Luna's visit to Elixery Cosmetics in Minneapolis.
The single most memorable thing a young student may do in their elementary career is to send a letter to a person or business owner that they are inspired by in hopes of a response. Many schools give this assignment to their young students to help train the idea of communication, patience, and thanks. Not to mention, it's a fun project to see if they'll get a response.
Somewhere in the middle of January 2018 one such letter came to me from Luna, a fifth-grade girl from Seven Hills Preparatory Academy. Her mother is Wendy, a talented Artisan on our team. I was flattered by the fact that Luna, not only knows who I am but that she looks to me as a role model. Here is her letter that I received in the mail in January.
A reply to Luna
Luna's letter was so sweet and all she was asking for was a reply, which qualified her for extra credit and some high fives. I replied to her, answered her questions about how lipstick is made and sent her a box of goodies, including a WarPaint International Artisan T-shirt, business cards and some makeup samples. She had also requested my autograph which I happily supplied.
The big surprise...
As a bonus, I reached out to my dear friends at Elixery Cosmetic House in Minneapolis and scheduled an appointment for Luna to meet me for a personal tour of their apothecary and the processes behind making lipstick. You can see in my response to her above that the appointment was set and did our visit together on Friday, March 2nd at 4pm.
Learning how to make lipstick
Luna was really interested in the process of how makeup is made, but more importantly how to make lipstick. Elixery Cosmetics rolled out the red carpet for her and gave her an immersive learning experience. We started with some education in which Luna took copious notes.
Next step - hands-on
After Luna learned a little bit about how makeup and lipstick are made, she was given the opportunity to get hands-on and make her own custom lipstick!
Once the lipstick has cooled, then Karoline scraps the top layer of the lipstick off the mold to eliminate excess product. Then, it goes back on the cooling block for 15 minutes or so. The whole process - from pouring to removing the individual lipsticks from takes about 30 minutes.
Removing the individual lipsticks
Once the mold has cooled long enough and its ready to remove, the process of seeing individual lipstick get put together comes to life. Luna got to open the mold and see the makeup molded into real lipsticks that have been custom made just for her. Once they've been placed into a lipstick tube, Michael (the Lead Flamer), flames each tube by hand for the purpose of making the lipstick look shiny and pretty.
* Yes, every single lipstick tube that Elixery Cosmetic House produces gets torched by hand by Michael. Michael and Karoline are a husband and wife team who founded and operate Elixery together.
Luna's big reveal
At the end of the day, Luna had made herself a custom lipstick in Elixery Cosmetic House's apothecary. What a thrill for a 5th-grade girl looking forward to her many years a fashionista! I am excited to share her adventure with you and it was a true pleasure getting to work with Luna for the day and introduce her to the amazing people at Elixery Cosmetics.
Making lipstick is a tough job, but at the end of the day someone has to be in the makeup business. I think Luna just found her life's passion.
