About Us

Owner of Crow & Pebble, Karen McCusker
Hi! I am Karen, a former student of history and anthropology who became very interested in pigment and cosmetics history after a foray into an archaeological career.  I love telling stories with makeup, and curating collections of pigments to create characters. I wear all of the hats here at Crow & Pebble - it is a one woman show! Every single product Crow & Pebble offers is made by hand and filled to order. It is artisan makeup made with passion, creativity and only a little bit of overwhelming anxiety. I am inspired by history, human culture and literature. Crow & Pebble, named for a story and has a theme of human stories. Every collection is inspired by some aspect of storytelling, whether it is legend, folklore, mythology, literature, poetry or history. 

Crow & Pebble was named for the Aesop's Fable, "The Crow and the Pitcher."  The story has two moral interpretations: 'Necessity is the mother of invention' and 'Persistence and wit are the solution to most problems.'  Crow & Pebble was born of persistence and creativity, and to try and fill a need I found when I was shopping for indie pigments: many collections were full of beautiful colours, but without a place to begin, I often had trouble choosing colours that I knew would go together and look great, so I started the shop with some constructed colour sets for a jumping off point for others. I hope you like it as much as I do!