I’d recommend digging into similar shades to Black Honey like we did here. Everything is under $10 as of March 2026.
