W3ll people makeup review

The time to try Well people makeup collection has finally arrived! I am a big lover of makeup products with a creamy consistency. I’ve already tried RMS beauty, Ilia, Mychelle and Vapour which are among my favorites. The only one missing in my collection and that intrigued me to try in this moment was Well people. But somehow I never managed or remembered to purchase them. This time I decided to gave them a try. Since the original package is in plastic stick version and the overall design does not attract me so much, I rather bought double samples of every item that interested me. Well people is a brand from USA who has a collection of makeup products in creamy version (like foundation, multi-use stick, lip balm) and mineral powder products as well. The brand gave funny names to products like: Nudist, Universalist, Paganist,…

NARCISSIST STICK FOUNDATION

I wear and use creamy foundations (with green ingredients of course!), because they are handy, easy to use and if made properly they give a natural and healthy finish. Narcissist is the foundation with a creamy texture in a stick package. It comes in 6 shades. When applied, it blends well into the skin. You can apply it directly with your fingers and melt into the skin or use a foundation brush or sponge to blend. Even though Narcissist is creamy, its texture is not heavy and you can achieve a natural flawless coverage. If you have any visible imperfections or discolorations the coverage is medium, so you have to use a concealer as well.

The colors are quite good chosen, but I think that a few more shades should be added, especially for darker skin tones. I’d define the finish of this foundation as semi-matte, which is fine, because it does not look cakey nor too shimmering. The list with ingredients is really pure! While wearing Narcissist foundation your skin will be nourished with Sunflower oil, Green tea leaf extract, Reishi mushroom and Bayberry among others. My overall rating for this product is very good: I like the consistency, the finish and the ingredients. On the other hand, there is a lack of shades and the package is not in harmony with the quite expensive price of the product. I know that the essence is the key but when you opt to the high class customer, the package should communicate more. Well people has universal transparent sticks with a printed paper label on it. If compared with RMS that is in the same price range, we got a custom designed pot with printed logo on the tin cap and the product is in a beautiful glass jar.

INGREDIENTS Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Oil* infused with Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea Complex) Leaf**, Ganoderma Lucidum (Reishi Mushroom)***, Morella Cerifera (Bayberry- wildharvested); Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Cera Alba (Beeswax)****, Silica, Essential Oils, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil (and) Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Extract, Tocopherol (Natural Vitamin E), [+/-: Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, 77492, 77499), Mica (CI 77019)] *Certified Organic by Stellar, **Certified Organic by QAI, *** Certified Organic by Oregon TILTH, **** Certified Organic by Koster Keunen

UNIVERSALIST MULTI-USE STICK

Beside the Narcissist foundation, I wanted to try Universalist colored multi-use sticks the most, because I’m in constant search of colors. When looking at the color swatches on their website, I thought: Finally some interesting colors in the green world! Nope. I was completely wrong. Obviously I expected too much. I know that nowadays many brands make photoshoped virtual product swatches, but somehow I didn’t expect this. What would you expect when you see these colors?

I’m very well used to choose colors when buying products from the web, but I cannot ignore the tremendous cheating with photoshoped colors here. Ok, let’s take a look now to the positive side of this product. Universalist is a multi-use stick that comes in the same stick package as Narcissist. It is meant to use with a brush or with your fingers to apply it on cheeks, eyes or even lips. It comes is 2 versions: matte and luminous. I’ve ordered almost all color samples, except 3 from the entire range: Universalist n.2 (white), n.1 and n.5 that were out of stock. In fact I was interested mostly in their “vibrant” shades as they claim them to be. The texture is nice, comparable and compatible with Narcissist. It gives you a flawless, natural finish. The color has a medium pigmentation. If applied in many layers then the color is buildable, but it also creases a little bit while wearing it for a long time, even though I have set it with powder. I have to mention that both Narcissist and Universalist don’t have any particular smell, which is fine. The scent is natural, delicate, it reminds me just of vegetable oils, without any added fragrance. The list with ingredients is almost similar to Narcissist’s with grapeseed oil & green tea extract, reishi mushroom extract, olive, coconut and passionflower oil among the main ones.

The selection of shades in real life (without virtual colors) is prone to natural earthy tonalities which I don’t mind at all, I find them nice. But definitely they are not vibrant or vivid at all! If we take a look at the swatches the most colorful one is Universalist n.7. At Well People they called it “creamy peony” which is true. A natural neutral muted raspberry shade that give you a natural flush. Another nice shade is the luminous gold n.9 that can be used also as a highlighter especially if mixed with the foundation. The biggest disappointment is Universalist n.6 which in reality is a muted dark plum. A very ordinary shade, instead of the vibrant violet magenta they are offering.

