The Lupita effect! Oscar winner's $24 lip balm sells out in stores after she drops it into Ellen's 'tip hat'

Lupita Nyong'o has sparked the sell-out of a $24 Clarins lip balm after she was pictured offering it to Ellen Degeneres at the Oscars on Sunday night.
The 12 Years a Slave star, 31, was seen dropping a tube of Clarins HydraQuench Moisture Replenishing Balm into Ellen's 'tip hat' as a donation for the impromptu pizza delivery at Sunday night's Oscars, where she scooped the award for Best Supporting Actress.
Prankster Ellen looked delighted and said: 'Lupita's lip balm! That's worth something!' before pocketing it for herself.



And indeed it was. The #LupitasLipBalm hashtag was quickly born, a social media frenzy ensued and the lip balm promptly flew off store shelves, with consumers rushing to get themselves a piece of those Oscar-winning lips.
The lip balm 'almost sold out across the country over night,' Clarins said in a press release, though the product is still available online.

 

The French beauty giant, which was thrilled to have struck gold with some free publicity, was quick to rush in extra stock from Paris in order to meet the demand and even offered limited-time free shipping for the product on its website.

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Sell-out: French cosmetics giant Clarins was thrilled with all the free publicity as it rushed extra stock in from Paris to cope with the sudden spike in demand for the lip balm (pictured)

Twitter has been buzzing with interest in the plant essence infused lip balm, which Clarins claims 'works deep within the skin's surface to help heal dry, chapped, weather-roughened lips.'
One user tweeted: 'I WANT THAT LIP BALM. #LupitasLipBalm.'
Another mused: 'Hmmm I think @clarinsnews really won tonight.'
It's no surprise Ms Nyong'o was carrying her favorite brand of lip balm, which rather conveniently matched her stunning pale blue Prada dress, with her on her big night. A few weeks previously, she told Essence magazine that lip balm was the one product she couldn't live without.

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Must have: Ms Nyong'o names lip balm as the one product she couldn't live without, pictured here looking stunning in her pale blue Prada gown at the Oscars

Lupita Nyong'o leads the colour on the Oscars red carpet

'When your lips are dry you can't think of anything else,' explained the Kenyan actress.
Clarins counters all over the U.S. have sold out of the product as a result of the social media storm. When FEMAIL attempted to get their hands on one at New York's Macy's flagship, we were told the phone had been 'ringing off the hook' with requests for the elusive product.
Fans of the lip balm will be relieved to hear, however, that while stores clamor to replenish their stock, the lip balm is still available (for now) to buy online from the Clarins website.