OCC Lip Tar Madness!

OCC Lip Tar

OCC - Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics

Retail $16 each on OCC website and Sephora

I first purchased my OCC lip tars from the IMATS New York 2012 and The Makeup Show 2012. Then I found out that Sephora started carrying OCC lip tars which is major for consumers that weren't able to try these out in person. First, there was only one lip tar available on Sephora.com, and it was the Nylon magazine collaboration with OCC for Sephora. That will be the bright pink in the first image down below. These are the brand new tubes for lip tars. I don't have the old packaging, but the tube are similar just the caps are different. I understand that these cost $16 which might be a lot for lip colors, but tiny bit goes a LONG way. One tube will probably last you a whole life time if you are not a makeup artist. As a freelance makeup artist, I use these quite a bit on shoots and shows. However, I've still got plenty left in the tubes. These lip tars are true to color! What you see from the tubes are what you get with the application and pigmentation. They go on smooth, blend easily, smell minty, non-sticky, and dry to an almost matte finish without  the dryness of a matte lipstick. The best thing and the most fun to work with these are the ability to mix and customize your own colors! Since I bought these two from Sephora.com, they come with small ziplock bag and a lip brush. It's such a nice way for traveling and the lip brush makes applying these a breeze! 

 There are instructions in each lip tar packaging that show you how to apply these in a correct way. Often times people use too much and they tend to bleed and go everywhere. The best way is to use literally a less than pea sized amount on the brush, and spread across your entire lip starting from the center. It will prevent the color from bleeding out of the corners of your mouth and focus more color in the center.

The lip brush is a round tip shaped brush that makes it a lot easier to control the amount and way you apply the lip tars. I remember the lip brush on the OCC site used to recommend an angled brush for applying lip tars as it gives more precise and clean edges. That is still an option, but these little travel sized lip brushes that come with the lip tars are equally amazing. Do not throw them away!!!

 The Bright orange is called BETA. I was surprised that I've never bought this neon orange shade from the trade shows since I love orange! I guess it was because I bought Grandma which is a more coral color that I fell in love so much and forgot about a true orange color that OCC carries. The bright pink shade is the NYLON magazine's collaboration with OCC for Sephora. To my guess that this was selling so great that Sephora eventually made room for the entire OCC lip tar collection to be sold in their store.
As you can see the pigmentation on these lip tars are truly vibrant and vivid! The colors are super saturated and the minty scent makes people want to wear it more. I came across many models who I applied these on liking the smell and colors. They are usually pretty surprised to see them especially when I start mixing colors from different tubes.

The rest of the lip tars I purchased from 2012 IMATS New York and the Makeup Show. Personally I love Interlace which is the second shade, and my all time favorite is Grandma which is the fourth shade. I first saw Cosmeticcoutourier using Grandma in one of her tutorials but didn't think it's even more beautiful in person. Interlace is a soft peachy nude that is pretty on most people. There are several shades of nude colored lip tars, but I wanted one that won't look too sickly and pale once applied. Interlace is that perfect nude/flesh toned color with a hint of peach that will soften a dramatic smokey eye without making the rest of the face pale and ghostly. Grandma is a bright coral that instantly brightens up your complexion. The white lip tar is called Feathered, and it's a great mixing color. I use this to lighten up any lip colors. It can also work as a base color if you want a blank canvas for any lip color that goes on top. Divine is the color in the middle, and it is such a gorgeous peachy pink. I like it because it's not a super girly pink, and the peachiness makes it more wearable for every skin tone. I know that many people buy the NSFW which is a true red or Vintage which is a darker red as their favorite go to red lip tars, but I chose Stalker because of the fact that it's a mid tone red that is flattering on most skin tones. I literally tried this color straight from the tube on models with palest complexion to darkest complexion. It worked equally beautiful on all of them. I also like to use this color and mix it with the black lip tar to create a vampy dark lips.

These three lip tars are more for blending, unless for avant-garde shoots or Halloween. I got Butch because it was sold out due to it's popularity, and brought back to the IMATS. I had to snatch this color because it's a pale lilac blue. It is very unique on it's own, but it's even more beautiful when mixed with a bright pink to create a lilac pink. The green lip tar is called Chlorophyll, and it's a true green that is slightly on the forest green side. It is an odd color to wear alone on the lips but some people can really rock unique colored lipsticks. Honestly, I have not attempt to use this color for anything yet but I know for sure that I will get some interesting blended color out of this one. The last one for me is super essential, and it's called Tarred. It's a super jet black lip color that I love to mix it with every other lip colors especially Stalker. As you can see from the picture above, I've already used almost half of the tube. My only complaint for Tarred is that it's starting to separate because from the swatch, the first liquid comes out of the tube is clear, and then the black comes out. It doesn't work even if I shake the tube first. I don't know why this is happening only to the black lip tar, but I know eventually I will have to purchase another one since I use this color a lot.

 I think highly of these OCC lip tars. I know that they just came out with a metallic collection which features six shades with hint of metallic sheen. I can't wait to get my hands on the metallic lip tars! It's a great little stocking stuff for the holiday as well. If you have any friends and family that are lip junkies, I recommend getting them one or two so they can mix and customize their own unique colors:)