Lip Gloss Collection — 2015 Revival · Originally 1992 Matte Lipstick
Seven sins. Seven shades. The collection that launched Poppy King's career in 1992 — reborn as a full-pigment, non-sticky lip gloss in 2015 with Art Deco packaging drawn from the fashion illustrations of Georges Barbier.
The 2015 Lipstick Queen Lip Gloss version of Seven Deadly Sins has been discontinued. However, Poppy King has revived the original 1992 matte lipstick formula under her own brand at poppyking.com — all seven shades are available there as full-size matte lipsticks at $34. The seven sin names and shade identities are identical.
The Seven Deadly Sins is the most historically significant collection in the Lipstick Queen range — because it predates Lipstick Queen entirely. In 1992, a twenty-year-old Poppy King launched seven matte lipsticks in Australia under her own name, naming each shade after one of the seven deadly sins. The collection made her famous. It was stocked at Barneys New York and became a cult object of the early-1990s beauty world — the original matte lipstick that showed the beauty industry what a bold, uncompromising, young woman-founded brand could do.
The 2015 Lipstick Queen version revisited those seven shade names in a completely different formula: a full-pigment lip gloss on a Hydrogenated Polyisobutene base — the same base as the Galactic Gorgeous Big Bang Illusion Gloss — with Butylene/Ethylene/Styrene and Ethylene/Propylene/Styrene Copolymer film formers giving the gloss an unusual hybrid quality that Musings of a Muse described as "more of a liquid lipstick than a traditional gloss." Seven shades, wickedly named: Vanity (tempting wine), Avarice (sultry nude-peach), Decadence (enticing fuchsia), Envy (passionate purple), Anger (fiery red-coral), Indolence (luscious nude-pink), Lust (devilish deep red).
In 1992, Poppy King was twenty years old. She had no background in cosmetics, no funding, and no industry connections. What she had was a specific frustration — she wanted a proper matte lipstick in bold, unapologetic colours, and nobody was making one. So she made them herself. Seven shades, named after the seven deadly sins — Vanity, Avarice, Decadence, Envy, Anger, Indolence, and Lust. The collection launched in Australia, reached Barneys New York, and made Poppy King famous. The Seven Deadly Sins was the founding act of a career that would eventually produce Lipstick Queen, the brand from which all other products in this series come.
The 2015 Lipstick Queen gloss revival was a deliberate re-interpretation rather than a reproduction. Where the 1992 original was matte and dense, the 2015 version was glossy and lightweight — a completely different formula on a Hydrogenated Polyisobutene base, delivering the same seven shade identities in a format appropriate to the 2015 gloss market. The packaging for the 2015 version featured Art Deco fashion illustration artwork drawn from the work of Georges Barbier — a French illustrator best known for his contributions to Gazette du Bon Ton in the 1910s and 1920s. The blog Tinsel Creation noted the specific Barbier works referenced, finding close visual parallels between the LQ packaging and Barbier's illustrations. The Art Deco visual language suited both the seven sins concept and the collection's heritage.
Each of the seven shades in the 2015 lip gloss was given a sin name and a corresponding shade descriptor from the brand. All seven are confirmed from Skin Beauty and Musings of a Muse.
The Seven Deadly Sins has existed in two completely different formula architectures separated by twenty-three years. Understanding both clarifies what the 2015 product was doing, and why the revival of the 1992 original at poppyking.com is considered the more authentic expression of the collection.
The 2015 version was Lipstick Queen's way of revisiting the foundational collection in a contemporary format. The decision to use a gloss rather than recreate the 1992 matte was a deliberate modernisation — the gloss market was ascendant in 2015, and a faithful reproduction of the 1992 formula would have needed to compete directly against the Sinner lipstick (which used a newer matte architecture). By 2024, Poppy King had returned to the 1992 formula directly, using "the original bold, matte '90s formula" as the explicit selling point — in the language of poppyking.com, "rich, dense, and crayon-like; these cult-favourite lipsticks became legends for a reason."
