[Review] Portland Black Lipstick [part 1]

Hi all!

Seems we'll be doing more reviews off and on when I can get my hands on interesting things to talk about!

Recently I was introduced to the world of indie lipstick. Especially that of weird colours that you'll never find on the shelf of any drugstore or regular makeup brand.

I'm talking about Portland Black Lipstick Co. an indie brand famous for their long-lasting lipsticks that come in hues both strange and wonderful that are cruelty free!

The review will come in batches, simply because I don't like making super-long posts and it's a better idea to break up the contents because it's easier to post. We will be trying out more Portland products (we've already reviewed their Corpse Paint) as we get them so stay tuned for more :)

Today we'll be looking at Cthonique, Indigo Bridge, Undead Red, The Coral is Coming from Inside the House and Abominable. We got Abominable, Coral samples and Cthonique free from Portland as they love to give out extra samples in your order and the full-sized Cthonique was an extra due to an order slip up ^^;(Thanks Kim! :D)

A quick overview of the colours as per their website:

Undead Red: A dark, dark red that wants to be called 'plum' or something

Indigo Bridge: This is a dark, metallic blue that verges on black

Cthonique, Abominable and The Coral is Coming from Inside the House have yet to be listed on their website and I recall seeing somewhere that Cthonique is a limited edition colour so you may or may not be able to purchase these online as of yet.

I think the Abominable and Undead Red melted in the mail. Curse our hot weather >.>

Before we start, I have to say that any smudging and uneven application is basically my own fail on part of being very clumsy with a lip brush. The vast majority of product here isn't smudgey at all!

Onwards to lip swatches!

The coral is coming from inside the house

Looks a lot like a deeper, pinkier shade of Lux et voluptas minus the gold sheen. It has tiny, tiny multicoloured sparkle bits in it and it looks well, coral. Appears to be a pretty useable daily shade, but dang it's a cute colour. Freaking goreguous shade of metallic coral. It's creamy like abominable, but notably thicker.

The full size is not for sale yet on portland's site, free sample. If they ever update the site with the full sized one, I'm getting it on my next order!

Indigo Bridge

Probably my fave of all time. I love how deep the blue is and how metallic-shimmery it is without being a glitter bomb. A popular fan favourite, Indigo Bridge is a very rich, deep blue that can function even for daily use, for the days when you don't feel like wearing your black ;)

Undead red

This is a staple among the PBL users I know. It's a delicious dark red, the kind that you wear when you want to scream 'I mean business!' at people. Without the actual screaming of course. It's a bit cooler and darker in colour than most reds I've had and very pigmented, needing little to get it opaque.

Chthonique

A very metallic dark green. It's quite subtle in colour but it certainly will make heads turn as green lipstick still is nowhere near the norm but it's not 'in your face' enough to knock people's eyes out. Like the rest it's got a nice minty feel and it's wonderfully thick. Blends very well with Indigo Bridge for a rich blue-green.

Abominable

Very creamy and it went on easy, but being pure matte white I have no idea what kind of applications you could use it for, aside from giving yourself spiky teethy lips on halloween. Might have potential for certain cosplay characters, I don't see how it's possible for daily use.

It looks like the lipstick version of corpse paint. It's very moisturising and buttery, but doesn't seem to have as much staying power as the other lippies I tried (own opinion)  but takes a LOT to get it opaque.

Rating 5/5

Pros:

Very pigmented

Thick & smooth

Minty

Moisturising

Cons:

Lip balm format makes it rather clumsy to apply

Some colours are hard to remove