MILWAUKEE — Coffins, tombstones, and a spooky eye peering through a ripped book. They're all hiding something, but probably not what you're expecting.
“It’s a color correcting palette. But it was built off like embalming fluids," Cat Erwin, said while holding up a small package with color palettes.
It's makeup. Each item is shipped in a tombstone box that reads 'Here Lies Your Face.' So don't think death is knocking at your door. It's just the delivery guy.
Cat Erwin is the owner of LunatiCK Cosmetic Labs. It’s a makeup brand based in Milwaukee. She ships worldwide.
She started the company back in 2012. Much of her makeup has an alternative aesthetic with products that feature ghoulish eyes and brains. The color shades have names like Redrum Red, Widow Maker, or Dead Time Story.
LunatiCK Cosmetic Labs was started when Erwin saw a gap in the makeup market. She is a cosmetologist by trade and worked as a special effects makeup artist for small-budget films.
"I used to have to make the makeup back then because they didn't have the right colors. They didn't have shades for people of color. They didn't have shades for really pale people," Erwin said.
So Erwin began to create her own makeup with the shades she wanted. She would mix ingredients together to get the right consistency and shades.
"I chemist’ed it up and started make it that way, and the actors wanted it because they're like this doesn't give me a ghost face," Erwin said.
She sells her makeup online at lunaticklabs.com or at tattoo and oddity expos.
Gradually, her products became more popular. Despite being in a saturated makeup field, Erwin has built a successful alternative makeup brand over the last 13 years.
“When I started alternative makeup, what is this? You can get it at Halloween time, maybe. Hot Topic once a year. Now, this is almost normal. There are a billion brands like this now, but they come and go.”
Erwin is here to stay, just like her love for all things alternative.
“That’s just my make and model since I was a tween. It’s not a phase, mom.”
The brand just keeps growing. She licenses her packaging, like her coffin design or bullet casings for lipstick, for other companies. Various businesses have even tried to buy her out, but she always refuses.
“Stubborn, prideful, I’m not sure which one it is, but it is what it is," she said.
Or maybe it’s because of her commitment to her mission. Everything is ethically sourced, designed for sensitive skin, and made in the U.S.
"They would either 86 all my stuff, and I would just be no competition. Or they would take it and disregard my ethics, and then everything would be made from overseas where I would no longer be cruelty-free, vegan, talc-free, all that."
Because of her stubbornness, pride, or commitment, she's had to change manufacturers to maintain her mission. But for Erwin, that's okay. She's not giving that up.
"I continue to just reinvest for years and years and years, and I won't go away."
Plus, it wouldn't have that same flair. After all, ghoulish glam isn't a phase. It's a lifestyle.
Watch Cat Erwin's story to see more of her macabre and ghoulish designs...
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