When you look at the product in the package where there is a big amount of color, some colors really look very pigmented. But when applied on the skin they are delicate and the shades are very conventional, nothing special. Overall, I prefer RMS and Vapour, or I make my own shades. I wouldn’t mind at all, if they’d sell their colors as they are, without promises of vibrant colors.

INGREDIENTS Grapeseed Oil infused with Green Tea, Reishi Mushroom**, Bayberry**, Beeswax, Olive Oil***, Passionflower Oil, Castor Oil****,Silica, Coconut Oil*****, Silk Powder, Castor Isostearate Beeswax Succinate *, Essential Oil blend, Tocopherol (Natural Vitamin E), Lysine, Grapefruit seed Extract, Japanese Knotweed Extract, Pomegranate Extract,[+/-: Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, 77492, 77499), Mica (CI 77019), Carmine (CI 75470), Manganese Violet (CI 77742)] * Eco-cert, ** Certified Organic by Oregon TILTH, *** Certified Organic by Ciranda, **** Certified Organic by Stellar, ***** Certified Organic by QAI

NUDIST LIPSHINE STICK

If I was totally disappointed with this product is also my fault, I admit it! I was so charmed by the amazing color palette on their website that I somehow didn’t see that Nudist is a lip balm and not a lipstick. Because of such a pigmentation I was sure that this product will give a nice boost of color anyway. When I opened the package I was finally excited because the colors looked more vibrant than previous ones. The smell of these lipbalms is quite fresh, like peppermint.

I started to put my fingers in the jars and apply them on my hands first. Oh, there is almost no color! I couldn’t believe to my eyes because the colors looked so pigmented in the pot. I went again to the website to check, if I have ordered wrong colors?! Not at all, I saw that Nudist is a lip balm… Ok, I got it now. At the end, there is no trace of vibrant colors. When applied to the lips is very hydrating and it gives a natural looking sheer finish with a touch of color.

It looks nice and modern because of the sheer finish but it’s not an opaque lipstick with a vibrant color just to warn you when you will check their website. Nudist is a slightly pigmented lip balm with a peppermint scent and nice green ingredients.

INGREDIENTS OG Castor Oil infused with OG Bayberry*, OG Green Tea**, OG Calendula flowers*, OG Mallow Sylvestris*, & OG Rosehips*; Brassica Campestris/Aleurites Fordii Oil Coplymer, Beeswax, Castor Isostearate Beeswax Succinate***, Essential Oils, Pomegranate Extract, Tocopherol (natural Vitamin E), L-Lysine, Stevia Leaf Extract, [+/-: Carmine (CI?), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, 77492, 77499), Mica (CI 77019), Manganese Violet (CI 77742)]

ELITIST AND REALIST X: HD MATTE MINERAL SETTING

From the mineral powder collection I was interested the most by these 2 items: Realist setting powder in HD version and a few Elitist eyeshadows. Elitist is a range of mineral powder eyeshadows that come in 3 finishes: matte, satin and shimmer. When I was looking at the color selection of all their mineral powder products (bronzer, blush, eyeshadows) I wasn’t attracted to try them, because the color selection for me does not have a character. The chosen palette looks overall washed out. I absolutely love natural shades, but here the overall feeling is: pastel colors. And we know that pastels don’t suit everyone, or better they suit the minority. The eyeshadows look like they are mixed with too much white and are designed for the light cool type of woman. I decided to choose just the shade n.82 and 824 from the shimmer collection. I like these two colors! They are very shimmering and so suitable just for evening makeup. N.824 is an old gold with a green olive tonality. N.82 is a shimering black with a midnight blue undertone and it looks more smoky black rather than blue (as it does on their picture). Both eyeshadows are very pigmented and have a good staying power.

Realist X is a white, translucent and very finely grounded setting powder that almost disappear in the skin. It does a good job and so it’s well called HD (high definition). But the only thing that bothers me about this product is its incredibly fine grounded powder. There is no claiming anywhere that there is no use of nanotechnology… Just wondering.

To conclude, I’m glad I ordered just samples because this brand surprisingly won’t go in my category “Favorite safe brands”. Maybe I will purchase from time to time a few products and that’s all, unless they will really change something that would attract me. My suggestion is to change the color swatches to real ones, to improve the color palette and perhaps even improve the package for that price.

IMPORTANT UPDATE! 11th april 2013  I’ve just taken a look on Well people website to check if there are any news…Big surprise! They have changed the package which looks chic, clean and in harmony with their philosophy. And what is most important, they don’t have anymore all that photoshopped color swatches as they used to have! Anyhow, lots of compliments for this change they’ve made which resonates much more with their natural philosophy! Now, I have even added them in my list of favorite safe brands! Here is their new look: w3llpeople.com