On Our Lips

The word on our lips is dignity. In Amsterdam, one in five people live below the poverty line and an estimated 26,000 people experience period poverty. The ongoing pandemic continues to impact these numbers, with more people finding themselves facing an ultimatum: the choice between food or sanitary essentials.

On Our Lips is a project that seeks to support individual lives and build community solidarity through collaboration with an existing organisation. A process that begins at the bar and ends in the hands of those who need it.

It takes a specially designed cocktail, sold at The Duchess, through a process that ends in the production of all-natural, sustainable lip-balms. First, the food waste is turned into dye pigments, that are mixed with jojoba oil and sustainably sourced beeswax from Boerderij Westerpark, a local farm that supports inner-city biodiversity. They are packaged in 100% biodegradable cardboard and donated to Neighborhood Feminists. Neighborhood Feminists is an Amsterdam-based collective born in 2019 that currently provides 100 anonymised individuals with Dignity Kits each month. They contain sanitary products, essential toiletries, a wash towel and a donated lip-balm, to support individuals in their daily needs.

Each cocktail sold at the bar acts as a low-profit drink, covering its cost of production plus the cost of one lip-balm. For every drink sold, one lip-balm is donated to Neighborhood Feminists for inclusion in their Dignity Kits. Once sales exceed demand, lip-balms will be sold directly to consumers through a local cosmetic platform and 100% of the profits will be given to Neighborhood Feminists, to support their fight against period poverty. Advocate for intersectionality, make dignity the word On Our Lips!

On Our Lips Cocktail

Glass: Wine or flute glasse - Invitation Wine recomended
Garnish: Lipstick Garnish
Method:

To start:

1. Prepare the garnish first, using a room temperature wine glass.
2. Rub the 'lipstick garnish' (provided) over the rubber kiss stamp (provided)
3. Make sure to rub a thick layer to create the kiss on the side of the glass.
4. Angle the stamp as if it were the hour hand of a clock pointing at 2. This kind of angle: "/"
5. Stamp it onto the glass leaving about 2cm from the top of the glass.
6. Now the glass is prepared.
7. Leave the glass to chill in the freezer before service.

For the cocktail:

1. Fill a metal mixing tin with fresh cubed ice.
2. Pour over 30ml of beeswax and orris root Ketel One Vodka
3. Pour over 30ml of Rhubarb Shrub (premade, sent ingredient).
4. Stir to dilute, this will take 10seconds or around 15 stirs.
5. Remove pre-prepared wine glass from the freezer.
6. Pour the stirred cocktail into the glass.
7. Pour 40ml of soda into the glass.
8. Using a bar spoon very gently agitate the liquid to combine the cocktail with the soda.
9. The cocktail is ready to serve.

To Finish:

As part 2 of the garnish for this drink, I am providing On Our Lips "lip-balm" for each of the judges to see and to try.

Ingredients:
30ml Beeswax and Orris Root infused Ketel One Family Made Vodka
30ml Rhubarb Shrub

Lipstick Garnish:
70g beeswax
50g jojoba oil
5g castor oil
10g rhubarb colour pigments