It is a dense prickly shrub with sharp needle-shaped leaves with fragrant white, cream or pink flowers from November to February.

Hakea kippistiana is a woody shrub or small tree with spreading branches growing to a height of 1 to 5 metres (3 to 16 ft) and forms a lignotuber.

The dark green needle-shaped leaves are 2.5 to 7.5 centimetres (1.0 to 3.0 in) long and 1 to 1.5 millimetres (0.039 to 0.059 in) wide, ending with a hook at the apex.

[5][6] The specific epithet honours Richard Kippist, who was once the librarian of the Linnean Society and was particularly interested in Australian plants.

[2] Hakea kippistiana is endemic to many scattered areas in the Wheatbelt and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia where it grows in red sandy soils around laterite.