Monday 12 March 2012

Lipstick Review ~ Blackest of Black (part 2)

This is the second part of my quest to find the best black lipstick out of those on offer on the highstreet and online. To see my reviews of Manic Panic - Raven, Portland Black Lipstick Co. - Black and Barry M - Black go here.

Manic Panic - Lethal
this one came to me slightly damaged which is why I was able to get it for free.
Manic Panic also do a vegan-friendly range called Creature of the Night, from which Lethal comes. I know there are quite a lot of people out there (especially those into the alternative make-up scene) who really value vegan products, so this one's for you!
Price: £9.94, cheapest found, included P&P (others: £10.98, including P&P)
Thoughts: The first thing I noticed is the bullet smells a bit weird, but once on my lips it wasn't really noticeable. It applied well and the colour was nice and pigmented, I'd say as a general better than the other Manic Panic lipstick (in Raven) I reviewed in part 1. I wore this for about two hours, in which I talked, drank and ate, the fade wasn't as bad as expected (although it did happen it wasn't too significant) and I noticed it gathering in the creases of my lip and near the end got a bit patchy. Something I noticed when doing the swatches on my arm (which you can see at the bottom) is that this actually has a sort of pink base to it, which isn't noticeable when on the lips but which I thought was interesting.

Pros
  • vegan friendly
  • good initial pigmentation 
  • non-drying and no migration
Cons
  •  a bit more expensive
  • fades fairly quickly and in a weird way 

Miss Sporty - Extreme Black
The lid is like that because I bought a factory sample since it was cheaper
Price: £2.59 (can be found in Superdrug and Boots)
This is a brand I really didn't expect to have a black lipstick at all, so I approached Extreme Black with extreme caution.
Thoughts: My overall impression: not good. Possibly the worst out of all the lipsticks I tried the application was patchy and even after a lot of building up and layering the colour wasn't very opaque and faded very quickly and made the patchyness even more obvious. It migrated a lot and all of this happened winthin an hour even though I wasn't even talking or anything.
Pros
  • cheap
Cons
  • patchy
  • very quick fade
  • very quick migration
  • poor pigmenation

Stargazer - 110 (Black)
Stargazer is the alternative answer to Barry M, in my opinion. I've never tried any of their stuff out but I've always been aware of it. Being so cheap I was a little skeptical to say the least.
Price: £2.99 - free UK P&P (others found: £3.65 - including P&P)
Thoughts: I thought application was fine and the pigmentation was pretty good. The fade I would was on a par as the two Manic Panic lipsticks and near the end got a bit patchy. It also started drying out my lips a bit so when I removed it I had bits of black skin all over my lips.
Pros
  • cheap
  • good initial pigmentation
Cons
  • drying
  • fades fairly quickly

Comparison and Personal Favourite
This is just a comparative swatch to show the difference in pigmentation side by side. For each I did one stroke straight from the bullet.
Left to right: Miss Sporty, Manic Panic - Lethal, Stargazer, Manic Panic - Raven, Barry M, Portland Black Lipstick company.

I think even from this swatch alone it's obvious who the winner is. In fact, in every category Portland Black Lipstick Co.'s black lipstick was beyond superior to the others. I am not being biased (they did provide me with a sample), it is just the facts. To look at their review and find links to their lipstick go back to part 1. As for the others, I'd say Barry M, Stargazer and both Manic Panic lipsticks are pretty much equal in their pros and cons although potentially Manic Panic's Lethal and the Stargazer lipstick were slightly better. I would definitely not recommend Miss Sporty, it was just very very bad.


Other Black Lipsticks
Obviously I couldn't afford to buy every black lipstick I found that companies couldn't send me a sample of so I just had to leave it at that with some of them. So here is a list of some others:

Nyx - Black Onyx
Lime Crime - Styletto
Illamasqua - Pristine 
Mac - Black Knight
Ka'Oir - Night
OCC - Tarred
Urban Decay - Oil Slick (upon researching I found that it is very sheer and more suitable for darkening a lip shade than actually being a black lipstick)

And there we have it. That was pretty intense! It was a lot of wearing lipstick in my bedroom and occasionally starting at myself in the mirror and making a lot of notes. I hope it was helpful to at least someone.
So, which is your favourite? Have you tried any other black lipsticks? Done any looks with them? Show me!
 

8 comments:

  1. This post is awesome, thanks for taking the time to take all these pictures, it was definitely helpful to me. :)

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  2. Have you tried Morgana Cryptoria Licorice? (it's a black lipstick)

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    Replies
    1. Oh, I haven't...thanks for the suggestion though!

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  3. Thank you so much for these posts! I got PBLC's Black based on your suggestion a few weeks ago and I adore it. Not many makeup blogs review black or other unusual lipsticks (unless they're part of a larger haul, which is still pretty rare). Any chance you could do something similar for blue lipsticks? I only own 3, sadly (Manic Panic, Barry M, and LA Colors).

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    Replies
    1. :) heh, you're more than welcome.
      Well, the problem with doing it with different colours is that they're all different shades so I can't directly compare then as easily.
      I could do some colour themed review/swatch posts anyway, that sounds like fun actually!

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  4. Thanks for doing this! Black lipsticks are very hard to wear, I just ordered my first tube of Portland Black Lipstick Company lippie so I was excited to see your review and swatches. :)

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    Replies
    1. Oh, amazing! Let me know what you think of it!

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I really love to read what people have to say, so leave a comment, I'll definitely read it and always try to reply to questions!

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