Company Overview: Alchimia Apothecary Revisited MEGAPOST

By Unknown

Alchimia Apothecary has expanded in a big, big way!

A brand new indie company hitting the scene is pretty exciting. But when a well-liked company closes up their Etsy shop, opens up their own online store, and releases multiple, brand new product lines with a grand re-opening... well, let's just say I did an awful lot of Facebook stalking when Alchimia Apothecary announced their exciting plans.

Alchimia Apothecary

Some lovely freebies!

I did a company overview for Alchimia Apothecary back at the beginning of this year, but since Erin's grand re-opening, the shop and what it offers has expanded so much that I think it's fitting to have an updated overview.

So remember how in my original review I mentioned that there were a mind-boggling number of choices to pick from in Alchimia Apothecary's scents catalog? Well buckle your seatbelts because Alchimia Apothecary now offers makeup and more skincare and scent options than ever before!

Erin's vision for Alchimia Apothecary still stands in that they strive to sell products that are plant derived and made in small batches to ensure quality.

"As my obssession with natural products grew, I thought it only fitting to start making cosmetics with a more health conscious variety of ingredients. We started making formulas that incorporate a lot of plants and fruit ingredients in place of some of the ingredients make up is usually made with."

Erin is very transparent about the ingredients she uses and keeping the consumer aware of sensitivities, allergies, and patch-testing. She also makes it clear that while any salve or balm in the shop might have positive benefits, they can't make any health claims due to the FDA's regulations.

Selection

Oh my gosh, where do I even start?!

Alchimia Apothecary does a pretty good job breaking their brand new catalog down by category. You could organize their products into several groups:

Perfumes

Oils
Solids
Sprays

Salves
Skincare

Masks

Toners

Serums/Elixirs

Soaps
Lotions
Lip Care
Cosmetics

Eyes

Lips

Face

Jewelry

I don't have a bottomless wallet, so I was unfortunately not able to sample everything available, but I was still like a kid in a candy store tossing things into my shopping cart in order to get the full "sparkly new shop" experience. Since there are so many different kinds of products, I'm going to focus on each type instead of looking at packaging as a whole.

Perfumes

I received a lot of samples in my last Alchimia Apothecary order, but I got two more vials of perfume oil in this order, and the quality is exceptional as always. Regular perfume oils are in a blend of fractioned coconut oil and castor oil. They come in either 1mL sample vials or 5mL glass bottles. Perfume solids have no sample sizes and come in a 0.15oz twist-up tube and are a blend of grapeseed oil, coconut oil and beeswax. I haven't had a chance to test out the solids yet, but I've been strongly considering it because it's awesome having something you can toss in your purse that won't spill for those midday pick-me-ups!

In addition to solids and oils, Alchimia Apothecary also now offers spray perfumes in an alcohol-free carrier (that allows it to be internationally shipped too). There aren't as many options currently in this form, and I suspect it's because they are made in small batches and take a long time to cure.

You are also encouraged to "Choose Your Own Adventure" and pick up to five notes for Erin to put in a custom blended perfume oil for you - considering the time and care that goes into making a custom perfume, it's understandable that only full-sizes are availble. You're also able to make a custom perfume spray, but the wait is much longer.

Furthermore, the new website allows you to browse by perfume category. This is fantastic news if combing through 70+ fragrances is intimidating, or if there's one type that you know you just love above all else. Just from a quick glance I've already found several new scents I never considered because I didn't know how they were classified.

I received two perfume sample vials in my last order, and here are my thought at a glance:

Gimme S'more and Ginger Vitus

Gimme S'more

Toasted marshmallows, graham crackers, raw cocoa and mouth watering black ambrosia surround the molten sparks of a smokey campfire.

This was a free sample I received and isn't something I'd normally select since I'm not really into gourmand scents. Gimme S'more starts off smelling very much like s'mores, all graham crackery and chocolatey, but after about 5 minutes it morphs oddly on my skin and smells more like an old wood chest tucked away in the attic of a 100+ year-old house.

