This week, we're kicking off our #COLORMEBRAVE campaign, an effort to encourage all women-- wherever they may be in their own personal health journeys-- to prioritize breast cancer screenings, and to recognize those who have walked through cancer themselves or know a loved one who has. This has been a cause dear to our hearts ever since we met our friend and makeup artist Renata Helfman, whose non-profit has given the idea of self-care a much deeper meaning.
For over fifteen years, Renata has worked in Los Angeles as a celebrity makeup artist and lover of all things clean beauty. Looking to expand her understanding of non-toxic beauty, Helfman began volunteering in 2011 with cancer patients at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. During her time there, she quickly realized there were no wellness treatments in place at the hospital to help patients cope and to find joy in the midst of difficulty and pain. When the time came to launch her nonprofit organization, Lipstick Angels, it only made sense to stick to what she knew best — beauty.
Almost eight years later, Lipstick Angels serves around 10,000 and counting clients annually at six different comprehensive cancer centers nationwide. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to volunteer or be a part of a Lipstick Angels event, then you likely quickly realized that their services and presence aren’t what you find at a typical cancer care and awareness event. Lipstick Angels’ overarching mission is to shed light on the importance and beauty of self-care for women and men at their most vulnerable stages. The nonprofit provides patients with a wide range of educational beauty support services bedside or while they are receiving chemotherapy infusions. Their complimentary services include makeup application, hydrating facials and skincare, hand massages and aromatherapy using only natural and/or organic beauty products.
Over the years, Lipstick Angels has been able to create a safe and encouraging space for thousands of cancer patients, and has reminded all of us that taking the time to feel beautiful is something that everyone deserves, regardless of whether you get to care for yourself at home or in a hospital. Their personalized one-on-one beauty and skin care services give patients an opportunity to feel pampered, supported, provide time for them to learn and share from each other, and to create a peaceful and enjoyable experience that feels unique and unattached from a normal hospital stay.
Similar to Lipstick Angels’ commitment to clean beauty and service, our mission at W3LL PEOPLE 
goes far beyond the confines of simply making you look good. Our promise since the beginning has always been to create products that encourage self-expression and creativity without jeopardizing your health or managing perceptions of what is or isn’t “beautiful”. Safe, non-toxic, beneficial ingredients are the cornerstone of each product in our collection, and our Optimist Lipsticks are no exception. Each of the 7 semi-matte shades in the collection is formulated with organic shea butter, jojoba oil, vitamins, and omega oils to ensure a long-lasting, hydrating, botanical benefits for your lips. Our products never contain parabens, dyes, fragrance, artificial preservatives, sulfates, petrochemicals, nanoparticles or any other questionable fillers or ingredients.
Our latest collaboration has left our hearts filled with gratitude and we are so excited to share it with you, and we’re even more excited to feature it during Breast Cancer Awareness month as a way to support and recognize all of the brave & beautiful women who have fought the battle against breast cancer.
Meet BRAVE, a bright coral, limited-edition shade of our Optimist Lipstick! We created this fearless shade in partnership with our friends at Lipstick Angels, and we're most excited to share that all proceeds from the sale of BRAVE will be donated to support their mission to restore and strengthen the dignity, hope, and self-esteem of cancer patients through nurturing beauty support services.
BRAVE is only available while supplies last, and we’re thrilled to offer you the opportunity to contribute to the very important work of Lipstick Angels, and to look good doing it. :)
Our Co-founder and Clean Beauty Makeup Guru, Shirley, has created an easy, glowing look using BRAVE as the centerpiece to tie it all together:
We love sharing new products regardless of the occasion or mission behind it, but it feels particularly special to release a shade in partnership with Lipstick Angels, and to support a nonprofit that understands that beauty should be attainable for everyone, all of the time.
We hope you love this gorgeous Optimist Shade as much as we do and that every time you put it on you’re reminded of the work of Lipstick Angels, and all of the women and men they’ve had the opportunity to love on and support.
Join the conversation by sharing how you wear your tube of BRAVE on Instagram by tagging @w3llpeople, @credobeauty, and @lipstickangels. Post your story using #COLORMEBRAVE and don't forget to tag all of the amazing, beautiful and BRAVE women in your life!