Make your own lipstick at Lip N Pour in southeast Charlotte

Lip N Pour, Black-owned custom makeup franchise, is similar to a paint and sip class but instead of painting a portrait, you’re creating your own makeup products. 

What’s happening: The owner and founder of Lip N Pour, Diamond Weems, created a custom blend studio where customers can customize their own makeup products.

• Weems offers a range of beauty items, but her primary focus is lip products.
• Weems opened her Charlotte studio in 2018, and her first franchised retail location in Huntsville, Alabama will open this spring.
• “You’ll come to a studio to make the exact shade you want and leave with something you like,” Weems said.

Background: Though the custom class surged in popularity thanks to social media, Weems says she actually used to hate makeup.

• Weems had wanted to be a police officer when she moved to Charlotte from New York. In her downtime, she would spend hours in cosmetic stores trying to find the perfect shade of makeup for her complexion. She took one paint and sip class that made her realize that she could create something similar with makeup.
• “I hated makeup with a passion. As an African-American woman, I just feel like it’s hard for me to find the perfect shade of nude. I used to be at the beauty supply store for hours making color swatches on my hand,” Weems said.

How it works: The workshop process starts online and allows you to customize every aspect of the product. 

• Step 1: Select one product (lipstick, lip liners and lip glosses) and the colors you’d like to use to create the desired shade for your complexion. 
• Step 2: Decide on a creme, matte, shimmer, fragrance or glossy finished product. 

• Step 3: Name the product and take it home with you.

Products: Outside of lip products, they also offer body butters, foundation and beard products for purchase.

• All items are made up of natural ingredients that are also gluten-, paraben- and cruelty-free. 
• Weems has offered classes for items outside of lip products in the past. She plans to occasionally offer body butter workshops.  

Details: You can reserve a time for a one-hour workshop any day of the week.

• The workshop costs $75 per person and includes a custom lip product and a glass of wine.
• A two-and-a-half-hour group class (up to six people) is $150 per person. It includes two lip products, and you can bring in food.
• Workshops are available Monday through Saturday from 10am-9pm and Sunday 11am-4pm.
• The studio is located at 1811 Sardis Road N., Suite 204.

What’s next: There are plans to expand Lip N Pour at some point in the near future.

• Weems says she hasn’t settled on the next location but she is considering the Lake Norman, Raleigh and Durham areas.