That all sounds terribly romantic, and it is - I smell wood, not chocolate. But I suppose if you were anticipating s'mores and you instead got a Victorian attic, it might be a bit jarring. It does smooth out and soften after a few hours, but nothing remotely food-ish returns. I wonder if maybe it needed something more mallow-like and sweet to keep it on a gourmand wavelength.

Ginger Vitus

This scent is very clean and crispy. The smell of the refreshing ginger stands out among sweet juicy pears, green and supple vetiver and just a hint of pink peppercorn.

I was really excited for this one. I love ginger, but I find many perfumes featuring ginger take on a warm, foodie approach. But the idea of a crisp and fruity ginger + pear fragrance was so tempting! This is a really delicious and juicy scent. The ginger does add a little bit of a warm bite, but it never enters that "toasty" territory. It reminds me of a fruity body wash, except instead of dissipating 10 minutes after a shower you can enjoy it for much longer. Ginger Vitus lasts for about 5-6 hours on my skin.

Salves

Salves are where it all began for Alchimia Apothecary. As Erin states on the Our Story page, she initially began making sore muscle salves for her grandfather's arthritis and eventually discovered her homemade salves replacing the store-bought ones. While I've never purchased any of the available salves, I can appreciate the selection offered and definitely have tucked it in the back of my mind if I ever need one. (Erin, if you are reading this, do consider a nice Vicks Vapor Rub alternative for sniffly noses someday!)

Currently the following salves are offered:

All-Purpose Salve
Anti-Aging Salve
Belly-Balm
Drawing Salve
Sore Muscle Salve

All salves with the exception of the anti-aging salve and belly balm come in sample sizes and 2oz tins. The site is very clear about the fact that they can't make any cosmetic claims but encourage you to investigate the ingredients yourself and draw your own conclusions.

Skincare

I briefly touched upon the masks and toners offered by Alchimia Apothecary in my last post, but this time I actually picked up a sample vial of a mask, toner tabs, and a small bottle of hand lotion (which I was exceptionally excited for).

Pamper your skin in style

There are several types of masks to choose from ranging from masks for acne to masks for your feet. You can either sample a 0.5oz vial or a 2oz jar. I chose a sample vial of the dry skin facial mask because I am currently using a retinol and can use all the moisurizing help I can get! This mask features the following:

Australian washed blue clay
Rhassoul clay
Australian olive green clay
Cucumber extract
Wheat grass extract
Banana extract
Dandelion extract
Licorice root extract
Mango alphonso extract
Apple extract
Vitamin C
Green tea extract
Magnesium
Aloe vera powder oil
Lavender oil
Pettigrain oil
Argan oil

I love this mask and am definitely considering a full-sized purchase. It's an incredible powerhouse that sucks out all the oil from my skin and drains any pesky pimples hanging around. Best of all, I don't feel tight and dry after washing it off!

I also grabbed a teeny sample vial of the toner tablets, and man am I glad I did because these things have been intriguing me since I first heard of them! The premise seems simple enough - drop a tablet in a bit of warm water (or anything you might enjoy, like with hazel or rose water) until it dissolves, then apply to your face using a cotton ball or whatnot. The benefit to this is that you can travel around with little tablets and have your toner on the go without worrying about spills!

I've only used them a few times, and I suspect I'm not placing them in hot enough water to dissolve because there's still a considerable lump still hanging out in the bottom of my glass after a 15-20 minute shower.The jury is still out on this product!

So much love for this lotion!

The shea-honey lotions are a new product offered by Alchimia Apothecary, and I've been really excited about this one in particular. I'm shopping around for a new hand cream to use at my desk because I try to lotion my skin immediately after washing my hands, and I'd love for my product to be something that's packed with ingredients I feel comfortable with and can pronounce.

Lotions currently come in both small 40mL bottles and large 65mL bottles. Both have a flip top. Before I talk about the lotion itself, I have a small gripe with the packaging. Maybe it's because I'm cheap, but when it comes to my products I like to get every last drop! But with these lotion bottles, it's really tough to squeeze it out, even from a full bottle! For people who have arthritis of the hands or other troubles, they probably would be completely out of luck with these bottles. However, I'm really pleased they're not jars or tubs - I'm a stickler for keeping my creams and lotions finger-free and clean!