The 2015 Seven Deadly Sins lip gloss formula was built on Hydrogenated Polyisobutene — the same base as the Galactic Gorgeous Big Bang Illusion Gloss from this series, providing a lightweight, high-shine, non-sticky carrier. But where the Big Bang used this base with minimal additional film-forming structure, the Seven Deadly Sins gloss added a dual styrene copolymer system that gave it the hybrid texture reviewers found unusual.
Butylene/Ethylene/Styrene Copolymer and Ethylene/Propylene/Styrene Copolymer are both thermoplastic elastomers used as film formers and texture modifiers in lip products. Together they created the "velvety, soft, and lightweight" texture Musings of a Muse described — not a conventional gloss, not a matte, but something between the two that provided full pigmentation with a hint of sheen rather than high-gloss reflectivity. The result was "five hours of wear (sometimes longer depending on the shade)" without the tackiness typical of high-pigment glosses.
The active complex was distinctively botanical: Vaccinium Macrocarpon (Cranberry) Seed Oil — Omega-3, 6, and 9 rich, also seen in the Saint & Sinner Lip Tint; Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil — a stable emollient oil with jojoba-like properties; Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter Extract (not the full butter — the extract, providing benefits with a lighter texture); Glycine Max (Soybean) Sprout Extract — the same anti-ageing plant active seen in the Saint & Sinner Tint; Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil; and Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract as a natural antioxidant. Benzotriazolyl Dodecyl P-Cresol was the UV filter protecting the pigments from colour fading in sunlight — a particularly important inclusion for the darker, more chromatic shades like Envy (purple) and Decadence (fuchsia).
As confirmed at Beauty Bridge (Vanity, Decadence), Temptalia (Decadence), and Strawberrynet (Anger, Decadence, Avarice, Vanity). Base formula identical across all seven shades; pigments vary:
Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Beeswax (Cera Alba/Cire D'Abeille), C18-38 Alkyl Hydroxystearoyl Stearate, Butylene/Ethylene/Styrene Copolymer, Ethylene/Propylene/Styrene Copolymer, Hydrogenated Polydecene, Vaccinium Macrocarpon (Cranberry) Seed Oil, Benzotriazolyl Dodecyl P-Cresol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter Extract, Glycine Max (Soybean) Sprout Extract, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Phenoxyethanol, Mica (CI 77019), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891). [Pigments vary by shade: Vanity — Iron Oxides (CI 77499), Red 7 Lake (CI 15850), Red 30 Lake (CI 73360), Blue 1 Lake (CI 42090). Decadence — Iron Oxides (CI 77492, CI 77499), Red 7 Lake (CI 15850), Red 28 Lake (CI 45410), Red 30 Lake (CI 73360). Anger — Iron Oxides (CI 77499), Red 7 Lake (CI 15850). Avarice/Lust — as above varying.]
Highlighted ingredients are key actives or structurally distinctive components. Hydrogenated Polyisobutene is the primary gloss base — the same as the Galactic Gorgeous Big Bang Illusion Gloss. Butylene/Ethylene/Styrene Copolymer and Ethylene/Propylene/Styrene Copolymer are the dual film-forming thermoplastic elastomers that give the formula its hybrid gloss/liquid-lipstick texture. C18-38 Alkyl Hydroxystearoyl Stearate is a multifunctional ester providing slip and emollient structure — not confirmed in other LQ formulas in this series. Benzotriazolyl Dodecyl P-Cresol is an oil-soluble UV filter protecting pigments from photodegradation — particularly relevant for the purple (Envy) and fuchsia (Decadence) shades whose chromatic pigments are most light-sensitive. Cranberry Seed Oil (Vaccinium Macrocarpon) provides Omega-3/6/9 fatty acids — also in the Saint & Sinner Tint formula. Meadowfoam Seed Oil (Limnanthes Alba) is a stable, jojoba-like emollient. Shea Butter Extract is the refined extract (not full butter) — lighter texture but similar conditioning benefits. Soybean Sprout Extract (Glycine Max) provides phytoestrogen anti-ageing actives — also in the Saint & Sinner Tint and the Altered Universe gloss. Rosemary Leaf Extract is a natural antioxidant preservative booster. Tocopheryl Acetate is stabilised Vitamin E.
