“Venus’ flytraps are sort of my spirit animal,” David Klasfeld said, referring to the lusty pink and green plant tattoos curling around his bicep. “There’s a line from ‘Little Shop of Horrors’: they say the meek shall inherit, and for some reason people are always telling me how humble I am. But I do know what I’m doing, and if anything I’m trying to be aggressive.”

Mr. Klasfeld, who is as slight and sinewy as the sleepwalker Cesare (tattooed on his shoulder) from the 1920 film “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” is a makeup artist and the chief executive, creative director and founder of Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics. It is best known for a product called Lip Tar that has become a cult favorite among the kind of cutting-edge makeup enthusiasts who also tend to favor the brands Urban Decay and Illamasqua. It is named after his obsessive-compulsive disorder, diagnosed when he was 14.

“I had 42 shampoos and conditioners because I could never use the same ones twice in a week, so I could go six weeks without using the same combination,” said Mr. Klasfeld, now 35. “I didn’t name the company arbitrarily.”

The line also has the distinction of being completely vegan (down to its makeup brushes, which have synthetic bristles and plant-based glue) and “cruelty-free,” in the parlance of the industry. That earned it a Trail-Blazer Award from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that is framed on the wall of Mr. Klasfeld’s store and headquarters at 174 Ludlow Street.