The lotion dries to a silky smooth finish

I picked up a small sample bottle of lotion scented with Geisha, one of my favorite perfumes offered. I love this stuff! It's rich and creamy and does require a little bit more rubbing in than some of my other hand creams, but once it sinks in it's so silky and smooth. The scent lasts about 15-20 minutes (and I suppose if you really want to kick things up a notch you could layer the perfume itself on top). It's chock full of really nice ingredients too, from African shea butter to locally farmed honey and bull kelp ferment. I absolutely can't get enough of this lotion, and I would gladly pay a bit extra for a large bottle with a pump-top so I can slather my hands with it all day at work!

Alchimia Apothecary also offers African black soap in a handful of scents (and an unscented variation) including:

Bergamot & Ginger
Labdanum & Lavender
Sandalwood
Spearmint & Eucalyptus

There are a lot of people who swear by african black soap, and it supposedly has a lot of antioxidants and is good for inflammation and acne, psoriasis, blackheads, and eczema. According to the website, Alchimia Apothecary adds the essential oil at the end:

"This soap is responsibly sourced and is made from the women in a small village in Ghana. It arrives to me 100% organic, then essential oil is added." Each bar is $4 apiece.

Elixirs

While my acne is pretty much under control, I still get the odd whitehead here and there. I snagged a teeny sample bottle of the new Acne Elixir. A word of caution: this contains neem oil. If you are unfamiliar with neem oil, you might find the odor a bit jarring. Some describe it as "burnt peanuts" but nonetheless it's undeniably smelly. Erin makes a good effort in adding other quality ingredients like tea tree oil and passion fruit seed oil. As with any product like this, it's in your best interest to do a patch test first, especially with a potent ingredients list!

A while back I had a torrid love affair with neem. It was incredible - one drop seemed to shrivel up every blemish overnight. Maybe I overdid it, perhaps my acne caught onto the ruse, but either way neem doesn't seem to do much for me anymore unfortunately. So while this product didn't procure any awesome results for me, I know that neem is a strong, stinky solution for many, many people!

Two new lip balm formulas!

Lip Care

Affectionately titled "lip junk" on the website, Alchimia Apothecary has a few varieties of lip balms. I've tried the Help Balm and Black Cocoa Balm, but there is also a basic lip balm made with grapeseed oil, coconut oil and beeswax that comes in a variety of scents from the core catalog.

The hemp balm is advertised as being chock full of all kinds of great things (amino acids! vitamin E! calcium! potassium! antioxidants!) and is blended with hemp seed butter and beeswax. I selected the black currant scented hemp balm which was described as "scented with the exotic aroma of black currants." The texture of this lip balm is lovely and smooth, it feels moisturizing but not greasy, and it lasts on the lips a long time without any sort of uncomfortable, sticky lip-smacking residue.

The black cocoa lip balm has a bumpy texture

But unfortunately, I am not a fan of the scent because to me this smells like mushy stewed vegetables. There's a hint of something fruity - I think the black currant is trying really hard to push its way through but it just isn't strong enough. I struggle to get past the stewed-vegetables odor and think if the scent was more balanced (without compromising the benefits somehow) this would be one of my favorites! After a week of regular use, the scent doesn't really bug me anymore, but I still find myself wistfully thinking about all the black curranty goodness I'm missing out on.

Luckily, the black cocoa lip balm smells incredible. These balms are made with "extremely rare and exotic black cocoa butter" (that sounds awfully swanky, yeah?) and it smells just like rich chocolate! I picked out the orange scented one - who doesn't love a chocolate orange?! This lip balm smells so good, it's tempting to lick it. The texture of the black cocoa lip balms is far slipperier than the hemp balm. I also find it doesn't last on the lips as long (but maybe that's because I kept wanting to lick them).

Both the hemp balm and black cocoa lip balm are new products as part of the grand re-opening, and they are both very high quality. If the hemp balm smelled nicer (and more like black currants!) they'd be at a solid tie, but I think I like the black cocoa lip balm just a smidge more.

