Hey Girls!
Today, I’ve got a liquid lipstick called Purple Poison by an indie makeup company called Pretty Zombie Cosmetics. PZC are known for having liquid-to-matte lipsticks in a wide range of offbeat colours. As well as Purple Poison, I also own Three Witches, which is a beautiful deep blue-toned purple. Purple Poison is a gorgeous orchid purple.
These liquid lipsticks come in a clear lip gloss tube, so you have an exact idea of the colour and how much you have left. I found that the doe foot applicator felt a bit rougher on my lips than the Lime Crime applicators. The liquid to dry formula is very similar to the Lime Crime Velvetine formula – it’s liquidy and runny, but not hard to control. It also wasn’t chunky like the Australis Velourlips are. It’s also opaque in one swipe, and the formula dries fairly quickly. As with all matte lipsticks, I exfoliated my lips beforehand and had a thin layer of lipbalm on before applying.
The slight patchiness visible in this close up swatch was not visible at all in real life. I found that this lipstick was not as transfer resistant as the Lime Crime Velvetines or Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipsticks. I tested the transfer by kissing the back of my hand, and there was a definite yet light transfer of my entire lips. In comparison, with the Lime Crimes/Stilas, there is only a minimal transfer of the outline of my lips (where I assume my natural skin oils are dissolving the lipstick a little bit). The transfer can be reduced by lightly blotting with a single ply tissue – this doesn’t seem to affect the opacity of the lipstick at all. PZC doesn’t describe their lipsticks as smudge-proof or kiss-proof, and I’d say that this is a pretty accurate description.
I decided to compare it to the closest colours in my collection; from right to left, they are: 3 Concept Eyes Lip Lacquer ‘Bubblegum’, PZC ‘Purple Poison’, MAC ‘Heroine’, and Lime Crime ‘Utopia’. Purple Poison is a touch pinker and brighter than Heroine, and Utopia is much more pink. Bubblegum is almost a dead-on dupe – it does dry matte (contrary to this photo, haha), however it has the most peculiar powdery residue… It also feathers a LOT on me, something not many lipsticks do. So, Purple Poison still wins here.
As much as I like this product, due to negative experiences with this company, I can’t say I will be purchasing from them again. At the time I ordered (July 8th), they stated a 1-12 working day turn around time. Longer TATs are normal for indie companies, as they are usually just made of one or two people making the product as orders come in. 12 working days passed, and no shipping notification. Keep in mind that 12 working days = 3 weeks. I sent an email after 16 working days (4 weeks) requesting an update on my order. I didn’t receive a response for a week, and this really concerned me. I went on the Pretty Zombie Cosmetics Instagram account and noticed that all of the comments were from people wondering where their order was, just like me.
Sooooo, I ended up filing a PayPal dispute, hoping that a) They would finally respond, or b) If they didn’t respond, I could escalate to a claim and get a refund. In my dispute, said that if there was no chance of my purchase shipping to me within a week, I’d like a refund. My lipsticks were shipped six days later, on August 12th. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence that they happened to ship that day, or if they saw my message and that was their way of responding. What I find most disappointing is the total lack of communication from the people at PZC – I understand that most indie companies don’t have the luxury of having a customer service division, but this was unacceptable. Another issue I had was the fact that PZC was clearly unable to operate within their stated TAT. On r/indiemakeupandmore, I have seen two other threads regarding the same issue with PZC, so I’m 99% sure my experience was NOT isolated.
Because of this, I really can’t recommend PZC as a brand (so I won’t be linking where to purchase) – if you are REALLY desperate for some of their lipsticks, I’d recommend trying to find a local distributor, so you don’t have to directly deal with what I did.
Have you had any experience with Pretty Zombie Cosmetics? Let me know in the comments!
Lexie xx
9 comments
This colour looks amazing on you, Lexie! I'm keeping an eye out for these in destashes, less hassle!
Thanks Lani! Yeah, that's probably the best thing to do I reckon. I could have sworn there used to be an NZ stockist!
When I made my order earlier this year I had no problems, but they've stopped updating their Instagram and things, so I can only assume that they must be crazy swamped with orders. Think they need to expand the business a bit more so they can keep up with it. However, that's all just from me guessing >.<
I agree! They seem to have had a sudden boost in popularity and are struggling to fulfil orders in a timely manner, but they could at the very least stop taking orders for a while to catch up…
My friend Caitlin said about the same thing as you – she liked the product but the customer service/delivery was lacking. Looks really lovely on you!
Thanks Lena!
You look so good in purple! I love this, looks so pretty on you!
That's me! I said that! I didn't have as much of a mare as you, it would seem – I emailed 10 days after I placed the order, and she replied that she had been crazy busy and that she'd ship them the next day, which she did. I don't know if I'd order from her again though, not until they sort it out a little!
Thanks, Kay!