Food & Drink

Applebee’s launches lip glosses that taste like chicken wings

Move over, Kylie Jenner. Applebee’s has entered the lip gloss game.

The national restaurant chain and makeup company Winky Lux have flocked together to create Saucy Gloss — four wearable shades that allegedly taste like the restaurant’s wing sauces.

Brave buyers can choose between the creamy coral “Get Me Hot Buffalo,” the gold-flecked deep red “Sweet Chile Kiss,” the golden “Be My Honey Pepper” and the smoky burgundy “Honey BBQ-T” — all retailing for $18 each.

Can’t decide on a flavor? Winky Lux sells a four-piece combo kit for $65.

And as if the idea couldn’t seem more outrageous, the collaboration also spawned a high-gloss dance music video directed by Hannah Lux Davis, who usually works with A-listers like Doja Cat, Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande, Katy Perry and Halsey.

Applebee’s has entered the makeup game with chicken wing-flavored lip gloss.
Applebee’s has entered the makeup game with wing sauce-flavored lip glosses. Winky Lux

Winky Lux founder Natalie Mackey told Fast Company that she received a LinkedIn message from a rep for Applebee’s a year ago, asking something along the lines of, “Are you able to make lip glosses that taste like BBQ sauce?”

The company quickly started experimenting with food-grade ingredients — like garlic oil, chamomile oil and honey — that could be used in lip gloss.

“The entire lab smelled like BBQ sauce,” Mackey said.

For $18 each, one can choose from the creamy coral “Honey BBQ-T,” a deep red “Sweet Chile Kiss,” a golden “Be My Honey Pepper” and a smoky red “Get Me Hot Buffalo.”
The collection includes the creamy coral “Get Me Hot Buffalo,” the gold-flecked deep red “Sweet Chile Kiss,” the golden “Be My Honey Pepper” and the smoky burgundy “Honey BBQ-T.” Winky Lux

Each gloss is made to resemble a real-life sauce served on chicken wings at Applebee’s, so “Be My Honey Pepper,” inspired by the chain’s Honey Pepper flavor, has a sparkly finish, while “Get Me Hot Buffalo,” like the eatery’s Classic Buffalo offering, gives off a “‘pepper aroma,'” according to Mackey.

Although real sugar is commonly used across chicken-wing sauce varieties, as a lip-gloss ingredient it made the texture too sticky— so, Mackey explained, the products taste “mostly savory.”

“I think [people] are going to think it’s either genius or super weird,” Mackey said. Social media reactions have pretty much reflected that divide, with some saying it’s “so amazing” and others simply uttering, “No, no, no.”

In the new product’s splashy promotional video, four single people head to a fancy Applebee’s for a late-night date night as they sing that their dates want to “Taste My Face.” The catchy tune was created by ad agency Grey Global.

“The music video features an all-single ensemble and their Instagram handles, so those looking for love can ‘@ the cast’ to ask them out,” Applebee’s wrote on TikTok.

The Saucy Glosses are available now on Winky Lux’s website.

In June, The Post reported on an Applebee’s date night-gone-wrong, with the woman, narrating the experience on TikTok, claiming that her man said he wouldn’t pay for her food unless she had sex with him.