Review | Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics (OCC) Lip Tar - Black Dahlia.

When Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics came on the beauty scene a few years ago, I was so eager to try their products. I can't believe it took me this long to finally buy one of the Lip Tars! When I saw Black Dahlia, I knew I had to have it. OCC isn't an easy brand to come across in Ireland/UK and buying makeup online can be a bit of a pain when you can't swatch the items properly. I had a look on Temptalia for Lip Tar swatches and made a firm decision to go with Black Dahlia because it's a colour I gravitate towards anyway - not a very summer appropriate shade, but one I wear a lot anyway so I thought it'd be a good first pick! I've seen OCC on only a handful of UK based sites (no Irish ones unfortunately) and I think the only place you can buy OCC in person is Selfridges in London. I got mine from Cult Beauty for £14 which isn't too bad at all. 

OCC Lip Tar + Brush

Lip Tars are a really interesting product - they're essentially a very heavily pigmented liquid lipstick lacquer. OCC offer some avant garde shades like yellow and blue which may not be for everyone but make for great mixing shades, especially if you're a professional makeup artist. I had tried the Sleek Pout Paints previously (considered a Lip Tar dupe) but always wanted to try the real deal! As I said before, Lip Tars are made for mixing so if you have a couple of shades you can easily create a custom colour to suit you which is definitely something I'll be doing in the future! 

A nice thing to note about Lip Tars is that they are vegan and cruelty free. They contain castor seed oil, hemp oil, peppermint oil and vitamin E. While the ingredients seem moisturizing, Lip Tars can definitely be drying on the lips so it's important to exfoliate and moisturize the lips beforehand, particularly with a dark shade like Black Dahlia!

Black Dahlia

Onto the shade itself, Black Dahlia is described as a "blackened red". It looks pretty much straight up black in the tube, but the real shade shows through in the swatch. It has no shimmer and is a deep burgundy with the right amount of red and purple. I love these vampy colours and even though I'm writing this review in July, I hope no one dismisses this shade for the autumn/winter months by the time September comes around! I had heard before that Black Dahlia was more liquidy and sheer than some of the other lip tars. It has quite a thin, slightly watery consistency so you really need to do 2 layers of this to get it fully even if you're not wearing a lipliner. Personally, I always wear a lipliner with dark lips so it doesn't pose a problem. I've worn this with both Current and Nightmoth liners (MAC) and they compliment it very well. Regardless of the thin formula, it still has great pigmentation and I have to stress that a little bead/dot of this product goes a very long way. Lip Tars are not to be applied like a lipgloss because you're left with a gloopy mess that will bleed out to your ears come lunch time. However, if you apply a small (very small) pea sized amount dot then you should have no problem. 
I exfoliate and moisturize my lips before applying any makeup, let the lip balm sink in while doing my eyes/face and then come back to the lips. Blot off any excess lip balm and line the lips (OCC offer matching pencils to compliment their Lip Tars). I apply a little bead of product onto the tip of my lip brush, applying it to the centre of the lips and working the product outwards. This ensures minimal feathering as the least product is on the perimeter of the lipline. A lip brush is a must with this product and OCC now market the Lip Tar with a mini version of their brush which is fantastic for travel. The lip brush is actually really nice - I have a couple of lip brushes but prefer to use this one because its small and allows you to carve out the lips and get a good shape. They also offer a 'Black Metal Dahlia' shade which is the same deep burgundy but with a metallic shimmer... so cool!

Black Dahlia Swatch

                      

Overall, I love this product and the shade is absolutely beautiful. OCC are a really ethically sound company which is great to see, too! Lip Tars are a great idea and while they look intimidating, are easy when you get the hang of them. If you have tried any of the other Lip Tars then please let me know either below, or tweet me @GraceyOConnell because I'd love to hear your shade suggestions... I'm dying to try more colours! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! x