Modern Purveyors of Vintage-Besame Costmetics

I am by no means knowledgeable on make up and unlike many vintage bloggers I don't wear a regular "vintage" style of make up or hair.  I prefer simple make up that can be executed in minutes, is relatively goof proof, and if it has a little bit of vintage flair then that is the cherry on the top. That's where Besame Cosmetics come in.  Around my past birthday I received several amazon gift certificates from friends and relatives and I used them to purchase 3 Besame lipsticks.   Besame is a modern company, founded in 2004, but it has a strong commitment to celebrating, re-creating, and perfecting the cosmetics of the past.  This is from the company website:

 

"Through a keen eye for color and historical expertise, we create modern reproductions of classic luxury make up from the 1920s, 30s, 40s, and 50s, designed to make women feel elegant, inspired, and empowered by their beauty."

 

How could a vintage style lover like myself, no matter how make up dense, resist?

 

 

The lipsticks arrived beautifully packaged

 

image source, because I forgot to take a picture.

 

and I was immediately impressed by their retro look and feel, you really feel like this is a genuine vintage product.   The first color I tried, Noir Red, is a dark 1920s style red designed to create the dark cupids bow look popularized by silent stars like Clara Bow:

 

 

 

 It is very dark and if you want a more subtle effect you can wear it as a stain.

 

I probably wear red lipstick more then any other color, it is after all the classic vintage lip color, popular in ever decade.   I already have a red with blue undertones, MAC Russian Red, that I wear quite a lot.  For my Besame lipstick red I decided to go for a warmer tone with Red Hot Red-1959, billed as a recreation of Marilyn's favorite:

 

 

 

 The last color, and my favorite of the three, is a pale pink, Portrait Pink 1963 described as being perfect for paler skin tones.  It reminds me of the soft lip color worn by Audrey Hepburn in many of her films:

 

 

 

I really love all of my Besame lipsticks.  They are a bit pricier then drug store colors but they offer much better coverage, you use only a tiny bit of product, and the colors are really very true to their vintage origins.   According to the website you don't need lip liners for these lipsticks due to their unique shape, I still needed a lip liner and a lip brush for the red shades, but then I am a makeup klutz.     There are quite a few shades of Besame lipsticks I've yet to try and since I'm quite pleased with  the three I have already I'm sure I'll be purchasing in the future.