Cosmetics

I certainly didn't expect Alchimia Apothecary to branch out into cosmetics, but considering their dedication to quality ingredients I think this can only be a winning situation for the consumer!

Primers + Bases

I received both a sample of the Sparkle Spackle primer and "Primal Eyes" in white to test it out, and both do very different things. Depending on what you want to do with your colors, you may find one to be better suited to your needs than the other.

Sparkle Spackle

This is a glitter adhesive to keep the sparkles in your eyeshadow from flying away and leaving you behind. This is not a primer, but it works well in combination with primer.

To use, dab a SMALL amount on your eyelid and pat to blend in. When your eyelid feels a bit tacky, go ahead and pat some eyeshadow on with your brush. Glitter stays nice and vivid!

Best of all this includes plant derived ingredients such as rice, bamboo and bull kelp bioferments.

This was a free sample tucked away into my blogger pack, and I'm awfully glad it was included! I don't have Fyrinnae's Pixy Epoxy to compare to, but I do own Silk Naturals's Stick 'Em Primer, and the Sparkle Spackle formula is comparable. This is a very, very slippery gel where only the teeniest amount is really needed. I went a bit overboard in the beginning and my eyelids felt very sticky. I absolutely love how this feels when applying it because there's zero tugging! This is important to me because the skin around your eyes is very thin and delicate.

Unfortunately, no matter how thin I applied it, I still experienced creasing after a full day of wear. I have yet to find an indie primer that works as flawlessly as Lorac's "Behind the Scenes" primer. But I think my eyelids are just exceptionally oily, so please don't let my negative experience stop you from trying it out!

Move over Nyx jumbo pencils!

Primal Eyes - White

PrimalEyes is a great base to prepare your eyelids to apply eyeshadow for the day. It helps to reduce your eyeshadows from creasing, extend wear time and brighten the color pigmentation.

I chose the Primal Eyes formula in white because my eyelids are pretty darn close to white all on their own. This is a smooth, creamy formula that serves as a shadow enhancer/base. However, depending on how oily your eyelids are, this might need to be added on top of another primer base to keep things from creasing. This is an excellent dupe for the well-loved Nyx jumbo pencil in Milk. Even better is that it also comes in "Natural" (which is wayyy too dark for me) and black to spice things up. The Primal Eyes formula takes a little bit of use to warm it up and help it apply smoothly, and when applying eyeshadow on top of it, I found I had the best results when patting it on instead of swiping. It's also a little more challenging to blend your pigments.

Sample eyeshadow packs

Eyeshadow

The website highlights that the eyeshadows are vegan and made from a blend of plant-derived ingredients, bamboo bio ferment, and lactobacillus. However, these ingredients will cause the eyeshadows to expire sooner than most mineral eyeshadows, so it's important to keep an eye on your makeup (badum-tish).

I think this unique formula is a great feature, and it's definitely something that sets Alchimia Apothecary apart from other shops. It could definitely be a selling point and give them an edge over the competition. I like how light and fluffy the formula is, and it's pretty easy to build up color as well. I chose to sample one color from each finish. My swatches are applied both over the Sparkle Spackle (left) and Primal Eyes in white (right).

Blue Steel matte eyeshadow

Blue Steel (Matte Eyeshadow)

A shade of lighter steel blue. Goes on opaque.

I had some trouble working with Blue Steel initially, especially because it seemed a bit too powdery - I struggled to get a uniform application. I don't know if this is just because it's matte or if it's because I'm not very competent in my application (probably the latter). However, of the three colors I sampled, Blue Steel had the most incredible staying power. It was really challenging to wash it off!

Raw shimmer eyeshadow

Raw (Shimmer Eyeshadow)

This is our medium hue nude shimmer. Opaque when applied.

Raw isn't a really outrageous or exciting color, but that's a-okay for most people looking to get some great basics for their collection. The shimmer formula is nice and smooth, and this color would work very well as an all-over lid shade or even a little bit in the crease. It didn't seem to have as much difficulty as Blue Steel in applying uniformly either.

Wheat Back eyeshadow

Wheat Back ("Wild and Wacky" Eyeshadow)

This metallic shade looks like the antiqued reddish bronze like copper of an old wheat back penny.

