Recently in my questing I stumbled upon one of the greatest discoveries of my organigoth career! Imagine a company that makes a pure white cream foundation, a myriad of dark and fun colored lipsticks, and lovely mineral eyeshadows, all without junk ingredients! Well it's not a dream friends! It's Portland Black Lipstick Company!
The name mostly says it all, but there's even more to this boutique than you would expect! Kim and her minions at PBLC concoct all kinds of dark goodies for those of us who want to look gorgeously lifeless. I have been searching high and low for a pure white natural foundation to perfect my pallor. I've tried a host of liquids and powders, but I just haven't been able to make any work satisfactorily coverage wise. I don't usually wear foundation, but sometimes special occasions call for more effort. Every so often you just want to look extra UNDEAD! UNDEAD! UNDEAD! I needed something with more oomph! Enter "Vegan Corpse Paint".
"Vegan Corpse Paint is a pancake makeup-style theater white, made with all natural ingredients. Matte white and unscented, this product can be applied lightly for a pale and powdery finish, blended with skin-toned foundation, or applied opaquely like a traditional greasepaint. Our formula contains mango butter and jojoba oil to help keep your skin soft and ensure comfortable wear while provided excellent coverage." After reading this on their Etsy page I emailed Kim and asked if I could try a sample. I was delighted to find her reply that she would love to send me samples of the corpse paint and some of her other products as well. When my package arrived I was very surprised to find so many goodies inside! A FULL sized corpse paint, pewter cauldron lipstick, and blue natural glitz! Little baggies with green glitz and "darkly sparkly". I also received samples of the lipsticks in black, this corrosion (yay!), coffee black, irony, difficult island, the purple cloud, indigo bridge, chlorosis, good-bye little yellow bird, perfect foil, snow queen, bad penny, undead red, blood red, and bugs blood.
Vegan Corpse Paint $12
Strange is good, except when it comes to how your skin looks. Making a foundations texture on my skin appear somewhat natural, i.e. not cakey, flaky, or streaky has been a real issue for me. I do not understand how some achieve an 'airbrushed" look without the use of an actual airbrush. I want to be flawless, like a sheet of pure white paper, porcelain, or marble. As unrealistic as these expectations are, I at least expect to see my skins natural texture with a foundation. I HATE how they usually look on me. I have tried puffs, sponges and brushes galore! When I apply liquid foundations they always go on streaky or show up around my nose in patchy, unflattering ways. I literally gave up on a foundation ever looking decent. Because of this I usually only wear an spf lotion or oil, and a primer. The hours spent on getting hair and eyeliner just so leave no room for things that don't work. That being said I always suspected that a cream consistency would serve my purposes much better than anything I had attempted before.
My first priority with products are good ingredients, and VCP definitely meets my strict criteria!. The ingredients are listed as only titanium oxide, jojoba oil, mango butter and candelilla wax! It also has no scent, which is something I have unfortunately become very aware of as of late. I have applied VCP with a wet "beauty blender" type sponge and also a taklon foundation brush. Both have given me much better results than I ever had with a liquid or powder. I am definitely still playing with just how to get the flawless marble finish I so desire, but it's a marked improvement! This definitely reflects my still underdeveloped make-up skills and certainly has nothing to do with the wearability of VCP. It's made it through all night dancing when I have worn it and when set with a little powder hasn't "burned" off on my naturally oily/combo skin. It's extremely buildable coverage makes it versatile too! I have applied it sheer and I am very pleased with how it looked in daylight. *HISS*
The Lipsticks $9
My lips are very dry most of the time. I have a very hard time finding lip products I like. I have a box full of lipsticks that haven't made the cut. Yes, I am aware that I am picky. A lipstick that is natural, moisturizing and has good color pay with staying power is pretty much unheard of. I usually slather on a natural lip balm and save the pain and hassle of wearing anything else for very special occasions.
I'm sure you all have experience with how black lipstick wears. It's nearly impossible to find one that meets these criteria. I was shocked when I first applied PBLCs namesake product! It goes on like a creamy balm, but doesn't end up all over the place like others I have tried. It's highly pigmented and didn't make my lips feel dried out or flaky. They were left with a pleasant feeling of homeostasis. I did have to reapply a few times throughout the day, but that is usually a given with a very dark lip color and I certainly didn't mind. PBLCs lipsticks come in so many colors you are bound to find one to match your outfit and fall in love with. They all have a subtle minty flavor and aroma, which I really enjoy. Ingredients vary based on color, but all of them contain sunflower, castor, and coconut oils as well as beeswax, lanolin, candelilla wax, cocoa butter, vitamin e, and natural peppermint flavoring. Kim is also working on a new vegan formulation for those of you who are so inclined. There are swatches up on their site, so I'll give a brief (hopefully) description of all of the other colors I received.
- Pewter Cauldron: Just as is suggested, a medium to dark pewter gray with a subtle sheen. I liked this one very much. Nice when you want to give a more subtle corpse look.
- Indigo Bridge: Deep shimmering blue! I like this one layered over the black.
- Snow Queen: Frosty white. I'll admit I haven't worn this on my lips, but it does make an excellent highlighter!
- Difficult Island: Shimmering aqua, like a mermaids tail! Have not worn this one out yet. I'd like to try it as an eyeshadow, but I'm not sure if the peppermint in it would be good for that.
- Coffee, black: 20s flapper realness right here! cocoa brown with a little tiny bit of sparkle. This one looks very nice on me, and I usually hate browns.
- Good-bye little yellow bird: Although I am definitely a fan of Elton John, thank you Kim for not naming this the obvious! Creamy egg yolk yellow. Have not worn this out yet either.
- Chlorosis: I love the name! Poison Ivy would like this pistachio'd sheen.
- Perfect foil: Very sparkly silver! I used this as a cheek glitter and also over the top of...
- The Purple Cloud: A very nice light lavender shade. I'm fond of purples on my lips because they look like I haven't been breathing for awhile.
- Bad Penny: Shiny copper. Looks wonderful over coffee, black!
- Irony: Like bad penny, but with a little more red.
- Undead Red: LOVE THIS! Very brown toned red.
- Blood Red: Love this even more! Undead red with a little more red.
- Bug's Blood: More of a pinkish burgundy red. I fancy my reds more orangey brown based with my skin tone.
- This Corrosion: My absolute favorite out of them all! (No not just because it's named after a Sisters song!) The perfect neutral brownish matte pin-up red. Before going organigoth I wore a shade like this as my everyday color. Now I have a new and improved version that won't wreck my lips!
PBLCs frosty duochrome shimmers remind me of opals. They come in blue, red, green, purple, copper, gold, white and then darkly sparkly. I received a full sized blue and a sample baggy of green and darkly sparkly. I love these because they are fine powders and are so versatile. I am still undecided about all the ingredients. Calcium aluminum borosilicate, titanium dioxide, silica, tin oxide and depending on the color, other FDA approved mineral pigments are listed as ingredients. Have to research those some more...They didn't make my eyes or the skin around them itch, which is a good sign.
Darkly sparkly is a wonderful matte black with silver sparkles. I love the name and using this as a smokey eyeliner or in my crease. They are working on a dark blue shade next and I can't wait!!
Overall I am beyond pleased with my discovery of Portland Black Lipstick Company and their lovely products. You can find them on Etsy here, or their main website here. Thank you again Kim for your generosity and hard work in making such enchanting cosmetics!
