This is my first ever review of a lipstick on the blog and I hope it won’t be the last one because I am sure that very soon more natural and organic lipsticks find their way on the shelves. When Megs mentioned that Young Lipsticks were now available at her store, I was happy! I could at last buy a natural lipstick. At least now I can choose to apply a lipstick regularly.
I picked up two shades, 616 (Wine Red) and 206 (Burgundy). I wanted to buy more, but stuck to these shades that go with most colours because I wanted to first try them out. And I need to tell you that I was not disappointed with the lipsticks even one bit. It has a faint fragrance that lingers for a while post application and the colour is long lasting.
I quite loved the packaging, its a sleek black case that you can dunk into your purse when you are on the go.
I picked up a matte and one with had just a bit of shimmer in it. And I love both the shades. I can never buy a lipstick online, I need to go and test the shade before I pick it up, so despite this having its presence online for quite a while, I never got around buying it. Since I have a wheatish skin tone, not many colours actually suit me.
Price, shelf life and where can you buy it?
You can buy these online on Naturelle. And if you stay in Pune, stop by Megs quaint little store located in Karve Road and look up the lipsticks and lots of other stuff she has in her store. This 4.30 gms of lipstick is priced at INR 270 and has a shelf life of 3 years.
You can also buy these lipsticks from Goodlife ( they are currently running an offer here, so you can buy this for INR 217 only, a good 54 INR lesser! ) and on Natural Mantra. It used to be available on Urban touch too before it shut shop.
Will I recommend it?
Of course yes! Why would I not? It’s filled with the goodness of clarified butter, kokum butter, honey and beeswax and it keeps your lips moisturized and nourished. I used to apply a thin layer of lip balm earlier before I applied any lipstick, with these lipsticks you don’t need to do so because the clarified butter and kokum butter are more than enough to keep your lips soft and hydrated even when 
you have applied the lipstick.
One thing about this lipstick is that it is on the creamy side, so the application is faster, but because it is so creamy, I am not sure if it will melt fast.
What’s in it?
One note here, I wrote to the company almost a month ago asking them for the complete ingredient list and they never responded despite a reminder mail, which was sad! While I love the ingredient list on the cover, I am not sure about how they get the actual colours, so I feel that the ingredient list is a bit incomplete.
About the product
A lipstick that takes care of your lips. Made using patented technology, these lipsticks contain the goodness of clarified butter (cow ghee), kokum butter (Garcinia indica), honey and beeswax. This creamy formulation locks in the moisture of your lips instantly and keeps them soft and supple throughout the day. All Young lipsticks are made with natural mineral colors and glide smoothly onto your lips, caring for and beautifying them.
These are my absolute favourite. Wish they would open counters
I picked these from the Naturelle shop in my city, I refrain from buying lipsticks online. I have been pestering Megs to have the SoulTree ones in her shop too!
damn, I don’t have that store here. I’ll have to do some hunting
Its in Pune 🙁
These lipsticks are really nice. I got two shades from NM : rose damask and pink fever. Both are superb . The pigmentation is high , and colour is rich . They are moisturizing , but I will recommend a light of coat of lip balm before lipstick application , because if applied directly it gives a “stain” effect. In whole I liked them , and will surely purchase more in future. However , customer service of young is very unresponsive. I tried to contact them many a times regarding the detailed ingredient list , but got no response. Okay , one more thing , I just noticed that you have introduced an option of “rate” ; what purpose does it serve : like rating of your review or rating of the product that you have reviewed ? Anyways , nice review ! 🙂
Tell me about the customer service! Everyone seems to vanish the minute you ask them questions. They were unresponsive for over 2-3 months and they finally called. I do use a balm when I apply other lipsticks, but I did not need it for this one. As for the ingredient list, they have not got back to me either, It is almost like a closely guarded secret.
I just saw the widget and added it 😛 I guess it is rating the review and not the product.
Yes , very true. Customer service is a problem of most of the brands. Before purchase , they make all good promises , but once a purchase is made , they divert their attentions to other newbies. But young is a brand that has kept a mum from the very beginning :p I believe , if a brand is indeed safe and organic , it should have no fear in declaring its contents. If these brands put forward propriety reasons for not displaying ingredients , then we have our Right To Information Act. In terms of transparency and accountability , I really appreciate Soul Tree.