I knew Wheat Back was one color I absolutely had to sample as soon as I saw it. The Sparkle Spackle really does win hands-down for me, and it's challenging to see in the swatches I photographed. But it truly helps bring out the vibrant shimmer. The little flecks of gold really do remind me of a shiny penny, although most wheat back pennies I own are so old and grimy that they'd never look as vibrant as this eyeshadow! The formula also was the best of the three and blended excellently.

Deep Sea Coral swatched, bare lips, applied

Lipstick

Alchimia Apothecary offers quite the assortment of lipstick colors that range from adventurous to everyday office-appropriate. If you're the adventurous type--and I'm not--please let me live vicariously through you and snap up some of the crazy teal shades!

Lipstick sample in Deep Sea Coral

The sample I selected was Deep Sea Coral, and I am in love - I think this may be a full-size purchase for me at some point. This is a pinkish red with excellent staying power. Unfortunately for me, I don't have a lip brush so it was a struggle to properly apply from the teeny sample pod. But somehow this color managed to last through several cups of tea and an afternoon snack very nicely. It leaves a bit of a stain as well. The formula isn't drying, but it's not overly moisturizing either. I think that a slimmer tube may be better for application though - the thick tubes the full sizes come in seem a bit too thick in diameter for applying without a lip brush. I'm not the most proficient when it comes to lipstick application, and I know I'd be clumsy around the cupid's bow and it would look sloppy. I'd keep your eye on the lipsticks from Alchimia Apothecary because I have a feeling she has some big plans for the future...!

Cost

Alchimia Apothecary's prices are still pretty much on-par with my original post, and given the enormous range their new catalog has, I won't be providing a breakdown because there's just too much to list! However, your wallet won't be crying, I promise.

Customer service

Erin is phenomenal. I was so afraid I was going to be "that" customer - first I forgot to enter in a coupon code, then I responded with the wrong email, and then I wrote back again because one of my items wasn't included in my package. She was incredible professional and patient and sent me my missed item within days. She's very approachable and open to all kinds of ideas and suggestions.

TAT

The FAQ page states the official TAT is 2 weeks, although my order arrived pretty quickly. For international orders, delivery time can take between 2-12 weeks depending on the country. This has not really changed from before.

Shipping

Shipping rates aren't as transparent as TAT and a bit tricky to find out until you start putting things in your cart and calculating it out. This also hasn't really changed much from before either, but I imagine if you have shipping questions you're more than welcome to ask.

Personal Thoughts

I knew there was a big fancy new website coming, but when Alchimia Apothecary had their grand re-opening, I was astounded by just how much was offered. It felt like the catalog tripled from what was available before! I'm also really pleased because I enjoy seeing companies I love thrive and grow.

If I had to offer some sort of constructive criticism, I'd say my biggest beef is with the website itself. I know there are so many factors when putting together a new website, and things do get glitchy. I dislike the way the catalog is set up and prefer having products on display on one scrolling page rather than paginated results. For example, I don't like having to scroll through five pages to see all the perfumes offered, and the transitions between pages might look cool but they do slow the shopping experience down. I also prefer having full pages for product details rather than popups.

Also, scroll to the bottom of the homepage and watch the social media icons fly across from the right - maybe it's just my browser, but I find that to be absolutely hilarious and adorable. Unnecessary, but adorable. The site is completely incompatible with my phone's browser too (but then again, how many people use Opera Mobile?) It's also a bit tricky to navigate around with the naming convention for certain products. For example, the only way to see eyeshadows is to select "eyes" under "cosmetics" - but that brings you to the bases and primers. Then you have to pick your eyeshadow finish from the starburst images. This was really confusing in the beginning for me and does not feel very intuitive.

But there are indie companies I've bought from with sites that would make my 1990s Geocities page wince away in terror - Alchimia Apothecary's page will probably undergo many transformations in the coming months. And the products are the most important part - they really shine, and I'm so excited to see what sorts of new things are in store in the future!

Company Overview: Alchimia Apothecary Revisited MEGAPOST