OCD OCC

I won these two OCC Lip Tars last year. Beautiful Bright Colours. Just gorgeous! But I am a Wuss. With a capital W. (And yes this is how you correctly spell Wuss, I checked)

But I am trying new things in 2012, trying to find stuff that suits me. Its all trial and error. And fun : D

Swatched heavily Left: Femme, Right: Queen

I had heard of these vaguely, but that is all, so when they arrived I pushed a tiny (half pea sized) amount out of the tube and applied it straight to my lips.

And then I rushed to the mirror at the look of utter horror on my husbands face. In the name of all that is holy, why don't they put a warning on the tube?!?!?!?!?! Oh my hat. I needed a box of tissues and a lip brush and a magnifying mirror. STAT.

After that scare, I must be honest, I only took them out to look at and swatch lightly on my hand. Which was silly really as they are gorgeous! So I just played around with it in the privacy of my own bedroom, not even showing the hubs. But its 2012 etc etc... (see the 2nd sentence in this post)

Blended out Left: Femme, Right : Queen

Playing with these was fun. The formulation is creamy and easy to apply and totally comfortable on the lips. What is really cool is that it is soo versatile. This can give a totally opaque finish if its applied in layers, or used with a light hand (or mixed with balm) to give a beautiful sheer finish.

with a flash, surprised at how Femme disappears....

This contains Castor, hemp and vitamin E oils to as a carrier base for the pigment, as well as peppermint oil, which makes it tingle a bit on application, its not at all unpleasant. Its like its making sure that you know its busy working to sink in and then it goes away. Just like that. Gone. Not the colour mind you... the tingling.

These lip tars are extremely pigmented. A little goes a really, really, really long way and you want to use a lip brush for precise application, and a light hand to build up layers of colours to avoid the colour feathering outside of the lip line.

Your lips need to be in good nick, so a good exfoliation with a moist face cloth (while I do my morning cleanse is my way), but forget about balm until after application. You get better longevity this way.

I only have two of these colours Femme (baby pink flamingo), and Queen (neon red/coral) and longevity differed quite a bit between the two.


The first one is called Femme. Its pink. Very Pink. Temptalia calls it softened, pastel pink with subtle blue undertones. And she is right. Always. I am not sure that this suits me if I use this as a solid block colour. But as a light colour on the lips its good. A lovely soft candyfloss pink.

I applied a teeny bit to build a good layer using ELF's concealer brush ,the bristles are quite stiff so you get good control over placement (their lip brush is better suited to blending concealer... go figure) and let it dry before applying a touch up coat to go over any bits that needed a bit more colour and really neaten up the edges. I waited 30 minutes before drinking, eating or kissing anything. (I didn't blot, because this dries by itself, to a satin finish)

Immediately after application

Its longevity wasn't quite what I was hoping, I checked it after 1 hour and 1 cup of coffee (nothing on the coffee cup) and it had noticeably faded and an hour after that it was mostly gone. As a liptint (balm and colour mixed in a small pot) I just topped up as needed.

Queen.

Oh my Hat. A Neon Red/Coral. Its Bloody IN YOUR FACE RED!!!!!!!

I think this is also too bright for my colouring to use as a block colour.  Neon is an understatement. This should be called Screaming Queen. As bright as it is though, I have been using this more than Femme to tint my lipbalm and give a lovely "roughly kissed" flush to my lips. Love.

I had to use the flash at 9:30am in the morning! Damn these dark mornings... 

But I wanted to test its longevity, so I did the same test as I did with Femme. Applied using the concealer brush and waited for it to dry, then topped up the bits that needed a bit of extra colour and neatened the edges. Waited 30 minutes before drinking, eating or kissing.

This is after 1 hour and one cup of coffee (a bit on the coffee cup)

Still loads of colour

And after 3 hours and another cup of coffee (nothing on the cup). It looks like I was attacked with a pink highlighter. And its kinda settled into all the little cracks and creases in my lips. But this is after 3 hours. Pretty good. And I didn't blot.

Pink highlighter anyone?

I think that if you take the time to build up a few layers of this, say 3 or 4 good layers then you will get great colour that will last you at least 6 hrs. Which is a good night out if you ask me. But being woken up at the crack of dawn by two impatient children does not afford me such luxuries.. I consider sleeping a solid 8 hrs a great night

They don't really dry my lips out, but they aren't moisturising either, this is just good solid colour. Great colour pay off and great versatility. On the OCC website it retails at $13.50 (us dollars excluding shipping) per tube and you can choose from 36 different shades. My only gripe is that the colours on the website are NOTHING like the actual colours in the tube. Temptalia has great swatches of nearly all (if not all) of the shades...

For a stockist a bit closer to home, go see Filthy Gorgeous London, tubes cost £11.48 (standard delivery is £5) and the ship to Ireland. I checked. They have a whole range of OCC loose pigments, as well as their own range of polishes. Super cool.

Occ Lip Tars are made for mixing so you can mix your own signature colour, but I haven't had the balls to mix mine yet to see what kind of colours I could get... I really should though.

Its not the Berry/wine stained shade I am looking for, but its fun and interesting, so I will go with it for now :)