SoulTree, Omved, Rustic Art are brands who have so far has been the best in terms of transparency. And they also have a good customer service, so none of the queries have ever been ignored.
Yes all three of them are amazing.
Rustic Art is indeed transparent about ingredients , but in case of shampoo earlier it wasn’t , and only recently it has come up with the complete list , which is definitely appreciable.
Omved also offers great formulation and yes a complete list of ingredients ; the only prob I find with them is the presence of “phenoxyethanol” which is a petroleum derivative. The FDA has warned that the chemical is toxic to infants via ingestion, and “can depress the central nervous system and may cause vomiting and diarrhea.” ( source wikipedia )So its my request to them to kindly substitute it with something better.
And yes , Soul Tree , as always , is great , although it does include Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate , which again involve conflicting views.
I don’t recollect having seen phenoxyethanol listed in the Omved ingredients. Pretty surprising that they may have it. Can you let me know which product has it? But I did my research on it as look at this link: http://www.madefromearth.com/content/phenoxyethanol-harmful-preservative
Phenoxyethanol is there in many of the products of Omved : Ultra light moisturizer , deep facial cleanser , protective face moisturizer etc , except for shampoos and conditioners , I suppose. In shampoos they add cocamidopropyl betaine , which Rustic Art also uses in combination with other synthetic surfactants. However Puro Body and Soul , condemns the usage of cocamidopropyl betaine.These preservatives and surfactants , as usual , involve conflicting views. Some support them , while some speak against them. I read your link , made from earth . I guess its an e-portal that sells organic stuff. Well , they would have added phenoxyethanol , and for that reason they have justified its presence. If you’ll read Soul Tree’s booklet , they have criticized phenoxyethanol. However , since they have added Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Benzoate , they say nothing about them , even though these preservatives also involve conflicting views. Funny world :p
You see , at the end of the day , all these preservatives are synthetic. But yes , depending upon conc and basic nature and might be relatively mild. Some docs even approve SLES , parabens in low concentration ; in comparison phenoxyethanol is just nothing. And as India is a tropical country , these brands are bound to add preservatives to inhibit micro-organisms’ growth. This is the reason Mr.Vishal ( soul tree’s owner ) gave me for adding potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate to their products. And , he’s quite right on his part. All these different notions make things more ambiguous. Hence, my funda is that I do my own research , compare different notions , connect with docs , and then try to come up with some optimal viewpoint. These days purnaturals has become quite a hit in the organic market. I have tried a few of its products ; they are good. Especially extra radiance face wash . Do try ! 🙂
Uff! Long read. Will have some news for you soon 🙂
😀
Dear Prats,
I had gone through an article by Dr.Mercola on this (organic cosmetic products)with regards to the standards might help u a bit on research on the ingredients. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/01/22/the-rise-of-organic-makeup.aspx
thanks a ton! Will surely read it up soon 🙂
🙂
I’ve read variations of this article, but I’ll surely use this info to make a post on my blog too! Thanks for the reminder!
if you are interested in buying soultree lipsticks online I just bought one for myself here is the link – http://naturallyyours.in/ and it’s listed under bodycare . not sure where you are residing but this delivers in mumbai and you will have to find out the rest by asking them .
Isoamyl laureate is one of the ingredients in the lipstick and was puzzled as to why they would add such ingredients that seem to be chemicals to a natural lipstick but one good thing is the full list of ingredients are listed unlike Young lipsticks with just the key ingredients .
I have not used the lipsticks from Soultree as yet, but do plan to buy them soon! Will check the ingredients too.
can’t wait to see your review in the future and if you know of any indian companies that make natural cosmetics ; could do you a review on them ?
because I hardly wear makeup I have a hard time finding natural lipsticks etc without the harmful ingredients .
It is the same with me. I don’t own any make up things because there is nothing organic! All I can vouch for are the lip balms and lipsticks that I stick to. Soultree also has a collection of Kajals, if it interests you!
oh , i forgot to mention there is a site called http://www.wellnessocean.com/
that has a few lipsticks like lotus organics and sante brands . I agree with you on that , wish there was more to offer . better to go bare faced then to put those icky chemical products on the skin . I don’t put kajal since it makes my eyes tear up but thanks for the suggestion . 🙂