Three options — including Poppy King's own revival of the original 1992 formula — that capture the Seven Deadly Sins' spirit across the full spectrum of coverage and finish.
The most direct alternative to the Seven Deadly Sins is the original 1992 formula revived by Poppy King herself at poppyking.com — all seven sin shades (Vanity, Avarice, Decadence, Envy, Anger, Indolence, Lust) in the original dense, crayon-like matte formula that made the collection legendary. This is not the 2015 gloss but the actual 1992 matte reimagined for 2024. Poppyking.com ships internationally, the shades are described with the same sin-name identities, and reviewers who remember the original from the 1990s describe them as accurate to the original. For anyone who loved the seven-sin concept, this is the definitive ongoing version.
For fans of the 2015 gloss version specifically — who loved its hybrid quality between a high-pigment gloss and a comfortable liquid lipstick — Pat McGrath LiquiLust is the closest premium ongoing equivalent. Like the Seven Deadly Sins gloss, LiquiLust is a full-pigment wand gloss that behaves more like a liquid lipstick than a conventional gloss; like it, it is non-sticky and provides five-hour wear; and the shade range in deep wine, bold fuchsia, and scarlet red covers the most dramatic end of the Seven Deadly Sins spectrum (Vanity, Decadence, Lust) precisely. The formula is more luxurious but the wear-and-texture experience is the closest match in the current market.
For fans of the Seven Deadly Sins' most wearable everyday shades — Avarice (nude-peach) and Indolence (nude-pink) — in a comfortable, non-sticky, fully pigmented format: MAC Squirt Plumping Gloss Stick delivers comparable full-pigment coverage in a similar gloss-to-lipstick hybrid finish. Like the Seven Deadly Sins gloss, it is not a conventional sticky gloss nor a matte; it sits in the same "velvety with a hint of shine" territory that made the Seven Deadly Sins gloss formula unusual. The nude and soft-pink positions in the MAC range cover the Avarice and Indolence positions most directly.
"This is a lightweight, full coverage liquid lipstick with a hint of shine. Velvety, soft, lightweight. Nothing like other liquid lipsticks — not matte, not drying. They have a matte feel but oddly a hint of shine. Five hours of wear."
Lipstick Queen proves again and again that they excel at creating good lip products. Seven Deadly Sins Lip Gloss is testimony to that. I love these and think they are well worth checking out. The formula is quite weightless and does not dry my lips out but isn't moisturising either. The applicator drags a little, which I wish were softer. But after using them a while I really enjoy these. Lipstick Queen gives them my Muse Approval.
"Coverage on swatching for both Avarice and Decadence was full-pigment — unexpectedly opaque. Decadence is a cool white-based fuchsia — my pick. Wears down to a lovely soft stain on the lips. Wear time is better than expected from a gloss."
Avarice is a peachy-caramel tone; Envy is an unusual, almost greyed-purple — slightly more sheer on the skin, causing patchiness unless you apply several coats; Decadence is a cool white-based fuchsia with full coverage. Envy makes me look cyanotic, to boot, but Decadence would be my pick. The collection will be available at SpaceNK from September. The Art Deco packaging is gorgeous and the concept is inspired — seven wearable sins in a range that most people will find something worthwhile within.
"I've been rationing my old frog prince lipsticks thinking I'd never find you again — so glad Poppy King is back. Just purchased the original Indolence. It's the perfect lipstick. Draw on a mouth and then go about your business. Wonderful depth of colour."
The 1992 Seven Deadly Sins took the world by storm — a collection of bold matte lipsticks by a 20-year-old Australian who wanted a proper matte and couldn't find one anywhere. Indolence was the most coveted shade of the original collection. Now that Poppy King has revived the original formula at poppyking.com, the original dense, crayon-like matte that is "dense and intense yet elastic and flattering on lips" is back. For those who loved the 2015 gloss version, the original matte is its more historical, more daring ancestor.